🚨  A year after new Ottawa Police outposts opened near ByWard Market, crime stats are meh. The Ottawa Police Service is claiming that the outposts at 50 Rideau St and in Rideau Centre have been successes, noting that assaults have gone down 7.8 per cent, threats are down 8.1 per cent, robbery down 30 per cent and break and enter down 37 per cent.

But theft under $5,000 has risen 7.2 per cent, mischief has gone up 11 per cent, while criminal harassment is up 42 per cent.  – Aedan Helmer at Ottawa Citizen

🌊  Beachgoers have six more days of lifeguard service before the season ends. The City had some hope that it could extend the swimming season past August 24, but it does not have enough lifeguards available. – Natasha O’Neill at CityNews 

🛩️  The Transporation Safety Board is asking residents to look for debris from last month’s small plane crash. The Board is asking for residents of Westboro, Carlington, Central Park, Fisher Heights, Parkwood Hills, and Fisher Glen to check their gardens, pools, gutters, and hedges for any foreign objects. – CBC

TUESDAY

• Cirquonscient brings its enchanting Faerie Picnic to Strathcona Park. Bring your own picnic and blanket and settle in for aerial performances and acts of whimsy all around you. Free but donations are welcome.  

• Pull together your brainy squad and register for Overflow Brewing’s Trivia Tuesday. 

• 🆓 The party that is Capital Pride is underway but in addition to the fun and celebratiions you'll find events like tonight’s Capital Pride Financial Literacy Clinic. Whether you’re planning a business or you just want to feel more confident in your money dealings, this session is a safe place to ask all the awkward questions. 

• Overflow Brewing hosts this month’s Queers & Beers: Pride Edition, featuring live music from BLK PRL and OK Naledi. 

• ByTowne Cinema: Souleyman’s Story, Casques Bleus (A War Movie) Director Q & A, Boys Go To Jupiter 

• Mayfair Theatre: Shook, My Mother’s Wedding, Punch-Drunk Love  

  Gigs

• Chris & Kat. Night Oat

• Lex 13 and the 13s. Avant-Garde Bar

• Trivia Tuesday. Irene's Pub

• Kiesza. Club SAW

WEDNESDAY

• ✳️ Listen to Agriculture and Agri‑Food Canada speakers Ulrica McKim, Soil Biochemistry Technician, and Dr. Sandra Yanni, Soil Research Scientist at ‘Composting and Compost Use for Healthier Soils.’ 4:30 pm (Rain Date – August 21, 4:30 pm)

• Check out the jazz vibes at Night Oat (Jazz Jam)  and Bar Robo (Jazz Nite with Sam Cousineau). 

• Capital Pride nightlights: Irene’s Pub welcomes Fruit Cake: A Gay Ass Variety Show. The 2025 Capital Pride Human Rights Panel will discuss queer community building and human rights, with perspectives from around the world. The 2025 Capital Pride Advocacy in Action panel will explore the history of blood donation and the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Ottawa. 

• ByTowne Cinema:  Folktales, Restoration: High and Low, Boys Go To Jupiter 

• Mayfair Theatre: Shook, My Mother’s Wedding, Breathless 

• Gigs

• The Extensions, GRFN. LIVE on Elgin

THURSDAY

🏳️‍🌈 Today at Capital Pride: 

• New royalty will be crowned tonight at the Capital Pride Pageant at the National Arts Centre.  The official Pride Pageant After Party will dance the night away at Bar Robo. 

• Meanwhile, in the brand new pop up space at Metcalfe Plaza, expect a night of disco, house, and a whole lot of joy (plus, free entry). 

• At Art House, Crafts & Gabs is a  ‘craft and social night for not-cis-man-queers who wanna be social in a low-stimulus space’. 
  
   

• Ottawa Greek Fest presents a night of comedy with Angelo Tsarouchas. Tickets from $50. 

• Red Apron keeps Taco Thursday local with your choice of Enright Cattle Co Flank Steak or Corben's Rooster Ranch Pulled Chicken. $16.25 per person, dine-in only.

• Spend the night in the early 80s as the ByTowne Cinema hosts a Desperately Seeking Susan Slumber Party. 

• Take a beginner Ottawa Vintage Swing dance class for $10. 

• Silent Book club meets at Absinthe on the third Thursday of every month. Come and meet other book-minded introverts for some brief chit chat and a drink followed by an hour of silent reading, all between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm. 

• Today is your final day to save on tickets for the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival. Prices rise at midnight. 

• OK Naledi plays Songs from the Shed. 

• Swing your partner into the final Square Dance of Saunders Farm’s summer season.  

• ByTowne Cinema: Folktales, Slumber Party: Desperately Seeking Susan, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley 

• Mayfair Theatre: My Mother’s Wedding, Shook, Punch-Drunk Love  
  
  Gigs

• Matt Gower. Night Oat

• Four Eyed Muscle Man. Rainbow Bistro

• Concepthurs. GridWrks 

• Leslie Rohonczy. Irene's Pub

JUST ANNOUNCED / NOW BOOKING

• The ever-popular neighbourhood of Hintonburg is the subject of a Heritage Ottawa walking tour. Learn how the area began as rural estates that became residential lots that ultimately evolved into today’s hip Ottawa ’hood. Sunday August 24. $25 for non-members, $10 for members. 

• Get the low-down on local cider production straight from the horse’s mouth in Brew Donkey’s Industry In-Cider Tour (Saturday September 13).