Festival promotes public interaction with Rideau Canal
Patrons can reflect in love affair with city landmark
By Jennifer Pagliaro, The Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA-For the third annual Rideau Canal Festival, it’s all about the love.
“This is the time to take a moment and express why they love the Rideau Canal,” says Michel Gauthier, executive director of the festival, which starts Friday.
A four-foot-tall steel heart art installation — “Love Locks,” created by Saskatoon artist Monique Martin — has been stationed just outside the Bytown Museum at the Ottawa locks at the north end of the canal.
Gauthier says organizers are inviting visitors to the scenic location to express their affection for the UNESCO World Heritage site by securing a metal padlock onto the heart.
Read more: Festival promotes public interaction with Rideau Canal
Appreciate Rideau, says festival director
Tracey Tong, Metro Ottawa
Michel Gauthier adds a padlock to artist Monique Martin’s interactive Love Locks art installation outside the Bytown Museum, which allows festival goers to express their love for the canal. (Photgraph by Tracey Tong)
In the summer, we run, cycle and walk alongside it. In the winter, we bring out the skates and go for a spin on its frozen surface.
But for the most part, people take the Rideau Canal for granted, said the executive director and founder of the Rideau Canal Festival.
While there is “a lot of love out there for the canal,” said Michel Gauthier, “People don’t understand that the Rideau Canal is in the same club as the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids of Egypt. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”
Read more: Appreciate Rideau, says festival director
Music will fill the chambers
Violinist Isabelle Faust is making her Chamberfest debut with pianist Alexander Melnikov Aug. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Dominion-Chalmers United Church.
TRACEY TONG, METRO OTTAWA
Ottawa’s classical music festival has just wrapped up, but the executive director of the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival isn’t worried about what that will mean for his festival.
“People are saying to me that you can never have too much good music,” said Glenn Hodgins.
“I think people have an appetite for great artists and the great masters of our time.”
In its 17th year, Chamberfest, which begins Saturday and runs through Aug. 7, is the biggest festival of its kind in the world, said Hodgins.
Read more: Music will fill the chambers
Rideau Canal Festival set for July 30-Aug. 2
The Ottawa Citizen
The third Rideau Canal Festival celebrating the UNESCO World Heritage Site will take place from July 30 to Aug. 2.
It includes Dancin’ on the Rideau, the World Heritage Plaza, the Rideau Canal Flotilla, the Dow’s Lake Parade of Lights and Fireworks, heritage music and events at Bytown Museum and the Rideau Heritage Village.
Read more: Rideau Canal Festival set for July 30-Aug. 2
Rideau Canal Opening for Summer Activities
Ottawa Tourism
Not many cities can boast of having a historic canal right in the heart of the city. And even fewer can boast of being able to use it year-round.
On the weekend of July 30-August 2, the third annual Rideau Canal Festival will celebrate this historic landmark in an environmentally friendly fashion.
Read more: Rideau Canal Opening for Summer Activities
Rideau Canal to be featured at Great Wall of China
Peter Kovessy, Ottawa Business Journal
The Rideau Canal will be promoted at the Great Wall of China for a week this summer as part of an agreement between Ottawa Tourism and Beijing, local officials say.
The mutual promotion deal involving the two UNESCO World Heritage sites was reached during a recent 10-day trade mission to China by local business and civic leaders.
In return, Ottawa will promote the Great Wall of China during this year’s Rideau Canal Festival, scheduled to run from July 30 to August 2.
Full article on OBJ website: Rideau Canal to be featured at Great Wall of China
Ottawa festivals and events receive more than $1.5-million in funding from Province
Funding will help Canada’s Festival Capital come to life with improved offerings.
OTTAWA – The Province has announced the recipients of 2010 Celebrate Ontario funding grants, and more than $1.5-million is being invested in festivals and events taking place in Ottawa.
Twelve Ottawa Festival members that include Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, Tim Horton’s Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival, Ottawa Folk Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Ottawa International Children’s Festival, Ottawa International Writers Festival, Rideau Canal Festival, Summer Solstice Aboriginal Arts Summer Festival, TD Canada Trust Ottawa International Jazz Festival, WESTFEST, Festival Franco-Ontarien, and Canadian Tulip Festival received funding this year.
“This is very exciting news,” says Barb Stacey, Executive Director of Ottawa Festivals, a not-for-profit organization that represents more than 50 not-for-profit festivals, special events and fairs that take place in the National Capital Region, “this represents a substantial investment in our community, especially considering that these investments are leveraged many times over through private investment, sponsorship and funding available from other levels of government.
“This investment will improve our offering to visitors and further Ottawa’s reputation as being Canada’s Festival Capital. This will help attract new visitors to our internationally renowned premier events, and our supporting events will certainly enhance the city’s many tourism and cultural attractions,” Stacey continues, “These events animate the city. They add colour, life and excitement.”
Awarded by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Celebrate Ontario funding helps communities realize the potential benefits associated with increased tourism and visitor spending. “Festivals and events are important drivers of tourism in Ontario. This support will help enhance their offerings and bring more jobs, visitors and spending to communities throughout our province,” said Michael Chan, Minister of Tourism and Culture.
2010 Top 100 Festivals and Events in Ontario Revealed During Annual Conference
This year’s Top 100 Festivals and Events in Ontario list was released this weekend at the Festivals & Events Ontario Conference held this year in Ottawa and eight Ottawa Festivals made the annual list.
Congratulations to Canadian Tulip Festival, TD Canada Trust Ottawa International Jazz Festival, Canada Day Celebrations, Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Rideau Canal Festival, Ottawa Folk Festival and Winterlude.
Below is the announcement released at the conference by FEO:
Festivals & Events Ontario (FEO) announced the Top 100 Festivals and Events in Ontario last night as part of the Association’s President’s Gala, a celebratory conclusion to its annual conference.
Sponsored by VIA Rail Canada, The Top 100 Festivals and Events in Ontario designation is presented to a select few of more than 2,000 that occur annually within the province. Among the winners were household names like the Scotiabank Caribana Festival, Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest and Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest. It also featured many smaller, festivals such as the Lanark Highlands Art of Being Green Festival, the Cobourg Sandcastle Festival and the Rideau Canal Festival. In conjunction with the Top 100, FEO also announced its 2010 Achievement Award winners. Achievement Awards acknowledge individual festival and event excellence and best practices across a broad range of categories.
The President’’s Gala is a follow up to a Welcome Reception that was held on Wednesday night. The Honourable Mr. Michael Chan, Minister of Tourism and Culture was in attendance to welcome guests and announce the 2010 Festivals and Events of Distinction. This year’’s inductees were Rogers Bayfest and the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival.
“Solicitations for submissions were issued towards the end of the previous calendar year, and an independent jury of industry peers conducted the selection process just prior to the Conference,” explains the Association’s Executive Director, Gary Masters.
According to the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, 93% of recreational travelers are seeking cultural and entertainment experiences, such as festivals and events, when they plan a vacation. Over the past two years, approximately 2,000,000 people who visited a festival or event say it was the primary reason for their vacation.
“With so many options for the festival-goers here in Ontario, it can be hard to know which festivals and events offer the most rewarding experiences. As the provincial Association for this industry, we believe it is our responsibility to set these standards and present the results to our consumers in an easily accessible and recognizable brand,” states FEO’s President, Sarah Wood.
The winners of this year’s Top 100 will be highlighted in the annual Festivals and Events in Ontario Guide distributed in both a printed and online format. A list of the 2010 winners can be found on the Association’s website, www.festivalsandeventsontario.ca.
Lansdowne Design Competition – Request for Proposals (RFP)
Maria Cook, Ottawa Citizen
The City of Ottawa has issued a request for proposals (RFP) to the five shortlisted firms for the Lansdowne Park design competition. It outlines what the City needs and wants and what the designs should include.
The types of events and activities that design proposals are expected to accommodate include but are not limited to creating a ’satellite site’ for:
- Winterlude;
- Remembrance Day ceremonies;
- Canada Day;
- Rideau Canal Festival;
- Colonel By Day;
- Parks Canada Players summer theatre program;
- Algonquin Canoe Building program;
- Jazz Festival;
- Bluesfest;
- Tulip Festival;
- National Capital marathon;
- Terry Fox Marathon;
- Other race events, charity walks, community days and cultural festivals;
- New Year’s Eve and Day celebrations;
- Winter Santa Village;
- Outdoor arts and craft shows/sales, concerts, artist day/art shows;
- Antique car shows, opening/closing ceremonies for local sports events and sports leagues; and
- The Great Glebe Garage Sale.
To accommodate larger events such as festivals and concerts, designs should include a multi-function area(s) that is durable and that can support intensive use by large numbers of people (5,000 — 10,000 people).
To read the full article, see Lansdowne design competition RFP.
Flotilla sparkles on canal
TERRI SAUNDERS, Sun Media
As part of the Rideau Canal Festival, the flotilla weaved its way along one of the world’s most famous waterways, much to the delight of spectators who lined the route in small groups all the way from the Dow’s Lake Pavilion to the National Arts Centre.
“It’s fantastic to see them all coming down the canal together like that,” said Harold Crawford, pointing to one boat whose occupants were clapping their hands and dancing a jig to some lively Celtic music coming from inside the cabin. “It looks like they’re all having a pretty good time.”
This year’s festival centered around the theme Celebrating Rideau Heritage. Recognized as the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, the canal was built in 1812 as protection from the threat of American aggression. It opened for navigation in 1832.
Over the years the canal has been awarded a number of designations. In 1925 it was made an Historic Site of Canada and in 2000 it was designated as a Canadian Heritage River. In 2007, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2008 the National Geographic Society’s Sustainable Destinations rated the waterway as second best on its “Places Rate” Destination Stewardship survey.
Full story on the Ottawa Sun website: Flotilla sparkles on canal
