From a new Indigenous festival in Ottawa and car races in Brockville to covered bridges in the Outaouais and a fall festival in Ashton, there’s a lot to enjoy in Eastern Ontario and West Quebec this week. And if Halloween is among your favourite celebrations, you’re in luck, as ghost walks, cemetery tours and other ghoulish activities abound. Have fun!
Check out a night market in Kemptville
Thursday, October 14, is the last Kemptville night market of the season for My Local Markets. Shop from local vendors, enjoy live music and settle down at a picnic table to savour your food purchases.
Enjoy a pumpkin-themed festival in Petawawa
The Petawawa Ramble (October 14 to 17) is a four-day community event featuring everything from “pumpkin folks” posed in cute scenes to bouncy castles for kids (Sunday only), a photo scavenger hunt, and the opportunity to book an outdoor portrait session amid the fall leaves with a professional photographer.
Cheer on race car drivers in Brockville
I’ll candidly admit it—I know zilch about car racing. If you do, though, I’m guessing that the King Edward Auto Parts–Carquest/Dirt Outlaw Apparel Fall Nationals at the Brockville Speedway (October 15 and 16) will be right up your racetrack. Buy your tickets online in advance.
Get your Halloween thrills across the region
The Haunted Walk runs ghost walks in numerous locations across our region, including downtown Ottawa, the Mackenzie King Estate in Gatineau Park, the Mill of Kintail in Almonte, the SDG Jail in Cornwall and downtown Kingston. If you’d rather get your scares from the comfort of home, sign up for one of the company’s virtual haunted campfires.
Tickets are still available for Pumpkinferno, the popular display of carved pumpkins at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg and—new this year—at Fort Henry in Kingston. Stroll past elaborate illuminated scenes as ghostly music plays. Both events run until October 31.
Also in Kingston, you can take a 90-minute Ghost and Mystery Trolley Tour nightly until October 31.
The Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum is presenting several spooky events this weekend. First is Honouring Our Ancestors on Friday, October 15, which includes a ghostly guided tour of the museum, painting sessions, snacks and beverages, and a guided meditation designed to help you connect with your ancestors. On Saturday, October 16, the museum will be giving tours of St. James Cemetery. (If you can’t make it to one of those, the museum is also running tours of the United Cemeteries on October 22 and 23.)
Speaking of graveyard visits: The Billings Estate National Historic Site in Ottawa is running tours of its historic cemetery at dusk on Friday and Saturday nights from October 15 until November 13. Advance ticket purchase required.
Planning ahead? Historian Susan Code McDougall is leading ghost walks in Perth nightly from October 28 to 30, and tickets are limited to 20 guests per evening, so you might want to buy them this week, if you’re interested.
Photograph covered bridges in the Outaouais
The Wakefield Covered Bridge might be one of the best-known bridges of its type in the Outaouais, but it’s far from the only one. Tourisme Outaouais has just posted this list of nine covered bridges throughout the region, including ones in Grand-Remous, Chelsea and Maniwaki. Grab your camera (or just your cell phone) and set off on an Instagram-worthy road trip. I can’t promise you’ll find romance, as the photographer in The Bridges of Madison County did…but, hey, you might!
Go to an art exhibition in Ottawa or Kingston
Canadian artist Marlene Munroe de Montigny is the subject of a retrospective exhibition opening with an invitation-only vernissage at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa on Thursday, October 14. The pop-up show will then be open to the general public from October 15 to 30. It will run Wednesdays through Sundays, from 4pm to 8pm. Her paintings include still-life works, landscapes and semi-abstract pieces.
Southwest of Ottawa, the new Kingston Square Foot Show at the Tett Gallery (October 13 to 17) features 12-inch-by-12-inch artworks by more than 35 local artists. If you can’t visit in person, you can also see the pieces online.
Have some family-friendly fun in Ottawa, Smiths Falls or Pembroke
For many families, fall isn’t fall until they’ve been lost in a farmer’s field. If that’s you, you can check out a corn maze at Maple Hill Urban Farm on Moodie Drive in Bells Corners daily until November 1, weather permitting. You can also visit with the farm animals on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Mādahòkì Farm on West Hunt Club Road in Ottawa is a new place to celebrate the region’s Indigenous heritage. The name of the farm, which is located in the Greenbelt, means “to share land.” And this weekend and next, it will play host to the Tagwàgi (Autumn) Festival (October 16 and 17, and October 23 and 24). Among other activities, you can meet endangered Ojibwe Spirit Horses, learn about Indigenous traditions on a trail hike, enjoy live music and storytelling, buy crafts, eat bannock and smoked fish, or let your kids loose on a playground. Admission is free, but you must register in advance online.
The Smiths Falls Heritage House Museum is holding a Fall Fun Day on Saturday, October 16, from 11am to 2pm (rain date is Sunday, October 17). Tour the museum, check out the carved pumpkin display, enjoy free children’s activities and more. No tickets are required. Admission is by donation and wagon rides cost $4.
That same day, Ashfield Farm in Ashton (on Ottawa’s western edge) is holding its Fall Festival from 11am to 4pm. Family-friendly activities include pony rides, a petting zoo, games and face painting. Tickets are available online.
In Pembroke, Hugli’s Blueberry Ranch is offering all sorts of daytime family fun daily until October 31, including a corn maze, pedal carts, a straw jump and duck races. On weekends, the roster of activities expands to also include pig races, a pumpkin cannon and wagon rides.
Enjoy the fall colours
Don’t forget my post about three gorgeous fall scenic drives if you want to get out and enjoy the autumn leaves. I also have a list of leaf-peeping trackers, so you can pinpoint the best time to visit various regions to see the colours at their peak.
Catch a new Feist show in Ottawa
If you’re a really big Feist fan and you’ve dearly missed live music, the pricy tickets to Feist’s small-capacity shows at the National Arts Centre (October 14 to 17) may be worth the splurge. Multitudes is an in-the-round performance of new material.
See a scary movie online
If you like your movies on the intense side, check out the all-virtual version of this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival (October 13 to 17), which will be streaming sci-fi, horror, action and cult movies to viewers across Canada.
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Ottawa Road Trips acknowledges that its office, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg Nation.
2 comments
Hi Laura – this is a great newsletter – thank you very much. I would like to take my grandchildren, aged 10 and 13, to some kind of Christmas show in December and wonder if you have received any notices from theatre groups in the Valley who plan to put on such an entertainment. A couple of years ago, there was a panto in Smiths Falls but I didn’t find out about it until too late. Can you help? Many thanks Sue
You’re very welcome, Susan–glad you like it! Many theatre companies’ plans are still a bit up in the air this year.
I did a bit of research and couldn’t find any children’s holiday shows currently scheduled in the Valley. Lakeside Players at Britannia Park in Ottawa always did a Christmas panto pre-COVID, but it’s unclear whether they’re doing one this year.
On the bright side, there are a few family-oriented shows coming up at the NAC: https://nac-cna.ca/en/discover/family
Good luck!