Bull Riding Joins the Things to Do in Ottawa This Month

The list of things to do in Ottawa this month now includes a bull ride. On Friday, August 28, Ottawa Stadium on Coventry Road — the ballpark the Ottawa Titans call home — becomes a rodeo arena for Broncs & 'Tonks, a one-day event that packs a tailgate, professional rodeo competition and a full stadium country concert into a single afternoon and night. Gates open at 1 p.m. Dean Brody and The Reklaws headline.

Tickets run $109 for general admission and $149 for VIP, which makes it the most expensive thing on the city's calendar right now by a wide margin. That gap is the real story of late August in the capital. The Capital Fair charges nothing to walk through the gate. Neither do the farmers' markets, the circus act coming to Strathcona Park, or the Wednesday yoga session on Parliament Hill.

Timing matters too, because the summer's biggest draw has already finished. Les Grands Feux du Casino Lac-Leamy launched its final shell on Saturday, August 15. If you were planning to catch fireworks over the Ottawa River this weekend, you missed them by a day. Here's what's actually left between now and Labour Day, and what it costs.

A Rodeo at the Ballpark on Coventry Road

Ottawa has hosted plenty of stadium concerts. It has not hosted bull riding and bronc riding at 300 Coventry Road. Organizers are billing Broncs & 'Tonks as a first for the city — a destination event rather than a local fair attraction — and Soundcheck Entertainment reports it doubles as the opening night of Dean Brody and The Reklaws' Hometown Heroes Tour. For a region whose rodeo reference point has always been Calgary, that's a genuinely new import.

The format is what makes it unusual. Most Canadian rodeos are multi-day agricultural events in small towns. This one compresses everything into one afternoon inside a professional baseball park, then hands the field over to a country show. At $109, it's priced like an arena concert rather than a fair, so treat it as a night out, not a drop-in.

What the Capital Fair Costs This Year

The Capital Fair runs through Sunday, August 23 at 4899 Albion Road South, at the corner of Rideau and Albion. It moved across the street from its old home beside the Rideau Carleton casino, which gave it noticeably more room for the midway, the demolition derby, the stunt dog show and the petting zoo.

The fair's own pricing page lists free gate admission this year, with midway wristbands sold separately since early July — meaning the rides, not the entry, are where your money goes. It also flags Monday, August 17 as a discount day at $8 for adults and $4 for children aged 5 to 12, down from $15 and $7, with under-fives free. If you're bringing a family of four, going on the Monday is the difference between roughly $24 and $44 before a single ride.

Things to Do in Ottawa That Cost Nothing

The free calendar is deeper than the paid one right now, and several items are genuinely one-offs rather than the usual summer wallpaper. Three are worth putting in your phone this week.

Aerial Acrobatics in Strathcona Park

Cirquonscient brings circus arts and aerial acrobatics to Strathcona Park on Tuesday, August 18, free to watch. Sandy Hill's riverside park is small enough that you'll actually see the performers, which is more than you can say for most outdoor festival stages.

Dig for Artifacts at Leamy Lake

On August 18 and 19, public archaeological digs open at Leamy Lake Park and Philippe Lake, also free. These are real excavation sites, not a sandbox with buried plastic, and spots at supervised digs tend to fill quickly with school-age kids.

Noon Yoga on Parliament Hill

Wednesday yoga on the Hill continues at 12 p.m., including August 19. Bring your own mat. It's one of the few times a year you can lie down on the lawn in front of Centre Block and nobody moves you along.

The Fireworks Won't Be Back Until Next Summer

Les Grands Feux ran six evenings this year, on Wednesdays and Saturdays from July 29 through August 15, with each night starting at 6 p.m. at the Canadian Museum of History. The shows themselves are 25-minute pyromusical performances fired from a barge on the Ottawa River, with Parliament as the backdrop. Teams from Canada, France, Brazil and China competed, and Royal Pyrotechnie closed the festival on August 15 with a tribute to everyday heroes. Mark late July in your 2027 calendar now.

How to Fill the Rest of Your August

Deep Purple plays the Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday, August 19 — a band five decades into its touring life, so not one to assume comes around again. The Canadian Museum of Nature's Wild Colour exhibition is still running, and visitors 17 and under get in free. Saunders Farm's corn maze is open. The Ottawa Farmers' Market keeps its weekly stops at Lansdowne, Main Street, Westboro, Barrhaven and Orléans, all free to browse.

The Carp Garlic Festival wrapped on Sunday with more than 100 booths at the Carp Fairgrounds; it's been running for over three decades, so it will be back next August. If you only do one thing from this list, book the rodeo now — a single-date stadium event with two headliners doesn't hold seats for long — and keep Monday the 17th free for the fair, when a family outing costs about half what it will the rest of the week.