Known as Ottawa’s most colourful festival, Capital Pride will be hosting various events and activities in celebration of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community. “Once a year, our community has the opportunity to come together and celebrate its positive contributions to the greater community, the National Capital Region,” says Mark Power, vice-chair of communications of Capital Pride.

Every summer, local theatre enthusiasts gather in parks around the city to experience theatre productions from a Company of Fools. As part of Torchlight Shakespeare, the company has presented an outdoor production during the summer season since 2003.

With summer rearing its head, Ottawans are getting excited for the multitude of community events coming up. For local art enthusiasts, Ravenswing is an event not to be missed. The event is free of charge and will take place on May 27 in Centertown’s Minto Park.

Since opening on December 2nd back in 1932, the original Mayfair Theatre, located in Lower Town, has become a landmark in the community. A second location of the independent cinema opened on December 2, 2011 in Ottawa’s East end, near Place d’Orleans. Although the Mayfair Orleans is still in its early stage of operations, it is on the edge of calling it quits.

Watch out, Ottawa; there’s a new burger place in town. Burgers on Main is located on Sommerset between Bank and O’Connor. Also referred to as BOM, Burgers on Main first opened in Manotick in October 2011. Since then, the restaurant has been quite successful and is quickly becoming an important member of the community.

Last week, students from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa hit the streets of Ottawa to raise awareness on homelessness in Canada. A national campaign, 5 Days for the Homeless invites university students to live “homeless” on their campus and raise money and awareness for a local charity of their choice.

On Tuesday, February 7th, buy a toque and help homeless youth in Ottawa. Toque Tuesday is part of Raising the Roof’s National Toque Campaign. Raising the Roof is a national charity whose mission is to bring about long-term solutions to homelessness in Canada.