Nepeanville

08/26/2026

An Ottawa dance instructor offered to teach a circus artist from Mississauga to dance when she learned about her health challenges.

They were strangers, and yet together they tackled a few big problems at once:
*We may sometimes feel alone with our scary stuff (but we’re not)
*Offering - and accepting - help is too tough to do (but possible)
*Dancing with a partner is for the brave (but we can learn)

Robyn can’t help Maya with her biggest challenges. But in putting up her hand and saying “hey, I can help a bit,” she’s given us all a solid reminder: it can be better - and more fun - if we all dance together.

(Photography supplied by Robyn Agnew and Maya Auchincloss)
rebel.circus

08/12/2026

Staying friendly with new neighbours in west-end Ottawa is easy at these local summer events:

August 19: the Nepean Concert Band plays the bandstand at Andrew Haydon Park from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Bring your lawn chair, enjoy an evening of music.

August 22: Bells Corners hosts its Summer Bash by Canadian Tire on Robertson Road. There will be live music, local vendors and balloon animals.

August: Author Clover Callahan’s Tarot and Storytelling session at OPL’S Centrepointe branch on Aug. 17 is now full, alas, but we can still buy her book, The Fate Date. Maybe we can meet to discuss it? It’s not too late for us to jump on their summer reading challenge too.

But hearing about ’s Friend Zone series is motivating too. What she’s doing reminds us that meeting new people can help us all feel more connected to what our community has to offer.

If you attend an event, let me know?

And if you can, subscribe to Nepeanville. It’s free (and friendly) 🙂

au courant explores .concertband .callahan.writes

08/08/2026

When the Repair Café pays its first visit to the Nepean Sportsplex on Aug. 8, broken bikes and zippers will be mended. But the event’s biggest fixes will live in its add-on benefits

08/05/2026

We all love the comfy routine of visiting our favourite local coffee shop.

But how about taking a mini field trip to a Nepean spot that’s new-to-you?

Because time spent in a local cafe can be a great way to connect with new west-end areas, issues and people. (Which is all important stuff with a municipal election on the horizon.)

For instance, when Barrhaven folks hang out in Qualicum-Graham Park or Bells Corners folks sip in Centrepointe, our community-wide perspectives grow.

Coffee shops aren’t the only spaces to hang out, obviously. Parks, libraries, community centres and sidewalks work too.

But, like, coffee is tasty. 😉

What are your favourite west-end go-to spots?

Share in the comments so we can all check it out.

08/01/2026

West-end Ottawa dwellers may want to celebrate Colonel By Day by paying a visit to Fairfields Heritage House / Maison historique Fairfields on Richmond Road.

The almost-200-year-old site was home to five generations of the Bell family. It offers a great snapshot of what life was like in Nepean Township over the years.

City of Ottawa museum staff can give you a free tour around the house and its artifacts.

This includes the Bell family’s mighty collection of bells, a stone fireplace made of Nepean stone quarried right near the property and Ruth Bell’s fantastic collection of tiny cats.

The Bell family’s adventure stories are worthy of a TV series.

So west-end Ottawa: tuck in some local history this weekend.

The house is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For kids, it has craft and archeological events coming up this summer.

Check them out on Facebook or at ottawa.ca

(Historical photos are from the book Nepean: The Memory Lives, edited by Kathy Fischer)

07/30/2026

The Ottawa Tool Library is hosting a Repair Cafe on Aug. 8 at the Nepean Sportsplex for the first time.

The event’s volunteer fixers and menders are trying to solve several big problems at once:
*They’re trying to keep items out of the landfill.
*They’re trying to help you save money
*And they want to help you feel part of a wider “fixer community”

It’s not perfect: the almost-monthly events have grown so popular that the lineups can get long. It can be costly to replace broken items, after all. And the idea of mending things instead of tossing them is growing in popularity.

But volunteers serve tea and coffee and everyone works to keep the line’s vibes neighbourly and fun.

So west-end Ottawa: this is your time.

Pick your broken item - just one per person, please - and check out the cafe on Aug. 8 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

(Photography of past events by Mary Ellen Cavett for the Ottawa Tool Library)

07/15/2026

It’s now been two weeks since the Canada Day rainstorm turned more than 5,800 west-end households upside down.

But neighbours coming together on sidewalks, driveways and porches is far from wrapping up.

The digging out process means neighbours still need each other.

Without trying to put a smiley face on a lousy situation, there is indeed something that’s been showing up alongside the mess: let’s call it oversized neighbourliness.

Visit Nepeanville for some good news. Subscribe and share your thoughts too. :)

In short: yes. Here’s what’s gone right in west-end Ottawa since the Canada Day flood

05/21/2026

You’re curious. You’ve got comfy shoes and a daypack.

Maybe your to-do list can take one more item? 🥾👟

Hop to this week’s edition of Nepeanville and learn more:

Travelling on our volume-gnarled roads is often miserable just now. But moving in a crowd on foot? A group walk along the west-end half of Ottawa's Poets’ Pathway reminded me that more can be more

05/16/2026

Happy long weekend! 🌷🌺
I hope you can look at some spring beauty in your community this weekend the way that former long-time City of Nepean mayor Ben Franklin looked at this Baskin Robbins’ ice cream cone in Bells Corners in 1987. (Ottawa Citizen photo in, Nepean: the memory lives)