Long weekends can often mean getting together with family and friends and enjoying beach days or road trips, but there are still lots of events and things to do in this area.
If you need to laugh, there’s the Rusty Nail Comedy Saturday nights at The Crazy Canuck in Kitchener on Saturday and the Together We’re Boisterous Comedy Show Saturday at TWB Brewing in Kitchener.
The Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery is holding a mini gallery event in George Lippert Park in Kitchener Saturday morning.
BTC Fight Night in Kitchener also takes place Saturday evening at The Aud. For the main event, Jesse “The Body Snatcher” Ronson (24-12) takes on Ricardo “Woody” Chavez (21-17) for the inaugural BTC Fight Welterweight Championship.
Saturday is also Food Day Canada. It was started by Anita Stewart as a way to celebrate Canadian and local food. People are encouraged to make — or enjoy at a local restaurant — a meal of local ingredients for food and drink.
Need gas to get around this weekend? Here are some of the local prices:
Ontario Pirate Festival
Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Marden Park, north of Guelph
Ahoy, matey! Enjoy a weekend of pirate fun at this annual festival. There’s merchants and traders, a kids area, performances including a falconry show and feats of fire, or take part in jolly rogering at the Captain’s Keg.
Free outdoor concerts
Sunday, 7 p.m.
Forbes Park in Cambridge and Waterloo Park
The Ernie Laway Jazz Band performs in Forbes Park. Bring a chair, your water bottle and maybe some snacks to enjoy this free concert in the park.
Grand River Opera will present Opera in the Park on Sunday at 7 p.m. at the bandshell in Waterloo Park.
Guelph Outdoor Handmade Market Summer Series
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Royal City Park, Guelph
Various makers will be in the park for this event. Pick up some hot sauce, jewelry, art prints, candles, lip balm and more for yourself or as a gift.
Kitchener Panthers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
Sunday, 2 p.m.
Jack Couch Park, Kitchener
This may be my personal bias, but there’s no better way to spend a summer afternoon than sitting in the stands and watching baseball.
Hit up the park to watch the third-place Kitchener Panthers as they host the fourth-place Maple Leafs.
Waterloo Region’s boys of summer 🐆 <a href=”https://t.co/MpbfAe2J8B”>pic.twitter.com/MpbfAe2J8B</a>
—@IBL_Panthers
Would you rather watch the Guelph Royals? They’re hosting the Hamilton Cardinals Saturday evening at Hastings Stadium. First pitch is at 7:30 p.m.
Long Weekend Band Crawl
Sunday, 7 p.m.
Dive Bar, Revive, Prohibition Warehouse, Pin Up Arcade, Waterloo
Twelve bands will perform in four different venues all night as part of this band crawl in uptown Waterloo.
See Mononegatives, Bad Eff, Hung, Dog Bus, Het Up!, Dog Named Baseball, Femto and more. Tickets are required.