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What’s up in Ottawa next weekend? SO FREAKIN’ MUCH. (For info on stuff going on this weekend, see here.)

The biggest event for June 9/10 is WestFest. What started as a community get-together has ballooned into such a big event, I don’t know how the organizers handle it all. Confession: we have actually never been to WestFest before because I’m just terrified of the parking situation. However, that’s really no excuse because there’s so much to see and do – and it’s all free. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, there will be multiple bands, authors, and slam poets performing, including headliner and Canadian legend Steven Page. In the streets, there will be booths hosted by various companies, featuring bouncy castles, balloon animals, musical acts, visual art displays, and prize giveaways.

In theatre next weekend, Two Rivers Musical Productions presents Fiddler on the Roof at Arnprior District High School from June 7-9 (adults $15, youth $10). 9th Hour Theatre Company is putting on The Secret Garden, a beloved book from my youth, at The Gladstone Theatre from June 6-10 (tickets range from $16 to $29). Also, Kanata Theatre Youth presents Beauty and the Beast Jr. on stage at the Ron Maslin Playhouse on June 8 and 9 (all tickets $5).

Saturday, June 9 is also the date of the annual CHEO BBQ, a fun outdoor sporty event held at Shefford Park. You can register a team for the ultimate frisbee or beach volleyball tournaments (players must be 16+). For families and kids, there’s a 5K walk (parents are $20, kids are free, register everyone here). There’s also a family zone featuring games and crafts, and performances by Radical Science, Ray’s Reptiles, and OH MY GOD, Yaki. Yaki is a local singer of children’s songs, and he played at every single one of my kids’ JK classes at school, and they ADORE him, he is HUGE over here. We may have to go just to see him. And get an autograph, OF COURSE.

If your kids can handle a bit of a late night, the Mosaika Show is running next week on Parliament Hill. I think it’s some kind of music/lasers/fireworks type event. Usually this show runs in late July and August, but this year they are having a special June presentation for one week only, June 5 – 13 (excepting the 8th and 9th), at 10 p.m. Kay, that’s pretty late. But I hear it’s amazing. Maybe if we all nap? In any case, the show is free so if you don’t make it to the end, it’s not as big a deal.

Lastly, the Mothercraft Touch-A-Truck event runs on the Sunday, June 10, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the parking lot at Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre. It’s a really fun morning for kids that love really big vehicles – there’s everything from 18 wheelers to emergency vehicles to army trucks to the bookmobile. Kids are free to climb inside most of the trucks and there can be an awful lot of horn honking going on, so be sure to warn small kids with sensitive ears that it’s going to be noisy. Inside the mall they have things like balloon animals, face painting, and 4x4s to drive around a small track. The cost is $6 per person, and last year things like the face painting were asking for additional donations.

Upcoming and requiring tickets/registration:

June 16 – Baxter All Terrain Kids Triathalon (for kids aged 4-19)
June 19 and 26 – Ottawa Fringe Festival (has a new kids camp on the Saturday afternoons, so shop for your own tickets to shows on these days now)
June 17 – All Aboard to Planet Alloy kinderconcert at the NAC