Ottawa Italia

Once you’ve gone through cooking school, or if you want to forego that step, simply head over to Little Italy’s Trattoria Caffé Italia. With one of the best wine cellars in the city, it has been run by the Carrozza family for over 20 years, originally opening in the 1950s as a billiard and card-laying social club for the Preston Street community. On the corner of Gladstone and Preston.

Some other recommended Italian restaurants: Allegro Ristorante (422 Preston Street, 235-7454), Ciccio Caffe (330 Preston Street, 232-1675), Giovanni’s, featuring Toscany Regional Cuisine (362 Preston Street, 234-3156), La Dolce Vita (180 Preston Street, 233-6239), La Roma (430 Preston Street) and La Vecchia Trattoria (228 Preston Street, 230-0009).

If straightforward Italian doesn’t float your boat, get down to Little Italy’s The Prescott (379 Preston Street, 232 1136. One of the oldest taverns in town, they cleaned up a few years ago, somewhat taking the point out of going to a cleaned up “gritty tavern,” but they still have some of the best pasta and meatball sandwiches in town. Grab a quart and watch the game, even.

Country Fairs In and Around Ottawa

Throughout the Ottawa Valley, whether in Ontario or across the river into Quebec, you can find a county fair almost every single weekend of the summer. Here are a few of the highlights, if you feel like going for a short day trip.

The Shawville Fair: Shawville, Quebec (1 hr drive west): Started in 1856, this county fair is held on the Labour Day weekend every year. Carp Fair: Carp (1 hr drive west): Held near the end of September every year, the Carp fair also holds an ongoing Farmer’s Market .

The Glengarry Highland Games: Maxville (1 hr drive east along the 417 Hwy.)

the largest Highland Games in North America, and one of the largest in the world. Founded in 1948, the games are held from Thursday to Saturday on the August long weekend (the first weekend of the month) in Glengarry County. Events include the North American Pipe Band Championships and the highland dance competition, as well as the usual caber, sheaf, and hammer toss, and more kilts than you can shake a stick at. Glengarry is not only the oldest county in the province, but the home of the largest concentration of Scottish immigrants in Canada.

The Williamstown Fair, Williamstown (11/2 hr drive east)

Called the home of Canada’s oldest annual fair, Williamstown sits in the middle of
of Glengarry County .

Other Ottawa Valley Fairs

Ottawa Pride

Celebrating the LGBT community in both Ottawa and Gatineau every year, its highlight, course, is the parade, which usually runs along Somerset Street West from Elgin Street heading west, before turning south on Bank Street.

Ottawa Festivals

Perhaps Ottawa should be dubbed the “City of Festivals,” given the numerous events held here per season. To name just a few of them, there is Winterlude, the Ottawa Fringe Festival, West Fest, and the Ottawa Greek Fest.

There are well over 45 festivals, special events, and fairs that take place in Ottawa annually, with a variety that is sure to provide something for everyone.

Winterlude

Staged over three consecutive weekends in February, the annual Winterlude festival consists of more than 120 indoor and outdoor activities, which, after 20 years, attract over 1.2 million visitors to the Ottawa region annually. Events include: live music shows, professional figure skating performances, snow sculpting and ice carving competitions, the world’s largest skate-a-thon, and a bed race that draws crowds from miles around. In Gatineau, Jacques Cartier Park is transformed into a winter wonderland, the world’s largest children’s snow playground. Another feature is the downhill and cross-country skiing, including the Winterman and Winterwoman Sports Weekend, the 21-kilometre (13-mi) run that follows “Canadas discovery route” (Confederation Boulevard). World renowned, the event also is part of the prestigious world loppett (cross-country ski race) circuit. And, of course, always a highlight of Winterlude is skating on the Rideau Canal, featuring a “rink’ that stretches 7.8 kilometres (4.8 mi) from the Chateau Laurier to Dow’s Lake.

Ottawa Fringe Festival

This annual festival in June showcases local, national, and international performers and playwrights, some with shows touring other Fringe Festivals across Canada.

Ottawa Greek Fest

Every August, spend a few weeks of living “the Greek way.”

Ottawa International Animation Fest

The largest event of its kind in North America, this competitive festival showcases the best of cutting-edge, trend-setting animation as well as industry standards.

Ottawa International Busker Festival

Showcasing “five days of unorthodox entertainment,” the Busker Festival has some of the best musicians, jugglers, fire-eaters, storytellers, comedians, magicians, and mimes from Canada and around the world.

Ottawa Lumiere Festival

Ottawa’s nighttime festival, celebrating “the magic and mystical beauty of light” in New Edinburgh, with dance, music, poetry, and thousands of lantern.

West Fest

Westfest is Ottawa’s newest large-scale festival, a diverse celebration that includes, multidisciplinary arts, including music, performance art, literature, spoken word, media art, visual art, dance, theatre, and live animation. Starting Friday, June 12 through Sunday, June 14 an estimated 100,000 people will stroll through the community of Westboro Village in Ottawa. Join us on Richmond Road, between Golden Avenue and Island Park Drive. West Fest takes place on Richmond Road in Westboro, and shockingly enough, it is FREE.

For more information, see westfest.ca.

Ottawa Cultural Centres

One of the most active community centres in the downtown core is the Glebe Community Centre. Originally called Abbotsford House, built in 1867 by Alexander Mutchmor, it had a few incarnations as a church before finally being sold to the City in 1974 to become the Glebe Community Centre. A centerpiece of the family-oriented neighbourhood, the main hall is a great place for kids and offers child-related
events throughout the week during the day (including a small kitchen for lunches) and a series of community and craft fairs on the weekends. The entire building was closed for renovation for a year and reopened again in 2005, and you can easily get lost in the maze of stairs and little tiny rooms throughout. 175 Third Ave., 564-1058

Centres of Culture

A highlight of Chinatown (or “Somerset Heights”) is the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre (381 Kent St., 235-1032), established in 1975 to advance the social and economic integration of people of Chinese descent into the mainstream society in Ottawa. The facility assists with settlement, counselling, language training, and community development.
Other community centres in Ottawa providing similar services for other communities across the region include the Italian Canadian Community Centre of the National Capital Region (101-865 Gladstone Ave., 567-4532), the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (21 Nadolny Sachs Private, 798-9818), the Ottawa Hungarian Community Centre (43 Capital Dr., Nepean, 225-8754), and the Somali Centre for Family Services (1719 Bank St., 526-2075). Not exactly a community centre, but along the same lines, there’s always the Irish Society of the National Capital Region, providing information on scholarships, genealogy, and various cultural events, including its annual Irish Week in March, when it hosts of the St Patrick’s Day parade.