Whether you’d like to watch a movie from the comfort of your couch, enjoy an in-person art exhibition, try some new Ontario-focused recipes or buy a tree, I have suggestions for fun things to enjoy in Ottawa, the Outaouais and Eastern Ontario this week. There’s even an online version of the Great Glebe Garage Sale!
Catch a new 2SLGBTQ+ movie
InsideOut, Canada’s largest 2SLGBTQ+ film festival, is all online this year—meaning anyone in Ontario can buy single tickets or passes to see some (or all!) of the more than 140 features and shorts on the program and enjoy them from home. Keep an eye out for the seven-minute short Curbside Pickup by Ottawa’s Hingman Leung, part of the “Sparks Fly” collection of shorts. (The filmmaker noted on Twitter that the movie has some “only-in-Ottawa” references that locals will appreciate.) The festival runs from May 27 to June 6.
Get some local culinary inspiration
If the food photos in Savour Ontario’s new recipe collection, Milk & Honey, are any indication, the 20 dishes within—all created by Ontario chefs and featuring dairy ingredients from local producers—are delicious. They include lemon and blueberry ricotta pancakes from Sault Ste. Marie chef Angela Caputo, and buttermilk-fried chicken from Peterborough chef Tyler Scott. Each dish is paired with a suggested VQA Ontario wine, too. The chefs are all certified by Feast On, an organization that recognizes restaurants and other businesses that make a point of using Ontario products. If I have one minor quibble about the collection, it’s the lack of Eastern Ontario chefs—Peterborough and Picton are as close as it gets. You can download a free PDF of the collection here.
Take a hike in Eastern Ontario
Looking for a new-to-you hiking spot? The Adventure Report website has new posts about the Blue Mountain trail in Charleston Lake Provincial Park, the Carp Barrens trail, and Trail 50 at Mer Bleue, while the Girl Gone Good website has an excellent recent roundup of trails in Eastern Ontario and the Outaouais, including Cooper Marsh in Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, and Chutes rouge in the Outaouais.
Shop online for a good cause
The Great Glebe Garage Sale is going online this year, to raise money for the Ottawa Food Bank. Instead of prowling along side streets of the downtown Ottawa neighbourhood, you can let your fingers do the walking as you search for new-to-you treasures. You can start looking on Friday, May 28, and make your offers between June 4 and June 18.
Over a dozen artists have donated works to the Save Our Firehall online art auction. The event is raising money for the operating expenses of Old Ottawa South’s community centre, housed in a repurposed firehall. Pandemic restrictions have kept the centre shuttered for much of the last 15 months. The auction is on now, and artworks will be offered for a series of two-week periods (via a Facebook group) until everything has been sold.
And for those planning ahead: Book now to reserve your spot for the June 9 fundraising drive-through dinner at the Eganville Seniors Centre. The menu includes chicken cacciatore, mashed potatoes, vegetables, salad, a roll and dessert—all for $16 per person. You need to reserve by Friday, June 4.
Take a virtual trip along the Niagara River
If you enjoyed TVO’s hypnotic 2020 four-hour documentary about a boat trip along the Rideau Canal, you might also like this year’s follow-up: a gentle three-hour movie about the Niagara River that features some stunning bird’s-eye views. The links above will take you to YouTube, where you can watch them both for free.
See an art exhibition in Chelsea
The current exhibition at La Fab Arts Centre in Chelsea features recent works by the centre’s artists, including Uwe Foehring, Sophie Dufresne Guindon and Richard Tippins. The show and sale runs until Sunday, June 6.
Buy a tree in Brockville
The Friends of Mac Johnson Wildlife Area is holding its annual tree sale over six dates in May and June this year, including this Saturday, May 29. You can shop for some 30 varieties of trees and shrubs, including choke cherry, white cedar and pagoda dogwood. Money raised will go toward maintaining trails and building new facilities at the wildlife area. The sale takes place at the Mac Johnson tree nursery, about 500 metres past the wildlife area’s main entrance.
Learn to canoe
Canoeing is right up there with hockey, lacrosse and curling as a quintessential Canadian sport. If you’ve always been curious to try it but weren’t sure where to start, the video above from Global News (and the related article) has some good basic pointers. For those on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River (since interprovincial travel is currently discouraged), Chelsea canoe expert Becky Mason provides canoeing instruction and also has instructional videos on her website. On the Ontario side, MKC offers a wide range of one-, two- and five-day canoeing and kayaking courses—including classes tailored to families, women and seniors— at various locations.
Ponder Prince Edward County
A new Canadian movie starring Sonja Smits, Colin Mochrie and Jess Salgueiro may appeal to those who’d like to take a virtual road trip to Prince Edward County, since the movie was filmed there. Drifting Snow is a drama about grief, so perhaps it’s not the most joyful road trip. However, it’s the description of the landscapes in this Globe and Mail review that have me intrigued. The reviewer’s reference to “the snow-covered plains and empty tundras of southern Ontario” made me blink, as did a comment about the “harshness of the land.” Harsh and tundra aren’t words I normally associate with the rolling hills, sweeping vineyards and postcard-cute towns of the County, which juts into Lake Ontario south of Belleville. Maybe I’ll just cue up the movie and see for myself. It’s available on demand now, on platforms such as iTunes and Vimeo.
And if you’re hoping to visit the County this summer, the tourism folks there are urging you to book now to avoid disappointment. Anticipating a surge in demand when restrictions are lifted, the County has launched a Plan Your Visit campaign with information on experiences you can reserve in advance now.
Tiptoe through the Ottawa Road Trips archives
This week marks the seventh anniversary of the weekly Ottawa Road Trips newsletter. (Not a subscriber yet? You can sign up here.) To celebrate the occasion, here are some links to some of the site’s most popular posts—just in case you missed them. A number of them were written pre-pandemic, so you know what I’m going to say next: Please respect all current restrictions on travel when considering any of these outings!
- “Glamping” at Pine Brae near Perth: My 2020 review of a new off-the-grid, two-cottage resort.
- These cheese shops near Ottawa will have you reaching for the crackers: The title of this 2020 post is self-explanatory, really.
- My eventful night in an oTENTik between Smiths Falls and Perth: How I got up close and a bit too personal with a raccoon (I think) in 2019.
- 18 heart-pumping places near Ottawa for thrill seekers: If whitewater rafting, bungee jumping and ziplining are your jam, I have lots of suggestions.
- 50 road trips and weekend getaways from Ottawa you MUST try this summer: This post from 2017, while now a little outdated, should still provide lots of inspiration—whether you’d like to check out a chocolate museum or try a bit of indoor skydiving.
- EdgeWalk: Strolling above Toronto’s skyline: In one of my very first posts on the site, I find out what it’s like to saunter along a catwalk on the CN Tower.