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South Grenville Bluegrass Festival 

Thursday August 14 to Sunday August 17, 2014

Located in Spencerville, about an hour outside of Ottawa, the first annual bluegrass festival is a great way to see a different part of Ontario while taking in some great music. There are a number of bands performing over the course of this 3-day festival including The Dusty Drifters, The Monroe Sisters and Willow Ridge. What a great way to spend one of the last weekends of summer!

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Ottawa Mini Maker Fair 

Saturday August 16 to Sunday August 17, 2014

A family friendly fair based on the things people are creating, kind of like a show and tell! With the intention of connecting people of all backgrounds to share their creations and generate inspiration, this is a great event to bring the kids to, and spark those creative juices! Buy your tickets here, a family pass (2 adults and 2 kids) is only $30 making it an affordable family activity.

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Capital Pride 2014

Sunday August 24, 2014

This year’s Ottawa Capital Pride Parade is expected to attract over 75,000 attendees who will march through Ottawa’s LGBT village (Gladstone to Laurier). If you can’t make it for the parade leading up to the event (starting August 15, 2014), the city will come to life with an array of events for this year’s festival. What’s better than coming together to celebrate love and diversity!

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Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life Ottawa

Saturday September 13, 2014

This year marks the 25th annual Scotiabank AIDS Walk of Life Ottawa, with proceeds providing assistance to seven local HIV/AIDS services in the Ottawa community. Not only will walking help support these efforts, the event will include a community fair and a family fun obstacle course making it the perfect way to spend a Saturday.

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Nuit Blanche Ottawa – Gatineau

Saturday September 20, 2014

Just like Nuit Blanche in Torono, Ottawa-Gatineau’s is a dusk until dawn celebration of art and culture across multiple locations. This year, more than 100 artistic projects will be presented throughout 20 different galleries and businesses. Some special highlights include the Luminarists experiment Self-Reflection and a Supernova Base Camp party.

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Carp Fair

Wednesday September 25 to Sunday September 28, 2014

Dubbed as the “best little fair in Canada”, the Carp Fair features music, exciting shows and a huge midway making it perfect for the whole family. There will be plenty of activities for kids of all ages; magic show, puppets and a petting zoo. What better way to welcome in fall by being out at a fair in the country!

Over the last few years, there has been a noticeable influx of the local food movement on social media. Prime examples being the 100K diet, eating-locally, and the “felfie” (Farmer Selfie). People have taken something that has existed for centuries (farm to table consumption) and modernized it with a relatively new concept (social media). We all know those friends on social media who spend hours snapping pictures of their fresh food finds, tweeting about trips to the market and sharing farm-to-table recipes on blogs. It is clear this trend has really taken off!

Depending on what day you do your shopping, here are a few suggestions of farmers markets around the city: