Heads Up: Best restaurants, embassy event, bike-friendly businesses

I have an avalanche of great tips for you in this week’s Heads Up post! Read on to find out where you can stay overnight in a converted church, which airline has just announced a new flight from Ottawa, how you can peek behind the doors of the French Embassy, which Gatineau Park campground has just reopened after three years of renovations, where you can go to a sock hop, how you can save money on whitewater rafting, and much, much more.

Upcoming events

• Bruce McCulloch (Kids in the Hall) is doing a solo show at The Broom Factory in Kingston on Saturday, November 7. Presale tickets go on sale on Tuesday, May 12, at 10am (use the code SLICE).
• Also for comedy fans, tickets to two upcoming shows at the Hard Rock Casino Ottawa are going quickly: Chris Tucker (May 24) and Ron White (May 28 and 29).
• You could finish your long weekend with yoga in the tulip fields at Green Corners Farm in Russell on Monday, May 18.
• The Cornwall Community Museum is celebrating its 70th anniversary with a sock hop on Saturday, June 13. Dig out those poodle skirts and letterman sweaters!
• Doors Open Ottawa will be announcing its list of buildings and sites for this year’s festival on Friday, May 15. The festival itself will take place on June 6 and 7.

• If you can’t check out the French Embassy during Doors Open Ottawa (it’s usually one of the open buildings, but it’s always a hot ticket), you could get a peek inside during a fundraising event for Thirteen Strings on Thursday, June 11.
• Tickets are available for Back to the Farm, the popular all-day music festival at MacKinnon Brothers Brewing Co. in Bath. This year, it’s happening on Sunday, August 16, with headliners Goldie Boutillier, Sloan and Yukon Blonde.
• Speaking of Bath: You can buy tickets now for the Waterside Summer Series, a summer-long series of classical music concerts on Amherst Island (which isn’t far from Bath).
• The Kiwanis Club of Ottawa Foundation is hosting Kiwanis Feeds Kids, a gourmet evening to support food programs for disadvantaged children. Guests will nosh on treats from local restaurants, including Aiāna, Ek Bar, Elise and Les Fougères, along with local beverages, and will receive a tax receipt for half the ticket cost. The event is taking place in the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park on Wednesday, May 20.

Deals and discounts

• Parc Nature Éco-Odyssée, the water maze park in Wakefield (pictured above), is offering a 15% discount on new purchases of water adventures and park access, for visits on or before Monday, May 18. Use the code OPEN15 at checkout.
• OWL Rafting in Forester’s Falls is offering $20 off per person on whitewater rafting packages, for trips that take place between May 16 and June 26.
• Attention, thrifters: A new shop that gives second-hand clothing a third chance (after it didn’t sell at the Renaissance chain of thrift stores) is opening in Montreal on Wednesday, May 13.

Other news you can use

• Looking for a unique place for a getaway for up to six people? Stephanie over at Ontario Hidden Gems has a fun post about a gorgeous-looking B&B in Stirling (just north of Belleville), where guests stay in a converted church.
• Amaya Café Bakery opened its doors in Smiths Falls in late March.
• Air Transat is launching non-stop service between Ottawa and London Gatwick Airport, starting on Friday, May 15.
• Three Ottawa restaurants made the 2026 list of Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants: Atelier (#54), Antheia (#76) and Arlo (#77).
• Speaking of restaurants: Michelin recently awarded new stars or other recognition to a variety of restaurants across Quebec.
• The campground at Lac Philippe in Gatineau Park has reopened after a three-year closure for renovations.
• The Port Elmsley Drive-In (between Perth and Smiths Falls) opens for the season this weekend.
• If you want to see a movie on the big CINE+ screen at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, you’d better hurry; the museum is shuttering it for good on June 30.
• There are lots of good tips for things to see and do in Kingston in this video by Christopher Rudder of Rudderless Travel.

• Brockville will be hosting the Ontario 55+ Summer Games in 2027.
• Six Eastern Ontario businesses were recently recognized in Ontario By Bike’s 2026 Bicycle-Friendly Business Awards.
• Ottawa’s A Company of Fools has announced that its summer 2026 production will be A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The show will run from June 29 to August 15; individual dates and locations will be announced later.
• Despite not being located on an island, Cornwall recently got a nice shoutout on the Islands website.
• Canadian puzzle company The Paperhood recently launched a Canadian Tulip Festival jigsaw puzzle.
• At Lavender Queen Lavender Farm in Yarker, you can book ahead to enjoy afternoon tea, or to take a workshop to make a lavender wreath or lavender crown.
• Here’s a job ad you don’t see every day: The Township of Rideau Lakes is looking for a town crier. Hear ye, hear ye!

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.