Rideau Canal Festival founder Michel Gauthier stands by the statue of Lt.-Col. John By in Major’s Hill Park. Visitors can also see the foundation of By’s house in the park.

Without this man, Ottawa would not have existed.

Over the long weekend, thousands of people celebrated the greatest accomplishment of an English military engineer who is now known as the city’s founding father.

A statue of Lt.-Col. John By looks over his canal from its place in Major’s Hill Park. And yesterday marked the first permanent annual Colonel By Day in Ottawa.

Yet, By died disgraced in 1836, having been accused of overspending his budget on the building of the canal, said the founder of the Rideau Canal Festival.

Read more: By built it … and everyone came

The Rideau Canal was a marvel of engineering, but Lt.-Col. John By never received the accolades due to him and died ‘heartbroken,’ writes Amira Elghawaby.

The statue of Lt.-Col. John By in Major’s Hill Park overlooks the canal he designed and engineered in 1826 and finished in 1832. Lt.-Col. John By never received the accolades due to him and died ‘heartbroken,’ writes Amira Elghawaby. Ottawans celebrate Colonel By Day Aug. 2, 2010.

Photograph by: John Major, The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — Lt.-Col. John By’s statue stands triumphant in Major’s Hill Park, overlooking the canal he designed and engineered in 1826 and which would lead to the founding of a settlement called Bytown and later, Ottawa.

But the royal engineer was anything but triumphant when he was called back to England upon completion of the canal in 1832, disgraced because he’d gone over-budget without authorization. Though By did report regularly to those holding the purse strings in England, costs climbed as he overcame spring floods, hard-rock excavation work, and the scourge of malaria in constructing a canal through a 202-kilometre tract of forested wilderness, explains historian Robert Passfield, author of Building the Rideau Canal: A Pictorial History.

It also happened to be one of the most ambitious canal projects in the world.

Read more: ‘A feat of human genius’

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

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

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

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

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

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 – 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.