There’s so much going on this week that I could barely squeeze the highlights into this post! Gardeners can shop for plants in Manotick and readers can shop for books in Brockville. Jazz fans can enjoy a concert by a Juno-winning singer in Cantley. I’ve found events for cyclists, square dancers, yoga lovers and theatre fans. And then there’s the Great Glebe Garage Sale, the Perth Night Market and a brand-new art festival in Alta Vista! Don’t blame me if you’re bored this weekend. ????
Browse for plants in Little Italy, Manotick or Montreal
The Manotick Horticultural Society is holding its annual plant sale at Watson’s Mill (5525 Dickinson Street) on Saturday, May 28, from 9am to noon. Annuals, veggies, herbs and perennials will be available.
The SPAO photography school in Ottawa’s Little Italy neighbourhood (77 Pamilla Street) is holding a garage and plant sale on Saturday from 9am to 2pm. As well as plants, you can browse for gently used photographic equipment.
Meanwhile, in Montreal, the Great Gardening Weekend at Montreal’s Jardin botanique (May 24 to 29) is traditionally one of Quebec’s biggest gardening events, with common, heirloom and heritage plants available to purchase. This year, it’s a hybrid event, with online gardening workshops online in French from May 24 to 26, and the in-person sale at the botanical garden running from May 27 to 29 (9am to 5pm). Admission to the in-person sale is included with your ticket to the garden.
Paddle for prizes in Spencerville
The Spencerville Mill Canoe Poker Run will see canoeists and kayakers take to the South Nation River at 9am on Saturday, May 28, and paddle to Spencerville. The starting point is O’Hagen’s Bridge on County Road 18. You can bring your own boat, or you may be able to borrow a canoe for free; see the event’s website for contact info. Cash prizes are up for grabs, and the money raised goes to the Spencerville Mill and Museum. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for kids (plus tax) and include a hamburger or hot dog, and a drink. You can buy tickets on the event’s Eventbrite page, which also includes a map.
Take your motorcycle on a dice run in Casselman
Never heard of a dice run? It’s like a poker run, but it’s for motorcycles and there are dice rolls at each stop. This Sunday, May 29, you can join the 2804 Casselman Cadets Dice Run, starting at the J.R. Brisson Arena (758 Brebeuf Street) at 8:30am. It’s a major fundraiser for the cadet group. Tickets are $20 per person and are available online or onsite.
Shop all over!
Shoppers, rev your engines: ‘Tis the season of garage sales, art festivals and other shopping fun.
My Local Markets’ first outdoor night market of the season has been rescheduled from last week. It is now happening at the Kemptville Campus Greenhouse (75 Campus Drive, Kemptville) on Thursday, May 26, from 4:30pm to 7:30pm. Live music, food stalls and lots of local vendors will be on hand. Parking and admission are free, but donations to the Beth Donovan Hospice are appreciated.
Spring Art After Dark is an evening art-and-shopping promotion in downtown Kingston on Friday, May 27. From 7pm to 10pm, you can check out galleries and stores, and enjoy light refreshments. You can also enter a draw for $500 to spend on local art.
On Saturday, May 28, you have a ton of events to choose from.
- In Alta Vista, you can shop for paintings, pottery, books, sculpture, jewellery, wooden pieces and fibre art made by some 30 creators at the new Spring Art Festival, organized by Art in the Neighbourhood and the Canterbury Community Association. There will be food trucks and live music, too! It’s happening at the Jim Tubman Chevrolet Rink (2185 Arch Street, Ottawa) from 10am to 4pm, and parking and admission are free.
- The enormous Great Glebe Garage Sale will draw shoppers from across the city to the downtown Ottawa neighbourhood from 8am to 2pm (rain or shine).
- Merrickville’s Spring Makers Market is taking place at the Merrickville Fairgrounds (446 Main Street West, Merrickville) from 10am to 4pm. Some 60 vendors will be selling original items, and admission is free.
- In Renfrew, there’s a rain-or-shine Outdoor Spring Market at Renfrew Presbyterian Church (460 Raglan Street South, Renfrew) from 9am to 2pm. As well as shopping for plants, artwork, baking and hand-crafted goods, you can get a takeout lunch.
- In Brockville, a large section of King Street will be closed to vehicles for the monthly Shop the Street sale. As well as that lively sidewalk sale, you can check out the nearby Friends of the Brockville Public Library’s book and bake sale (23 Buell Street, Brockville, 9am to 4pm).
- Over in Quebec, the Buckingham Spring Market welcomes makers and shoppers to MacLaren Park (Buckingham Avenue, Buckingham, 9am to 4pm).
- The Perth Night Market (5pm until late) will see dozens of artisans and other vendors set up along multiple downtown streets in the pretty Lanark County town. Many shops and restaurants will be open late, and there will be lots of live music and other entertainment, too—everything from magicians to axe throwing.
On Saturday and Sunday, Arts-aux-Parcs is a two-day arts fair at Ecole des Sommets in Val-des-Monts, Quebec (2197, montée Paiement). The free event, which will feature 48 artists, runs both days from 10:30am to 4pm.
And south of the border in upstate New York, the Greater Ogdensburg Chamber of Commerce is coordinating a city-wide garage sale from May 27 to 29. On the same dates, there’s also the Great Adirondack Garage Sale, which promises “200+ miles of garage sales” across a wide swath of the scenic Adirondacks. That’s 320 kilometres in metric, folks.
Take a free ride with a bike club
The Kanata-Nepean Bicycle Club (KNBC) is holding an open ride on Saturday, May 28. That means non-members are invited to join the ride for free! The 25-kilometre loop ride starts at the Centrepointe Royal Oak (117 Centrepointe Drive) at 10am and meanders along the Ottawa River and through the Central Experimental Farm, largely along bike paths. The ride is free but you need to register in advance; see their website for details.
Catch a concert in Cantley
Juno-winning jazz singer Kellylee Evans is in concert at La Grange de la Gatineau (80, chemin Summer, Cantley) on Friday, May 27. The show starts at 8pm and tickets are $40 plus taxes.
Revel in lilacs in Lanark County and PEC
I have two ways for you to celebrate the sweet scent of spring this weekend. Close to Ottawa, the Franktown Lilac Festival in Lanark County (Saturday, May 28) features a breakfast, live music, a children’s bike parade and wagon rides. A bit further afield, the Rotary Lilac Ride (Sunday, May 29) lets you choose a 25K, 50K or 100K bike route along lilac-laden country roads in Prince Edward County.
Try modern square dancing in Ottawa
Gotta dance? Square Dance Ottawa holds open dances on the fourth Sunday of most months at the Jim Durrell Recreational Centre (1265 Walkley Road), and this month’s dance is on Sunday, May 29. Everyone is invited to come try it out, even if you have no experience—the organizers will walk you through the steps. And they promise that you’ll find yourself moving to music you’ve never associated with square dancing before! Open to singles and couples, aged 10 and up. Entry is $10 in advance or $12 at the door. Learn the steps from 2:30pm until 3:15pm, then dance until just before 5pm.
Catch a music and art festival in northern New York
In Stirling, New York (on the southern edge of Lake Ontario, west of Syracuse), the Stirling Stage New Era Festival of Music and Arts (May 26 to 29) features folk, roots and jamband acts, as well as food and craft vendors, yoga, an artisan village, and camping. It bills itself as a “boutique” festival, with space for just 500 attendees.
Nosh on ribs in Kanata
The Kanata Ribfest will be bringing lots of sticky barbecue deliciousness to the Community Hub (400 March Road) from May 27 to 29. Hours are 11am to 9pm on Friday and Saturday, and 11am to 6pm on Sunday. (P.S.: If you like ribfests, I recently updated my big list of barbecue festivals across our region.)
Enjoy good vibrations at the GCTC
Okay, this show sounds like something completely and utterly different. Speaking Vibrations at the GCTC (1227 Wellington Street, Ottawa) is a multimedia performance including poetry, music, dance and AV projections. But here’s the really unusual twist: 75 of the seats will be equipped with “vibrotactile devices”—items such as vests and floor pads that vibrate. Intrigued? The show runs from May 24 to June 4. Times and ticket prices vary.
Do yoga in a vineyard
On Friday, May 27, Smokie Ridge Vineyard in Mountain (south of Ottawa, between Kemptville and Winchester) is hosting the first of four yoga, wine and pizza nights this season. The two-hour session (6:30pm to 8:30pm) includes a one-hour yoga class, three samples of wine or craft beer, and stone-oven pizza (gluten-free and vegan choices are available). Prices start at $40 per person, plus tax and service fee. And if you can’t make it this week, there are also sessions at Smokie Ridge on July 8, August 5 and September 9.
The same company, Yoga with Ivory, is also offering yoga in the vineyard (with a welcome drink and three wine samples) at Jabulani Vineyard and Winery in Richmond. The Thursday evening sessions last from 6:30pm to 9pm and begin on June 16; again, there are four sessions in total this summer. Prices start at $30 per person, plus tax and service fee.
In both cases, the lower prices are available if you book three or more classes.
See LGBTQ movies in Toronto or online
There’s much, much more to the world of movie relationships than boy meets girl. You can see lots of those films in Toronto at Inside Out: 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival (May 26 to June 5), a celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movies. It’s the largest such event in Canada and one of the five top 2SLGBTQ+ film fests in the world. This year, you can also see many of the films online, if you live in Ontario. Ticket prices vary.
Enjoy a glass festival in Corning, New York
Do you like live music? Do you enjoy shopping for art glass? Are fireworks your thing? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you might just be interested in GlassFest in Corning, New York (May 26 to 29). You can enjoy free concerts, browse an artisans’ market and more. Corning is about a five-hour drive south of Ottawa, in the Finger Lakes area.
See modern dance and theatre in Montreal
The Festival TransAmériques is North America’s largest contemporary dance and theatre festival. This year, it’s offering 23 shows across multiple venues over the next two weeks (May 25 to June 9). Expect lots of cutting-edge choreography and thought-provoking performances by companies from countries around the world.
Be aware of road closures this weekend
One of Canada’s biggest running events, the enormous Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend (May 28 and 29), takes over much of downtown Ottawa this weekend, so check the website for road closure information before heading that way. The longer races take place on Sunday, so more roads will be closed that day. The video above (from 2018) gives you a sense of the scale of this super-popular marathon. Registration is closed for this year, but you could always come out and cheer on the competitors!
Also be aware of the regular road closures for the NCC’s Nokia Weekend Bikedays program. Again, those are a bit complex, but they include the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway and the Sir George-Étienne Cartier Parkway.
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.