They’re suddenly everywhere along the Rideau Canal, as if they were all chairlifted in from the Muskokas overnight: spacious, comfortable seating that you might know as Adirondack chairs — nicely inclined backs, deep seats, wide armrests, and each almost impossible to get out of, due to both the ABs required and the immobilizing restive vibe they bring.
At Dow’s Lake, these chairs are accompanied by the opportunity to sit on a dock, enjoy a waterside beer and
go for a swim
.
Yes, you heard me right. A beer. And a swim. At Dow’s Lake. In Ottawa. Ontario. Canada. The city that … well, never mind that. The city that at last is getting its fun on in new and welcome ways.
“This is fantastic,” said Karen Osterer, trying out one of the chairs on the new dock alongside her friend Diane Campbell, as the pair caught up with one another late in the week.
“Ottawa has not taken advantage of what is available in terms of its natural beauty,” Osterer added. “Everyone is thrilled about this little thing, when you could have so many of them. There are hundreds of opportunities in Ottawa for beautiful spots like this.”
Maggie Thomson shared a similar sentiment as she and her friend Aubin Calvert, the latter visiting Ottawa from Vancouver, pulled themselves onto the dock following a brief swim. “We’ve always had this body of water that’s beautiful and so appreciated by locals and visitors,” she said, “but we’ve never been able to swim in it. And now there’s a possibility to use it in a different way other than just walking or running by it or being in a boat.”
Calvert, meanwhile, hit the nail on the head when she noted, “This isn’t my city, but it’s always nice for cities to have places where people can gather outside, meet up and build a sense of community.”
It’s easy in Ottawa to criticize what too often seem like umpteen levels of government at odds with one another and, almost as often, us. Today’s column, in contrast, is an appreciation and public acknowledgement of officials who get it right, the hope being that the sunshine thrown their way will encourage even more such baskworthy initiatives.
And so let’s applaud the National Capital Commission and the City of Ottawa for their recent efforts at making the city’s public spaces more welcoming and enjoyable.
The Dow’s Lake project is the NCC’s handiwork, and apart from the chairs, dock and dawn-to-dusk swimming, it also includes the sale, via Dominion City Brewing Co., of snacks and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks Thursdays through Sundays.
The NCC also earns props for its beautiful restoration of the recently
reopened Westboro Beach
. The canteen there, operated by Wilderness Tours, will soon be licensed, and I’ve been told that beach chairs, umbrellas and stand-up paddleboard and kayak rentals are on their way, as is a restaurant, The Grand.
The city, meanwhile, is jumping on the public spaces/gatherings bandwagon by launching its Street Seats pilot program, which, in collaboration with the Centretown BIA, will pedestrianize small sections of Frank, Florence and MacLaren streets immediately off Bank Street, and enliven them with seating, public art and programming.
This isn’t groundbreaking. In 2021 and 2022, for example, Oat Couture Oatmeal Café on Bank Street in Old Ottawa South was permitted to close a small section of Glen Avenue, where it set up seating and tables for anyone — customers or otherwise — who wanted to use them.
The handful of Centretown businesses I spoke with all voiced their support for this year’s pilot.
“I absolutely love this idea,” said Leanna Gazo, manager of The Great Canadian Poutinerie at the corner of Bank and MacLaren. “This helps people get outside, which in Ottawa you can’t do for much of the year.”
Fauna restaurant owner John Svazas also welcomed the outdoor space that his customers and others will enjoy. “This project is super-welcome,” he said. “We had a lot of success with the street closures during the pandemic, but it was difficult when we did it ourselves in the last two years: there were a lot of requirements and it got very expensive and hard to beautify.”
Across Bank Street, meanwhile, Chamberfest artistic director Carissa Klopoushak is looking forward to the pilot, which starts July 1 and runs ’til mid-October, to give her organization more exposure, whether that’s simply through selling tickets to concerts, or bringing live classical music to the streets. “It’s really great when the city does interesting things to make more spaces more community-accessible,” she said, “and does something new and fresh and exciting.”
Fans of the recent years’ lane and street closures on
Somerset Street West
between Bank and O’Connor, however, may be disappointed to learn the Centretown BIA is taking a step back this year in terms of pedestrian-friendly access there. On weekends in recent summers, recall, one lane of the block was closed to traffic and given over to restaurants for outdoor patios. For two weeks last summer, the entire block was closed to traffic, with summer programming, including drag shows.
Not all of the businesses on the block were restaurants or bars that benefited from the lane closures, though, and some were reportedly upset at possibly losing customers via inaccessible parking spaces. A subsequent change in BIA leadership brought with it less willingness to repeat previous years’ programming. Instead, this year, new lines will be painted on Somerset and the street parking switched from the south side of the street to the north. Beginning July 1, two restaurants — Union Local 613 and T’s Pub — will be permitted to build outdoor patios on the parking spots directly in front of their establishments.
Welcome to Ottawa: two steps forward, one step back. But still, some things are improving. Time to get outside and enjoy them. Try one of the chairs and see if it fits.
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