Did you know that Watson’s Mill in Manotick is up for sale? Or that tickets to Gatineau’s Riverside Festival are going quickly and that registration for a scenic bike ride near Kingston is closing soon? Read on for details about these news tidbits and more.
Register soon to cycle scenic routes near Bath and Kingston
Registration closes on Saturday, September 6, for the Limestone Century Bicycle Tour (Sunday, September 14), a set of non-competitive rides in and around Kingston. You can choose from 50K, 100K and 100-mile routes. The event is a fundraiser for Cycle Kingston, Inc., a non-profit group that promotes cycling in general and cycling safety in particular.
Pumpkinferno tickets are on sale
If you’d like to catch the always-popular Pumpkinferno installation at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, you might want to grab your tickets now for the best selection. In particular, the three accessibility nights—for people with sensory-processing issues or limited mobility—tend to sell out quickly. The show features thousands of carved artificial pumpkins arranged in elaborate displays around the historical village, with a soundtrack of spooky tunes. Pumpkinferno runs on select evenings from October 3 to November 1.
Riverside Festival tickets are selling out
If electronic music is your thing and you want to hit the Riverside Festival in Gatineau (September 12 to 14), you might want to buy your pass soon. Saturday passes are 90% sold out, and 80% of the Sunday passes are gone.
A non-profit is raising money to buy Watson’s Mill and Dickinson House
The City of Ottawa has put two landmark buildings in Manotick, Watson’s Mill and Dickinson House, up for sale. A Manotick non-profit is trying to raise the money to buy them so they can remain public heritage attractions. The video above is a CTV Ottawa story about the fundraising effort. You can learn even more about the buildings—and donate to the fundraising effort, if you’re so inclined—on the Watson’s Mill website.
Side note: I was just out in Manotick last week, researching an upcoming column for the Ottawa Business Journal, and I spent a very pleasant hour visiting Dickinson House and photographing Watson’s Mill. It would really be a shame if these buildings were redeveloped into private sites, IMHO.
A Hull bakery is getting some buzz
This Tourisme Outaouais post about a Hull bakery called Maison Oddo is the second time in the last few days that this spot has come to my attention. Clearly, I need to check it out soon! In the meantime, I got hungry just looking at the photos of tasty-looking pizzas and loaves of bread. Mmmmm….
He’s a lumberjack, and his costume is in Ottawa
Monty Python fans, here’s some news you’ll enjoy: The Royal Canadian Geographical Society has paid $6,400 (donated by a benefactor) to buy the costumes from a 2009 Python performance of The Lumberjack Song. The British comedy troupe’s cheeky ode to Canadian wood cutters includes immortal lines such as, “I cut down trees, I eat my lunch, I go to the lavatory. On Wednesdays I go shopping and have buttered scones for tea.” (Gilbert and Sullivan, eat your heart out.)
The outfits will be put on display in the society’s Sussex Drive headquarters. The Globe and Mail story about the purchase is only for G&M subscribers, but you can enjoy a video of the song from the movie Monty Python’s And Now For Something Completely Different (above) for free.
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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.