Festival Updates and News
News about Ottawa Festivals and our Member festivals, special events and fairs.
Taste of Winterlude will tickle your taste buds
PAULINE ANDERSON / METRO OTTAWA
Photo courtesy of the NCC
Taste of Winterlude features some of the best cuisine that Ottawa and the Gatineau region has to offer.
You can sample cuisine at some of the area’s top restaurants and venues, learn new cooking techniques from local chefs, and tour local restaurants or shops with top chefs or sommeliers as your guide.
Full story on the Metro Ottawa website: Taste of Winterlude
Smoking ban may hurt Pride attendance: officials
STEVE COLLINS, METRO OTTAWA
Organizers of this year’s Capital Pride festival are worried a proposed ban on smoking outdoors on city property could crimp attendance at the annual celebration held at Marion Dewar Plaza.
Capital Pride Committee Chair Loresa Novy said the expanded smoking bylaw, which could be in place by spring, could have a disproportionate effect on Ottawa’s LBGT community.
“We do have a higher population of smokers within the LGBT population,” she said, “And we’re worried that they won’t attend the festival due to the smoking bylaw.”
Full Story at Smoking ban may hurt Pride attendance
Esperanza Spalding playing Ottawa Jazz Festival
By Peter Hum, The Ottawa Citizen
Photo courtesy of The Ottawa Citizen, by John Major
Bassist singer Esperanza Spalding, who notoriously bested Justin Bieber at the 2011 Grammy Awards, will play the Ottawa Jazz Festival in June.
Spalding, who won the best new artist Grammy last year, will play the Ottawa festival on June 27, her record label, the Concord Group, announced Tuesday. The label did not state which stage Spalding will appear on.
More on the Ottawa Citizen website: Esperanza Spalding playing Ottawa Jazz Festival
NCC diversifies Winterlude, making it less dependent on cold weather
Mark Brownlee, The Ottawa Citizen
Photo courtesy Ottawa Citizen, by Pat McGrath
Unpredictable February weather will force Winterlude to focus less on its winter theme in the years to come, organizers say of the festival that has traditionally drawn tourists by celebrating Canada’s cold climate.
Fluctuating temperatures have wreaked havoc on the event in the past few years. Temperatures went as high as 10 C on the Friday before the last weekend of the 2011 edition, forcing organizers to change some marquee events such as the ice sculpture competition and to temporarily close the Rideau Canal to skating.
The event’s organizer, the federally-funded National Capital Commission, has already moved to diversify its lineup from such traditional winter-themed activities to those not dependent on weather. This year’s events include a jazz festival in Confederation Park and a beer and ice wine festival in Gatineau.
Full story on the Ottawa Citizen Website: NCC diversifies Winterlude, making it less dependent on cold weather
Putting the blues in the festival
Chris Cobb, Ottawa Citizen
Photo courtesy Jean Levac, The Ottawa Citizen
It felt like a true blues festival.
The near-capacity crowd crammed in front of the Subway stage soaked up the brilliance of Buddy Guy and his band with something close to reverence.
Guy introduced himself with two searing guitar solos as if to say, “Here I am folks and this is just a taste of what’s to come.”
Full story: Putting the blues in the festival
Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest festival hums a wireless tune
Howard Solomon, Network World
Fans attending a music festival in the national capital this month won’t be singing the blues as they use their wireless devices during concerts. Rather, Cisco Systems Inc. hopes, they’ll be singing praises over the wireless network the company has set up.
The lead sponsor of the annual 12 day Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, which began Tuesday, has for the first time set up a Wi-Fi network blanketing the one-square kilometre festival grounds so the expected 250,000 attendees can set up concert schedules, find bios of their favourite artists, tweet friends and upload photos to social network sites.
The networking equipment manufacture has also set up a separate wired network linking seven of the company’s large flat panel monitors set up around the park where the festival is being held where festival updates can be flashed along side live concert feeds.
It’s partly a display of the company’s prowess in a city where Cisco has a research lab, good publicity for the outdoor wireless and digital media products its sells, and it helps generate vibe for the festival.
Full story is available on the itWorldCanada website: Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest hums a wireless tune
11 days, 72 concerts: Second annual festival ranges from Bach and Schumann to songs by Randy Newman
Steven Mazey, Ottawa Citizen
Over 11 days and 72 concerts, you can hear Bach and Beethoven, Handel and Randy Newman, ancient music and music that’s fresh from the composers’ pens.
The second annual Music and Beyond classical music festival, running tonight to July 17, will bring together Christopher Plummer and Shakespeare, Trevor Pinnock and Bach, pianist Menahem Pressler and a Brahms quintet that he’s loved for more than 70 years.
“It’s been a really fun event to put together,” Armour says.
“I love music but I also love creating links with people who come from other worlds, and making some new connections for audiences.”
Full article and festival preview: 11 days, 72 concerts
So much more than music
Janice Thiessen, EMC
Photo courtesy of EMC
The Ottawa Folk Festival is soon to kick off so what better time than now to spot light it’s founding sponsor the Ottawa Folklore Centre.
Many people in the community may have taken lessons from the centre or know musicians who became success stories from talents learned from within their walls, but who really knows the back-story?
Full story: So much more than music
HogsBack Brewing Company proud sponsor of Capital Pride
EMC News
Ottawa’s most colourful festival, Capital Pride is proud to announce a new partnership with HogsBack Brewing Company, naming HogsBack as the official beer sponsor of the Capital Pride Festival events this August 19 – 28, 2011.
“The Capital Pride Committee is pleased this year to announce that Hogsback Brewing Company will serve as the official beer sponsor for the Capital Pride Festival,” said Doug Saunders-Riggins, Chair of Capital Pride.
“We are looking forward to developing a long partnership with Hogsback Brewing Company.
It is important to the Capital Pride Board of Directors that we work with businesses and organizations that are founded in and serve the National Capital Region.”
Full article: HogsBack Brewing Company proud sponsor of Capital Pride
Bluesfest opens Tuesday with redesigned site
Tony Lofaro, The Ottawa Citizen
Two Ottawa Bluesfest stages are being repositioned in a newly-configured layout of the festival site that will give concert-goers a better view, more room to move around and provide better safety, said the festival’s executive director Monday.
The MBNA Stage and the Claridge Stage are now side-by-side at the west end of LeBreton Flats, facing toward the Canadian War Museum. The MBNA Stage, which features the festival’s headliners, was previously located at the east end of the park, while the Claridge Stage is also being flipped to the west side of the park.
The repositioning means concert-goers will now be able enjoy the full width of the park and won’t be jammed into a narrow area in front of the main stage, said executive director Mark Monahan.
Full story at the Ottawa Citizen online: Bluesfest opens Tuesday with redesigned site
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