Ottawa Events Calendar

Songs from the Shed
2025-06-26 - 2025-10-30, 2025-07-01 - 2025-11-04, 2025-07-03 - 2025-11-06, 2025-07-08 - 2025-11-11, 2025-07-10 - 2025-11-13, 2025-07-15 - 2025-11-18, 2025-07-17 - 2025-11-20, 2025-07-22 - 2025-11-25 and 1 more date | Sparks Street, from Elgin Street to Lyon Street, Ottawa, K1P 5B7, Sparks Street, from Elgin Street to Lyon Street, Ottawa, K1P 5B7
A collaboration between the Downtown BIA and the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition (OMIC) is bringing local music to The Shed on Sparks Street all summer long! The lunchtime concert series, Songs from the Shed, will take place every Tuesday and Thursday from 12pm-1:30pm. Music lovers from the Ottawa region are invited to come enjoy lunch outdoors with a variety of captivating singer-songwriters in solo or duo formations. The project will be run by Ottawa’s own Jessy Lindsay, bilingual singer-songwriter and program coordinator.

The Comedy of Errors
2025-06-28 - 2025-08-16 | 2 Daly Ave, Ottawa, K1N6E2, 2 Daly Ave, Ottawa, K1N6E2
A Company of Fools brings Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors to life with a retro twist inspired by classic video games. Set in a pixelated world of warp pipes and mustachioed misadventures, this fast-paced tale of mistaken identity promises laughs for all ages. Bring a blanket and enjoy an energetic evening of outdoor theatre under the summer sky.

Live from the Booth
2025-06-28 18:00 - 2025-11-01 20:00, 2025-07-05 18:00 - 2025-11-08 20:00, 2025-07-12 18:00 - 2025-11-15 20:00, 2025-07-19 18:00 - 2025-11-22 20:00 UTC
This summer, Sparks Street pulses with the energy of Ottawa’s electronic music scene through Live from the Booth, a free outdoor concert series presented by the Downtown BIA and Ottawa Music Industry Coalition (OMIC). Every Saturday evening, local DJs and electronic artists transform the pedestrian mall into a vibrant dance floor, offering music enthusiasts an energetic start to their weekends.

Band Concerts on Parliament Hill
2025-06-29 - 2025-08-21 | Wellington Street, Ottawa, K1A 0A9, Wellington Street, Ottawa, K1A 0A9
Daily, from late June to late August, regimental bands from the Ceremonial Guard will perform a free concert from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m.
The band normally marches from the Cartier Square Drill Hall along Elgin Street to Parliament Hill and return.
The Ceremonial Guard may cancel the ceremony due to inclement weather or precluding special events.

Changing of the Guard
2025-07-01 - 2025-08-20
Bring your camera to capture vibrant photos of soldiers in scarlet uniforms and bearskin hats as they perform precise drills to the music of a military band on Parliament Hill.
The impressive—and free—Changing of the Guard ceremony draws crowds to downtown Ottawa. With military precision, the Guards arrive on the Hill at exactly 10:00 a.m. The Band of the Ceremonial Guard provides the music while the Guards are inspected and the Old Guard is replaced by the New Guard. The ceremony, modelled after one in London, England, dates back to 1959.
The full parade takes place on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and weekends, while the band performs only on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The Ceremonial Guard may cancel the ceremony in the event of inclement weather or conflicting special events.

Summertime science!
2025-07-02 - 2025-09-01 | 1867 St. Laurent Boulevard, Ottawa, K1G 5A3, 1867 St. Laurent Boulevard, Ottawa, K1G 5A3
Summertime science! is a celebration of curiosity, creativity, and exploration—all summer long! From immersive dome films and outdoor experiments to vintage train rides and behind-the-scenes tours, visitors of all ages can enjoy a variety of science-themed activities, indoors and out.

Relief of the Sentries
2025-07-05 - 2025-08-04 | 1 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, K1A 0A1, 1 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, K1A 0A1
Sentries will be mounted at the front door and front gate of Rideau Hall.
The rotation of sentries between the Guard Room and the sentry posts takes place every hour beginning from 10 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m.

Linger | Claire Desjardins
2025-07-10 - 2025-07-26
Wall Space Gallery is proud to present a solo show by Claire Desjardins. This new body of work explores the quiet, lasting emotions that remain as life moves forward. Through softened palettes and abstract forms, Desjardins reflects on memory, loss, and daily comforts—inviting viewers to pause and connect with the stillness within.

THINGS WHICH ARE PER SE CONTINUOUS: The Michael Nesbitt Collection, Winnipeg
2025-07-11 - 2025-12-15 | 380 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, K1N 9N4, 380 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, K1N 9N4
This exhibition celebrates a major gift to the National Gallery of Canada from Winnipeg collector Michael Nesbitt. Featuring paintings, sculptures, and mixed media works, it explores connections between Nesbitt’s transformative donation and the Gallery’s permanent collection. Anchored by Lawrence Weiner’s evocative text piece, the exhibition highlights the enduring impact of artistic continuity across time and space.

Love in a Dangerous Time: Canada’s LGBT Purge
2025-07-14 - 2025-08-31 | 1 Elgin Street, Ottawa, K1P 5W1, 1 Elgin Street, Ottawa, K1P 5W1
This pop‐up exhibit by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights speaks to decades of human rights violations against 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians who wanted to serve their country and the brave activists who fought back. It is designed to educate and inspire Canadians to help create a future in which the rights of all 2SLGBTQI+ people are respected.

Parasol Festival
2025-07-16 - 2025-07-26 | 15 rue Jos-Montferrand, Gatineau, J8X 0C2, 15 rue Jos-Montferrand, Gatineau, J8X 0C2
What started as a craft beer festival has evolved into a full summer experience — a warm atmosphere, a unique setting, tasty discoveries… a true little getaway.

Always a Bridesmaid
2025-07-16 - 2025-08-02 | 400 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, K1N 7M7, 400 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, K1N 7M7
Four lifelong friends made a pact on prom night to always stand by each other—as bridesmaids. Now, more than 30 years later, these Southern besties are still keeping that promise, supporting one another through every wedding, no matter how chaotic.
Join this laugh-out-loud journey as the beleaguered bridesmaids navigate the ups and downs of love, marriage, and friendship, proving that true bonds stand the test of time.
Praised as “uproarious… cleverly structured, flawlessly written” by the Smithfield Herald, and described as “heart-warming and hilarious” by Charity Apple of the Times-News, this comedic celebration of friendship and love is not to be missed.

Ottawa Chamberfest
2025-07-18 - 2025-07-27 | , Ottawa, , Ottawa
During the world’s largest chamber music festival each summer, you can delight in 120 concerts in Canada’s capital by leading international ensemble and solo musical artists.
For two weeks in late July and early August, some of the city’s most beautiful—and acoustically marvellous—churches, museums, galleries, theatres and heritage sites host indoor and outdoor performances by internationally renowned artists. Plus, the festival offers unique late-night Chamberfringe programming, which combines classical music with comedy, film, fantasy…and, sometimes, even cannabis!
Festival headliners have included Quatuor Danel, Kuné, Adrianne Pieczonka, Suzie LeBlanc, Angela Hewitt and the Canadian Brass.
Ottawa Chamberfest also hosts special programming throughout the year, so you can always get your chamber music fix!

The Procession at Corridor 45|75
2025-07-19 - 2025-10-19 | City Hall, Ottawa, K1P 1J1, City Hall, Ottawa, K1P 1J1
This sculptural installation features a funeral procession of genderfluid, otherworldly figures crafted from recycled materials. Created to honour the artist’s pre-transition self, it celebrates transformation and affirms queer and trans identities. Drawing from mythology and reimagined folk tales, the work invites reflection on change, memory, and becoming. Ottawa-based artist Aaron Daniels Casey blends surrealism and storytelling to explore identity through multimedia creation.

Image: Aaron Daniels Casey, Pink Doe, Trumpeter, Wolf and Indigo Dancer (installation), 2025, reclaimed fabric, jewellery and acrylic on newsprint and packing tape, variable dimensions, courtesy of the artist

Commissionaires Ottawa Open
2025-07-21 - 2025-07-27
The Commissionaires Ottawa Open is an annual PGA TOUR Canada tournament held at Eagle Creek.

Requiem for Radio: Full Quiet Flutter (RFR: FQF)
2025-07-23 - 2025-07-26 | 1 Elgin Street, Ottawa, K1P 5W1, 1 Elgin Street, Ottawa, K1P 5W1
Requiem for Radio: Full Quiet Flutter (RFR: FQF) is a 60-minute live performance for human bodies, electrons, and radio waves. Architecture, technology, history, and the human body come together in this near-supernatural conjuring of the spirits of the demolished Radio Canada International (RCI) shortwave towers. Structured with thirteen movements for the thirteen radio towers, the performance follows the format of a traditional requiem, but for the RCI shortwave site that was once located near the border of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia from where it transmitted shortwave radio around the world from 1944 to 2012.
The performers on stage interact with an elaborate set of invented and modified electronic instruments that use sensors, custom circuits, and wireless technology to play the ghosts of the radio towers with radio waves.

Oniro
2025-07-24 - 2025-07-28 | 399, route 323 North, Montebello, J0V 1L0, 399, route 323 North, Montebello, J0V 1L0
Experience a magical forest walk at Parc Oméga as the story of wolf cub Oniro unfolds through light, sound, and immersive storytelling. Created by artist Michel Lemieux, ONIRO features 17 illuminated scenes along a 60-minute trail. First departures begin at sunset.

Side By Side Weekend
2025-07-25 - 2025-07-27
Side By Side Weekend is a communal festival with shows curated in collaboration with some of the best indie bookers around, featuring the finest local and regional independent musical talent.
