OPENING DAY:  September 10th - All activities are free

10am - 5pm

Large-Scale Photography Exhibit:  

PhotoSynthesis is a photography exhibit that engages, informs, and inspires with images and perspectives of eight tree specialists from the Ottawa area, including a world-leading botanist and medical biologist, community activists, foragers and maple syrup producers, a violin maker, a forester, and a family physician. 

Craft tables, chairs, outdoor library

Food/Drink Vendors

Merry Dairy - Serving Merry Pops made in part from locally harvested fruit from edible fruit trees. 

Brewbar - A premium coffee pop up shop selling Espresso, Americano, Latte, Chai Latte, Hot Dark Chocolate, Whole Leaf Teas, Iced Maple Latte, Iced Americano, Iced Teas. 

Displays by community groups involved in protecting and promoting Ottawa's urban canopy 

Including Ecology Ottawa, Big Trees of Kichissippi and Twigs Nursery

Special Events 

10:00am - 10:30am - Festival Launch - with City Councillor David Chernushenko and Tree Fest Ottawa reps

10:30am - 11:30am  - Open House on the Brewer Pond Restoration Project

A walking tour around the pond with Jennifer Lamoureux, Aquatic and Fish Habitat Biologist.  The tour will provide information and highlights of how the Brewer Park Pond Restoration came to be.  Why was the pond reconstructed?  What are the social and ecological benefits?  How did the pond reconstruction unfold?  Who were the partners involved?  What species have recolonized the newly constructed pond?

11:30 - 1:00pm - Field Studies Research Station with Carleton University's Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

Visit a research station set up by a professor and eight fourth year geography students to conduct field studies on the vegetation, soil and water around Brewer Pond. On this opening day of the tree festival, the professor and students will provide an overview of the site and they studies they will be conducting over the course of the 6 week festival. 

12:00pm - 1:00pm - Status of the Urban Forest - with Dr. Andy Kenney

A presentation and discussion with Forester Andy Kenny on the state of Ottawa's urban forest. He will discuss the value and the threats of the urban forest and what individuals and neighbourhoods can do to protect and enhance trees in the city. 

2:00 - 3:00pm - Walk and Talk Tour from an Indigenous Worldview, lead by Alanis King from Indigenous Perspectives 

Indigenous Walks presents a unique walk and talk tour around Brewer Park from an Indigenous worldview. The tour will be around the park sharing cultural stories on the origins and uses of trees as well as the plant and animal world around the trees from time immemorial. Learn about the trickster, the natural world, traditional medicine, and gain insight into an Indigenous World view and our relationship to the land.