📺 FEATURED EVENT: Tempted: An Evening With Rick Campanelli and Bill Welychka | Tett Centre | November 4
🗝️ FEATURED EVENT: Daring to Share Elder Care Forum: Staffing | Keller Williams Inspire Realty | November 17
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
🔦 Several amazing local spotlight articles are coming up soon !
📰 Kingston & Area Local News
🔋 One More Household Hazardous Waste Drop-Off, November 5
Household hazardous waste drop-off, November 5. Graphic from the City of Kingston’s Facebook page.
Garage still hiding half-empty paint cans and a drawer of mystery batteries? The City of Kingston has added a third drive-through household hazardous waste drop-off this year, on Thursday, November 5, at the KFR Training Centre, 3 Terry Fox Dr. It’s for Kingston residents only, and it takes everything the City’s hazardous waste facility normally does. Sort your batteries by type before you go, and leave refillable containers like jerry cans at home, because those aren’t accepted. Get in line before 6:30 p.m., when the line closes.
Read the full story at: City of Kingston
🧸 Toys for Tickets Returns: Pay Eligible Parking Tickets With a New Toy, November 1 to December 3
Toys for Tickets, November 1 to December 3. Graphic from the City of Kingston’s Facebook page.
Here’s the nicest way to deal with a parking ticket. Until December 3, the City of Kingston’s Toys for Tickets program lets you settle an eligible ticket with a new, unopened toy worth at least as much as the ticket, after tax. Bring the toy and its receipt to the City Hall Payment Centre, 216 Ontario St., on a Monday, Tuesday or Thursday. It’s one toy per ticket, nothing battery-operated or violent, and tickets for parking in an accessible space don’t qualify. Toys for kids up to 12 are welcome, especially babies, toddlers and the 8 to 12 crowd. Every toy goes to a local toy drive, and the program has collected about 4,249 since 2005.
Read the full story at: City of Kingston
🌟 Up to $4,000 for Young Leaders: The John Gerretsen Youth Leadership Award Is Open
The John Gerretsen Youth Leadership Award. Poster from Kingston Pathways to Education’s Facebook page.
Know a teen who’s ready to lead? The John Gerretsen Youth Leadership Award offers up to $4,000 a year to help young people in Kingston and the Islands build leadership skills through courses, camps, conferences and other experiences. It’s open to students in Grades 9 to 12, and to youth who left school within the past year. The award comes from the Community Foundation for Kingston & Area, Kingston Community Health Centres’ Pathways to Education program and the Unnamed Youth Project. Applications opened October 30 and close Friday, November 27. Apply through the QR code on the poster.
Read the full story at: Kingston Pathways to Education on Facebook
🍺 Tir Nan Og Pub Will Close December 19 After Nearly 30 Years Downtown
Inside the Tir Nan Og (left), and Les Cseh handing Susan Garnett her St. Patrick’s Day draw prize at the pub’s door in March (right). Photos from Tir Nan Og Irish Pub’s Facebook page and Les Cseh, Kingston Spotlight.
Time to plan one last pint. The Tir Nan Og Irish pub, on the ground floor of the Prince George Hotel building on Ontario Street, will close on Saturday, December 19, after almost 30 years downtown. The owner chose not to renew the lease, the Whig-Standard reports, and told the paper he’ll pay all 24 staff through December 19 even if the doors close sooner. The pub has a soft spot in our history too: it was one of your top picks in our first St. Patrick’s Day best pub contest this March, and it’s where we handed our draw winner her prize. So round up your crew, raise a glass, and give the place a proper send-off.
Read the full story at: The Kingston Whig-Standard
🏆 Community Champions
🔑 Three Ryandale Residents, Including Its First Female Resident, Move Into Homes of Their Own
New keys. Photo from Ryandale Transitional Housing’s newsletter.
Three people just picked up keys to homes of their own. In its October newsletter, Ryandale Transitional Housing celebrated three residents who moved into their own housing in September and joined the Ryandale alumni, including its first-ever female resident. Staff and residents also trained side by side in Intermediate First Aid, thanks to Our Livable Solutions, with hands-on lessons from Push 4 Life First Aid and the Canadian Red Cross. Want to help the next fresh start? Ryandale has an Amazon wishlist of everyday household essentials, and new volunteer roles are opening up.
Read the full story at: Ryandale Transitional Housing’s newsletter
🎭 A Son Honours His Domino Theatre Founder Mom With a Women in Theatre Fund
Valerie Robertson, a Domino Theatre founder. Photo from the Community Foundation for Kingston & Area.
Valerie Robertson came to Kingston from Newcastle, England, and helped found Domino Theatre with her husband and a group of fellow British expats. She also taught kids who had few chances, ran programs in prisons and stood up for women. In 2020 her son Charles, a playwright and longtime theatre teacher, set up the Valerie Robertson Women in Theatre Fund at the Community Foundation for Kingston & Area. Every year it backs theatre projects that encourage young women: about $10,000 so far, to Theatre Kingston’s Friends Fest, The Spire’s transformation project, H’art Centre and North Frontenac Little Theatre. Charles told the Community Foundation, with a laugh, that his mom, an actress, would have loved seeing her name on it.
Read the full story at: Community Foundation for Kingston & Area
🎶 Soulful Sips Brings Music, Coffee and Connection to a Providence Care Mental Health Unit
Paul Auty and Aline Viau dance as Tim Sheffield plays at Soulful Sips on Parkside 0. Photo from Providence Care.
Once a month, a John Denver sing-along breaks out in a hospital dining room. Soulful Sips is a relaxed get-together with live music, coffee and good food on Parkside 0, an adult mental health unit at Providence Care Hospital. Spiritual Health Practitioner Jim Sutherland started it earlier this year with the Recreation Therapy team, and musician Tim Sheffield brings the tunes. “It helps me remember I’m safe and not alone,” client Paul Auty told Providence Care. Fellow client Aline Viau put it this way in the same story: “The music takes away all the bad things and brings you alive.”
Read the full story at: Providence Care
🐢 Sandy Pines Takes In 78 Baby Turtles Rescued From an Inner Harbour Construction Site
Some of the 78 hatchlings. Photo: Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre, via Kingston Daily.
Seventy-eight baby turtles just landed the best winter rental in town. They turned up during digging at a construction site at 9 North St. in Kingston’s Inner Harbour, and Turtles Kingston helped rescue them. Now Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre will look after them until they can go home to the Inner Harbour in May 2027. Care runs about $1,000 per turtle over seven to eight months, roughly $78,000 in all, so donations really matter. One easy way to chip in: Sandy Pines’ Christmas jewellery sale at Crossroads United Church on Friday, November 6 and Saturday, November 7.
Read the full story at: Kingston Daily
🆕 New Events In and Around Kingston
📺 FEATURED EVENT: Tempted: An Evening With Rick Campanelli and Bill Welychka | Tett Centre | November 4
Rick Campanelli and his memoir, Tempted. Graphic from Kingston WritersFest.
Remember “The Temp”? Former MuchMusic host Rick Campanelli comes to the Tett Centre on Wednesday, November 4 to talk about his memoir, Tempted: his years in music TV, and his struggle with a gambling addiction. Kingston WritersFest presents the evening, and Rick is joined by fellow MuchMusic alum Bill Welychka, who we spotlighted in October. Expect honest stories and a few blasts from the music TV past. Tickets ($32.76 to $49.14) are on Showpass.
🗝️ FEATURED EVENT: Daring to Share Elder Care Forum: Staffing | Keller Williams Inspire Realty | November 17
The Daring to Share Elder Care forum’s new home. Graphic from Daring to Share on Instagram.
Caring for an aging parent is a lot easier when you understand the system before a crisis hits. That’s the idea behind Daring to Share’s monthly Elder Care forums, and the third one, on Tuesday, November 17, takes on staffing: “Strengthening the Workforce. Improving Care.” Founder Diana Reyers opens the evening at the series’ new home, Keller Williams Inspire Realty, 650 Cataraqui Woods Dr., with Bill Welychka hosting. You’ll hear from two retirement home leaders, a nurse storyteller and a panel of care partners. Tickets are $50, or $40 for seniors, and Diana says net proceeds go to Parkinson Canada research through the Hank Reyers Parkinson’s Fund. Details and tickets on the Daring to Share event page.
🎷 Kingston-Born Saxophonist Mike Allen’s Montreal Jazz Trio | RCHA Club | November 2
Mike Allen, Adrian Vedady and Jim Doxas at the RCHA Club. Poster from the RCHA Club.
Start your week with some jazz. Saxophonist Mike Allen, Kingston-born as the Whig-Standard notes, brings his Montreal Jazz Trio to the RCHA Club, 193 Ontario St., for an afternoon show today, Monday, November 2. He’s joined by Adrian Vedady on bass and Jim Doxas on drums. Tickets are $25. Details on the RCHA Club’s Facebook post.
🎖️ Fallen Soldiers: A Virtual Tour of Leeds and Grenville War Memorials | Online | November 2
The Lyndhurst Cenotaph, one of more than 20 memorials on the tour. Photo by Tanya Hammond/LJI, via Kingstonist.
With Remembrance Day coming, you can visit more than 20 war memorials without leaving the couch. The Leeds and Grenville Branch of The Ontario Genealogical Society hosts “Fallen Soldiers: A Virtual Tour of L&G War Memorials” on Zoom on Monday, November 2. Stops include Gananoque, Seeley’s Bay, North Augusta, Spencerville, Westport’s Memorial Gate and Brockville’s Memorial Centre. To register, call the branch at 1-855-MYROOTS, ext. 317. More details at Kingstonist.
🍷 Wine, Wills and Wealth | Cataraqui Golf and Country Club | November 3
Wine, Wills & Wealth. Graphic from University Hospitals Kingston Foundation.
November is Make a Will Month, and University Hospitals Kingston Foundation is making the homework a lot more pleasant. Its free Wine, Wills & Wealth evening on Tuesday, November 3 at Cataraqui Golf & Country Club pairs wine and light appetizers with plain talk about wills and estate planning from a lawyer, two wealth advisers, a tax specialist and the foundation’s own Jennifer Butchart. The RSVP date has passed and spaces are limited, but you can still ask to join the waitlist by emailing [email protected]. Details on UHKF’s event page.
📖 Book Talk: Talk Treaty to Me | Isabel Turner Library | November 3
Talk Treaty to Me by Crystal Gail Fraser and Sara Komarnisky. Book cover from HarperCollins Canada.
What is a treaty, exactly, and what does it have to do with the land you live on? For Ontario Treaties Recognition Week, the Kingston Frontenac Public Library welcomes authors Crystal Gail Fraser and Sara Komarnisky to talk about their bestselling book, Talk Treaty to Me: Understanding the Basics of Treaties and Land in Canada. Join them on Tuesday, November 3 in the Maple Room at the Isabel Turner Branch, 935 Gardiners Rd. Novel Idea will sell copies on site, and there are light refreshments. Details on KFPL’s event page.
🩺 HPV Test Fest: The New Pap Party | Access+ Clinic | November 4
HPV Test Fest. Graphic from Kingston Community Health Centres.
No family doctor and overdue for a Pap test? Kingston Community Health Centres has you covered on Wednesday, November 4 with HPV Test Fest: The New Pap Party (yes, they really called it a party), a cervical cancer screening day at its Access+ Clinic, 105-797 Princess St. It’s for people over 25 who have a cervix, haven’t had a Pap test in three years and don’t have a primary care provider. Appointments are required: book through KCHC’s event page or call 613-542-2949 ext. 4.
🎓 Library Lectures: PhDs for the Public | Central Library | November 4
Library Lectures: PhDs for the Public. Graphic from Kingston Frontenac Public Library’s Facebook page.
Six Queen’s University PhD students, six short talks, one free night out. The Kingston Frontenac Public Library’s New Adult Advisory Board hosts Library Lectures: PhDs for the Public on Wednesday, November 4 at the Central Branch, 130 Johnson St. Expect TED Talk-style talks on everything from how little kids learn language to rare radioactive decays, the 19th-century “crisis of masculinity” and how fanfiction archives save history. An idea mixer with refreshments follows. It’s drop-in, no registration needed, thanks to the Friends of the Library. Details on KFPL’s event page.
🪔 Mint Leaf Diwali Mela | Mint Leaf Indian Restaurant and Sweets | November 4 to 8
Mint Leaf’s Diwali Mela on Norwest Road. Graphic from Mint Leaf on Instagram.
Five days of food, lights and music? Count us in. Mint Leaf Indian Restaurant and Sweets, 841 Norwest Rd., is hosting what it calls Kingston’s biggest Diwali Mela 2026, every day from Wednesday, November 4 to Sunday, November 8. Diwali is the festival of lights, and a mela is a fair, so think festive, glowing and delicious. Details on Mint Leaf’s Instagram.
📅 Events Calendar
🗓️ The following is just for the next few days. The full Kingston events calendar lives here.
What’s Happening the Next Few Days
📺 FEATURED: Tempted: An Evening With Rick Campanelli and Bill Welychka | Tett Centre | November 4
🗝️ FEATURED: Daring to Share Elder Care Forum: Staffing | Keller Williams Inspire Realty | November 17
🚒 Loyalist Paid On-Call Firefighter Open Houses | Amherstview and Amherst Island fire stations | October 26 and November 2
🐟 Friends of the Salmon River Annual Gathering | Tamworth Legion | November 2
🎷 Mike Allen’s Montreal Jazz Trio | RCHA Club | November 2
🎖️ Fallen Soldiers: A Virtual Tour of Leeds and Grenville War Memorials | Online | November 2
🍷 Wine, Wills and Wealth | Cataraqui Golf & Country Club | November 3
☕ Chamber Coffee and Connections | allCareIT, Gardiners Road | November 3
📜 Book Talk: Talk Treaty to Me | KFPL Isabel Turner Branch | November 3
✍️ Learning for Liberation Book Club: Future Me Is Fat With Mollie Cronin | KFPL Central Branch | November 3
🌈 Rainbow Social Club | The Seniors Centre | November 3
🩺 HPV Test Fest: The New Pap Party | Access+ Clinic, Princess Street | November 4
🎓 Library Lectures: PhDs for the Public | KFPL Central Branch | November 4
💊 Pill Pals: Swallowing Pills Made Simple | KCHC Weller Site | November 4
🖋️ Make It Happen: Islamic Calligraphy Workshop With Jamal Saeed | KFPL Central Branch | November 5
🎤 Jessica Wolowich: Learning How to Drive Album Release | The Broom Factory | November 5
🔋 Household Hazardous Waste Drop-Off | KFR Training Centre, 3 Terry Fox Dr. | November 5
📝 Seniors Association Session 2 Registration | The Seniors Centre | November 2 to 6 | 🔦 Read our story
💜 Fall GNO Fundraiser for Kingston Interval House | DoubleTree by Hilton Kingston | November 6
🏒 Frontenacs Salute to Service | Slush Puppie Place | November 6
🎭 Come From Away | Springer Theatre, Gananoque | to November 7
📿 Sandy Pines Christmas Jewellery Sale | Crossroads United Church | November 6 and 7 | 🔦 Read our story
🎶 An Afternoon of Entertainment With Ian Roy | Newburgh United Church | November 7
📚 Book Signing: Rodney Anderson, Shadows in the Burmese Jungle | Novel Idea | November 7
🎼 Cantabile Choirs: Cantos y Ritmos | The Spire | November 7
🎁 Christ Church Cataraqui Holiday Vendor Market | Christ Church Cataraqui | November 7
🏆 Judgement of Kingston | Residence Inn by Marriott Kingston | November 7
🌍 Market for Africa, Kingston Grandmother Connection | Salvation Army Citadel | November 7
💃 Museum Kids: Peyton’s Dance Workshop | Museum of Lennox & Addington, Napanee | November 7
🥾 Operation Warm Feet Winter Boot Sale | KCHC Weller Site | November 7
📖 It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken | Kingston Grand Theatre | October 22 to November 8
🧵 Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners Annual Sale | Tett Centre | November 5 to 8
🪔 Mint Leaf Diwali Mela | Mint Leaf Indian Restaurant and Sweets | November 4 to 8
🐦 KFN Fall Roundup | Kingston area | November 6 to 8
🎨 Artisans’ Christmas Tour in the Country | Stone Mills | November 7 and 8
🏓 5th Annual Rotary Pickleball Tournament | Kingston Pickleball Club | November 8 | 🔦 Read our story
🎅 Amherstview Lions Club Santa Claus Parade | Amherstview | November 8
🎂 Frontenacs: Barrack’s Birthday Party | Slush Puppie Place | November 8
🪶 Honouring Indigenous Veterans Day With a Traditional Meal | Royal Canadian Legion Branch 560 | November 8
🎻 Kingston Symphony: The Hockey Sweater | The Isabel | November 8
🛍️ Outdoor Merry Makers Market | Odessa | November 8
🥩 Veterans Roast Beef Dinner | Napanee Legion | November 8
🍽️ Countylicious | Prince Edward County restaurants | October 22 to November 15
🚶 Theatre Kingston: Strolling Player | Homestead Baby Grand | October 29 to November 15
🛒 The Farbers Holiday Sale | Moscow | November 7 to 15
🧥 Coats for Community Drive | Drop-off bins across Kingston and L&A | October 17 to November 16 | 🔦 Read our story
📱 November Health and Tech Talks | The Seniors Centre | November 5 to 19
📚 Later Life Learning Series B: Great Kingston Stories | The Seniors Centre | series starts October 23 | 🔦 Read our story
🧶 Escape to the Safe Zone by Leisa Rich | Tett Gallery | October 30 to November 22
🎵 K-Pop Club for Teens | KFPL Isabel Turner Branch | November 9 to December 14
☕ Aging Well and Talking Café Fall Talks | KFPL branches and Kingston East Community Centre | November 4 to December 16
🧓 Older Adults Day With KFPL and KCHC | Rideau Heights Community Centre | November 9 to December 21
📸 Rideau Heights Neighbourhood Photo Contest | Across KFL&A | October 1 to January 1 | 🔦 Read our story
🫁 COPD Exercise Group | Napanee | Tuesdays from November 3
🎸 Blues at the Cove Turns 20 | The Cove Inn, Westport | from October 16
🥕 Lionhearts Fresh Food Market | The Seniors Centre and Seniors Centre East | Tuesdays and Wednesdays | 🔦 Read our story
Know of something we should add? Let us know.
🗓️ The full Kingston events calendar lives here.
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