🚪 Chris Logstrup Learned to Knock on Doors With His Grandfather. Now He’s Running for School Board Trustee.
♿ Kingston Transit Wants to Know How Accessible Your Ride Really Is
🌟 Nominations Are Open for Kingston’s Celebrating Accessibility Awards
✈️ The Snowbirds Gave Kingston One More Show in the Jets They’ve Flown Since 1971
💧 Queen’s Becomes a Blue University Today, and Everyone’s Invited to Jump in the Lake
🏠 Doors of Compassion Has Sheltered 108 People on Sydenham Road, and 14 Have Moved Into Housing
🗳️ Erin Clow Made Free Activity Pages So Kids Can Learn How Municipal Elections Work
🎡 194th Kingston Fall Fair | Kingston Memorial Centre | September 17 to 20
💡 Home Energy Savings Talk | The Seniors Centre | September 17
💼 Celebrating Women in Business | Renaissance Boutique Event & Wedding Venue | September 17
🛼 Vintage Market at the Museum of Lennox & Addington | Napanee | September 18 and 19
🌾 KCHC Scarecrow Festival | KCHC Weller Site | September 19
🎀 Walk for Awareness, Breast Cancer Action Kingston’s 33rd Annual | Lake Ontario Park | September 19
🎨 Intercultural Arts Festival and Welcome to Kingston Fair | Confederation Park | September 20
It’s gotten too long to include here in the summary! Click Events Calendar to see our list for the next few days.
🔦 Local Spotlight
🚪 Chris Logstrup Learned to Knock on Doors With His Grandfather. Now He’s Running for School Board Trustee.
Chris Logstrup with his campaign flyer for the Countryside, Kingscourt-Rideau & Williamsville trustee ward.
No, he’s not too young. Chris Logstrup is twenty-one, he’s on the ballot for school board trustee in Countryside, Kingscourt-Rideau and Williamsville, and he started knocking on doors long before his own name was on any of them. There’s a grandfather in this story, a coffee shop that gave away ten days of takings, and what three doors in ten will teach you about a Kingston campaign. Read the full story.
📰 Kingston & Area Local News
♿ Kingston Transit Wants to Know How Accessible Your Ride Really Is
Take the survey by Oct. 12 or find transit staff at the INVISTA Centre stop on Sept. 21. Graphic from getinvolved.cityofkingston.ca.
Every year Kingston Transit asks riders what is working and what is not when it comes to accessibility, and this year’s round is open now. There are two ways to weigh in. Fill out a short survey on Get Involved Kingston before Monday, October 12, or find transit staff at the INVISTA Centre transit stop on Monday, September 21 to ask questions and share what you have noticed. The City especially wants to hear from people with disabilities, regular riders, and anyone with an idea for making the buses easier for everyone to use.
Read the full story at: City of Kingston
🌟 Nominations Are Open for Kingston’s Celebrating Accessibility Awards
Graphic from the City of Kingston’s Facebook page.
Someone you know is quietly making Kingston easier to live in for people with disabilities, and the City would like to hear who. Nominations are open for the Celebrating Accessibility Awards, which honour residents, businesses and community organizations doing that work in eight areas, from customer service and the design of public spaces to education, employment, health care and transportation. Their difference has to have been made in the past three years. A nomination “is an opportunity to recognize their work and share their story,” Nicole Yantzi, the City’s accessibility project manager, said in a City of Kingston news release. Nominate online with a MyKingston account, or in person at City Hall, by 4 p.m. on Friday, October 9.
Read the full story at: City of Kingston
✈️ The Snowbirds Gave Kingston One More Show in the Jets They’ve Flown Since 1971
The Snowbirds on the apron at Kingston aiport, refuelling before departure on September 15, 2026. Drone photo by Paul Carl at Aanii Nichii Drones.
The Canadian Forces Snowbirds gave Kingston a proper send-off on Tuesday, September 15. The team landed at YGK Airport ahead of the show, then flew a non-aerobatic display over the waterfront around Confederation Park, all graceful passes and formation changes, before heading home to Gatineau. It was part of their 55th anniversary season, and it is expected to be their last Kingston visit in the CT-114 Tutor, the little jet the team has flown since 1971. The Whig-Standard reported the team will be grounded until new aircraft are ready, with no date announced yet.
Read the full story at: Canadian Forces Snowbirds
🏆 Community Champions
💧 Queen’s Becomes a Blue University Today, and Everyone’s Invited to Jump in the Lake
The ceremony is at Breakwater Park near the Gord Downie Pier, and the swim afterward is optional. Photo from blue-community.net.
Queen’s University joins the Blue University network today, Thursday, September 17, and the celebration ends with everyone invited into Lake Ontario, so maybe pack a towel. Blue universities are a worldwide group of schools that promise to treat water as a human right, back public water systems and use less bottled water, as Professor David McDonald explained in The Queen’s Journal. Principal Patrick Deane signs the certificate at Breakwater Park, near the Gord Downie Pier, and Maude Barlow, who founded the Blue Community movement, hands it over. No registration, there is food and a rain tent, and the swim comes right after the signing.
Read the full story at: Blue Community
🏠 Doors of Compassion Has Sheltered 108 People on Sydenham Road, and 14 Have Moved Into Housing
Between February and July, 108 people stayed at the 30-bed shelter on Sydenham Road. Photo by Maegen Kulchar, The Kingston Whig-Standard.
A year ago this shelter did not exist. Now the 30-bed low-barrier shelter Doors of Compassion runs at 924/928 Sydenham Road is open around the clock and full every night. Between February and July, 108 people stayed there, with three meals a day, washrooms, laundry and a safe spot for their belongings. Fourteen people have since moved from the shelter into housing, seven more have connected with treatment or detox, and others have started new jobs or gone back to school, the organization told the Whig-Standard. A patron relations advocate helps people one-on-one with things like ID, income assistance and rental applications. As the team put it to the Whig-Standard, the goal is “a path to housing that holds.”
Read the full story at: The Kingston Whig-Standard
🗳️ Erin Clow Made Free Activity Pages So Kids Can Learn How Municipal Elections Work
One of Erin Clow’s free election activity pages, complete with conversation starters for families. Image from erinclow.ca.
When Erin Clow told her kids, who are six and 12, that she is running for Limestone District School Board trustee in Portsmouth and Sydenham, they had a lot of questions. She went looking for kid-friendly material on municipal elections, found almost nothing, and made her own. Clow teaches at Queen’s, and her free activity pages cover things like what a city councillor does, how often municipal elections happen and whether your vote is a secret, each with questions to talk through together. Kids can even send in their own questions. She grew up in a house where voting “was an expectation, not an option,” Clow told Kingstonist.
Read the full story at: Kingstonist
📥 If we’ve gone quiet, check your Promotions tab (or 😱 spam)
Gmail files most newsletters under Promotions, and once we land in there we are easy to miss. Drag this email over to Primary and say yes when Gmail asks about future messages. On mobile, hold the message, tap Move to, then Primary. Not on Gmail? Star it, or add us to your contacts.
🆕 New Events In and Around Kingston
🎡 194th Kingston Fall Fair | Kingston Memorial Centre | September 17 to 20
The 194th Kingston Fall Fair lights up the Memorial Centre grounds September 17 to 20. Photo from kingstonfair.com.
The 194th Kingston Fall Fair opens today, Thursday, September 17, and runs to Sunday, September 20 on the grounds of the Memorial Centre. Expect midway rides, 4-H shows, singing competitions, animals and plenty of fair food, all put on by the Kingston & District Agricultural Society, the folks behind one of the longest-running events in town. Good news for your wallet: gate prices have not budged since last year, with adults $10 a day or $30 for all four days, youth $5, and kids five and under free. More than 25,000 people came through the gates last year, president Heather Ambrose-Smart told Kingston Daily. Check the daily schedule, then sort out admission and ride-all-day passes before you go.
💡 Home Energy Savings Talk | The Seniors Centre | September 17
$5 at The Seniors Centre, and you register by phone. Graphic from seniorskingston.ca.
Want your home to stay cozy this winter without the bill giving you a fright? Madeline Meades of EnviroWorks is at The Seniors Centre on Francis Street today, Thursday, September 17, to explain two provincial programs that help income-eligible households pay for energy-saving upgrades, plus practical tips for a more comfortable, more affordable home. It is $5 a person, and you register by calling 613-548-7810. Details are on the Seniors Association’s event page.
💼 Celebrating Women in Business | Renaissance Boutique Event & Wedding Venue | September 17
The Chamber hands out its first Pinnacle Award tonight. Graphic from the Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce.
Tonight, Thursday, September 17, the Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce hands out its very first Pinnacle Award, and you can be in the room when it happens. Celebrating Women in Business takes over the Renaissance Boutique Event & Wedding Venue on Queen Street, with a keynote from Shari Hughson, a seven-time entrepreneur who lectures at Smith School of Business at Queen’s. We covered the nomination story in our last issue, and a few of the nominees will be familiar faces. Tickets are $30 for Chamber members and $50 for everyone else, plus tax, and were still available when we checked. Get tickets on the Chamber’s event page.
🛼 Vintage Market at the Museum of Lennox & Addington | Napanee | September 18 and 19
Vintage finds Friday, roller skates Saturday. Poster from the Museum of Lennox & Addington.
The Museum of Lennox & Addington in Napanee is turning 50, and it is celebrating with a seriously groovy weekend. On Friday, September 18 the museum stays open late for a vintage market, with vendors selling vintage clothing, home decor, records and baked goods, then a Vintage Fashion Show emceed by Becky Hinch. Friday admission is $5. On Saturday, September 19 the market is back, museum admission is free all day, and Quad Squad YGK brings free roller skating to the parking lot, with loaner skates while they last and late-’90s and 2000s hits from Brad Gibson. Helmets are a must for kids. Full details on the museum’s event page.
🌾 KCHC Scarecrow Festival | KCHC Weller Site | September 19
Bring old child-sized clothes and a hat, and leave with a scarecrow. Poster from Kingston Community Health Centres.
Fall has an unofficial mascot, and you get to build your own. Kingston Community Health Centres hosts its free Scarecrow Festival on Saturday, September 19 at its Weller Site on Weller Avenue, rain or shine, with wagon rides, bike check-ups, Irish dancing, games and a BBQ. To make your little scarecrow, bring an old set of child-sized clothes (sizes 3 to 6X), a small cloth pillowcase or bag for the head, and a hat. It is one scarecrow per family, and kids need a parent or guardian with them. Details are on the KCHC event page.
🎀 Walk for Awareness, Breast Cancer Action Kingston’s 33rd Annual | Lake Ontario Park | September 19
Walk the 2.3 km waterfront loop in person or, new this year, from wherever you are. Graphic from bcakingston.ca.
Lace up for the 33rd Walk for Awareness with Breast Cancer Action Kingston on Saturday, September 19 at Lake Ontario Park. There is no set distance, but the 2.3 km waterfront loop to Elevator Bay Park takes about 40 minutes, and new this year you can walk virtually from wherever you are. It is $20 for walkers 13 and up and free for 12 and under, and you can go solo or build a team and fundraise. The money stays local, paying for treatment care packs, post-surgery comfort pillows and peer support, plus cancer research at Kingston Health Sciences Centre through University Hospitals Kingston Foundation. Come early to browse the craft tables, and register on Zeffy.
🎨 Intercultural Arts Festival and Welcome to Kingston Fair | Confederation Park | September 20
Music, food and a citizenship ceremony for 55 new Canadians, all on one Sunday downtown. Photo from cityofkingston.ca.
Kingston throws a party for all the cultures that call it home on Sunday, September 20, and it is free, rain or shine. The City’s Intercultural Arts Festival fills Confederation Park with performances all day, from taiko drumming to Irish dance, plus cultural pavilions, artisan vendors and food from around the world, including our spotlight friends Adelitaz Mexican Food. Newcomers can meet local services at the Welcome to Kingston Fair along the waterfront path. Over in Memorial Hall at City Hall, 55 residents become Canadian citizens, and Sergio Jaua’s portraits of Kingston immigrants go on display. One heads-up: the LaSalle Causeway is fully closed that day, and Ontario Street is closed from Clarence to Brock. The full schedule is on the City’s festival page.
📅 Events Calendar
What’s happening in and around Kingston over the next few days
💧 Queen’s Blue University Signing Ceremony | Breakwater Park | September 17
🤿 KFN General Meeting: Jill Heinerth on The Science of Cave Diving | Kingston Secondary School | September 17 | 🔦 Read our story
🎻 The Celtic Kitchen Party: Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day | The Spire | September 17
💼 Celebrating Women in Business | Renaissance Event Venue | September 17
💡 Home Energy Savings Talk | The Seniors Centre | September 17
⛳ Norm’s Annual Charity Golf Tournament | Amherstview Golf Course | September 18 | 🔦 Read our story
🕵️ Fraud Awareness Presentation | North Crosby Hall, Westport | September 18
🛼 Vintage Market at the Museum | Museum of Lennox & Addington, Napanee | September 18 and 19
🌾 KCHC Scarecrow Festival | KCHC Weller Site | September 19
🎀 Walk for Awareness, Breast Cancer Action Kingston’s 33rd Annual | Lake Ontario Park | September 19
🦃 Lyndhurst Turkey Fair | Village of Lyndhurst | September 19
📚 Books and Beans: Indigenous Authors | KFPL Central Branch | September 19
🐦 KFN Birding Meet-Up | Lemoine Point Conservation Area | September 19
📚 Kingston Symphony Volunteers’ Book Fair | Symphony Warehouse | September 10 to 20 | 🔦 Read our story
🏊 Artillery Park Aquatic Centre Closed for Annual Maintenance | Artillery Park | September 8 to 20
🎡 194th Kingston Fall Fair | Kingston Memorial Centre | September 17 to 20
✏️ Sketch Canada with Urban Sketchers Kingston | Venue TBD, Kingston | September 18 to 20
🏃 Howe Island Terry Fox Run | Township Office, Howe Island | September 20 | 🔦 Read our story
🥾 Providence Care Hike for Hospice | Lake Ontario Park | September 20 | 🔦 Read our story
🎨 Intercultural Arts Festival and Welcome to Kingston Fair | Confederation Park | September 20
🎼 ensemble132 Opens The Isabel’s Season | The Isabel | September 20
🗳️ All-Candidates Meeting: Collins-Bayridge District | Online, advance registration required | September 21 | 🔦 Read our story
🍽️ CFKA Speaker Series: Food Sustains Us | Delta Hotel Kingston Waterfront | September 22 | 🔦 Read our story
🌿 A Marvelous Marsh Experience | Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area | September 22
🗳️ All-Candidates Meeting: Pittsburgh District | Online, advance registration required | September 22 | 🔦 Read our story
💻 Free Webinar on Website Accessibility for Businesses | Online | September 22
🕰️ Aging Well and Talking Cafe: The Time Travelers Club | KFPL Central Branch | September 23
🌰 Black Walnuts: Biodiversity, Food and Forest Connections | KFPL Isabel Turner Branch | September 23
🧱 LEGO My Library with LEGO Braille Bricks | KFPL Rideau Heights Branch | September 23
🎤 Hannibal Buress | The Spire | September 23
🍷 Italian Wine Tasting and Dinner Pairing | The Seniors Centre | September 24
🤝 Enhancing Care Program Talk for Dementia Care Partners | The Seniors Centre | September 24
🗳️ All-Candidates Meeting: Countryside District | Online, advance registration required | September 24 | 🔦 Read our story
💀 Domino Theatre: I Hate Hamlet | Domino Theatre, 52 Church St | September 10 to 26
🏋️ Fitness Frenzy | Various City recreation facilities | September 21 to 27
🎭 Ontario Culture Days in Prince Edward County | Prince Edward County | September 18 to October 2
🦹 Dr. Experimentor and the League of Evil! | Lennox Community Theatre | September 18 to October 3
🗓️ That is just the next few days. The full Kingston events calendar lives here.
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