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Ottawa Citizen columnist Bruce Deachman has put out a great challenge: create a better city motto for the new, upcoming Night Mayor.

The current city motto is ‘Advance-Ottawa-En Avant’, which is obviously terrible. Previously announced and then unannounced have been ‘Canada in One City’, the sublime ‘Technically Beautiful’, and, of course, the unofficial ‘City that Fun Forgot’.

Deachman trials ‘Ottawa: Working From Home Three Days a Week to Free Up LRT Seats that May or May Not Advance’ and ‘Ottawa: Lots of Parking for Trucks’.

It’s a good idea. Let Deachman know your idea at his column and email it to us at ‘hello@theottawan.com’.

– Martha and Darren

Ottawan of the Day

• Martin Cleary
• – The editor of Ottawa Sports Pages was given the Ontario University Athletics Honour Awards’ Media Member of Distinction last night for his work in covering university sports.
• Three days before, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe gave a Letter of Commendation to the former Ottawa Citizen sports reporter for his 50 years of sports coverage. (Kitchissippi Times) 

Quote

• “

• The Ottawa Pancakes?

• – The answer Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Luke Goedeke offered to opponent Rachaad White when the two played a game of Pictionary using football team logos. The correct answer was New Orleans Saints. (CTV)

CITY HALL AGENDA

WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

🙏 Diane Deans

•  City Council has renamed the Greensboro Community Centre after Diane Deans. The former councillor, who had served for 28 years, died yesterday, of ovarian cancer. The City had previously considered renaming the centre after Deans but was stymied due to a bylaw that prevented naming City facilities after living persons. (Victor Vigas Alvarez in Capital Current)
  
  ➕ Related City Council has approved a memorial for refugees of the Great Irish Famine who came to Canada in the 1840s at Macdonald Gardens Park in Lowertown.

🚨 Para Transpo

•  A Para Transpo driver has been charged with sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a person with a disability. The driver dropped off all other passengers then parked in a secluded area. Ottawa Police believe there may be other victims and ask to be contacted if anyone has any information. (CBC)

🌊 Casselman

•  Casselman wants to get rid of its smelly, dirty water by hooking up to the water supply of the next town over. The municipal water supply of Casselman, just south of Ottawa, has been reddish and smelly this year due to an influx of magnesium. While it is safe to drink, it looks and smells terrible. The good news is Casselman has a plan to upgrade its infrastructure and connect to nearby Clarence-Rockland's modern system. The bad news is it will cost $100 million. (Ted Raymond at CTV)

💸 Federal Public Employees

•  The Chief Information Officer of the Federal government thinks the government is going the right way over the Phoenix pay system. Alex Benay says he is pleased the new budget included $135 million to help move away from the Phoenix payroll system to one that presumably works. The new system is presumed to be Dayforce, which is used by the Ontario and California governments. (Daniel LeBlanc at CBC)

🅿️ Parking Tickets

•  Ottawa will be getting a new system to dispute parking and speed camera tickets. Approved yesterday, the new process will take tickets out of the court system and put instead into the City bureacracy. People who wish to dispute a ticket will ask for a review by a City official, who can uphold, cancel, or modify the fine. The new system will be in effect Spring 2025 for parking tickets and at the end of 2025 for camera tickets. (Abyssinia Abebe in the Ottawa Citizen) 

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EVENTS

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Please use our easy event submission form

Today

•  Connected Currents, a new exhibition of works by Kelsey Stephenson, opens in the Ottawa School of Art’s Orléans Campus Gallery tonight. The artist will be there in person to discuss the pieces, which focus on Alberta’s watershed. 245 Centrum Boulevard K1E 0A1.

•  Road Trip: Studio Theatre Perth presents The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by Marilyn Nicholas-Dahan. Thursday through Sunday performances until May 26. 63 Gore St E, Perth, ON K7H 1H8

•  The Tulip Festival is in full bloom at Commissioners Park until Monday. Take a walking tour, visit the food trucks, and fill your Instagram feed with photos. Before you leave, check the NCC’s handy Tulip Meter to check the bloom status.

•  Westboro Village kicks off the long weekend with shopping and games in one of Ottawa’s hippest neighbourhoods. While you’re shopping, make sure you stop by 347 Richmond Road and 365 Richmond Road for lawn games, 300 Richmond Road for live music by Eric Luca, and Winston Square for a photo op. 

•  Pony Girl is nominated in a massive five categories, but will they walk away with all the trophies? Is the Single of the Year award Zach Diamond’s to win? Get the answers to these questions and celebrate Ottawa’s bands, solo artists, venues, curators, producers, engineers, and music educators at the 5th annual Capital Music Awards at the Bronson Centre Music Theatre (211 Bronson Ave, K1R 6H5). Presented by the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition.

•  Ottawa Art Gallery’s Give to Get Art Auction is not just one of the coolest events on the Ottawa social calendar; the funds raised help keep admission to the space free and assist local artists. New this year: in addition to artworks participants will also bid on the chance to win commissions from a variety of artists. Tickets from $150.43. Tonight at the Alma Duncan Salon, Arts Court.

•  Michaela Chung brings her Daddy Issues show back to Yuk Yuk’s. Laugh along as she spins comedy gold out of dating, sex, family, and religion. Yuk Yuk’s at Biagio’s (1394 Richmond Road, K2B 6R8.

  ByTowne Cinema: One Life, Terrestrial Verses

  Mayfair Theatre: Common Ground, Irena’s Vow, Femme

  Gigs

•  Secrets with Colorblind, Glasslands, Unwell. The Brass Monkey

•  James Arif & The Noise Komplaints. Montgomery Scotch Lounge

•  LustSickPuppy, Prolaps, Fire Manic. The 27 Club

•  Sad Girl Café. Gigspace

•  Ray Chen (Mendelssohn and Mahler). NAC Southam Hall

•  Ana Egge. NAC Fourth Stage

•  Capital Music Awards afterparty. Rainbow Bistro

•  The Moto Social (meet-up). The Senate Tavern on Wellington

•  Country Nights - Southbound Boots. Heart & Crown ByWard
  Market

•  Actor/Filmmaker Social. Royal Oak 188 Bank St.

•  Moratorium, Ivy Gardens, Empress. House of TARG

•  Rachelle and Izzy & Wishkey Ghost (Indie Night). Overflow Brewing Company

Tomorrow

•  Forget about the Big Top: Cirquonscient brings the acrobatics, hoops, and juggling to the intimate surroundings of Arts Court’s Studio. Cirque à la Carte is one night only at 2 Daly Ave.
   
•  Solé is the party for music lovers who don’t want to stay up late. Enjoy good music, food, and fun from 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm at Headquarters, 115 Clarence St. K1N 5P9
   
•  Road Trip: Studio Theatre Perth presents The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by Marilyn Nicholas-Dahan. Thursday through Sunday performances until May 26. 63 Gore St E, Perth, ON K7H 1H8
   
• The Tulip Festival is in full bloom at Commissioners Park until Monday. Take a walking tour, visit the food trucks, and fill your Instagram feed with photos. Before you leave, check the NCC’s handy Tulip Meter to check the bloom status.

•  Barrhaven Ribfest & Poutine promises more of everything they do so well: ribs, poutine, BBQ, music, plus they’ve got a new Kids Zone. The festival starts at noon today and runs until Sunday at Clarke Fields Park, 93 Houlahan Street, K2J 3Y7.

•  Dance your way into the long weekend with a Salsa workshop. It’s a drop-in affair with a dance party following the instruction, and you don’t need a partner or any experience. Lesson and party $18, party only $13. Rahim Salsa at St John the Evangelist Anglican Church, 275 Elgin St. K2P 0H8.

•  Thirteen Strings presents Vaughan William’s ‘The Lark Ascending’ with violinist (and Concertmaster of the Orchestra Classique de Montréal) Marc Djokic. The programme will also include selections from Robert Rival and Arcangleo Corelli. Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, 355 Cooper St, Ottawa, ON K2P 0G8.

•  Saunders Farm has lots of activities for energetic families this long weekend, but if you’re just looking for a new spot to hang out after work and maybe enjoy some wood fired pizza, head to the farm’s CiderHouse for Happy Hour today from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Reservations are necessary.

•  ByTowne Cinema: On Earth As It Is In Heaven, Su l’Adamant (On the Adamant), We Grown Now, I Saw the TV Glow

•  Mayfair Theatre: Wicked Little Letters, Irena’s Vow, The Red Circle

  Gigs

•  The Barrow Gang Buskers. Atomic Rooster

•  K-Man & The 45s, The Abruptors, the Write-ups, Sugar Bomb. Dominion Tavern

•  Booster Fawnn, Debbie Christ, Twin Turbo. LIVE on Elgin

•  Justin Duhaime. Montgomery Scotch Lounge

•  Forró Fever: Music and Dance Extravaganza. Queen St. Fare

•  The Start. The Prescott

•  Adeoluwa featuring Kobe Bean. Art House Café

•  Abigail Lapell. Red Bird

•  Dart Trees, Backseat Dragon, Customer Service. Rainbow Bistro

•  Revenant Dan, The Murder Crows, The Mountain Gems. Irene’s Pub Restaurant

Saturday

•  Westboro Farmers’ Market, which had its Instagram account hacked this week, opens in Byron Linear Park today. Shop local produce and much more from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, and be sure to follow their new account.

•  The National Capital Commission’s free shuttle service to Gatineau Park starts running today for the 2024 season. The service runs six days per week (there's no bus on Wednesdays).

•  Ottawa Valley Roller Derby is a competitive, full contact, and family-friendly sporting spectacle, and at today's event there’s also a beer garden by Vimy Brewing Co. Head to the St. Laurent Complex, 515 Côté Street K1K 0Z8. Tickets $15 at the door. Kids 10 and under get in free (limit two kids per adult).

•  The Tulip Festival is in full bloom at Commissioners Park until Monday. Take a walking tour, visit the food trucks, and fill your Instagram feed with photos. Before you leave, check the NCC’s handy Tulip Meter to check the bloom status.

•  The Grace Land exhibition by Toronto-based artist Kelly Grace continues at Wall Space Gallery with an Artist Reception today from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm. “Drawing roughly from the eras of the 50s to the 90s, Grace retroactively casts her female characters in roles of power, who in their own era would have fallen prey to the typecasting of women into diminutive roles.” RSVP to responses@wallspacegallery.ca.

•  Road trip: Blow your kids’ minds with the Hopetown Telephone Company (1908-1969) exhibition at the opening weekend of Middleville & District Museum. They’ll get to experience vintage phones and learn how switchboards used to connect a community. The museum is open noon to 4:00 pm this weekend. Visit tomorrow (Sunday May 19) for the Official Opening Telephone Connection Day with tea. $5 per person, under 12s get in free. 2130 Concession Road 6D Lanark, Lanark, ON K0G 1K0

•  Road Trip: Studio Theatre Perth presents The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by Marilyn Nicholas-Dahan. Thursday through Sunday performances until May 26. 63 Gore St E, Perth, ON K7H 1H8

•  Road Trip: Almonte Farmers Market opens for the season. The weekly market offers local produce and baking, cut flowers, plants, pantry staples, and more, from today through Thanksgiving Weekend. Find the market at the parking lot of Almonte Public Library, 155 High Street, Almonte ON K0A 1A0.

•  Dance under the stars at the Tulip-Paolooza: A Pollinator Party, by the OTTAWA Letters on York St. 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Free. It’s all part of the ByWard Market Blooms 2024 festival.

•  ByTowne Cinema: My Neighbor Totoro (English dubbed), We Grown Now, On Earth As It Is In Heaven, I Saw The TV Glow.

  Mayfair Theatre: The Wizard of Oz: Sing-a-Long, Irena’s Vow, Wicked Little Letters, Pulp Fiction https://mayfairtheatre.ca/schedule/

  Gigs

•  Laura Jane Grace and the Mississippi Medicals, Pigeon Pit. The Brass Monkey

•  Vulcan GPO, Motherland, Saturn Sunrise. Dominion Tavern

•  Texas MAC. Rainbow Bistro

•  Chantal Celine & Jose ‘Sad, but not really.’ Art House Café

•  Boreal. Red Bird

•  Mecca of Stank with Smelloship. Irene’s Pub Restaurant

•  The Consequents. Club SAW

•  Laura Jane Grace, Worriers, Sam Russo. The Brass Monkey

•  Mom’s Birthday Show: MJ & the Beets, All Blue Monday, Clara Davis. LIVE on Elgin

•  Shawn Jam Hill Family Fundraiser: Andrew Vincent & The Pirates, King Kung, Double Pumpers, Recoilers. House of TARG

Just Announced / Now Booking

• Enjoy a fabulous evening on Red Apron's covered patio: it's a structured wine tasting with wine maker Ron Giesbrech from Niagara's Wending Home Estate Vineyards & Winery. Taste wines from Wending Home paired with bites from the Red Apron kitchen. Thursday May 23. Tickets are $35 each, call 613-695-0417 to purchase.

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