Have locks of fun at the Rideau Canal Festival

More than 100,000 people are expected to celebrate the long history and geography of the Rideau Canal this long weekend.

In its third year, the Rideau Canal Festival is going to be longer and more diverse than ever, says Michel Gauthier, the festival's chief executive officer.

Instead of just one day of festivities on Monday the festival will run all four days of the long weekend.

The festival has been running since the United Nations designated the Rideau Canal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. This year's theme is "locks of fun for everyone," which pays tribute to the fact that the Rideau is the only operational 19th- century North American canal still in its original form, part of the reason for its UNESCO designation.

Another important aspect to this year's festival, said Gauthier, is that it is twinned with the Great Wall of China, another Unesco heritage site.

"We want to highlight that what we have here in Ottawa is in the same league as the Great Wall," said Gauthier in an interview.

There will be Chinese entertainers and vendors at the festival's different locations which include Dow's Lake, Confederation Park, and the Ottawa River Locks to emphasize the connection.

At the same time that Ottawa residents are learning about the history of the Great Wall, a kiosk in Beijing will celebrate 20th anniversary of its twinning with Ottawa as sister cities.

One new twist this year is the art project "Love Locks" with the participation of artist in residence of the ByTown Museum.

She will be displaying a series of oil paintings at the museum that feature padlocks. She has also created a heart shaped art installation that residents can lock their padlocks to to express their love for the canal and for eachother. The installation draws on the Asian and European tradition of placing locks on meaningful sites in order to connect with them.

For the second year in a row, the festival will include the "Musical Breeze" which is a bicycle parade from Lansdowne Park to city hall. Along the way there will be classical musical performances by performers in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival which coincides with the Rideau Canal Festival.

Connecting with children is a big theme for the festival this year. In order to generate interest about the canal among Ottawa children, Gauthier and his staff went into elementary schools to get 1,000 children to paint shoes as a tribute to what the canal means to them. The shoes will be arranged at the various sites and will be called "Shoescapes."

To check out the full schedule of this year's festival go to www.rideaucanalfestival.ca.