Whether you’re looking for savings on tickets to a popular Ottawa house tour, an all-day paranormal investigation at an Eastern Ontario museum, a posh dinner at the Canadian Museum of History or a free shuttle to Gatineau Park, this week’s Heads Up post has the scoop. You’ll also find out about a soup fundraiser, a chocolate show and the top trending destinations for Canadians venturing abroad. Let’s go!
Events
- The tickets aren’t cheap, but the cause is a good one. La Grande Tablée Ottawa is a gala fundraising dinner at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau on Monday, October 26. It supports La Tablée des Chefs, a nationwide organization that distributes food to those in need and helps young people learn healthy eating habits.
- The Chocolate Show is a one-day celebration of the sweet treat at Algonquin College on Saturday, October 24.
- Soupalicious is a fundraiser for the Debra Dynes Food Bank on Sunday, November 15. Eat soup for a good cause!
- Tickets for Linden House Theatre’s next show, The Boadicea of Britannia Street, go on sale on October 1. The play runs from November 12 to 22 at Elmwood School in Rockcliffe Park.
- The Haunted Walk and Phantoms of Yore have joined forces to offer ghost hunters a seven-hour (!) investigation into ghosties and ghoulies and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night at the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan. The sessions are on October 10 and 11.
- You can register now to raise money on the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation NightLight Walk, a 3K walk taking place on the night of Thursday, October 22. The 3K walk from Lansdowne Park raises money for local organizations supporting women and children fleeing family violence.
Discounts and deals
- Tickets to the Multicultural Artists’ Coalition’s Art + Fall Showcase—happening at Arts Court in Ottawa on Saturday, October 17—are available for the early-bird price of $12 until Thursday, October 1.
- Early-bird tickets are also available for Homes for the Holidays, a fundraiser for Hospice Care Ottawa. During the event, which runs from November 13 to 15, you can visit seven beautifully decorate homes throughout the city.
Other
- If you’re hoping to use the NCC’s free shuttle to and from Gatineau Park to do a little leaf-peeping this year, here’s good news: the NCC is adding extra buses from October 1 to 25 to meet increased demand.
- Speaking of parks, a new 470-metre trail has opened in Osnabruck (sometimes spelled “Osnabuck”) Forest. It’s located just off County Road 12 near Newington in Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.
- The Spencerville Mill and Museum recently got a grant from the Ontario government to install an elevator. In the same wave of grants, the Township of Rideau Lakes received money for landscaping, signs and other improvements.
- A couple of weeks ago, I told you that VIA Rail was planning to cut service to the Guildwood station in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough. Well, now it appears that VIA is rethinking that decision. Sort of.
- Here’s an excerpt from a new book about Canada by travel writer Paul Theroux, in which he describes part of his trip to Newfoundland.
- New stats from FlightHub show that Casablanca has been the fastest-growing international destination for Canadian travellers so far in 2026. Here’s a summary of the whole survey, which also shows popularity gains for Aruba, as well as cities in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Vietnam.
- A road-tripping family from London, Ontario, makes a point of visiting libraries in every place they go. So far, they’ve notched up more than 50, across Canada and beyond.
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.
