The calendar is really starting to fill up again! Your choices for fun this week include a running event in Kingston, concerts everywhere from Morrisburg to Shawville, an eco-fair in Kemptville, and soccer at TD Place. You can also race a canoe in upstate New York, eat pancakes in Beachburg or enjoy an online talk about the Central Experimental Farm. Happy travels—whether they’re actual or virtual.
Run a race in Kingston
Itching to get out for a good run after a long winter? You can choose from a selection of in-person races (from a 2K for kids to a half-marathon) during the Limestone Race Weekend in Kingston (April 23 and 24). To participate, you must register online in advance; no same-day or in-person registrations will be available. If you’d rather run on your own, the race weekend is running a virtual 2K race for competitors of all ages until April 22.
Learn about sustainability in Kemptville
The 13th annual North Grenville Sustainability Fair and Market comes to the North Grenville Municipal Centre in Kemptville on Saturday, April 23. Learn about electric vehicles, ways to green your home, organic foods, and other local eco-friendly products and services. There’s also a kids’ area, and you can check out workshops and live music. Admission is free.
See Indigenous movies in Mississippi Mills
The Mississippi Mills Public Library is holding an Indigenous Voices Film Festival this week (April 20 and 21). Use this form to register in advance for screenings at the Almonte and Pakenham library branches. The films are Beans (a coming-of-age story set against the 1990 Oka Crisis; see trailer above), Birth of a Family (a documentary about four siblings separated during the Sixties Scoop) and Night Raiders (a dystopian science fiction movie set in the year 2044). Admission is free, but attendees are encouraged to donate to SchoolBox North’s project to create a community library in the Treaty 3 Region of northwestern Ontario.
Get your live music fix in Ottawa, Shawville, Morrisburg or Pembroke
My hat is off to anyone who has opened a new business in the past two tumultuous years, such as new music school/performance space Red Bird Live. This Thursday, April 21, the Old Ottawa South venue plays host to Ottawa folk/alt-country band Gentlemen of the Woods (fronted by Red Bird owner Geoff Cass).
The Ottawa Grassroots Festival (April 21 to 24) is a family-friendly event at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Centretown, featuring folk, Indigenous and Franco-Ontarian music. Artists on the roster include Angelique Francis, Alison Bowie, Ian Tamblyn, Moonfruits and Rick Fines. Even CBC Radio personality Ed Lawrence will be on hand to offer gardening tips. Daytime shows on Saturday and Sunday are free; for other shows, you can buy single tickets or a festival pass.
Ones: The Beatles #1 Hits presents 27 of the Fab Four’s top songs in chronological order, courtesy of a 14-piece band and an orchestra. It’s at the Meridian Theatres @ Centrepointe on April 21 and at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orleans on April 22 and 23.
The Meridian Theatres @ Centrepointe is a busy venue this week. It’s also hosting a Bee Gees tribute show on Friday, April 22, and the popular Show Tune Showdown—an epic battle between musical theatre groups that blends a little bit of “Name That Tune” with lots of Broadway sass—on Saturday, April 23.
In Morrisburg, the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage series presents Canadian blues star Shakura S’Aida at the Upper Canada Playhouse on Sautrday, April 23 (see video above).
Over in Shawville, singer/songwriter Jim Bryson takes to the stage at the Little Red Wagon Winery on Saturday, April 23. You may still be able to snag a spot for dinner and a show, or buy tickets for the show only. Advance reservations required.
On the classical end of the spectrum, Malko Prize-winning conductor Ryan Bancroft is leading the National Arts Centre Orchestra in a diverse program including Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring at the NAC on Thursday, April 21. Two days later. the Pembroke Symphony Orchestra is playing its final concert of the season on Saturday, April 23, at the Festival Hall Centre for the Performing Arts in Pembroke. The program, featuring violinist Justin Saulnier, includes Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, Brahms’ Third Symphony and a Mozart overture.
As if all that weren’t enough, Imagine Dragons are at the Canadian Tire Centre on Friday, April 22, and Bruce Cockburn is at the NAC on Saturday, April 23.
Enjoy some laughs in Ottawa and Smiths Falls
Could you use a laugh right now? Comedian Ron Placone is bringing his Poutine Not Pipelines tour to Live on Elgin on Wednesday, April 20. And local standup comic Heather Hurst is hosting a week of shows headlined by Brendan McKeigan at Absolute Comedy on Preston Street from April 19 through April 24.
The Smiths Falls Community Theatre is back on stage, with a production of the Norm Foster comedy Halfway There (April 22 to May 1). Chuckle along with a newly single doctor who sets up shop in small-town Nova Scotia and promptly meets not one, but four, eligible women, each with her own quirky story.
Shop for art in Manotick and Almonte
Forty members of the Manotick Art Association will be showing and selling their works at the Inspirations art show and sale from April 22 to 24, with some of the proceeds going to support the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation. (Donations to the Canadian Guide Dogs are also gratefully accepted.) There will be live music on Friday evening and on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, too.
And on April 23 and 24, the Ten Collective—a group of artists painting in a diverse range of styles—will be holding an exhibition and sale at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte.
See cutting-edge theatre in Ottawa
Undercurrents, an indie theatre festival produced by Ottawa Fringe, is running from April 20 to 30 at Arts Court. It showcases new, offbeat and edgy performances by creators from Ottawa and beyond, such as Me, Vivien Leigh and the Roller Rink, written and performed by former CBC Ottawa host Lucy van Oldenbarneveld.
Catch a soccer game at TD Place
Soccer fans, take note: Atlético Ottawa takes on Winnipeg’s Valour FC on Sunday, April 24, at TD Place.
See photographs by up-and-coming artists
The SPAO: Photographic Arts Centre in Ottawa’s Little Italy neighbourhood is presenting the SPAO Diploma Exhibition No. 17, featuring works by the newest graduates of the school’s two-year diploma program. You can register online for the opening night reception on Friday, April 22, or drop by whenever the gallery is open to see the show, which runs until May 15.
Learn about the history of the Experimental Farm online
The Bytown Museum presents its last virtual lecture of the season on Wednesday, April 20. Robert Glendinning, a propagator and landscape gardener, will be giving an online talk about the history of the Dominion Arboretum and the Ornamental Gardens at Ottawa’s Central Experimental Farm. There’s no fee but registration is required.
Nosh on pancakes in Beachburg
Haven’t had your fill of pancakes and maple syrup yet this spring? Head to Beachburg on Saturday, April 23, for the Really Big Breakfast Buffet. Pancakes, bacon, sausages, eggs and more are on the menu, but you have to be an early bird; the event at the Beachburg Arena and Lions Club Hall runs from 7:30am to 10:30am.
Paddle in a river race in Canton, New York
The Little River Ramble (Sunday, April 24) is one of the first kayak and canoe races of the season in Canton, New York. You need to register online in advance by 5pm on Saturday, April 23. The next day, the first racers will take to the water at 1pm. The hub of activity is the Park Street Bridge in Canton, which is about 90 minutes southeast of Ottawa.
Looking for more tips on things to see and do in Eastern Ontario, the Outaouais, northern New York state and beyond? Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter or order a copy of my book, Ottawa Road Trips: Your Weekend Getaway Guide.
As the owner of Ottawa Road Trips, I acknowledge that I live on, work in and travel through the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Nation. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be present on this land. Ottawa Road Trips supports Water First, a non-profit organization that helps address water challenges in Indigenous communities in Canada through education, training and meaningful collaboration.