Double Sunday wrap-up (Nov 20)

Happy almost Monday!

Here’s a look at what’s been going on at LTO these past two weeks:

LTO celebrated our first anniversary - hooray!

LTO gave away tickets to Savvy Company’s annual wine-tasting event – congrats to Michael Sunderland of michaelsdolce, we hope you had fun!

FAJO Magazine’s Hannah Yakobi dropped by to talk about Ottawa’s fashion scene.

Mike Reynolds profiled the Third World Bazaar - a must-see, but little-known shopping destination.

Hilary Duff published a wonderful multimedia profile of Purple Urchin soap.

Move over Movember, Malorie Bertrand shared a great wrap-up of Unshaven Mavens.

Our good friend Josh McJannett wrote up a very thoughtful piece about what Remembrance Day in Ottawa means to him.

Hilary Duff shared a great radio profile on Hintonburg (definitely worth a listen).

Resident pizza expert Gen Brisson featured Art is In Bakery’s Pizza Night (yum).

Hilary had a day of bicycle-powered fun (and hilarious photo-taking) at Ottawa’s second annual Foodie Challenge.

Yuko Inoue featured Old Ottawa South’s Havana Cafe and it’s Cuban comfort food.

Huge thanks to all of our contributors. If you’d like to contribute to this project (we’d love to have you), please e-mail us at ltottawa@gmail.com.

Sunday wrap up! (November 6)

Our hard-working contributors were busy this week, sharing their stories about some of the city’s most fascinating ongoings. From catchy, Ottawa-inspired songs to crafty treasure finds, here’s what our fantastic line-up of local tourists were up to this week.

Kathryn Hunt describes the charm of the Ottawa Small Press Fair that took place at the Jack Purcell Community Centre yesterday. Did you know that many big-name authors got their start self-publishing?

A night of gluttony and Westboro exploration was on the menu for Local Tourist Ottawa founder, Amy, as she attended the seventh Dishcrawl Ottawa event. This month’s event involved stops at The Piggy Market, Fratelli’s, the Village Cafe and the Works (with a special treat from Three Tarts).

Saturday was an evening of hooting and hollering as the Bytown Beat Chorus performed their newest a cappella musical, Rodeo Queen. Dr. Alan Viau told us more.

Capcity, Cap-Cap-City. Talented Ottawa rapper, Peter “The Joynt” Joynt presented the catchiest defence so far as to why Ottawa is a great place to live. What can we say? We’ve got it made in the O Double T.

Heads up foodies – the Ottawa Foodie Challenge, now in its second year, is currently taking team registrations for November 13′s tasty cross-town challenge. Organizer Carolynn Lacasse gave us more information about the event and how it’s supporting the Ottawa Food Bank.

New local tourist, Katrina Heer told us about about the Great Crafting De-Stash sale happening until November 14 at Flock Boutique in Westboro. The sale gives people the chance to snag some great bargains and snatch up some leftover supplies from designer studios across town.

Chef Andrée Riffou shared the history her C’est Bon Cooking tours and told us more about the “Gastro Rally” event that is being held on November 19. If you’re looking to buy some foodie-friendly Christmas gifts, this might be the perfect event for you.

Buying chocolate for a cause – contributing editor Hilary Duff sat down with koko chocolates owner Jen Winter to talk about her special line of Movember chocolates. The flavours? Double-smoked bacon, scotch, espresso and a special, 75 per cent dark chocolate ganache. Drool away.

Thanks for the posts, everyone! Do you like living like a tourist in your own city? Know someone who has an interesting story to tell? We’d love to hear it. Send us a message at ltottawa@gmail.com. 

Sunday wrap up! (October 30)

Happy last week of October! We rounded up the month with some great posts by some old and new Local Tourists. 

Social media maven, Kelly Rusk, got her schmooze on at the United Way Ottawa’s Schmoozefest event that raised $22,000 for the organization.

Mike Cullen got both an art and history lesson when he checked out the National Gallery of Canada’s newest exhibition: Drawn to Art: French Artists and Art Lovers in 18th-Century Rome.

What makes your neighbourhood distinct? Pearl Pirie tells us about a new Ottawa initiative to determine just that. You are Here is an extreme mapping project that asks residents to share what they associate with a place.

Dominique Jones told us about a job fair Halogen Software held last Wednesday to recruit some of Ottawa’s brightest technology talent.

For some families, the Halloween season means a trip to pick pumpkins. Mike Reynolds tells us about his family’s trip to Millers’ Farm & Market for a day of seasonal fun (warning: post contains adorable pictures).

Autumn also means that Gatineau Park becomes even more gorgeous than usual. Ruvini Godakandae checks out the fall colours cross-border and tells us why she got up at 4 a.m. to start her adventure.

Well, that’s a wrap on October, Ottawa. Time flies, doesn’t it? Do you have an exciting November adventure you want to share with our readers? Drop us a line at ltottawa@gmail.com

Sunday wrap up! (October 23)

It’s been one heck of a week here at Local Tourist Ottawa. Our posts from the past seven days show the diversity of the Ottawa community – from the TEDxOttawa conference to a zombie walk, trendy new hair salons to pop-up picnics. Thank you to all our contributors!

Our week started off with two great posts from Amy and Fiona Tapp who unravelled the mystery of Ottawa’s first-ever Harvest Noir, a secret picnic feast and black tie dance party.

This isn’t just any hair salon. Chantal Sarkisian spoke with Michelle Nguyen, the owner of Old Ottawa South’s newest business, Hair Republic, about her eco-friendly principles and support of local artists (also: mark down on your calendars that the grand opening is November 5!).

Jessey asked the organizer of Saturday’s TEDxOttawa conference, Sarah Ormon, about how she hopes the day will inspire and enlighten attendees about the greatness of the Ottawa community.

Here’s to another 20 years! The Ottawa Senators, mark their 20th season this year. Here at Local Tourist we wanted to celebrate and listed 20 you-might-not-kn0w-this facts on the post, alongside a giveaway for four tickets to their Thursday night game against the Winnipeg Jets. Congratulations to Erwin Desa for winning the tickets!

Danny Hussey told us about the Enriched Bread Artists open house events that are happening this month. Want to check out some of the city’s best contemporary art? The open house continues tonight and on October 28-30.

Thursday is the new Friday! Chris Clark is happy to shatter the reputation that Ottawa is a boring government city. She gives us a comprehensive lowdown on all things fun and hip happening in the Capital and wraps up with a fantastic Dirty Dancing analogy.

Fashion on Display, the downtown collaboration between eco-friendly boutiques and local artists, ended on Friday night with a Wrap-Up Bash at Cube Gallery. Michelina Teti snapped some pictures from the closing celebrations.

Contributing editor Hilary Duff did a Q&A with the Queen of the Undead, Ottawa zombie walk organizer Bryony Etherington. The walk is now in its sixth year and saw Parliament Hill transformed into a screeching, brain-yearning graveyard yesterday afternoon.

Following up on her TEDxOttawa interview from earlier in the week, Jessey attended the event and posted a video of one of Ottawa’s most talented spoken-word poets, Brandon Wint. More to come!

Interested in contributing? We’re always looking for eager city explorers to become local tourists. Send us an email at ltottawa@gmail.com.

Sunday wrap up! (Sept 25)

We’re happy to say that this may have been our busiest week yet, here at Local Tourist Ottawa. A big thanks to everyone who is keeping our project going! Here’s what we were up to this week:

A lot of Local Tourists hit up the much-loved Taste of Wellington West: Charles Crosbie , Ruvini Godakandae, and Fiona Tapp (who also visited the Papanack Zoo).

Geneviève Brisson experienced a bit of magic at the Landsdowne Farmers’ Market – both from a magician, and of course, from The Flatbed Pizza Company.

Hello Ottawa’s Anne Patterson was interviewed on CBC Radio Morning and (no surprise here) she did a great job!

United Way called Ottawa its most generous city, sharing a neat infographic on Twitter.

Jenna Farrell took on journalist Vivian Song, and her opinion that Ottawa is the world’s eighth worst dressed city.

Contributing editor Hilary Duff interviewed Stella Luna Gelato Cafe’s Tammy Giuliani (great photos, video and audio here)!

Speaking of Hilary Duff, this week she was rendered unmovable by the generous folks at La Vendemmia’s Moveable Feast.

The folks at the Ottawa Senators invited Local Tourist Ottawa to a Sens-Habs game. It was fun!

Jessey finally illustrated to all of us what’s up with her rock collection: she featured The Ottawa Gem, Mineral and Jewelry Show (which celebrated its 45th anniversary this weekend!)

It seems to us that everyone is enjoying autumn in Ottawa! Well, if you’re happy – we’re happy! Keep those posts comin’! 

Sunday wrap-up! (September 18)

Bonjour everyone!

Here is a quick snapshot of what happened at Local Tourist Ottawa last week:

• The Red Apron announced its 100-mile menu (yum)!

• Helen Morris shared a great post on Writers Festival, which started with a show stopper – Michael Ondaatje!

• Joan Rivers tweeted a cute moment (and photo) with our very own Mayor Jim Watson

• New Local Tourist Yuko Inoue reviewed little-known resto the Grounded Kitchen

• Our friends at The Ottawa Hospital Foundation put on a great flash mob at St. Laurent Shopping Centre (and we know how much Ottawa loves flash mobs…)

We’re always looking for new contributors, so please fill out the form if you’d like to pitch in on our project:

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Sunday wrap up (September 11)

Hi everyone,

Here is a quick snapshot of our week, just in case you missed any of the great contributions we posted. 

• Kelly-Anne Maddox took a wonderful walking tour of Vanier

• Les Twins made a dance appearance on Ottawa’s Sparks Street (thanks to Local Tourist Brian Tong for sharing the video)!

• We welcomed LTO’s new contributing editor Hilary Duff back from her European adventure, and she published a fantastic video on Ottawa’s first Urban Craft show (looking forward to more multimedia!)

• Project: Priceless bride Jordan Kent-Baas shared the story of her “honey-stay-cation” in Ottawa

• Continuing with the wedding theme, resident wedding expert (and local officiant) Dr. Alan Viau wrote up popular venue The Brookstreet Hotel

• We took a survey of both this summer’s most popular and most obscure search words

Thanks everyone!We’re looking for new contributors and contributions, are you interested?

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Sunday wrap up! (September 4)

After a wonderful week here at Local Tourist Ottawa, here is a quick snapshot of our adventures: 

• We snagged a great video from Chris Rouffer showcasing a beautiful Ottawa sunset and double rainbow

• Mike Cullen shared his snapshots from Ottawa’s most colourful festival: Capital Pride

• Brian Tong featured local graffiti event House of Paint

• Pearl Pirie got a taste of Lowertown’s delicious Maison Chaloin

• Fiona Tapp (who is quickly becoming one of our most dedicated Local Tourists) shared her Dance with Alana experience – Bollywood style

• Krista Leben dropped by to chat about Ottawa’s newest craft market: Urban Craft

Thanks for all of your fantastic contributions everyone! Would you like to be a Local Tourist? Send us a note to ltottawa@gmail.com and let us know what you’d like to feature.

Until next time!

Sunday wrap up (August 21)

Miss out on any of the fun our Local Tourists had this week? 

Check it: 

• Country in the Capital: Stephanie Brooks hit up the second annual Capital Hoedown 

• Christine Skobe dropped by to share several posts featuring the Ottawa International Film Festival

• Our good friend and well known local officiant Alan Viau let us in on two picture-perfect wedding photo spots

• Travis Boisvenue shared his very cool eight minute documentary on one of our favourite local companies: Beau’s All-Natural Brewing Co.

• The very adventurous Fiona Tapp went white water rafting on the Ottawa River

Thanks for your contributions everyone!

 

Sunday wrap up (August 14)

Hope all our local tourists are enjoying a lazy Sunday! Well-deserved after a busy week.

Check out what’s been happening:

• Cyclo tourist Laura took us on a water-bound route through Aylmer ahead of her trip to Vietnam in September. Stay tuned to see where she’ll cycle next!

• Arts-lover Melodie talked of her experience taking in the Company of Fools’ Antony and Cleopatra, part of the threatre troupe’s annual Torchlight Shakespeare in the Park series.

• We learn Ottawa loves its cycling in the summer: In the second cycle post of the week, Fiona tours the NCC’s bike paths for the FIRST TIME EVER. As she puts it: “Just another reason to love Ottawa.”

• We also shared some ideas to get you out and about this weekend. Some of the events are ongoing, so check them out for inspiration come Friday.

• OIFF social media director Christine Skobe stopped by to remind us that the Ottawa International Film Festival is coming up next Thursday, offering one of her picks for a film to see. 

Well, that’s a wrap, Ottawa! Keep in touch and let us know what’s happening with you by shooting a note to LTOttawa@gmail.com!