The BreakFest Blog

News about Ottawa Festivals and our Member festivals, special events and fairs.

Simpson: Aiming to grow the fest

January 30, 2012 · Filed Under Blog, Festivals and Events · Comment

Peter Simpson, Ottawa Citizen

The running start of last year’s inaugural festival was enough to convince organizers the demand was there.

“We were flying by the seat of our pants last year,” O’Meara says. “We didn’t have any funding, but we managed to put together a very successful festival … We ended up having more than 1,000 people come out to the festival, even with the short time we had to plan it. This year we’ve had a full year and we’ve had lots of time to plan it and go big.”

All-Star game gives Ottawa a chance to shine

January 28, 2012 · Filed Under Blog, Festivals and Events, Industry · Comment

Rebecca Lindell, Global News

Ottawa is the host city for the 2012 NHL All-Star Game, the league’s annual showcase of talent pitting NHL heroes against each other in a game for fun.

The game will be televised in 150 countries and with such bright stars on home ice, it gives Ottawa a chance to shine.

“It’s a big spotlight for the city of Ottawa,” said Cyril Leeder, president of the Ottawa Senators.

The events around the All-Star game have been designed to take advantage of one of Ottawa’s unavoidable characteristics.

Read it on Global News: All-Star game gives Ottawa a chance to shine

Ottawa Mayor wants big bang on Canada’s 150th birthday

January 28, 2012 · Filed Under Blog, Community, Festivals and Events · Comment

Postmedia News

Canada Day festivities in 2017 should be turned into a weeklong “Canadian Cultural Festival,” says Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.

The city should work with the National Arts Centre, National Capital Commission, provincial and territorial governments and the private sector to create the event between June 25 and July 1 in the year of Canada’s 150th birthday, Watson said in prepared remarks to an Ottawa Kiwanis Club luncheon.

Full story at Canada.com Ottawa Mayor wants big bang on Canada’s 150th birthday

WinterBeerFest rolls into town

January 19, 2012 · Filed Under Blog, Festivals and Events · Comment

Ron Eade, Ottawa Citizen

Winter ales from Quebec will be toasted Friday and Saturday at the Château Cartier in Gatineau as organizers roll out their first WinterBeerFest, offering a mix of artisan beer, food, music and activities – complete with bonfire to stave off the cold.

Admission is free, but participants must be age 18 and over.

Beer tastings will be available in four-and eight-ounce pours. Tickets at 50¢ each will be required to sample (four tickets for the small size, eight for the eight-ounce serving).

Read more on the Ottawa Citizen website: WinterBeerFest rolls into town

Music Winterfest starts January 21

January 9, 2012 · Filed Under Blog, Festivals and Events · Comment

The Canadian

Brought to you by CKCU-FM, Canada’s first campus-based community radio station, Winter Fest is an all-day festival of music featuring live performances from various established, and up-and-coming recording artists, live visual art performed on location, a DJ battle featuring some of Ottawa’s (and Canada’s) hottest on the one’s and two’s, artist and management workshops with established recording artists and industry leaders, various fundraising activities, and much, much more!

Read the full article: Music Winterfest starts January 21

Nuit Blanche Ottawa appoints curator, makes big steps towards Sept. 22 debut

January 6, 2012 · Filed Under Blog, Festivals and Events · Comment

Peter Simpson, The Ottawa Citizen

Don’t expect Nuit Blanche Ottawa to be Nuit Blanche Toronto, says the newly appointed curator of the annual, one-night festival of contemporary art, to be held in the capital for the first time later this year.

“As a curator I’m not really interested in doing these sensational projects that cost a lot of money, that are really more show than content,” says Stefan St-Laurent, who has been appointed curator of Nuit Blanche Ottawa 2012, to be held Sept. 22.

Nuit Blanche events in other cities, especially Toronto, are perhaps best known for large, richly funded works of art that make use of, for example, the CN Tower, or the space between the twin towers of Toronto’s city hall. The installations are usually commissioned with the hundreds of thousands of dollars given to the festival each year by the City of Toronto or the event’s major sponsor, Scotiabank.

“There will be some works that utilize spectacle as part of its message,” says St-Laurent, who left his job as curator of SAW Gallery last year to focus on freelance curating and creating his own art, “but in general I don’t think it’s very healthy for people to have that expectation of art, that it has to be spectacular, sensational, big, bright, expensive. I think it gives a very skewed view of what the visual arts are like today.”

Great foodie gift idea: tickets to Bon Appetit Ottawa!

December 16, 2011 · Filed Under Blog, Festivals and Events, Interesting, Ottawa · Comment

Buy your tickets by December 20 and have a chance at a $500 jewellery gift certificate

[Source: Bon Appetit press release]

OTTAWA, December 14, 2010—Tickets to Bon Appetit Ottawa, the best cocktail party of the year, make an excellent holiday gift, and if you buy before December 20, 2011, you’ll have a chance to win a $500 gift certificate from Davidson’s Jewellers.

Tickets are just $75 each (including a $45 tax receipt for the giver) and can be purchased online at www.bonappetitottawa.ca. A ticket entitles the attendee to all food and beverages during the annual Bon Appetit Ottawa event on May 1, 2011. New this year, the event will be held at the soon-to-open CE Centre near the Ottawa International Airport.

The new location for the event comes with several improvements in service, including an indoor waiting area, coat check facilities, modern washroom facilities, fully functioning air conditioning/heating, and improved loading and unloading access for participating businesses.

2012 Bell Capital Cup to Welcome 25,000 Visitors to National Capital Region

December 16, 2011 · Filed Under Blog, Festivals and Events · Comment

The board of directors of the Ottawa International Hockey Festival is pleased to announce that the Bell Capital Cup will return to the nation’s capital on Dec. 28. The 2012 edition of this annual atom and peewee tournament will include 19 divisions, 410 teams and more than 7,000 players. This 13th edition of the event, which runs through Sunday, Jan. 1, will officially kick off on Dec. 27 at the Bell Sensplex with the Bell Capital Cup Fanfest and Esso Friendly Games, which are open to the public.

“On behalf of the organizing committee and our board of directors, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the tournament organizers and volunteers who have been working hard to provide the participants and their families with an unforgettable experience in our nation’s capital,” said tournament chair and Ottawa Senators president Cyril Leeder. “This hockey extravaganza will showcase great minor hockey action, Ottawa Senators games, Sens Skills, a Senators open practice, Pro Hockey Zone skills competitions and the Scotiabank/Canadian Tire all-star games. As always, the highlight of the festival will be the 1,000-plus hours of tournament games played at the Bell Capital Cup.”

The National Capital Region will welcome more than 25,000 visitors to the area for the annual tournament, with a community impact that has seen the festival raise more than $2.26 million in direct support of minor hockey and local charities since its inception in 1999. Widely recognized as the world’s premier atom and peewee hockey tournament, the Bell Capital Cup has consistently generated a wide array of economic activity within the region, which will include the use of nearly 12,000 hotel rooms for this year’s event.

Serving as honorary chair of this year’s tournament is former Senators forward and Kanata native Todd White.

Teams at the 2012 Bell Capital Cup will be vying for the Allen J. MacDonald Memorial Trophy. This year’s field will be comprised of teams from five different countries, including Canada (three provinces and one territory), Finland, Germany, South Korea and the United States (with representation from nine individual states).

The Senators will play two games at Scotiabank Place during the tournament, beginning with a visit by the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 7:30 p.m., followed by a matchup with the Calgary Flames on Friday, Dec. 30, at 7:30 p.m. The tournament will also be highlighted by the fan-friendly Sens Skills competition, presented by Metro, which will take place at Scotiabank Place on Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 1 p.m.

The Bell Capital Cup’s 19 divisions, including two girls groups, will play more than 850 games on 33 ice surfaces across Ottawa, from Stittsville to Navan and points in between. Each division’s championship game will be played at Scotiabank Place over the course of three days, from Friday, Dec. 30, to Sunday, Jan. 1. Scotiabank-Canadian Tire all-star games are slated for Dec. 28 in all divisions, with the Pro Hockey Zone skills competitions taking place on Dec. 29 and 30.

The Ottawa International Hockey Festival is a non-profit organization with the mandate, as set forth by its volunteer board of directors, to support local children’s charities and minor hockey. The Bell Capital Cup provides young athletes with an opportunity to compete against their peers at a high level, meet new friends and develop skills both on and off the ice in a fun yet competitive setting. Money raised from this year’s tournament will once again support minor hockey and local charities. Last year, $259,000 was raised through Bell Capital Cup initiatives, bringing the 12-year total for the festival to more than $2.26 million.

A Company of Fools Theatre Upcoming Events

December 14, 2011 · Filed Under Blog, Community, Festivals and Events, Interesting, Ottawa · Comment

[Source: A Company of Fools]

Twelfth Night Celebration
January 5th, 2012 7:30 pm
Fourth Stage of the NAC
53 Elgin Street
Ottawa, ON K1P 5W1
Tickets available now at the NAC Box Office
Produced by A Company of Fools Theatre
www.Fools.ca
613.421.2720

Every year A Company of Fools Theatre says good bye to Christmas and celebrates the beginning of a new year of Fool-ish fun with a Twelfth Night Celebration. Mirth and mayhem abound as the Fools play with Shakespeare’s classic comedy, Twelfth Night: or What You Will, scenes from audience favourites and more than a little improv! The result is always the same: hilarity! There is food, feasting and frolic; the new King, or Queen of the Fools is crowned and the New Season is announced.

Come join the Fools for an evening of fun, fundraising and the launch of a new Fool-ish year!

Hundreds of thousands of Christmas lights to brighten Canada’s Capital Region

December 2, 2011 · Filed Under Blog, Community, Festivals and Events, Interesting, Ottawa · Comment

[Source: NCC press release]

Magical evening will officially kick off the holiday season

Canada’s Capital Region ─ The National Capital Commission (NCC), in collaboration with Manulife Financial, is pleased to invite members of the public and of the media to the launch of the 27th edition of the Christmas Lights Across Canada program. The official illumination ceremony will take place on Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 6 pm on Parliament Hill.

Russell Mills, Chair of the NCC, Marie Lemay, Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, and Donald Guloien, President and Chief Executive Officer of Manulife Financial, will be joined by special guests as they officially switch on the thousands of light bulbs that will illuminate Parliament Hill as well as many institutions, monuments, and other prominent landmarks located along Confederation Boulevard, in the heart of Canada’s Capital Region.

An important national component of the Christmas Lights Across Canada program: many provincial and territorial capitals are also holding their own lighting ceremonies.

“The NCC is proud to work in collaboration with all the provinces and territories to bring their holiday messages to Canadians,” said Marie Lemay, Chief Executive Officer of the NCC. “This link of lights is a symbol of peace, respect, and hope.”