Looking for something to liven up the grey days of January? Why not sign up for a snowshoeing race in Morrisburg or a blanket-making workshop in Wakefield? This is also a good time to get your tickets for the Canadian Culinary Championship before they sell out, or to check out some award-winning heritage buildings in Ottawa. And if your travels later this winter will involve a trip to Ottawa’s airport, you might be interested to learn that a new hotel attached directly to the terminal is scheduled to open in March. Read on for details!
You can race through Upper Canada Village on snowshoes
Grab your headlamp and bring your snowshoes! The Dion Ignite the Night Snowshoe Race takes place at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg on Saturday, January 17, with 5K and 10K routes. Even though Alight at Night will officially be over, the village’s million-light display will be switched on for the race. This is a fundraiser for the Winchester District Memorial Hospital Foundation’s Family Care Fund. The registration fee is $45 and you must register by 11:59pm on Thursday, January 15; no race-day registrations will be available. (Ignore the date on the video above; it was made to promote the 2023 race.)
Alt Hotel is opening soon at Ottawa International Airport
Planning a long-distance road trip and dealing with a crack-of-dawn flight? Then you might be interested to learn that the Alt Hotel Ottawa Airport is due to open in February. The 178-room hotel features a 24-hour gym, a lobby restaurant with an Italian pizza oven, and workspaces where you can answer that one last email before hopping on your flight. The hotel is directly connected to the terminal, so you won’t even have to get your feet wet.
Culinary competition tickets are available now
The Canadian Culinary Championship is usually one of the more popular tickets on Ottawa’s winter calendar, so if you’d like to attend the event this year (taking place on January 30 and 31), now might be the time to grab your spot. The events at the Rogers Centre and La Cité draw professional chefs from across the country, who compete in mystery wine, black box and grand finale challenges. Come cheer for Ottawa’s chef, Jason Sawision of Stofa!
You can learn to make soap in Carleton Place or chunky blankets in Wakefield
Are you the impatient type? Then you can learn to make a whole blanket in an evening during a chunky blanket workshop at the Wakefield Mill Inn and Spa in Wakefield on Wednesday, January 21.
Planning ahead for a late-winter outing? Debbie Gervais of Sunflower Soaps is running a 2.5-hour, hands-on workshop on soap making in Carleton Place on Saturday, March 14. All participants will leave with two or three soaps in the scent of their choice.
Ottawa gives out heritage awards
Attention, architecture lovers: The City of Ottawa has announced its 2025 Heritage Awards. The prizewinning projects include a Victorian home in New Edinburgh, infill projects in Old Ottawa South and Centretown, at the new pavilion at Westboro Beach. Might be fun inspiration for an in-town road trip (although the beach will be pretty blustery right now!).
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.