Cooler temperatures. Check! Trees awash in colour. Check! Food and wine festivals. Check! Fresh fruit and vegetable markets and stands. Check! Wine tastings. Check! Cycling paths. Check! Entertainment. Check! Accommodation booked at your favourite B&B. Check!
What’s not to love about fall—especially if you’re lucky enough to spend a few days in Niagara-on-the-Lake? In addition to the Shaw Festival performances, winery tours and cycling adventures you many have on your bucket list for this fall, here are a few more reasons why you should plan a fall getaway to “the prettiest town in Canada.”
Beautiful fall colours sweep across the Niagara escarpment.
Niagara Wine Festival: September 12, 13, 19, 20, 26 & 27, 2015
There is no better time than now to experience the wine and fresh produce across Niagara and the Niagara Wine Festival is the perfect venue at which to sample the best. If you’re a wine enthusiast, these are the weekends to visit Niagara’s wine country. Travel the wine route with a $40 Discovery Pass as you enjoy live entertainment and attend educational seminars, food and wine tastings or demonstrations. Each pass has eight tickets, which allow for eight opportunities for wine tasting and culinary pairings at any of the participating wineries. The passes can be redeemed on the Saturdays or Sundays on the weekends noted above and do not have to be used in one day. Click here for a full list of participating wineries.
And while you’re touring around, be sure to set time aside to enjoy the great lineup of activities and entertainment, such as CCMA artists Autumn Hill and Small Town Pistols, at Montebello Park in St. Catharines. Admission is free and so is parking on weekends and evenings in City parking garages and lots. View the entertainment lineup here.
Taste Niagara’s fine wines at the Niagara Wine Festival in September.
Ghostly Apparitions: September 18 & 19 and 25 & 26
Join the Niagara Historical Society and Museum as they take you on a cemetery tour to meet the spirits of local residents buried at St. Mark’s Church. Tours start at 6, 7 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 and must be purchased in advance from the Niagara Historical Museum or call 905-468-3912.
Grand Canadian Steampunk Exposition: September 25, 26 & 27
From noon, Friday, September 25 to 5 p.m., Sunday September 27, an exposition of Canadian Steampunk grandeur promises a festival of epic proportions, filled with sights, sounds and experiences that have to be seen to be believed. Time travel to Fort George where delights and pleasures abound as you take in performances, workshops, photo opportunities, tours and other activities planned throughout the weekend.
Konzelmann’s WINEFEST 2015: September 26 from noon to 8 p.m.
Enjoy wine by the glass, gourmet food vendors, fun games and live music at this beautiful lakefront vineyard located at 1096 Lakeshore Road in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Get Your Mojo Moving: October 1 from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
Get it on with Ronnie McNeir of the Four Tops for an evening of Motown, R&B, Blues & Jazz under the big tent at Jackson-Triggs Winery. This event is presented by Nyanyas of Niagara (Swahili for grandmothers) who fundraise in support of The Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign. Tickets are $65/person and include two glasses of wine, charcuterie and two 45-minute performances. For another $45 why not join the after party at the Old Winery Restaurant where additional food, dessert and coffee will be served (cash bar)?
BRAVO NIAGARA! North Star Festival: October 2, 3 & 4
Explore the journey to freedom and equality and pay tribute to the courageous freedom-seekers who followed the North Star to Niagara, a terminus of the Underground Railroad. This festival is officially endorsed by the UNESCO Slave Route Project and will feature music and other art forms to give voice to the Niagara Region’s rich Black history. Performers include Canadian jazz icon Joe Sealy with special guest Jumaane Smith, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Blues sensations Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whitely, and Blues & Motown legend Harrison Kennedy. For tickets, click here.
Battle of Queenston Heights Commemorative Tour: October 10 & 11
Join the Friends of Fort George and Parks Canada as they commemorate the 203rd anniversary of the Battle of Queenston Heights and the death of major General Sir Isaac Brock. Brock’s Monument National Historic Site will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. all weekend and guided tours of the battle site are scheduled for 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. See if you can climb the 235 steps to the top of the Monument to enjoy majestic views of Queenston Heights and the Niagara River.
The Friends of Fort George and Parks Canada organize special events that celebrate the history of Niagara.
2015 Big Band Ball: October 17 from 7 to 11 p.m.
Dance the night away to the hits from the big band years featuring Jackie Lane & His Swinging’ 17-piece Big Band and guest artists at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Centre. Tickets are $39 each. Proceeds from ticket sales go to support the Red Roof Retreat. Call 905-468-8232 or email jackjazzman@cogeco.ca.
Halloween Ghost Tours: October 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31 & November 1
October is the perfect time for a good ghost story. Explore the scariest aspects of haunted Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake on a two-hour walking tour, which includes stories too frightening to be told on summer tours. Halloween tours start at 7, 7:15, 7:30 p.m., and 10, 10:15 and 10:30 p.m. (excluding Sundays). Tickets are $17 and must be purchased in advance by calling 905-468-6621.
BOO!
Posted by Donna S. Vieira on behalf of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Bed & Breakfast Association
This is the one and only official website of the Niagara-on-the-Lake B&B Association. Members listed on this site have undergone health and safety inspections, are legally licensed to operate as a B&B and meet all the required standards set out by the association. If you prefer to book online, this option also ensures that commissions go back into the association’s coffers for the benefit of all members of the not-for-profit association and not other, unrelated, commercial entities.