Rideau Canal - Rideau Canal Festival

Rideau Canal Festival

The Rideau Canal Festival is a festival that takes place in Ottawa annually on the Civic long weekend in August. The festival program focuses on 3 main themes: Rideau Heritage, active lifestyle, and World Heritage/Environment. The festival celebrates the Rideau Canal with a flotilla, tours of the canal, art and photo exhibits, music, and bike tours. The festival is geared towards families and includes children activities as well.

The festival started in 2007 and since then has been directed by Michel Gauthier. It was a response to the 2007 UNESCO World Heritage recognition. The festival was also the very first festival in Canada to adopt the Aim-for-Zero model, which includes strategies for minimizing the carbon foot-print of the festival.

Aside from focusing on educating the public on the history of the Canal, the festival seeks to raise funds to assist in preservation efforts. Programs such as Adopt-A-Metre are used to assist with such an effort.

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