The Sheepdogs play in Mooney’s Bay Park on June 20, 2014.
On a stage tucked between vendor tents and a thousand fans sitting atop the Mooney’s Bay toboggan hill, The Sheepdogs hammered out the inaugural notes of one of Ottawa’s busiest festival weekends on Friday night.
Part of the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival, the Saskatoon-based Sheepdogs are one of eight bands that will be gracing the Mooney’s Bay stage and one of more than 50 artists playing in Ottawa this weekend.
Headlining Saturday night at the Dragon Boat Festival is Hamilton-based rock band the Arkells, which takes the stage at 9:30 p.m. for a free concert.
During the day, more than 200 teams will race their dragon-headed boats towards the Mooney’s Bay finish line. The festival ends Sunday, when Toronto hip-hop group Down with Webster signs off.
Jazz Fest
For music lovers seeking shows closer to Centretown, the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival has dozens of bands playing in the downtown core this weekend.
Saturday night at 6:30 p.m., Lorraine Klaasen will take over the festival’s main stage in Confederation Park. Born in South Africa, Klaasen performs a variety of genres in more than eight languages.
Following Klaasen in Confederation Park is Colin James, the acclaimed Canadian guitarist who was trained by Stevie Ray Vaughan. James plays at 8:30 p.m.; tickets for the Saturday night concert are $50.
The Ottawa Jazz Festival runs from now until Canada Day. For a full list of the 100-plus artists performing, click here.
Glow Fair
Taking over Bank Street between Slater and Gilmour, Ottawa’s first Glow Fair was created in the vein of other popular light festivals around the world.
Headlining Saturday night is Judith Hill, whose appearance was promoted on banners that have been hanging over the street for days.
Hill has sung with Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Elton John during her career. Her show begins at 10 p.m. on the festival’s Kronenbourg stage.
The Glow Fair has also been touting its “silent disco,” a unique solution to noise bylaws. During the silent concert, a DJ plays centre stage, but instead of his music blasting through speakers, it plays across more than a hundred wireless headphones being worn by the audience.
“From a distance it looked like a normal concert but without sound,” says Taylor O’Dea, an Ottawa resident who was there for Friday’s event. What struck O’Dea most about the concert was seeing headphones, which usually suggest a private experience, being used to connect people.
“They were all experiencing the same thing, but on their own,” she says.
Glow Fair ends Saturday night.
Ribfest
For anyone looking to recharge after a concert or to take in enough calories to dance all night, Ottawa’s Ribfest has once again taken over Sparks Street between Bank and Elgin.
While a few musical guests are making an appearance, Ribfest is mainly about food, and visitors line up and down the street to taste what’s on offer.
2014’s lineup of ribbers includes Hogs Gone Wild, Swine Fellows and last year’s people’s choice champion Silver Bullet Barbeque.
Vegetarians visiting Sparks Street are not out of luck; the festival also has non-meat vendors including Corn Roasters and Twisted Tomato Ketchup, which sells soft potato chips on a stick with seven different ketchup flavors.
Ribfest, which began Wednesday, ends at 6 p.m. Sunday night.