OttawaStart's Weekly Event Round-Up: June 25-30

_ Our crowdsourced list of the best events in Ottawa this week. You can find even more events on our Ottawa Event Calendar . _

** Thursday-Sunday, June 25-28: Dragon Boat Festival ** The Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival is celebrating it’s 22nd edition at Moonie’s Bay Park from June 25 to 28. North America’s largest dragon boat festival will feature a children’s area filled with family-friendly entertainment, the classic dragon boat races and a free concert series. This year, festival-goers will have the chance to see local acts The Acorn, Kalle Mattson, Craig Cardiff and Jim Bryson along with headliners Mounties, Tokyo Police Club, Hey Rosetta, and Dan Mangan & Blacksmith among others. This is such a treat it would be a shame not to take advantage of all these amazing and accessible events! _ – Eliane Laberge, Eventful Capital _ ** Thursday, June 25: Students from Shane Rhodes' poetry workshop ** Craig Barlow, Selina Boan, Edith Bramwell, Sanita Fejzic, Manuela Popovici and Michele Wozny June 25 at 7:00 pm. Octopus Bookstore, 251 Bank St., 2nd Floor _ – Amanda Earl , Bywords _ ** Thursday, June 25 and Saturday, June 27: Crush Improv’s SPOTLIGHT ON at the Fringe Festival ** _ Spotlight On… _ is a storytelling based format where each show is inspired by the anecdotes of a special guest. Crush has assembled a stellar group of special guests as storytellers for the run, drawing on talent from other Fringe shows.Coming all the way from Japan is comedic juggernaught Hiroshi Shimizu June 25th – 6:00 pm Ottawa’s own, witty, talented and Rideau Award winning Kate Smith June 27th – 8:30 pm …and I’m playing piano for the show on Saturday night! _ – Glen Gower _ ** Saturday, June 27: Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat-Cereal Cartoon Party ** At the Mayfair Theatre, 10am-1pm. Remember those mornings when we sat in our pjs and watched cartoons for hours? Relive your youth (this time with your kids in tow) and watch 3 hours of retro cartoons and commercials (remember those?), and enjoy a buffet of sugary cereal. #nomnomnom _ – Tanya Snook _ ** Saturday, June 27: Meningitis Survivor Fundraiser ** A wonderful and fun evening planned with music and videos all to raise funds for a local woman who’s meningitis diagnosis came too late - and she lost her eyesight. Funds raised will help with expert eye surgery in the US. _ – Laura Gauthier _ ** Saturday, June 27: Dan Mangan & Blacksmith @ The Dragonboat Festival ** Festival season is in full swing in Ottawa. There will be gobs of great music at the Jazz and Dragonboat festivals this weekend. How do you choose? Well, let’s go with the Dragonboat Festival on Saturday. The concerts are all free and you can see The Acorn, Jeremy Fisher and the Rural Alberta Advantage. Oh, and Dan Mangan & Blacksmith. Check out this track from them featuring Dave Grohl on guest vocals. I’m 99.9% sure Grohl won’t be there, but hey, you never know. _ – Ryan Bresee , CKCU’s Whatever’s Cool With Me _ ** Saturday, June 27: Latin Sparks ** Did you attend the Latin Sparks outdoor dance parties last year and really enjoyed yourself? Well this summer, organizers are only presenting one edition of the popular event on Saturday, June 27 along Sparks Street. The latin-themed block party promises to offer a night of dancing under the stars with complimentary workshops, music, cuisine and live percussionists and entertainment. Again, there’s only one being held this year, so don’t miss out if you want to dance the night away to latin sounds. _ – Eliane Laberge, Eventful Capital _ ** Sunday, June 28 until August 21: Changing of the Guard on Parliament Hill ** See a Canadian tradition at its most colourful! The Ceremonial Guard brings stirring military drills and music to Parliament Hill. Come at 9:45 a.m. to learn more about the ceremony. For more information visit theCeremonial Guard. 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM daily. _ – Sara-Lynne Levine, Macaroni Kid Ottawa _ ** Monday-Sunday, June 22-28: Welcoming Ottawa Week (WOW) ** There’s a lot going on during this celebration of our city’s diverse people and cultures. See a film or photo exhibit (Thursday-Sunday), learn Bollywood dancing (Thursday), take a guided walking tour in Vanier (Saturday), experience Community Cup soccer (Sunday) or join in one of the other events designed to promote inclusion and welcome newcomers to Ottawa. Organized by the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership. _ – Denise Deby , Green Living Ottawa _ ** Until July 1: Free music at Noon and on weekends at the Ottawa Jazz Festival ** The Ottawa Jazz Festival run from June 18 to July 1. But what if you’re not sure you like jazz? What if you can’t afford a $200 or $300 pass? What if you work evenings? Worry not! You can enjoy almost 40 free performances by highly talented, award-winning, local musicians on noon-hour stages and on weekends. Catch jazz vocal originals and standards, full big bands, modern jazz, and high energy jazz fusion. It’s a great way to check out a wide range of jazz, risk-free. Because it’s performed by local musicians, if you like what you hear you can often hear the groups again at performances throughout the year. _ – Brett Delmage , OttawaJazzScene.ca _ _ ** Upcoming… ** _ ** July 1: Canada Day 2015 ** Ottawa is the headquarters for Canada’s 148th birthday celebration.  Each year, hundreds of thousands of people visit Parliament Hill, Major’s Hill Park, Jacques-Cartier Park, and other locations in the surrounding areas to celebrate Canada.  OttawaStart’s ** Canada Day Guide ** has info about the big events downtown, plus celebrations all around Ottawa in Kanata, Barrhaven, Orleans, etc. ** July 3-4: Shaun Majumder at Yuk Yuk’s ** Gemini award-winning actor/comedian SHAUN MAJUMDER performs in Ottawa

July 3-4

at Yuk Yuk’s. A regular cast member on CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Shaun most recently played Andrew Palmer on the NBC/Global Television series The Firm, starring Josh Lucas and Juliette Lewis, and in 2010 starred as Det. Vik Mahajan in the critically acclaimed drama series Detroit 1-8-7 on ABC. His stand-up show has garnered critical praise for its candid look beyond the public persona to reveal a more intimate and complex side. _ (Sponsored) _ _ ** Continuing… ** _ ** Until August 22: Children’s Activities at Rideau Hall ** The grounds of Rideau Hall are open daily from 8 a.m. to one hour before sunset. Special activities include: “Storytime at Rideau Hall,” in collaboration with Frontier College. Fridays and Saturdays, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., from June 28 to August 23; Learn about heraldry by designing your very own coat of arms. Daily, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.; Stroll the grounds, bring a picnic and enjoy the children’s play structure; Watch the Relief of the Sentries of the Ceremonial Guard. Daily, every hour on the hour, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., June 25 to August 22. _ – Sara-Lynne Levine, Macaroni Kid Ottawa _ ** Until September 7: Alex Colville. A Canadian Icon ** At the National Gallery of Canada, _ Alex Colville _ offers a fresh perspective on Colville’s work, as he is considered to be one of Canada’s most celebrated artists. Featuring nearly a hundred paintings along with various student works and prints, this exhibition explores the breadth of Colville’s practice. _ (Sponsored) _ ** Until September 13: ** ** Chagall: Daphnis & Chloé ** Enter into a captivating love story between a goatherd and shepherdess. This tale titled _ Daphnis & Chloé _ is narrated visually through a set of colour lithographs by Marc Chagall.  These illustrations highlight Chagall’s unique style, setting him apart from the main 20th-century pictorial currents followed by some of his contemporaries. At the National Gallery. _ (Sponsored) _ ** Until December 31: Mary Pratt: This Little Painting ** What’s the story behind Red Currant Jelly (1972), which the artist Mary Pratt affectionately calls “this little painting”? See how Pratt developed her technique, which today stands as a defining example of painterly realism in Canada, a style strongly associated with the country’s Atlantic provinces. _ (Sponsored) _ _ For more events, check out ottawastart.com/events/ … or add your event via ottawastart.com/start/ _