Winter blues got you down? You could plan ahead to paint in Newboro next weekend, taste wine in Prince Edward County next month or join a food tour in Montreal next October. Or you could read about three Eastern Ontario entrepreneurs who have made local products the cornerstone of their businesses. I also have tips on two film festivals, as well as a trivia night to support a youth shelter.
You could spend a whole weekend painting
Spectacle in Snow: An Acrylic Wildlife Painting Weekend Workshop with Kristi Bird is an art workshop taking place at Stone Manor Studios in Newboro from February 21 to 23. It starts with a short introduction on Friday night, followed by full-day classes on Saturday and Sunday. I’ve been to this studio, inside a converted heritage carriage house, and it would be an awfully pretty spot to spend a few winter days.
Two tips for film festival fans
The Kingston Canadian Film Festival has organized an event on Saturday, March 1, featuring Canadian actor, director and producer Jay Baruchel. Kingston native and CBC radio host Elamin Abdelmahmoud will be chatting with Baruchel about hockey, Canadian film, and Jay’s latest projects Mile End Kicks, Stunt Driver, and We’re All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel). When the event was announced, it immediately sold out, so the festival has moved it to a bigger venue at the Kingston Grand Theatre. If you’re interested in going, you’ll probably want to nab a ticket to the afternoon event ASAP.
Speaking of film festivals: the schedule and tickets for the International Film Festival of Ottawa (March 12 and 13) are now available.
You can play trivia to help youth experiencing homelessness
Restoring Hope is a charity trivia fundraiser happening at the Lieutenant’s Pump on Elgin Street on Thursday, February 27. You can organize your own team or just come on your own and be placed with a team. Money raised will support a local shelter for youth experiencing homelessness. The video above tells more of the project’s story. (The usual disclosure: My husband is providing the questions for this trivia night via his Ottawa Trivia League.)
Exclusive culinary tour of Montreal is open to just 10 guests
Are you celebrating a big occasion? Focusing your travels in Canada? Or dreaming of becoming a food writer? Well, here’s a very cool-looking option to consider: a posh five-day culinary adventure in Montreal with food writer Amy Rosen and travel writer Jenn Smith Nelson. The luxurious Finisterra Travel itinerary includes accommodations at the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Hotel, food-writing workshops, guided tastings, multi-course dinners at some of the city’s top restaurants, a relaxing stop at the Bota Bota floating spa and more. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.
Tickets are available for a March PEC wine festival
Élevage is a weekend wine festival in Prince Edward County taking place on March 8 and 9. A $50 (plus fees and taxes) passport gets you five tastings at different wineries plus one “elevated experience” of your choice. An “elevated experience” could be a chance to chat with a winemaker or tour a cellar, for example, and spaces for those are limited.
My latest OBJ story delves more deeply into shopping locally
If you enjoyed my big list of places to buy locally made products (which I’m still expanding, by the way), then you might also like my latest Regional Roadtrips column for the Ottawa Business Journal. I interviewed three shop owners in Smiths Falls, Merrickville and Almonte to find out how the tariff uncertainty is affecting them and why they think we should all be shopping more locally.
Looking for more tips on things to see and do in and around Ottawa? Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter or order a copy of my book, Ottawa Road Trips: Your 100-km Getaway Guide.
As the owner of Ottawa Road Trips, I acknowledge that I live on, work in and travel through the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Nation. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be present on this land. Ottawa Road Trips supports Water First, a non-profit organization that helps address water challenges in Indigenous communities in Canada through education, training and meaningful collaboration.
