🔦 🏠 Second Chances 🎵 Kingston Plays for Venezuela 🦅 Bald Eagles Are Back 🎸 Guitars Hit Downtown 🏃 100km for the NICU 📅 Events | July 13, 2026

Local Spotlight

🌱 New Beginnings Start Here: Patti Ridlon’s Promise and Ryandale Transitional Housing

Kingston & Area Local News

🥫 The City Opens Three New Take-What-You-Need Food Pantries
🦅 Eagle Eye: Steve Manders Tracks Kingston’s Bald Eagle Comeback
🎸 Play Me Kingston: 10 Guitar Sculptures Are Coming Downtown

Community Champions

🏃 Willem Sagriff Is Running 100km for the KGH NICU
🚢 Cruise for a Cause Raises $8,000 for Trafficking Survivors

New Events In and Around Kingston

🎵 FEATURED EVENT: One Ground One Sound, a Benefit for Venezuela | The Spire | July 27
🎶 Beats & Bites | Seniors Centre | July 15
🌳 Free Neighbourhood Parks Drop-In for Kids | Five Kingston Parks | To August 28
✨ Skylla Festival | Wolfe Island | July 18
📚 KFPL Summer Reading Party | Isabel Turner Branch | July 18
🏰 Kids Take Over the Museum | Murney Tower | July 23

Events Calendar

It’s gotten too long to include here in the summary! Click Events Calendar to see so many great events!

Here's something most housing programs can't say: at Ryandale Transitional Housing, moving out isn't goodbye. Leave one of their Kingston homes and you don't become a stranger, you become an alum.

Forty years in, they just opened their first recovery home for women, a milestone that was really a quiet eight-year promise kept by Operations Director Patti Ridlon. How she got here by way of Baltimore, why the neighbours go out of their way to vouch for the residents, and what "we never let go" looks like day to day, it's all in the feature.

Meet Patti and read the full story.

Here is a quietly wonderful idea taking root around town. As part of a pilot, the City of Kingston has installed three “take what you need, leave what you can” pantries, each stocked with fresh produce and non-perishables through the Kingston Community Gardens Network. You will find them at the Bloom Skills Centre at Lakeside Community Garden on Front Road, The Mess Studio at St. Andrew’s Church on Clergy Street East, and the Queen’s West Campus (that one is for students). Each pantry received $5,000 in Food Systems Funding to keep the shelves full.

Read the full story at: Kingstonist

Good news with wings. Kingston researcher and photographer Steve Manders is documenting one of the region’s best conservation comebacks, the return of the bald eagle to southeastern Ontario. By canoe and kayak he now tracks more than 20 nests, which is remarkable given that southern Ontario had zero breeding pairs back in 1980. Today he counts a growing summer breeding population averaging 1.55 chicks per nest, and he is working on a booklet to share what he has found. Next time you are out on the water, keep your eyes on the treetops.

Read the full story at: Kingstonist

Downtown is about to become a walkable art gallery with a rock and roll soundtrack. The Downtown Kingston BIA is installing 10 large-scale, artist-designed guitar sculptures across the core from early August to late October, a free celebration of Kingston’s music identity, the Hip’s 10th-anniversary summer, and the inaugural RoadTrip Music Festival. Ten local and regional artists designed them, including 17-year-old Caitlin Ball from South Frontenac and 12-year-old Sydney Cox from Inverary. Bring your phone, because these are made for photos.

Read the full story at: Kingstonist

Sometimes perspective arrives when you least expect it. Recovering in a KGH room next to a NICU family, new dad Willem Sagriff of South Frontenac decided to do something big. On Saturday, October 3 he will run 100 kilometres, that is 250 laps of the Sydenham track, to fund NICU equipment through the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation. His original $6,000 goal has already blown past $11,000, Mayor Paterson even joined a training run, and the public is invited to come cheer or run a few laps alongside him. What a way to say thank you.

Read the full story at: The Kingston Whig-Standard

Here is a first-year success worth celebrating. Victim Services of Kingston and Frontenac and a group of community partners set sail aboard the Island Queen for their inaugural Cruise for a Cause, and the evening raised $8,000 for a brand-new program supporting survivors of human trafficking. It is a powerful reminder of how much good a boatful of caring locals can do in a single evening, and it sets a hopeful course for the survivors this new program will help.

Read the full story at: Kingstonist

When the earthquakes hit Venezuela on June 24, Gia Nahmens was watching from Kingston. Born and raised in Caracas, Gia spent childhood summers on the coast in La Guaira, and family on Gia's father's side helped found Los Corales, one of the towns the quakes wiped out.

Gia, who is Operations Manager at Cantabile Choirs, decided the best thing to do from here was put on a concert. One Ground One Sound brings together Larissa Koniuk, Geoffrey Sirett, Tim Stiff, Anna Sudac, Gisele Dalbec-Szczesniak, Jill Vitols, Mauricio Montecinos and special guests, with The Levon Ichkhanian Group headlining. Every one of them is donating their time, so all proceeds go to Ventura Orbit, a non-profit Gia knows and trusts that is already working with families displaced by the disaster.

Every dollar goes where it's needed. Let's fill The Spire. Grab your tickets here.

Can't make it on the 27th? You can still donate directly.

Roll out the lawn chairs. The Seniors Association Kingston Region brings back its summer community evening on the Seniors Centre front lawn on Wednesday, July 15, and everyone is welcome. Expect live rockabilly from the BopKats, good eats from Otter Creek Kitchen and The Churro Guy, and classic lawn games to keep the kids busy. Sponsored by Venvi St. Lawrence Place, it is an all-ages, ticketed night out. Details and tickets at seniorskingston.ca.

Summer just got easier for Kingston families. The City of Kingston and the YMCA of Eastern Ontario are running free, drop-in recreation for kids ages 6 to 12 at five neighbourhood parks, Cataraqui Woods, West, Shannon, Greenwood, and Jim Beattie, on a rotating weekday schedule from July 6 through August 28 (they take the Civic Holiday Monday off). It is staff-led and weather-dependent, and it does not replace parent or guardian supervision, so think of it as a fun, active add-on to the day. Park schedule and details at the YMCA of Eastern Ontario.

Hop the ferry for something brand new. Skylla Festival lands on St. Lawrence Street in Marysville on Wolfe Island on Saturday, July 18, a one-day celebration of local women and gender-diverse artists dreamed up by three Wolfe Islanders. Admission is free and open to all, with an artisan market of women and gender non-conforming creators, food and drink, and drop-in workshops and performances spanning sound baths, music, dance, and drag. Full lineup at skyllafestival.com.

The newly reopened Isabel Turner branch is throwing a party for readers of every age. On Saturday, July 18, the Kingston Frontenac Public Library hosts a free, drop-in Summer Reading Party where teens and adults can crack a book indoors or out in the Lions Civic Gardens, with live music, games, coffee from the Anita Coffee Cart, and a Books and Beans book-chat mixer for anyone who loves swapping recommendations. No sign-up needed. More details at the KFPL event page.

For one day a year, the museum belongs to the kids. On Thursday, July 23, Murney Tower Museum hands the reins to young visitors ages 5 to 12 with a guided tour and a rotating set of heritage workshops, from a Scavenger Hunt and a Murney Spy mission to making a Military Hat and handling real artifacts. Run by the Kingston Historical Society, it is free with registration, so grab a spot early. Register on Zeffy.

🎵 FEATURED EVENT: One Ground One Sound: A Benefit for Venezuela | The Spire, 82 Sydenham St | July 27

🎶 Beats & Bites  |  Seniors Centre, 56 Francis St  |  July 15

🌅 A Summer Evening in the Islands  |  Rockport Barn, 28 Old River Rd, Rockport  |  July 16

🎊 Napanee Connect Block Party  |  Market Square, Greater Napanee  |  July 17

🎸 Rock for Ryandale  |  The Spire, 82 Sydenham St  |  July 18

🥩 Schnitzel Fundraiser Dinner  |  Golden Links Hall, Harrowsmith  |  July 18

🦋 Remembering by the River  |  Macpherson House, Napanee  |  July 18

🔥 S’more Stories  |  Glendower Park, South Frontenac  |  July 18

✨ Skylla Festival  |  Marysville, Wolfe Island  |  July 18

📚 KFPL Summer Reading Party  |  KFPL Isabel Turner Branch  |  July 18

🚒 Pull Together for Epilepsy Fire Truck Pull  |  Confederation Park, downtown Kingston  |  July 19

🏊 Loyalist Township Barr Homes Aquatic Centre Opening  |  W.J. Henderson Community Centre, Amherstview  |  July 20

🎡 Delta Fair 2026  |  Delta Fairgrounds, Delta  |  July 23–26

🏰 Kids Take Over the Museum  |  Murney Tower Museum  |  July 23

🩰 OFF SEASON Dance Festival  |  Hotel Wolfe Island  |  July 24–25

🎨 Kingston Craft & Collectable Show  |  The Kingston Shrine Club, 3260 Princess St  |  July 25

🏝️ Howe Island Rockin’ the Rock  |  Howe Island  |  July 25

🌶️ Hobo Steve’s Hot Sauce Charity for Almost Home  |  Mike’s Pizza and More, 4423 William St, Sydenham  |  July 26

🛍️ Princess Street Promenade  |  Princess Street, Downtown Kingston  |  August 1

💥 Rad Kids Comic and Art Con  |  Nexus, Kingston  |  August 1

🐑 Kingston Sheep Dog Trials Festival  |  Grass Creek Park  |  August 7–9

🖼️ Women’s Art Festival  |  City Park  |  August 8

🐐 LIVESTOCK Music & Craft Festival  |  Second Chance Ranch, Odessa  |  August 8

🛣 Rideau Canal Lock & Paddle  |  Rideau Canal  |  August 15

⚔️ Ironwood Fantasy Fair  |  The Spire, Kingston  |  August 15

🎸 Forever Hip  |  Springer Market Square  |  August 20–22

🍶 Music Festival in Compton Park  |  Compton Park  |  August 23

🚗 RoadTrip Music Festival  |  Princess Street & Springer Market Square  |  September 12

Ongoing Events

🌳 Neighbourhood Parks Program  |  Five Kingston parks  |  Weekdays to Aug 28

🎵 Music From Miles Around  |  Market Wing Cultural Space, City Hall  |  Free, to June 2027

🔬 Exploration Days  |  Babcock Mill (Odessa) & Bath Museum  |  Thursdays & Fridays, to Aug 21

🎨 Mending Ways Juried Exhibition  |  Cultivate Art Commons, Tett Centre  |  to July 18

🚤 Rideau Canal Free Lockage  |  Rideau Canal  |  Season open (through Sept 7)

🚢 S.S. Keewatin Tours  |  Great Lakes Museum  |  Season open

🐟 Aquaculture: Farming the Waters  |  Great Lakes Museum  |  to October 18

Ongoing Markets

🥕 Kingston Public Market  |  Springer Market Square, downtown  |  Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays

🥬 Memorial Centre Farmers’ Market  |  303 York St  |  Sundays

🪪 Katarokwi Indigenous Market  |  Springer Market Square  |  Monthly Sundays (June–Sept)

🛠️ Makers at the Mill  |  Babcock Mill, Odessa  |  Sundays (through Oct 18)

🏊 Gananoque Farmers’ Market  |  Town Hall Square, 30 King St E  |  Thursdays

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