- New winter hop-on/hop-off bus tours of Ottawa are available through April 30, 2023 (including special Christmas lights tours) thanks to the vintage heated trolleys of Cobblestone Tours. cobblestoneottawa.ca
- Ottawa’s new dedicated indoor roller skating rink called 4Wheelies opens in February 2023 in a section of the Ottawa Citizen building in the west end. instagram.com/4wheeliesottawa
- Ottawa success story Escape Manor has opened escape room locations in Australia and Saskatchewan (as well as Toronto and Hamilton) and now plans to open a new flagship headquarters location on Elgin Street in early 2023. escapemanor.com/ottawa
Updated December 2022
Scroll below for a sense of what’s new in Ottawa or download an exhaustive list.
If you have questions, please reach out to Jantine Van Kregten, Director of Communications at Ottawa Tourism, at press@ottawatourism.ca
In this issue:
Trolley tours, roller-skating rinks, and escape rooms
From Santa to ice skating: winter fun in Ottawa
- The European-style Ottawa Christmas Market, featuring local crafts, delicious baked goods, and other treats, returns to Lansdowne Park Fridays to Sundays between November 25 and December 18, 2022 as well as Tuesday through Friday, December 20-23, 2022. ottawachristmasmarket.com
- A new forest ice skating trail called Icelynd will return as of January 3, 2023, after debuting in the far west end of Ottawa in January 2022. Co-owned by Chris Neil, a popular former Ottawa Senators hockey player, the site also boasts an outdoor hockey rink. icelynd.com
- Just outside Wakefield, Québec (about a half-hour drive north of Ottawa), Eco-Odyssey offers an outdoor ice skating experience through a maze! eco-odyssee.ca/en/skating
- Every winter, about 100km (62 miles) of groomed cross-country ski tracks and snowshoeing / walking / winter biking trails are maintained in urban locations to the east, south, and west of downtown Ottawa. Collectively, they are known as the Urban Winter Trails Alliance and they offer amazing FREE! access. facebook.com/UWTA.ASHU
- The world’s longest snowmobile bridge, at 487 metres (1,600 feet), links Ottawa to the Outaouais region of Québec over a former railway bridge in the far northwest corner of Ottawa near Kinburn. The bridge connects trails that have been built by the Pontiac Snowmobile Drivers Association on the Québec side and West Carleton Snowmobile Trails Association (WCSTA) in Ontario. wcstai.com
- There’s a new name for the popular Christmas Lights Across Canada program: Winter Lights Across Canada lights up Confederation Boulevard and major buildings in downtown Ottawa and Gatineau and includes a continuous-loop animated projection on Parliament Hill from December 8, 2022 to January 8, 2023. A nationally broadcast TV show, Illumination, airs on December 21, 2022. canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/winter-lights.html
- From February 3 to 20, 2023, Ottawa-Gatineau’s huge FREE! celebration of winter, Winterlude, marks its 45th edition. canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/winterlude.html
- One of the most popular Winterlude events—the BeaverTails Ottawa Ice Dragon Boat Festival (pictured above)—returns with spirited group competitions February 3-4, 2023, while the first-ever IDB1 World Championships (single-person ice dragon boat races) take place at TD Place Arena February 11-12, 2023, and a concert series rocks out the venerable Rainbow Bistro in the ByWard Market neighbourhood February 3-20, 2023. icedragonboat.ca
- Fans of curling won’t want to miss the 2023 World Men’s Curling Championship April 1-9, 2023 at TD Place in Ottawa’s popular Glebe neighbourhood.
Bon appétit! What’s new in food and drink?
- The Canadian Culinary Championships—a series of 11 regional cooking competitions held across Canada with the winning chefs coming together in a two-day competition to crown a national champion—were first held in Ottawa in 2020 and are set to return February 1-4, 2023! greatkitchenparty.com/ca/culinary-championships
- Classic Italian cuisine gets a modern-meets-retro boost at Retro Gusto, which opened in August 2022 on Preston Street, Ottawa’s Little Italy. instagram.com/retrogusto.ottawa
- Chinese fine dining options in Ottawa have expanded with the opening of Peking Duck (affiliated with the Quanjude restaurant chain, which dates back as far as 1864 in Beijing) at 90 George Street in the ByWard Market neighbourhood. pekingduck.ca
- Since May 2022, Stolen Goods Cocktail Bar has taken Sparks Street by storm with its inventive cocktails and late-night, bar-staff-friendly menu. It is also a member of the Ontario Living Wage Network. stolengoodscocktailbar.com
- Dairy Distillery—located in the small town of Almonte, a 30-minute drive west of Ottawa—is rightly famous for its Vodkow vodka, created from a waste product of milk production called permeate. Flavoured cream liqueurs (in vanilla, chocolate, maple, coffee, and “creamsicle” flavours) followed, and in late 2022 they’ve expanded to include an eggnog flavour in time for the holidays! dairydistillery.com
- A new live music venue opened in February 2022 in the Old Ottawa South neighbourhood. Red Bird also offers music lessons, coffee, craft beer, and Italian finger foods. redbirdlive.ca
- The Vanier Sugar Shack suffered a devastating fire in summer 2020 but the community rallied to rebuild this small temple of maple syrup production just a few kilometres east of downtown Ottawa, with a completion date of fall 2022. museoparc.ca/vanier-sugar-shack
- The Metcalfe Hotel in downtown Ottawa reopened in September 2022 as the first Ontario property in the Québec-based Gray Collection. Stephen LaSalle, former chef at The Albion Rooms and then feast + revel, is the inaugural chef at The Metcalfe’s new restaurant called Cocotte Bistro (pictured above). themetcalfehotel.com
Focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion
- A new Indigenous attraction in Ottawa opened in October 2021. Mādahòkì Farm (meaning “share the land” in Algonquin Anishinaabe) is a new agritourism venture by Indigenous Experiences, which operates at the Canadian Museum of History. This new endeavour is a safe space where Indigenous communities can reconnect with the land through both healing and wellness programs and social enterprise opportunities, including a year-round Indigenous Marketplace, and the permanent home for eight endangered Ojibwe spirit horses. madahoki.ca
- The location also hosts special events, including a FREE! festival to celebrate each season: Pibòn (winter) Festival in December; Sìgwan (spring) Festival in March, the Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival (pictured above) in June summersolsticefestivals.ca; and Tagwàgi (autumn) Festival in September/October.
- Online retailer of Indigenous fashion and foodstuffs Ondarez Clothing and Goods opened a bricks-and-mortar coffee shop (with additional Indigenous goods for sale) called Beandigen Café at Lansdowne in the Glebe neighbourhood in October 2021. instagram.com/beandigencafe
- A new Indigenous store called Adaawewigamig (“place of trade/selling” in Anishinaabemowin) opened within the ByWard Market Building just before the summer solstice in June 2022. This social enterprise led by the Assembly of 7 Generations is an exciting addition to the retail scene! instagram.com/adaawewigamig
- Makatew Workshops has offered hands-on Indigenous craft workshops for groups in Ottawa since 2019; in September 2022, it moved to a large space in the quaint village of Carp in Ottawa’s west end. Watch for programming from Makatew and other Indigenous makers to roll out in the coming months offering workshops from medicine bags, beading, hand-drums and more. makatew.ca (website being updated soon)
- A new plaque was unveiled outside 61 Sparks Street in Ottawa on September 30, 2022 (the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation) to commemorate Dr. Peter Bryce, a former Chief Medical Officer of Health who wrote a scathing indictment of Canada’s residential school system back in 1922. cbc.ca/news/ politics/peter-bryce-plaque-ottawa-national-truth-reconciliation-1.6599608
- Visit Afrotechture in the ByWard Market Building to discover crafts, jewellery, clothing, housewares, and more from Black artists and makers from across Canada. afrotechture.com
- In June 2022, the Ottawa Trans Library opened a storefront at in the hip Wellington West neighbourhood. It houses a collection of books by trans authors, as well as works on trans issues and people, and operates as a safe space to gather and meet new people. ottawatranslibrary.ca
- A beautiful lookout site located behind the National Gallery of Canada, formerly known as Nepean Point, has been renamed Kìwekì Point (meaning “returning to one’s homeland” in Algonquin). After extensive rehabilitation and upgrades, it reopens to the public in summer 2023, accessible via a new pedestrian bridge from Major’s Hill Park named Pìdàban Bridge (meaning “dawn”). ncc-ccn.gc.ca/projects/nepean-point-redevelopment
- September 2021 saw the opening of Pangishimo Park, a new space located on Chaudière Island behind the Canadian War Museum, along the Ottawa River. Meaning “sunset” in Algonquin, the park was developed in close collaboration with Algonquin partners. ncc-ccn.gc.ca/places/pangishimo-park
- A second nearby park, called Tesasini—meaning flat rock in Algonquin—will open in spring 2023, featuring exposed bedrock shelves on the north shore of the Ottawa River, and will offer informal access when water levels are low. It also includes a universally accessible pathway above the 100-year flood plain, with two year-round lookout rest stops. A third park, Mòkaham (meaning sunrise in Algonquin), will follow on the eastern end of Chaudière Island. zibi.ca/tesasini-park-new-addition-to-the-ottawa-river-shoreline-experience
- The Prince of Wales Bridge across the Ottawa River is being rehabilitated from a former interprovincial railway bridge to a new cycling and pedestrian connection linking Ottawa to Gatineau, Québec. To be renamed Chief William Commanda Bridge—after a local Algonquin leader who dedicated his life to building bridges between nations—it should be unveiled in spring 2023. ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/ public-engagement/projects/chief-william-commanda-bridge-multi-use-pathway-and
- The Masters Indigenous Games, which attracts more than 1,500 adult Indigenous athletes competing in 10 contemporary and traditional sport categories, take place August 24-27, 2023. A free cultural festival at Lansdowne Park is also part of the action! iswo.ca/masters-indigenous-games
From the vaults: what’s on at museums
- Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition, an immersive exhibition on the paintings from the Sistine Chapel, is on display at the EY Centre December 9, 2022-January 22, 2023. chapelsistine.com/exhibits/ottawa
- The Diefenbunker, Canada’s Cold War Museum (pictured above)—located a 30-minute drive west of downtown Ottawa in the former village of Carp—introduced a new experience in its iconic Blast Tunnel on August 31, 2022: audio and visual effects to draw visitors into the atmosphere of the Cold War and highlight the reason behind the site’s existence. diefenbunker.ca/en
- In addition, until February 15, 2023, the museum presents Justin Case: The Enemy Within. Through a multi-layered installation and a series of reinvented propaganda posters, Ottawa-based artist Christos Pantieras addresses the hidden and “underground” nature of homosexuality in Canada over a period that began in the 1950s during the Cold War and continued up until the mid-1990s. diefenbunker.ca/artist-in-residence
- A new permanent exhibition called Aquaculture: Farming the Waters opened in September 2022 at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum. It invites people on a journey to discover how Canadian farmers produce seafood—not only on Canada’s coasts, but across the country—and to learn about the many species of fish, shellfish, and seaweed raised on Canadian farms. ingeniumcanada.org/ agriculture/exhibitions/aquaculture-farming-the-waters
- At the Canadian Museum of Nature, discover how species—including humankind—have adapted to their cold environments at the Planet Ice: Mysteries of the Ice Ages exhibition (until January 8, 2023). nature.ca
- Download an augmented-reality app called Planet Ice AR (App Store or Google Play), then use your smartphone to include ice-age animals in the photos you take around town. A mammoth on Parliament Hill, ice-age cats in the ByWard Market, or a muskox roaming Sparks Street? It’s possible! planeticear.com
- Meanwhile, Nunavik: The Great Land runs through October 14, 2024, showcasing Nunavik in all its beauty through the eyes of Indigenous artists. Nunavik includes 14 villages along the coasts of northern Québec and is home to more than 10,000 Inuit, 60% of whom are younger than 30. nature.ca/en/visit-us/whats-on/listing/our-land-our-art
- Visit the FREE! Ottawa Art Gallery to see Don Kwan: Landscape, Love and Legacy (until January 23, 2023). This queer third-generation Chinese-Canadian artist’s work explores place, identity, representation, and family memory across time. Meanwhile, A Family Palette runs until February 5, 2023 and looks at the works of Frances-Anne Johnston, in conjunction with her father Franz Johnston—a founding member of the Group of Seven—and her artist husband, Franklin Arbuckle. oaggao.ca
- At the National Gallery of Canada, Movement: Expressive Bodies in Art celebrates the expressive energy of the human body, from 17th century prints to contemporary performance, paintings, photographs, and videos (until February 26, 2023). gallery.ca
- From Pepinot to Paw Patrol: Television of Our Childhoods runs to September 1, 2023 at the Canadian Museum of History, tracing 70 years of Canadian children and youth TV programming. historymuseum.ca/event/from-pepinot-to-paw-patrol
- The Canadian Children’s Museum, located within the Canadian Museum of History, reopened in May 2022 after more than two years of closure. Timed tickets are necessary and there are capacity limits but the best experiences of its theme of worldwide exploration are available. historymuseum.ca/ visit/childrens-museum
- And until January 8, 2023, catch Autumn Peltier, Indigenous Water Protector, and learn more about this impressive young woman from Wiikwemikoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island who is known for her international advocacy for clean water rights. historymuseum.ca/event/autumn-peltier
- Liberation! Canada and the Netherlands, 1944-1945 has been extended to May 28, 2023 at the Canadian War Museum and A Community at War – The Military Service of Black Canadians of the Niagara Region, which highlights the service of Black soldiers from the American Revolution to today, runs until March 19, 2023. Meanwhile, until March 19, 2023, Munnings War Artist, 1918 highlights the works of a renowned painter of horses during World War I. warmuseum.ca
