Two hundred years after a settlement began taking shape around the construction of the Rideau Canal, Ottawa is preparing to throw itself a birthday party.
Saturday, Sept. 26 marks exactly 200 years since the founding of Bytown, the settlement that would eventually become Ottawa. To mark the milestone, the city is planning a day — and night — of concerts, public art, history, food and cultural events stretching across downtown.
At the centre of it all will be the Ottawa 200 Block Party at Marion Dewar Plaza outside city hall, where Ottawa singer-songwriter Jamie Fine will headline a free concert Saturday evening.
But the block party is only part of the celebration. Nuit Blanche will keep parts of downtown and the ByWard Market active until sunrise, while Pique, SoundScape, the Bytown Museum, Ottawa Art Gallery and other organizations are holding their own bicentennial programming.
It is the centrepiece of a year of events marking Ottawa’s bicentennial and reflecting on how a military construction settlement along the Ottawa River became Canada’s capital.
“For 200 years, Ottawa has been shaped by the people who call this city home — the artists, entrepreneurs, creators, community builders, and generations of families who have helped make this city what it is today,” Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said in a city news release.
“The Ottawa 200 Block Party will be a celebration of everything that makes our city special: our stories, our cultures, our creativity and our incredible people.”
The main birthday celebration gets underway at 10 a.m. Saturday at Marion Dewar Plaza and runs until 10 p.m.
The free, all-ages Ottawa 200 Block Party will include live music, Indigenous performances, interactive art, demonstrations, food, games and activities highlighting the city’s history.
Opening ceremonies begin at 10:45 a.m. with pow wow drumming and singing by Awema Tendesi, followed by a territorial welcome, speeches and a hoop dancing performance by Makhena Rankin-Guerin with DJ MKWA.
The ceremony will also feature a performance of Heart of This Place | Adàwe c’est ma ville, the official Ottawa 200 anthem, followed by jingle dancer Amanda Fox. Ontario Lt.-Gov. Edith Dumont is expected to join Sutcliffe and other guests for the opening.
Performers include Izzy Rose, acoustic blues and roots duo The Blind & The Beautiful, Franco-Ontarian singer Jessy Lindsay and eclectic francophone singer-songwriter Mehdi Cayenne. Métis jigger Brad Lafortune and Propeller Dance are also scheduled to perform.
Comedian Jonathan Dion will serve as emcee and lead trivia sessions on Ottawa’s history and sports.
The party shifts into its evening programming at 5 p.m., with drag performers Sunshine Glitterchild, Saltina Shaker, Kiki Coe and Manny Dingo taking the stage at 5:30 p.m.
Ottawa-born pop and R&B artist Duava follows at 6:45 p.m., with Cody Coyote performing at 7:45 p.m.
Then, at 8:15 p.m., Ottawa singer-songwriter Jamie Fine is set to take the stage as the party’s headliner. Fine, a five-time Juno nominee who rose to national prominence as one half of the musical duo Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine, had previously been kept secret as the celebration’s “surprise headliner.”
NO DEF Collective and guests will close out the night beginning at 9 p.m.
Away from the stage, visitors can explore interactive art installations, including Ricardo Rodriguez’s Arbre des Arrivées, watch live mural and wood-carving demonstrations, explore a vintage OC Transpo bus and take part in activities hosted by community organizations.
Food vendors include The Whalesbone, Suzy Q, The Merry Dairy and Kîssam Patisserie, while a licensed beer garden will feature local producers including Dominion City and Beyond the Pale.
Starting at 7 p.m., Nuit Blanche Ottawa will transform the ByWard Market and other downtown locations into an all-night arts district.
The free festival runs for 12 hours, ending at 7 a.m. Sunday, with light installations, projections, live performances, DJs and interactive art spread throughout the downtown core. Among the centrepieces will be CUBO by Italian performance company eVenti Verticali, which suspends performers inside an illuminated cube above York Street. Performances are scheduled for 7:20 p.m., 9:20 p.m. and 11:20 p.m.
Other installations include Prismatica on William Street and Impulsion at ByWard Market Square, alongside a “Disco Shower,” live painting, projections and performances at participating venues.
The city has designated Sept. 26 an event of municipal significance, allowing eligible restaurants, pubs, bars and clubs to apply for permission to extend alcohol service beyond the usual 2 a.m. cutoff.
Nuit Blanche is also overlapping with Pique at Arts Court. The 21st edition of the multidisciplinary arts festival runs from 4 p.m. until 4 a.m. and, for the first time, is free to attend. It will feature music, immersive art, installations and other performances.
At Plaza Bridge, SoundScape will wrap up its month-long music and arts festival with a free immersive concert, while the Bytown Museum and Ottawa Art Gallery are also offering special Ottawa 200 programming.
Visitors may hear some unusually loud noises downtown during the afternoon as well. The Canadian Armed Forces will hold assault boat races on the Rideau Canal, with each race beginning with an artillery cannon fired at Confederation Park.
And at Lansdowne Park, the Ottawa REDBLACKS will take on the Calgary Stampeders as part of the day’s broader slate of events.
Free transit weekend
Getting between the celebrations won’t cost anything.
OC Transpo is making buses, O-Train Lines 1, 2 and 4 and Para Transpo free for the entire weekend. Free service begins at 3 a.m. Saturday and continues until 3 a.m. Monday.
The transit service says it will run double-car trains on Line 1 to accommodate larger crowds, while fare gates at O-Train stations will remain open. Riders boarding buses are being asked not to tap their cards because fare readers will remain active and could still charge them.