Local Vibe

If you are looking for some things to do for Canada Day, we at Local Vibe are pleased to round up some offerings with some that are family focused and others that will give you something to do later into the evening. With the weather looking like it isn’t going to be the perfect day to be spending outside, we have made sure that there are some indoor festivities for you as well.

Starting with an indoor family entertainment option, we would encourage you to drop by the Warehouse at 135 George Street North in Cambridge, where Rob from Gemstone Entertainment will be holding an all-ages karaoke event that allows anyone to get up and belt out their favorite tunes for the enjoyment of everyone. This is a relatively new event that runs every Wednesday starting at 6:30pm, however for the holiday he will be starting up at 2pm to allow even more of the younger future local stars to make it onto the stage. Over the course of the summer he will be holding a competition that goes along with this event with the overall lwinners being given the opportunity to perform on the stage at the Preston Music Festival in September. For Canada Day he is happy to extend the hours to give people an option of an indoor venue to celebrate the mid-week holiday, and they have also added a craft and bake sale to the mix so there will surely be some fantastic yummy treats to enjoy along with the entertainment.

Perhaps you are up in Kitchener and are looking for something to do even earlier than the 2 o’clock show at The Warehouse. The perfect solution for this would be to drop by The Childrens Museum at 10 King Street West in Downtown Kitchener for their Incredible Shrinking Flag event. It is going on from 11am until 2pm and you can get more information by calling 519-749-9387 or email VisitorServices@TheChildrensMuseum.ca.

Waterloo has Canada’s Birthday Bash going on at Laurelwood Court which can be found at 605 Laurelwood Drive in Waterloo. Visit with some of the Kitchener Rangers, music with Brass Essentials, there will be food and the kids can check out the fire rescue truck.

The University of Waterloo is proud to once again host their Canada Day celebrations. Being held at Columbia Lake they will feature a Children’s stage, an Arts and Crafts Marketplace and we cannot forget the fireworks display that starts at approximately 10 pm, weather permitting. There will be lots of events for the kids like face painting, mini Olympics, and much more. Check out the website for full details.

Back to Kitchener there are some other events going on to fill you day with. Perhaps you would like to celebrate Canada Day at Woodside National Historic Site of Canada, the boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King. Woodside will be hosting a Citizenship Ceremony at 2:30 p.m. The Citizenship Ceremony at Woodside is one of the ways that Parks Canada is engaging Canadians in their heritage with high quality services and special events. At 2:30 p.m., you will have the opportunity to witness new Canadians becoming citizens and to recite the Oath of Citizenship. After the ceremony, stay for cake! Did you know that Mackenzie King was the first citizen of Canada? Visit the house where he grew up, chat with knowledgeable interpreters and find out more about our 10th Prime Minister and his life as a boy in 1891. The Woodside National Historic Site is located at 528 Wellington Street North in Kitchener and more information can be found by calling 519-571-5684 or emailing ont-woodside@pc.gc.ca.

Cambridge is also pitching in to celebrate Canada’s 142nd birthday in fine style. There is a day full of events that will commence throughout the whole day. From 8 am – Noon is the 52nd Annual Fishing Carp Derby for children ages 2 – 16. From 2 pm – 6 pm is the 4th annual Children’s Activity Centre which includes a face painting area, a themed crafts area, a painting/colouring area, an environmental scavenger hunt with prizes, a bubble play area and a games area featuring mini putt stations, bean bag toss games, football throw games, croquet and hula hoops. We have also added some new children’s events so come out and bring your little ones. From 1 pm – 3 pm is the 35th annual Canada Day parade that starts on the corner of King Street and Bishop and goes through Riverside Park for a distance of 2.25km. At 4 pm Mayor Doug Craig will be at the park distributing Canada Day birthday cake for the first 1500 people to the event. This is a new feature this year. From 4 pm – 10 pm is the 3rd annual live music evening in the park which will feature local musicians before the fireworks. At dusk will be the 35th annual fireworks concluding the evening with a bang. For full event listings, check out the Cambridge website HERE.

There are many more events in the surrounding area for people to enjoy and a good website to check out for these events is KWkids.com where they cover locations like Guelph, New Hamburg, Stratford and other areas.

Into the evening there are many clubs that have something going on to celebrate the birthday of our homeland. Bobby O’Brien’s is welcoming the Molson Canadian Extreme Team that will have Molson Canadian sampling from 8pm to 9pm, prizes available and the most patriotically dressed person will win $5,000 in funny money.

The winners of the Cambridge Singer/Songwriter Competition will be performing at East Side Mario’s on Gateway Park Drive in Kitchener. Joni Nehrita, Geneveive Beaton and the grand prize winner Allister Bradley will be performing from 4pm until 8pm. For the record, Alex Tintinalli was named as the third place winner of the competition and was actually tied with Geneveive. As Alex is currently in Nashville for several performances, Geneveive stepped up to the plate and filled this spot for this venue.

I can’t possibly name everything that there is to do today, but if you think that something else deserves mention here, please feel free to let us know. For now, get out and have a great Canada Day and we will surely see you out there somewhere.