In the trees, Gatineau Park. Photo by Justin Van Leeuwen via the OttawaStart Flickr Pool. Grab your boots and coats, winter is here! With the recent snowfall, the cross-country ski, snowshoe and snow biking season is officially open in Gatineau Park, the Capital’s conservation park. ...

The City of Ottawa is seeking public comment on two topics. Significant Woodlands Guidelines: The City invites residents to comment on draft guidelines for its new Significant Woodlands policies, which will help protect and identify these areas. Residents can submit written feedback at woodlands@ottawa. ...

Christmas toboggan on a steep hill, 1959. Via Ross Dunn/OttawaStart Flickr Pool Toboggans, sledding, tubing, sliding … whatever you want to call it, we have it covered on our map of Ottawa and Gatineau’s best hills. It’s one of winter’s most fun and inexpensive sports. ...

Lyft has revealed the most traveled-to places by users of its platform in Ottawa’s inaugural Lyftie Awards. The Lyftie Awards are an annual review of the most popular destinations for users of the ride-hailing company, across more than 45 cities. Lyft has been operating in Ottawa for around 10 months and included it in the 2018 awards. ...

Christmas Trio. At the Fallowfield Tree Farm, south of Stittsville. Here’s a list of Christmas Tree Farms in the Ottawa area, as well as places where you can pick up a Christmas tree. Maybe it can be the start of a new tradition for your family. ...

At the Rideau Hall skating rink. Photo by MCpl/Cplc Vincent Carbonneau, Rideau Hall. (Via Rideau Hall) The Office of the Secretary to the Governor General is pleased to announce that Rideau Hall’s refrigerated skating rink will open to skaters this Saturday, December 8, 2018. ...

Ottawa’s new city council has taken office for the 2018-2022 term. While there are many familiar faces, this council features seven newbies. Here’s how to get in touch with them. Not sure who your councillor is? Look them up on ottawa. ...

This Holiday season, the incredible showman, Pete Paquette, and his band, the Rockin’ Royals with the sensational Tonettes, returns in Elvis: A Christmas Special, featuring a special guest performance by the dazzling Ms. Amberley Beatty. Best known for his portrayal as Elvis Presley, Pete takes the stage to celebrate the Christmas Holidays through a special Tribute performance of the King’s greatest Christmas Carols and songs of inspiration such as: Blue Christmas, Here Comes Santa Claus, I Believe, The Wonderful World of Christmas, and many more favourites. ...

OttawaStart.com has changed a lot in the 20 years since it was founded. We started as a portal site, full of links to all sorts of other web destinations. The motto: “The City’s Most Useful Website!” We evolved quite a bit, along with the internet at large. ...

The City is calling for proposals to occupy 22 available on-street food spaces in 2019. There are 10 cart spaces and 12 truck spaces available. The list of available locations can be found on ottawa.ca. A volunteer street-food selection panel, made up of representatives from the food and hospitality industry and from Ottawa Public Health, will evaluate proposals. ...