Festivals
The Glengarry Highland Games – Find your inner Scot!
South Eastern Ontario is alive with four seasons of festival fun to stimulate your sense of adventure. Communities all along The Great Waterway host live music and theatre festivals. Regattas take to the waters of Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River, and foodies will love sampling food and agricultural fairs. Visit the Kinsmen Lift-Off Hot Air Balloon Festival in Cornwall. A scenic-country drive immerses you in the local Scottish heritage at the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville. Every August since 1948, Highlanders have come together for the
competitions to see who has the best bagpipe lungs and fiddling fingers. Traditional dance and sporting events add to the Glengarry Highland Games’ traditional feel.
Hear world-famous headliners at the Kingston blues festival
Upriver from the pipers is the Limestone City Blues Festival in Kingston, a South Eastern Ontario festival renowned for transporting audiences to the Mississippi Bayou without leaving the shores of the Saint Lawrence River. The Limestone City Blues Festival headlines some of the world’s best blues performers like Ruthie Foster and Curtis Salgado in breezy outdoor venues that keep you cool as the music heats up. Beyond the music, Kingston in August is perfect for al-fresco dining, shopping for fine crafts and climbing the ramparts at Fort Henry. A blues festival of this calibre adds to the rich line-up of things to do and see. Festivals in Kingston, Ontario don’t end with the blues. Come September, you‘ll want to return for the
Kingston Dragon Boat Festival. Only a couple of hours from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, and minutes from Upstate New York, it’s harder to stay away than to join the fun.
The Great Waterway Classic
Glengarry Highland Games
Cycling
Kinsmen Cornwall Liftoff
Catch the spray of speedboats at the 1000 Islands Poker Run
For a faster pace, come to Kingston in early August for the 1000 Islands Poker Run – three days of competition among beefed-up powerboats from all over Canada. With so much happening in Kingston, foodie events for ‘locavores’ and impromptu entertainment from street buskers add to the magic feel of midsummer nights. On the north shore of Lake Ontario south west of Kingston, the communities and wineries of Prince Edward County offer lively events of their own. Try the pesto-stuffed ribs and regional wines at the Picton Food Festival accompanied by live jazz. Picton is also home to the Festival Players, who bring Canadian drama to life under the stars
at area venues. Wherever and whenever you are in South Eastern Ontario, festivals and concerts are always happening somewhere close by.
- Luke, Ottawa
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