Events in Ottawa

A Weekend Roundup From The Photos Taken on The iPhone – S12E16

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I didn’t realize I had a bunch of photo I took on the iPhone 7 Plus. There’s several photos leftover from Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. It ranged from the concerts to the boat ride watching the race.

On Sunday, I went to the Canadian Museum of History for the live broadcast of CBC Radio’s Cross Country Checkup. The live call in radio program was about Canada’s 150 and what it should inspire us in the future. It was held in the soon to be open Canadian History Hall.

I had the chance to glance through the new permanent exhibit. It looks fantastic as it covers more than a 150 years of Canada’s history ranging from the French and British’s settling, to the Indigenous culture and modern day Canada. I had one hour before the live broadcast to check out the history of Canada. I hope to try going through the exhibit at a slower pace in the future.

You can check the photo gallery below.

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Saturday at The 2017 Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival – S12E15

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After recovering from equilibrium or balances issues on the boat ride at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival, Saturday’s event was filled with races, activities and live music.

The weather turned out very good but throughout the afternoon, winds were picking up during the races and caused some delays. It was fun to shoot photos of the dragon boat races while in the boat on the waters of the Rideau River. It’s the second year to experience seeing the action on the waters.

To the concert series, missing Friday’s lineup due to not having a camera without it. Saturday ended off with Twin Flames (from Ottawa), Kasador (from Kingston), The Darcys and Half Moon Run (from Montreal). It’s always a thrill to see The Darcys and the first time to see the three bands. I’ve been familiar with Half Moon Run but never seen them live.
You check the photos galleries below.

It’s always a pleasure to attend Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival every Summer. Great seeing the sights and sounds of the races as well with the live music to keep fans and racers entertained. Kudos to the organizers for making the festival fantastic.
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Thursday at The 2017 Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival – S12E14

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Live music, bagpipers and lion dancing kicked off the 2017 edition of The Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival on Thursday night.

Their concert series kicked off with The Elwins, Said The Whale and The Sheepdogs. All three were great and the best thing about the concert series at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival, it is free! Best of all, the music lineup are all Canadian.

Friday’s lineup will have Kalle Mattson, The Zolas and Dear Rouge. There is a lot of things to do in Ottawa with Summer in full swing.

Check out the photos below.

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The Final Weekend of May 2017 – S12E13

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The last weekend of May in Ottawa had a lot of events happening. To start off Friday night, I went to Kinki Lounge Kitchen for Kool Krys‘s album release party. Her fourth album, Feminum was released on Friday and it’s a tribute female empowerment and her favourite super-hero, Wonder Woman.

The Feminum album release party had Ghettosocks open up the event. It was a great event and the funny moment was having to sing along to Perfect Day when Ghettosocks began his set.

You can listen to Feminum over at Bandcamp which is free to download.

On Saturday
For Saturday, there were various events happening, the first place was checking out the annual Great Glebe Garage Sale. Just walked to see the crowds look and rummaging for deals and unique objects around the area. I have been using the iPhone 7 Plus and tried to experiment shooting on portrait mode. You will see one of the photos shot using the depth effect.

After the garage sale, I took a long walk over to the Festival Plaza at Ottawa City Hall for Ottawa Race Weekend’s Celebration Stage. I went to see Scary Bear Soundtrack as I haven’t seen the lead member for awhile. It was a joy to see the members on a warm sunny afternoon.

The band released a new track (actually, a reworked version) to commemorate Asian Heritage Month 2017. It’s called Asian Fetishist, you can listen to the track on Bandcamp.

You check the photos from below from the events I checked out.

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Red Bull Crashed Ice in Ottawa – S12E11

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On the weekend, Ottawa played host to the 2017 Red Bull Crashed Ice. Crashed Ice is a fast sport consisting of skates and frozen ice sloping down in curves and bumps.

Riders from females and males compete for the fastest speed going down the ice. There were lots of bumps, trips, stumbles and slip during the whole competition.

The event was part of the continuing celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday and in the Nation’s Capital. It was located on the Rideau Canal between Fairmont Chateau Laurier and Parliament Hill.

The weather on Saturday was hovering around -20 degrees Celsius, quite the bone chilling temperatures. At least people braved the cold temperatures at the event.

I stood with other photographers from around 4pm to 10pm. It was about a 6+ hours standing in the frigid cold. Overall, it was a fun event to watch ice cross downhill.

You can check the photos below.

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Ottawa Ice Dragon Boat Festival – S12E10

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The first ever Ice Dragon Boat Festival in North America happened on Saturday morning. It was held at Dow’s Lake in Ottawa.

The unexpected mild temperature was pretty ideal to begin the opening ceremony. The lion dance troupe led the VIPs and politicians to the Rideau Canal Skateway. The Minister of Canadian Heritage, Melanie Joly and Minister of the Environment, Catherine McKenna were on hand for the event. As usual, the mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson and other local politicans were there for the event.

Boats on ice don’t seem in common compared to the usual boats on the water. The Ice Dragon Boat race have been a big hit in Hungary and China so far. Teams from Canada, China, Europe and USA have applied for the first inaugural race in Ottawa. I didn’t get to stay to check the race as I was there for the lion dance performance.

There was a good turnout for the Ice Dragon Boat Festival as it’s part of the 2017 edition of Winterlude as one of the new attractions. It is also part of the continuing celebration for Canada’s 150th anniversary and Ottawa 2017.

Check out the photos from the opening ceremony below.

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Beau’s Oktoberfest 2016 – S12E02

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2016-beaus-oktoberfest-main

It was a fine Saturday afternoon as I went to Vankleek Hill (an hour’s ride from Ottawa) for the 8th annual Beau’s Oktoberfest. I had to go along with my dad and I’m not total beer drinker. He had extra tickets and why not go to the event for the third year.

The 2016 edition of Beau’s Oktoberfest had a lot of craft beer from Ottawa, Quebec, and Toronto (including the GTA and Golden Horseshoe area). Beau’s brought their 16 beers and tap. Aside from the beer, there were restaurants from Ontario and Quebec serving their kind of Bavarian styled food.

This year’s main concert lineup had 54•40 and Born Ruffians for Friday. k-os and Hannah Georgas for Saturday. Even though, I didn’t stay past 6pm at Oktoberfest, I was able to check out part of Montreal’s Motel Raphaël. I haven’t seen the band live for quite awhile and they recently released a new album, System.
Oh yes, Alan Neal of CBC’s All In A Day was MC for Saturday’s concert lineup.

All in all, it was great to be at Beau’s Oktoberfest and it was quite a big turnout as people will have fun and drink beer.

 

Sunday at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival – S11E34

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ODBF 2016 Sunday Main-1

It was quite a weekend to be at the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. I wasn’t planning to go to Sunday’s event but decided to go because one of my lion dance member was participating in the race and also support Loon Choir play live.

Despite being another scorcher, there were some winds helping cool things slightly. It was fun to hop on the raft to check out the races as mentioned that my lion dance member taking part in it. The schedule for the races were delayed and I was able to catch it while on the raft. It’s just the thrill to seeing the races on the waters. Photos are posted below.

The concert series ended with Loon Choir, Young Empires (from Toronto) and Ottawa’s own A Tribe Called Red. Winds were blowing during Loon Choir’s performance while the loud tone from Young Empires rocked through. Lastly, A Tribe Called Red brought loud, strong beats and getting to crowd to dance it out with excitement. Don’t forget to check out the photos below.

Overall, an excellent 2016 edition of the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival and the organizers and volunteers have done a great job holding the festival. It’s become the best in North America. Dragon boat racing, various activities and live music in the hot Summer, you can’t beat it in Ottawa.

This wraps up season 11 of the blog. It’s been fun filled ride with the music and lifestyle events covered in Ottawa. See you in the Fall.

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Saturday at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival and the Percy Station Opening – S11E33

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ODBF 2016 Saturday Main

There were a lot of events happening in Ottawa. From the Ottawa International Jazz Festival to Escapade to House Of Paint’s Community Jam and the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival.

My afternoon started in Chinatown as there was a popup structure on Somerset and Percy. There was a fire that destroyed businesses in 2015 and the city decided to create a pilot project to transform the streetside parking to space of activity and renewing the urban space. Local businesses from Jackpine and Atelier Ruderal help made the creation possible. On hand at the opening were Somerset Ward Councillor, Catherine McKenney, the Somerset BIA and Awesome Ottawa. Photos from the event are posted below.

After that was off to Mooney’s Bay Park for Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival again. I never had a chance to take photos of the actual race, I have participated in dragon boat race back in the mid/late 1990s but it was the first time to hop on the boat and just have fun shooting the races.

The concert lineup for Saturday night was a good one. It started with Ottawa’s Pony Girl, then Halifax’s Nap Eyes (they’re on the 2016 Polaris Music Prize Long List) and topping it off was Alvvays. All three bands were excellent. I originally planned to leave after the third song of Alvvays but I saw a few friends I know that were in the crowd. I decided to dropped by for a bit. The crowd was quite the spontaneity with the crazy jumping, dancing and bumping around.

You can view the photos below.
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Friday at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival – S11E32

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ODBF Friday Main

Friday night at the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival was crazy hot. I had to do a lot of running around because I decided to take some photos of The Beaches playing and then rush to my lion dance troupe for the opening ceremony. I definitely was in a sweaty mess.

I’ve been hearing good things about the Toronto female indie rock band, The Beaches. Their music is like glam rock meets new wave and just having a good time. It was a short time checking them out but they’re just wonderful. The band opened up Mia Rae and Mother Mother.

Onto the lion dance performance, it was different than the previous years because we were part of the parade of champions led by the RCAF Pipes and Drums. At least it was time efficient for us to start lion dancing right away than to wait for the speeches.

It was crazy and fun Friday night to be at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. The concert lineup is the best there is with Canadian content and it’s totally free.

The photos are below and there’s a lot to look at.
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