Brewer Park is really popular all year round. It's located right off of Carleton University,…read morebetween Bronson and Sunnyside, on Brewer Way, right next to the Ottawa River. It's used quite a bit for sports, as it has numerous soccer and football playing fields, baseball diamonds, a basketball net, a hockey arena and speed skating oval in the winter, and is close to Brewer Pool for indoor swimming. It also has bike paths, play structures, a pond, and even a mini waterpark, which makes it particularly fun for kids and families. I always see children playing here with their family, friends, and pets, as well as Carleton students that live so close by. The first time I visited Brewer Park was in the fall for House of Paint, an annual graffiti festival, with live art, DJs and MCs, breakdancing, and BBQ. It takes place at the legal wall under Dunbar Bridge, and the festival is eco-friendly, community-supported, and unique.

I can't believe there aren't more reviews for this excellent park! I came here when I worked in…read morechildcare, and it was a kid's paradise. It might even be my favourite place to bring kids in the city, especially on a hot day. There's an awesome two tiered splash pad here, along with 4 or 5 awesome play structures (which are accessible). There's tons of room for kids to run around, and there's also some other cool features to explore like the community garden, pond, and legal graffiti wall. They have public washrooms and they're fairly clean. This is a fantastic place to bring the little ones, but the House of Paint hiphop festival is also a ton of fun for adults.

Champlain Park is a large park with a lot of open green space. It has a baseball diamond, a wading…read morepool, several play structures with slides and a lot of swings. In the winter there is an outdoor skating rink. There are benches and picnic tables. There is a fieldhouse there with washrooms. The play structures tend to be a bit busier than at other nearby parks. The park is connected to the Ottawa River and the pedestrian path along the Ottawa River Parkway. There's a section that promotes biodiversity with lots of different plants. It's a pretty park to walk through, especially the part that connects it to the Ottawa River Parkway path. Street parking only.

McNabb Park is a great park. It has a skate park in it (the skate park is technically called the…read moreCharlie Bowins Skate Park), several play structures (a traditional one with swings and slides and a climbing one that looks like a geodesic dome), a splash pad, green space, lots of park benches and picnic tables. The entrance on Bronson Avenue is beautiful with a metal arch shaped like a tree and along the fence are metal silhouettes of people playing musical instruments and people playing sports. The park is also connected to the McNabb Community Centre. There's free parking at the community centre but street parking nearby is also available.

I love this park. It's right down the street, and I've always been intrigued by the beautiful black…read moregates on Bronson. The city has made a huge effort to upgrade the park the past year, and it's really starting to show. From the new brick entranceway to the skatepark and awesome play structures, this is a great park for all ages. At the Bronson entrance there are lovely benches and chessboard picnic tables, perfect for watching the tricksters at the skatepark. Walk further down the pathway and you'll find open green space perfect for a game of soccer or ultimate frisbee. There's picnic tables scattered on the periphery as well. To the left are awesome play structures (there's one giant climbing one that looks like a spider web!). I noticed they recently added a community garden space as well, which is awesome! There's also a wading pool for the hot summer months, with plenty of seating to watch your little one. One thing to note is that this is an off leash dog park after school hours and on weekends, so if you have little ones who are wary of dogs, keep that in mind. I notice the city do their best to keep this park really clean and beautiful. Am loving this beautiful park in the middle of my 'hood!

The Rideau Canal wasn't frozen yet in early January, but fear not! There is the Rink of Dreams -…read morean outdoor ice skating rink located in front of the City Hall, set with picnic tables, and a structure where you may change into your skates in the relative comfort of thawed fingers (open daily from 8 am to 11 pm). Ice skate rental and sharpening is available during certain hours. Admission is free. A BeaverTails Pastry shop hawks freshly made fried dough with an option of toppings (I highly recommend the maple spread for $5.75), and a short menu of beverages. They are closed Mondays & Tuesdays, open 4pm-10pm Wed - Fri, and noon - 10pm on weekends. Cash only. The ice is not the best (even after a run through by the zamboni), but it is a good sized rink, it is free, and the surroundings is pleasant enough. When it gets dark, they even light up the rink in pretty changing colors. Totally makes for a fun wintertime activity. My only warning is that I found it a bit dangerous making my way down to the rink from the changing structure with my skate shod feet - the ground wasn't level so I kept finding myself slipping on the snow crusted surface. I tried walking sideways, perpendicular to gravity as they teach you for skiing, and it kind of worked... though not completely. Need a bathroom? The City Hall is available with its facilities and you can warm up inside a bit while checking out their small art galleries - but no skates (on feet) allowed! Hours: open daily from 6 am to 11 pm, November to March, weather-permitting

As we enter gelid January, consider visiting the city's newest downtown attraction: the Rink of…read moreDreams. This is the rink's second season, and while it will never rival the Rockefeller Center rink, it's a very picturesque setting in the unique urban backdrop of City Hall's sparkling lights. Optimum vistas are omnipresent when the sun has set: - Parliament Hill is lit up with thousands of Christmas lights. The Peace Tower and the towers blaze with coloured spotlights. - Confederation Park, where nearly every tree is lit up. - Brillant blue lights around the National War Monument. - Chateau Laurier - Convention Centre - Lord Elgin Hotel The 5-year old in me, delights in the LED lit boards. A first-class move that goes great with the festive lighting on the City Hall grounds. The Rink of Dreams is for all people - young and old, and best of all it's completely gratuit!

This review is for Central Park, the park in The Glebe, and not the development/neighbourhood in…read moreCarlington near the Experiment Farm, of the same name. I actually didn't even know that this park was called Central Park, until a few years ago (although truth be told, when I hear "Central Park" I still first think of NYC). It's a pretty park with a pond in it. Lots of beautiful (and expensive) houses surround it. There's a festival called "The New Art Festival" (formerly called "Art in the Park") that takes place in Central Park every summer that's quite neat. Hundreds of visual artists set up tents and sell their art. The park is a nice place to take a walk, or have a picnic when the weather is nice as well.

Central Park is in a nice, central location in the Glebe neighbourhood, off Bank Street…read more This makes for a good urban park experience, though unfortunately it is not large enough, or isolated enough, to provide a quiet, park experience. Central Park is best known for hosting "art in the park", a yearly event in the spring that attracts local artists, and their latest exhibits. This is a great time to visit, and is full of activities for adults and children. If you visit the park anytime outside of Art in the Park (which was on June 7th and 8th in 2008), then this is a rather ordinary urban park. There are some benches and a lot of open space and some trees, but because of its proximity to a lot of retail and major stores, it sometimes attracts the wrong crowd. The few instances where I visited there were cases of vandalism and youths causing a minor disturbance. Particularly later in the evening, this might be a place to avoid. During the day, however, it's still a groovy place to visit in the city.

My husband and I stumbled upon this park as we were waiting for our food order from Toasty Arepas,…read morewhich is around the corner from this park. Optimist Park is a really functional and awesome park. It looks fairly new, and I discovered that it was built in 2017. It has a wading pool AND a "real pool" where you can swim laps. Both pools have lifeguards. It has a play structure with swings and slides. It has a rink where you can skate in the winter, which is converted into a basketball court in the summer. There are tables with built-in chess/checkers boards. There are ping pong tables. There's open green space, benches and picnic tables. There are painted hopscotch patterns on the ground, as well as an alphabet wheel (I'm thinking to teach kids the alphabet (?) but maybe there's some sort of game of which I am not aware, lol). It's such a great community park. It's in a part of town where the average household income is less than the national average, and crime rates are higher than many other parts of Ottawa. I am happy to see that there is a park like this in this neighbourhood. This park is in fact a lot nicer than many parks in more affluent neighbourhoods in Ottawa. The pools have lifeguards who are municipal government employees. There also appeared to be a building there staffed by either City employees or perhaps volunteers from the Optimist Club that maybe ran some programs (sorry, I'm not really sure, as I didn't fully check it out). I wholeheartedly support programs that reach out to youth, especially at-risk youth. It was Frederick Douglass who said "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men" and I believe that this is so true. I feel that the city planners did well with Optimist Park.

We stopped in for a short visit while in town and would love to come back to explore more…read more Admission and parking are free! We stopped by Meech Lake which looked like a lovely spot for kayaking. Fall colors were starting to appear in mid September. There are many trails described as varying levels of difficulty and varying lengths and so would be a wonderful spot for hiking!

Gatineau park is truly a gem that we have here locally. I've been a couple of times on many of the…read moretrails and they never disappoint!!! I always pick a different trail and hike for about 4 hours. It's wonderful to see people of all ages enjoying themselves. There was a notebook where people from all around the world could write into which was amazing!!! Recommendation: read about the trail first. A few spots are quite elevated and may be difficult for some people.

TL;DR: It's a farm-themed amusement park for kids by day and by night leading up to Halloween it's…read moreone of those haunted house horror screamfest experiences, lol. Saunders Farm is not a place that I would go of my own accord because It's too far outside of the city for me and I like neither farms nor horror experiences. However, I found myself going there with my husband, a friend and the friend's two kids. Overall, it was not as bad as I thought it would be, lol. We went during the day in September, so my review is of the farm-themed amusement park. General admission was $29 a person. I think they are only open September through December with it being most popular around Halloween. There were a few mazes, haunted houses that you walk through, and lots of play structures. There was also a zipline, which the kids did, but I did not. The zipline is not included in the general admission and was an additional $15 a person. They also had tractor rides, a Harvest one that was scenic and not meant to be scary and a Haunted one which had a few scares. They also had a big bouncy area like a bouncy castle but no walls or ceiling. They also had puppet shows, a theatre show and a monster parade. They have carnival games where you shoot cans, toss rings and things like that for prizes. There are no roller coasters or bumper cars. They have a few gift shops with very overpriced items. The candy store had no prices on the candy and our friend bought a few pop rocks, airheads and a lollipop for his kids and it was over $20. They have a few different places to eat as well. A few sit down restaurants and a few food court vendors where you take your food and eat at one of the picnic tables on the grounds. I had chicken tenders at "What the Cluck?" and it was $14 for 3 small chicken tenders and some fries. I was happy that the chicken tenders were real chicken breast meat and although they were small, they tasted good. The fries were nice and crispy too. The only thing I didn't like is staff dump the fries from the fryer into a large metal holding container and when customers ordered fries I saw staff grabbing the fries with their bare hands putting them into the paper containers and giving them to the customers. I'd think that would be hot and uncomfortable for staff, not to mention unhygienic for customers. The guy handling the chicken used tongs to place the chicken in the container, but fries guy bare handed it! WTF! Use some tongs or wear gloves, please. My husband got a Pogo with fries $10 at "Pogos + Poutine." This is where our friend and his kids got food as well. "Pogos + Poutine" and "What the Cluck?" have different menus but they share the same kitchen space. So their fries were handled by bare hands guy too. Overall, I think Saunders Farm is good for kids and families during the day. I can't speak to their Frightfest that happens at night. There's free parking on the grounds. It's plentiful, but not paved. (155)

This is a review for Frightfest!…read more I came on a Sunday evening with a few friends. Tickets were purchased in advance and were pricier than I thought it would be $60 each. I think if you bought them further in advance, there was a possibility to get 15% off. This was my first time visiting Saunder's farm and I was really impressed. Super scary and well-planned haunted houses! I think this would make a good night out for groups We came on a rainy and cold night and it was pretty busy. Lines for the haunted houses were between 10-45 minutes each. It was overall very organized and fun! Not for the very young (too scary) or if you have walking difficulties (it was muddy and slippery so definitely could potentially fall). Would definitely come again!