Winterlude 2012: More partners, more to discover
Skating, sliding, musical fireworks, culinary experiences and much more
[Source: NCC press release]
Canada’s Capital Region — The National Capital Commission (NCC) today unveiled the line-up of events for the 34th edition of Winterlude and the 42nd season of the Rideau Canal Skateway, the world’s largest skating rink.
The Capital’s winter celebration, will be held from February 3 to 20, 2012, and feature an array of memorable activities where the outdoors, winter sports, Canada’s diverse cultures, winter traditions and culinary arts will be at the forefront.
“For the 34th edition of Winterlude, more partners than ever have come together to offer residents and visitors the opportunity to rekindle their appreciation of Canadian winter traditions, our diversity and our artistic and scientific achievements,” explains Marie Lemay, NCC Chief Executive Officer. “The iconic Rideau Canal Skateway, the world’s largest skating rink, will be at the heart of the Capital Region’s winter celebration”.
Ms. Lemay was accompanied by Jim Watson, Mayor of the City of Ottawa; Marc Bureau, Mayor of Ville de Gatineau; and Wendy Hall, Vice-President of Account Development, Global Corporate Payments with American Express, at a news conference held today at the Fairmont Château Laurier in Ottawa.
Rideau Canal Festival announces lineup
Tony Lofaro, Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — The Rideau Canal Festival is rolling toward its fourth year, adding some new wrinkles to a midsummer festival that celebrates the canal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Borrowing a page from other local festivals, the Rideau Canal festival is this year introducing a passport offering discounts valued at $100 at all festival sites and activities, including canal bikes, walking and bicycle heritage tours, as well the adopt-a-metre-of the canal program. The passport is $20 for adults, children under 12 are admitted free to festival sites.
The festival will also have a World Heritage Stage Concert Series featuring several Ottawa-area bands at Confederation Park, one of the official festival sties. Some highlights include Fresh Beat, a house music show marking UNESCO’s International Youth Year, and Puffin Productions’ environmental storytelling and music for children, and also music honouring some of the builders of the canal.
Read more on the Ottawa Citizen website: Rideau Canal Festival announces line-up
Cruising the Rideau canal… by car: Rideau Heritage Route offers rich history, culture and countryside
JO CALVERT FOR METRO CANADA
Autumn is the perfect season for a road trip and the Rideau Heritage Route, embellished with glorious fall colours, will please everyone in the car.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the route of about 200 kilometres follows Ontario’s Rideau Canal between Ottawa and Kingston. Completed in 1832, the canal links rivers and lakes with 47 hand-cranked locks.
“This engineering marvel is something special to be celebrated,” says Jantine Van Kregten, director of communications for Ottawa Tourism, “and a real, tangible connection to our past.”
Read full story here: Cruising the Rideau canal… by car
‘A feat of human genius’
By Amira Elghawaby, The Ottawa Citizen
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’
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
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
Ottawa tourism hoping for China boom
CBC News
Ottawa’s historic Rideau Canal will soon be getting a big tourism push — in China.
Representatives from Beijing’s tourism division were in Ottawa on Monday to sign a friendship agreement that will see the canal promoted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Beijing.
Noel Buckley, the CEO of Ottawa Tourism, is excited about a tourism agreement Canada struck with China last December.
“We’re hoping that it gets signed in the very near future,” said Buckley. “We’re certain that it will. But we’re already starting to work with partners in China as we speak.”
Read more: Ottawa tourism hoping for China boom
The NCC and the Canadian Red Cross Thank Residents and Visitors for Making “Skate for Haiti” a Success
The National Capital Commission, the Canadian Red Cross and the Haitian community would like to thank residents and visitors who participated in Skate for Haiti and gave generously during the activities held on the Rideau Canal Skateway on February 5, 6 and 7, during the first weekend of Winterlude.
A total of nearly $ 13 000 was raised and will be eligible for matching by the Government of Canada. This includes $6 000 raised by the owners, management and staff of BeaverTails® concessions along the Skateway in aid of Haiti.
Canadians and visitors alike demonstrated their care and compassion for the earthquake survivors in Haiti as they enjoyed the Rideau Canal Skateway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Participants donated using the 17 contribution boxes located along the Rideau Canal Skateway, joined together in a two-kilometre human chain and created a sense of shared community, while taking in performances by Haitian artists on Saturday and Sunday.
The Skate for Haiti weekend was organized as a gesture of solidarity to raise funds and celebrate the region’s Haitian community on the beautiful Rideau Canal Skateway.
For more information about Winterlude activities, visit Winterlude.gc.ca.
The Canadian Red Cross is a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, which includes the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and 185 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. Our mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity in Canada and around the world.
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
