The BreakFest Blog
News about Ottawa Festivals and our Member festivals, special events and fairs.
The Rising Stars Café to Showcase Young Local Talent
We’d like to share this information which was submitted to us:
Dominic D’Arcy known to many as the Singing Policeman will be holding The Rising Stars Café, a showcase on Sept. 18, which will feature local and new musical talents as well as past rising stars who have gained notoriety after being discovered by D’Arcy. To learn more about the Rising Stars program, you can visit Dominic D’Arcy’s website. You can see all the young talent performing at the event and get more information by checking out Rising Stars Café poster.
Plans for new theatre set the stage for annual lineup
Jennifer McIntosh, Your Ottawa Region.com
The grand opening of the Centrepointe Studio Theatre was a vision 25 years in the making according to artistic director for the City of Ottawa theatres, Charles McFarland.
“It’s great to be here tonight celebrating the vision of Barbara Feldman, the founding manager of Centrepointe Theatre,” he said.
The expansion of the theatre – used by international stars and local theatre groups – has been in the works since the 1990s and was set to go ahead in 2002, but for amalgamation and lack of funding.
The theatre has been in use since a May preview show of Hamlet by the Ottawa Shakespeare Company, but officially kicked things off with a performances by Ottawa band the Peptides.
Read more on the Your Ottawa Region.com website: Plans for new theatre set the stage for annual lineup
This harvest season try choosing local
Mayor Jim Watson and Councillor Maria McRae, Chair of the Environment Committee, together with Doug Thompson, Chair of the Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee and Katherine Hobbs, Kitchissippi Ward, issued a delicious challenge to residents today: they officially launched the “$10 Local Food Challenge”, making a case for trying local food this harvest season. The launch took place at the “Harvest Table” – a three-course lunch hosted by Savour Ottawa, showcasing in-season and locally sourced ingredients, prepared on-site at the Parkdale Market.
“When it comes to food, there is no place like home,” said Mayor Watson. “Especially in Ottawa at this time of the year, when there is such a variety and abundance of locally-grown fruits and vegetables. Fresh picked, nutrition-packed, and mouth-watering.”
Read more on the OttawaStart website: This harvest season try choosing local
Ottawa StoryTeller Events for September 2011
OST Presents the Following for September 2011
September 1
Ottawa StoryTellers Story Swap:
Open Stage Night
7:00 – 9:30 p.m.
Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street
Room 156
Free admission
Ottawa StoryTellers offers Story Swap, an open stage night, on the first Thursday of every month at Library and Archives Canada (Room 156). This is an opportunity to experience the art of storytelling for the first time or for new storytellers to practice before an audience. The evenings also include stories by experienced tellers so that new tellers can learn the art. People are welcome to come and listen, but anyone wishing to tell a story should register on arrival with the evening’s host, and s/he will be given a time slot. Stories should be no longer than ten minutes and must be told, not read. They may be traditional stories, folk tales, literary stories, or personal stories.
September 13
Passages: Coming to Canada
Lynda Joyce and Ruth Stewart Verger
Stories and Tea
The Tea Party, 119 York St.
7pm-8:45pm
Pay what you can
September 17
Encore! To Say Nothing of the Dog
Jan Andrews and Mary Wiggin
OYP Studio at the Shenkman Centre
7:30pm
$15/$12 Students and Seniors
The noble canine, man’s best friend: we’re tired of the stereotypes! Tonight we’ll tell stories about dogs both good and bad, and we plan to shove the sap aside and have a few good laughs as well!
September 27
Ordinary Escapes/Extraordinary Escapades
Clea Derwent and Kim Kilpatrick
Stories and Tea
The Tea Party, 119 York St.
7pm-8:45pm
Pay what you can
Midway Magic: Final Weekend to Make Memories
[Source: Midway Magic press release]
Midway Magic is riding into its last weekend. Plenty of memories were made this week.
- Little Darius erupting from the merry go round with the smile on his face then scampering to hug grandma’s knees.
- 4 year-old Emma who told the face painters she wanted to be an actress then posed for her picture taking young dad as if she were on the red carpet.
- Wide-eyed 3 year old Chan who studied how to catch a plastic fish more than they studied catching fish in Jaws.
- 71 year old grandfather Paul who reluctantly went on the Fireball with his 12 year old grandson because no one else would. Paul had to breathe in lots in order to get the safety belt to fit. The grandson thanked him.
There are 3 days left to experience family memories!
Savour Ottawa Harvest Table features guest author
Lynn Ogryzlo to sign copies of The Ontario Table
[Source: Ottawa Tourism press release]
OTTAWA, August 18, 2011—Award-winning author Lynn Ogryzlo will attend Savour Ottawa’s first ever public event, the Savour Ottawa Harvest Table, at the Parkdale Market on Sunday, August 28 at 12:00noon. Tickets to the event are $50 per person and include a three-course meal plus two samples of beer and/or wine (from local companies Kichesippi Beer Company and Domaine Perrault). Tickets are available online through www.savourottawa.ca (the direct link is www.savourottawa.eventbrite.com). See below for a list of participating farmers and chefs.
Lynn Ogryzlo, who harkens from the Niagara region, will be at the event with her new book, The Ontario Table, which celebrates the best food and wine from around the province. Ottawa plays prominently in the book with stories of Savour Ottawa members such as Rochon Farm, Acorn Creek Garden Farm, The Piggy Market, and O’Brien Farms. Grower stories introduce consumers to the people who grow our food.
The Ontario Table is both a culinary travel guide and cookbook with 125 stories of growers, 110 local food recipes, 100 Ontario wine pairings, 20 culinary travel destinations (including Ottawa), 57 provincial culinary maps, and countless happy mouthfuls.
Tents will be erected in the park for the Harvest Table event and guests will be served family-style at tables of 16. The Parkdale Market will be in full operation during the event, as will the Savour Ottawa Field House, a unique cooperative retail operation among 10 Savour Ottawa farmers that launched in May 2011, operating Thursdays through Sundays.
During the book signing, Ogryzlo will be issuing ‘The Ontario Table $10 Challenge.’ She notes, ”If every household in Ontario spends $10 of their weekly grocery budget on local food and wine, there would be a $2.4 billion influx into the province’s economy each year.”
SuperEx 2012 still seeks home
New site on Albion Road sits untouched while organizers seek partner to mount annual fair
David Reevely, The Ottawa Citizen
The Central Canada Exhibition is looking for a temporary location for 2012 and maybe beyond, since practically nothing has been done yet to prepare a “permanent” home for the fair on land it has been granted off Albion Road in south Ottawa, according to Councillor Bob Monette.
Monette, who sits on the exhibition’s board, said the property has to be cleared, prepared and serviced before it can host even a strippeddown agricultural fair, and none of that has been done yet.
The 10-day event had been held for a century at Lansdowne Park, until the city ejected it this year to make way for construction work on the Lansdowne redevelopment.
That’s been held up by the Friends of Lansdowne court case that was only settled last week, so as it turned out the fair’s traditional home might have been available – but the Ex’s board decided last winter to pull the plug on this year’s edition and restarting the whole works wasn’t feasible.
House of PainT a celebration of city’s urban culture
YourOttawaRegion.ca
OLD OTTAWA SOUTH – Ottawa isn’t just Parliament buildings and tulips.
House of PainT is out to show that urban culture is alive and well in a city that some say “fun has forgotten.”
Now in its eighth year, the city’s largest independent hip-hop festival in Old Ottawa South is proving that hip hop is about more than rappers like 50-Cent. It takes place this weekend, from Aug. 3 to 7.
“Five or six years ago, that’s what the mainstream understood about hip hop,” said Sabra Ripley, founder and organizer of House of PainT.
The former Old Ottawa South resident said attitudes about hip hop are changing as socially conscious rappers like K’Naan and Shad climb the record charts and television shows like So You Think You Can Dance gain in popularity.
“In general, there is a much broader appreciation of hip hop – not as a novelty, but as an art form,” Ripley said.
That is reflected in the attendance at House of PainT, which has evolved from a one-day party with about 150 people to a five-day festival that attracts more than 2,000.
Read more on the YourOttawaRegion website: House of PainT a celebration of city’s urban culture
Savour Ottawa hosts local harvest lunch: its first public event
Harvest Table features locally grown and raised food prepared by committed chefs
[Source: Ottawa Tourism press release]
OTTAWA, August 2, 2011—Savour Ottawa will host its first ever public event, the Savour Ottawa Harvest Table, at the Parkdale Market on Sunday, August 28. Two seatings of locally grown and raised food will take place, at 12:00noon and 2:00pm, prepared by chefs who have shown a commitment to using local food. The cost is $50 (plus HST) per person for a three-course meal plus two samples of beer and/or wine and tickets are available online as of today through www.savourottawa.ca (the direct link is www.savourottawa.eventbrite.com).
“Joining Savour Ottawa has been good for my business,” says local farmer Hans Lindenmann of Trillium Meadows Red Deer & Wild Boar Farm in Vankleek Hill. “This event is another great opportunity to showcase our meats to a wider audience.”
Farmers who are contributing to the meal include:
- Trillium Meadows Red Deer & Wild Boar Farm
- Bryson Farms
- Upper Canada Heritage Meat
- Fitzroy Beef Farmers Cooperative
- Clarmell Farms
- Hall’s Apple Market
- Acer Farms
- Major Craig’s Chutneys
- …and more yet to be confirmed
Midway Magic Coming to Ottawa: Ottawa Deserves a Midway!
We’d like to share this information which was sent to us:
The magical midway experience of Lansdowne Park every August is back! Admission is free so come and visit Midway Magic at the Ottawa Baseball Stadium this August 19 to 28, 2011. Be prepared to create new midway memories with your family!
World’s Finest Shows, who provided the midway at Lansdowne Park for the last 14 years, is bringing back its midway thrills to Ottawa. All of your favorite Rides & Games are coming to an all-new event that is affordable and sure to delight visitors of all ages. Other activities will also be found on site including a petting zoo and a kid’s craft area. Weekend strolling acts will abound for your amusement.
Kids will smile and giggle at the variety of children’s rides and games and the older thrill seekers will flock to the more adventurous rides. At Midway Magic there will be 75 rides, games and carnival food available. All this presented by Canada’s largest midway provider and the only Canadian midway accredited by the Outdoor Amusement Business Association.
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