🎻 Chamberfest at The Spire 💗 50 Mammogram Referrals a Day to 300 ⛴️ First All-Female Crew 🗓️ Events | 🔦 August 3, 2026

Local Spotlight

🎻 Chamber Music Meets Indigenous Culture: The Cataraqui Festival Has Deeper Roots Than You’d Guess

Kingston & Area Local News

🩸 Kingston’s Blood Donor Centre Has Appointments Waiting for You

🌻 Six New Guides Point Eastern Ontario Eaters at the Farms Next Door

🤖 Kingston Is Putting Building Permit Applications Through an AI Check First

Community Champions

💗 A Napanee Farmer Posted Before Her Surgery, and Mammogram Referrals Went From 50 a Day to 300

⛴️ The Island Queen Sailed With an All-Female Crew for the First Time in 50 Years

🩺 Living With Vitiligo, and Turning It Into Better Dermatology

New Events In and Around Kingston

🎻 FEATURED EVENT: Cataraqui Chamber Music Festival | The Spire | August 5 to 19

💐 Cancer Warrior Floral Hug | Wynn Farms, Bath | August 7

🎭 The Juvenis Festival: Nobody On Stage Is Over 18 | Domino Theatre | July 30 to August 8

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

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

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

Events Calendar

It’s gotten too long to include here in the summary! Click Events Calendar to see our list for the next few days.

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I drove past our sponsor Flight Cheese Shop for months without finding it, and eventually assumed it had closed. It had not. Emma Sulley's shop is inside Winexpert Homecraft Brew & Wine on Princess Street, and the cheese case is the first thing you see once you are through the door.

Emma studied at culinary school and has spent years on cheese specifically. She keeps tabs on what the other shops in town carry so she can stock around them, and she writes her own description for every cheese she brings in. Tell her what you like and she'll narrow it down for you.

All of it in the west end, so a good cheese board no longer means downtown parking or a drive out of town. Never bought a cheese you couldn't pronounce? Her In-Flight Features box is built for exactly that.

ICYMI: a cheesemonger I couldn't find for months, 40 years of Sulley family history in one strip mall, and why you should never eat good cheese straight from the fridge. Read the full spotlight on Best Eats Ontario East.

We save this space for local businesses worth knowing. Drop us a line.

Look at this issue’s cover: a row of musicians at the water’s edge at dusk, violins and a flute in hand, and at the left of the group, someone in full Indigenous regalia. That is the Cataraqui Chamber Music Festival, six nights at The Spire from Wednesday, August 5, and that pairing is not decoration. Our newest spotlight gets into it: the founder who led a national railway radio rollout across more than 50 cities before she ever ran a festival, what the word Cataraqui actually means, and why the free Indigenous Cultural Corridor sits right alongside the concerts. Read the full story.

Know a neighbour worth a spotlight? Tell us about them. (Yourself counts, by the way.)

Here is a small thing you can do this week that lands harder than usual. Canadian Blood Services is asking Kingston residents to book an appointment at the donor centre at 850 Gardiners Road, just south of Princess Street. Donations across Kingston have fallen roughly 20 per cent since early June, a sharper dip than the usual summer slowdown, and it has left several blood types thin. Debbie Barfoot, Community Development Manager, told Kingston Daily that booked appointments are what the centre needs most. It takes a few minutes, and someone you will never meet gets their week back.

Read the full story at: Kingston Daily

You can drive past a flower field for years without knowing you are allowed to cut from it. Regional Tourism Organization 9, trading as South Eastern Ontario, has published six Farm to Flavours guides covering farms, markets, pick-your-own, wineries and rural road trips, and Kingston and Frontenac County share one of them. Glenburnie’s Sun Harvest Greenhouses earns a line for the fields of some 8,000 flowers that visitors cut their own bouquets from, and the Women’s Art Festival, also in this issue, turns up under festivals and country fairs. If eating close to home is your thing, Best Eats Ontario East is where we keep the rest of it.

Read the full story at: South Eastern Ontario (RTO9)

Anyone who has submitted a building permit application knows the particular agony of learning three weeks later that one page was missing. From Monday, August 31, the City of Kingston will run incoming applications through Archistar AI PreCheck at intake, assessing zoning and building code compliance and flagging missing documents before a file reaches a reviewer. Everything still arrives through the City’s DASH portal, Kingston is one of only a handful of Ontario municipalities doing this, and city staff still make every final call.

Read the full story at: City of Kingston

On the morning of a 12-hour surgery, Sarah Wynn sat down and wrote a post. The 43-year-old, who co-owns Wynn Farms with her husband Jim, had been diagnosed with lobular breast cancer on May 27 after a routine mammogram, no lumps and no symptoms, and on July 20 she asked women 40 and over to book a screening. About half a million people have seen it since. Dana MacPhail, manager at Breast Imaging Kingston, ran the numbers twice and told the Whig-Standard that self-referrals jumped from an average of 50 a day to 300 within three days. In Ontario, individuals aged 40 to 74 can book that screening themselves. The farm is hosting a free Cancer Warrior Floral Hug on August 7, further down this issue.

Read the full story at: The Whig-Standard

On Monday, July 13, the Island Queen ran two Admiralty Islands cruises with women in all three marine navigation roles for the first time in the vessel’s 50 years: Captain Gillian Morin at the helm, Rebecca Jane-Wilson as first mate, Emily Coulas as dedicated deckhand. Kingston 1000 Islands Cruises has been sailing out of Crawford Wharf since 1975, and Fleet Manager Captain Stephen Steels, 45 years with the company, told Kingstonist the company has had only four women in navigation roles in all that time. Four. The triple-deck paddlewheeler has been on the water long enough to have earned a first, and this one took a while.

Read the full story at: Kingstonist

Vitiligo gets filed away as a cosmetic condition, which is exactly the idea one Kingston native has spent medical school working against. Shahnawaz Towheed, now in his final year at McMaster, co-founded Vitiligo Voices Canada in 2023 and is applying to dermatology residencies while researching what patients actually find useful in treatment rather than what looks tidy on a chart. He has lived with the condition since childhood. He told the Whig-Standard about the misconceptions that follow it around, and points to Health Canada’s late-2024 approval of the first treatment aimed at re-pigmentation as a sign the medical view is catching up.

Read the full story at: The Whig-Standard

There is a particular sting to hearing about the market, the fundraiser or the show after it has packed up and gone home. Kingston Spotlight exists to spare you that: what is coming up around Kingston and area, plus the local good news that does not make the front page, landing in your inbox while you can still do something about it.

If this got forwarded to you, or you found us on the website, join us at kingstonspotlight.ca. Already on the list? Send this along to the neighbour who is always finding out too late.

Six nights of chamber music land at The Spire from Wednesday, August 5 to Wednesday, August 19, presented by Harmonaire Musique, with violinist Ying Zhang as the through-line and a different guest joining her each concert. Every musician in the lineup is an emerging talent on a paid professional platform, which is rarer than it ought to be. Running alongside the concerts, an Indigenous Cultural Corridor designed by Robert Spade takes over an exhibition space in the building, and Spade leads a free public workshop at The Spire on Tuesday, August 11, no ticket required: drumming, singing, dancing and storytelling. Full schedule and tickets at harmonairemusique.ca, and the people behind it are in this issue’s spotlight.

Wynn Farms in Bath has set aside 100 free spaces on Friday, August 7 for anyone currently going through cancer treatment, and each person can bring one friend free of charge. It covers bouquet making and admission to the sunflower fields. The farm’s own description of what it does the rest of the year explains the name: it sends flowers to long-term care homes, palliative care, cancer care and mental health care “in the form of a floral hug”, one large donation a week through the growing season. Sarah Wynn, recovering from her own surgery, wanted somewhere the fresh air could do some of the lifting. Pre-registration is required, by email to [email protected].

Kingston’s youth arts festival has moved from spring to a 10-day summer run, and it is four days in. Blue Canoe Productions, marking its 20th season, has built the Juvenis Festival around a production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at the Domino Theatre, with a cast entirely under 18, a production team entirely under 30, and a youth art gallery in the lobby. Organizers told the Whig-Standard it is one of only two youth arts festivals of its kind in Canada. Free workshops for anyone under 30 run to Saturday, August 8, among them a group singing session learning The Tragically Hip’s “Ahead by a Century” mostly by ear, which is handy timing with Forever Hip arriving August 20 to 22. Tickets and workshop registration go through Blue Canoe.

Border collies doing the most focused work you will see all summer, back at Grass Creek Park from Friday, August 7 to the finals on Sunday, August 9. The Kingston Sheep Dog Trials are among the largest in North America and draw about 7,000 people to 2991 Highway 2, with timed herding runs and a full festival built around them. It began on a private farm and went public in 1988 for the former Pittsburgh Township’s bicentennial, and Amanda Milliken chairs it now. Admission is $10 for adults and free for children under 10.

Read the full story at: Kingstonist

Second Chance Ranch in Odessa is an equine sanctuary the rest of the year, and on Saturday, August 8 it turns into a music festival. LIVESTOCK pairs live sets from Aged 2 Perfection, the Stony Mills Boys, Courtney Kane and Little Sam with a handmade market and food, at 6038 County Road 2, rain or shine. Admission is free. The nonprofit ranch keeps miles of groomed trails and takes visits by appointment the rest of the time, which is to say on the days there is not a stage on the property. Lineup and details on the event page.

The Women’s Art Festival turns 43 on Saturday, August 8, which makes it the longest-running women’s art festival in North America, and it fills City Park with more than 100 artists and artisans, live music and food vendors. Admission is free. The day runs from Kingston Frontenac Music Together and an open mic poetry hour hosted by The Amazing Alba, through a Bharatanatyam performance by Ragamalika Mohanraj and a family-friendly mini drag show hosted by BeeWitched with Yuni Verse and Amygdala, then Yarro and Piner. It also turns up in the new Farm to Flavours guide for Kingston and Frontenac, further up this issue.

Read the full story at: South Eastern Ontario (RTO9)

🎻 FEATURED: Cataraqui Chamber Music Festival 2026  |  The Spire  |  August 5 to 19

🎤 Bad Influence Comedy Tour  |  The Caesar Company, 177 Princess St  |  August 3

🎨 Creative Connections Lab: Free Accessible Arts Workshops for Adults  |  Tett Centre, 370 King St W  |  August 6

💐 Cancer Warrior Floral Hug  |  Wynn Farms, Bath  |  August 7

🎸 LIVESTOCK Music & Craft Festival  |  Second Chance Ranch, 6038 County Road 2, Odessa  |  August 8

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

🎭 The Juvenis Festival  |  Domino Theatre, 52 Church St  |  July 30 to August 8

🦋 International Monarch Monitoring Blitz  |  Anywhere in Kingston  |  July 31 to August 9

🐑 Kingston Sheep Dog Trials Festival  |  Grass Creek Park, 2991 Highway 2  |  August 7 to 9

🏥 Health Adventures Camp | Canadian Museum of Health Care, 32 George St | August 10 to 14

🎒 United Way KFL&A Backpack Program  |  United Way office, 417 Bagot St & Cataraqui Centre  |  July 27 to August 14

🎪 TK Fringe 2026: 17 Unjuried Shows  |  Tett Centre, 370 King St W  |  August 6 to 16

🎻 FEATURED: Cataraqui Chamber Music Festival 2026  |  The Spire  |  August 5 to 19

🏛️ Free Fridays at the Museum of Lennox & Addington  |  Museum of L&A, 97 Thomas St E, Napanee  |  Fridays to August 28

🐱 Groovy Cats Art Colouring Book Fundraiser for Napanee Kitten Rescue  |  Napanee  |  to September 8

Festivals, free weekly programs, museum seasons and every farmers’ market we know about, all in one place and updated with every issue. See the full Kingston Events Calendar, and bookmark it while you are there.

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