What a great beach BBQ day!

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The entire week before our beach BBQ it looked like rain. The morning of still predicted rain. By lunch time it was hot and sunny and that’s what we delivered for our annual End of School/Beach Opening BBQ. We had great food, fun activities, and of course, you. Thanks to the many volunteers who made it possible and to the 150 people who came out to celebrate the end of school, have some fun and just enjoy the beach. Your support helped us raise over $800 this year which goes to supporting events and activities in the local Westboro Beach community.

We met a lot of new people from outside our community who happened to just drop by as the grills heated up and people at the beach discovered it was time to have fun. We were happy to see all of you from our community and have the chance to chat. The grills were hot and our cooks worked extra hard that day. We had a mix of meat and veggie burgers/hot dogs along with lots of free watermelon and a large selection of cookies that were baked by our neighbours.

In the end, it is the volunteers that make the BBQ happen. It’s a group of almost two dozen people who help out both before, during and after that makes it work. A big thank you to all of them. We had fun and we hope you had fun.

Our face painters are always busy and very creative. Thanks to Indi, Karina, Charlotte, Imogen, Jasper and Gabriella for adding some flair and fun to the day. Kate was very busy at her bubble table with a wide selection of bubble makers from simple wands, to large ropes (some seriously big bubbles) and of course bubble guns.

It’s hard to believe that we will soon start planning for the End of Summer/Beach Closing evening event in September. However, between now and then, have a great summer and we hope to see you at the beach soon and make sure to have a great Canada Day.

We want to close out with a very big thank you to Kelly Palmer, manager of the Real Canadian Superstore on Richmond Road for their continuing support of our Beach BBQ. Their donation helped with the purchase of those delicious watermelons, great burgers and hot dogs and coordination with us ensured a successful event this year!

Beach BBQ – End of school & beach opening

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PLACE YOUR ORDER

Summer is almost here and that means it’s time for our annual Westboro Beach BBQ. This year it’s all about meeting and getting to know the people who enjoy the beach and catching up with neighbours, friends and everyone who has been missing the beach.

It’s also the last day of school for a lot of families and what better way to celebrate and of course, not have to cook dinner than to drop by the beach, meet your neighbours, let the kids unwind and enjoy a great evening together.

Bring some chairs, a beach towel, your bathing suit and water toys and make it a fun evening. And of course, bring your appetites.

Here’s what we are planning:

  • Hamburgers (meat or veggie) $5.00
  • Hot Dogs (meat or veggie) $4.00
  • Soft Drinks – assorted flavours $1.00
  • Chips – assorted flavour $1.00
  • Free watermelon – thanks to Real Canadian Superstore @ Richmond Rd
  • Lots of free cookies and treats
  • Free face painting
  • Henna tattoos by Mumtaz (small fee)
  • Free Bubbles and games for the kids
  • Play area for the small ones with some toys (unsupervised)
  • Perhaps an impromptu sand castle contest

IMPORTANT: To help with planning, we would like you to select tickets indicating your food preference. You can pay at the event. Your order helps us plan and keep costs down by not over-buying. All proceeds go to funding the WBCA and future events (beach closing, Santa parade, Easter Egg hunt and more).

PLACE YOUR ORDER

Westboro Beach AGM Announcement: Join Us April 13

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Westboro Beach Annual General Meeting (AGM) Announcement, Monday, April 13

Snow fort Winter Carnival

All Westboro Beach residents  are invited to attend the Annual Members Meeting / Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The AGM will be held on Monday, April 13 from 7pm to 8:15pm at Paul Dewar Field House. 

IT’S HYBRID!

We’d love to see you in-person (first in-person AGM since covid) but you can also join online.

register for 2026 agm

This year’s AGM will include the following  agenda items:

  • Review and approval of the AGM 2025 Minutes
  • Co-Presidents’ Report and Treasurer’s Report 
  • Election of a Board of Directors 
  • Volunteer Opportunities
  • Theme: Eco-Gardening – Easy to be Green,Guest Speaker: Mary Shearman Reid, Certified Landscape Horticulturist (CLHM), Green Thumb Gardening Centre
  • Jeff Leiper, Kitchissippi Ward councilor will join us to provide his thoughts on the upcoming year and answer your questions

We look forward to your attendance at the Annual General Meeting. It is a wonderful opportunity to connect with your neighbours and learn what is happening in our community. Please contact us at info@westborobeach.ca if you have any questions.

2026 Winter Carnival

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We had sunshine, beautiful winter weather, great cookies, delicious chili and of course, lots of neighbours as we celebrated our 2026 Winter Carnival on Selby Plains. It made for a perfect Family Day weekend with a Valentine’s Day spin. A big thank you to all of our volunteers – the chili makers, people who helped man the chili and cookie tables the entire afternoon, the snow block makers, the set up and tear down team, the fire pit managers, the volunteers who helped the kids at the snow blocks, the hot chocolate and cookie makers and of course, the marshmallow support team. Most of all thanks to everyone who dropped by, to have some some fun.

What would a WBCA winter carnival be without the free cookies and treats and our delicious chili that are provided by our volunteers. This year, we added a little Valentine’s Day flavour into the mix. We had over 10 dozen cookies to share on Saturday along with lots of hot chili. They were a hit with the many cross-country skiers who dropped by. Nothing like a warm bowl of chili and a little sugar to help you on your trip.

The carnival included our traditional snow block wall and spray bottles for kids to paint, the fire pit to roast marshmallows and our new tradition snow soccer. The kids had fun, stayed busy (we hope we tired them out for all their parents) and it was a great chance to chat with your neighbhours and many visitors. We had lots of people from outside the community drop by.

We might have a new winter Olympics contribution – snow soccer.

A special shoutout to our very own Dave Adams from Kichi Sibi Winter Trail who helped out by grooming the area, transporting supplies and providing wood for the fire pit. This year, Dave did something extra special and got to show off some of his equipment and gave out rides to the kids. It was a great hit although we’re not sure who was having more fun, Dave or the kids 🙂

We are already starting to plan our 2027 Winter Carnival, making it bigger and more fun next year. In the meantime, start planning ahead and mark your calendars for June 26th, 2026 for our End of School Beach BBQ! Let us know if you have any suggestions, we love hearing from you!

As we close, we’ll leave you with a short aerial video provided by Chris Ferrarin.

2025 Holiday Parade

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It was perfect parade weather on Saturday, December 7th when Santa and his helpers visited our neighbourhood. We were ready with donations for the Westboro Food Bank and of course, lots of holiday cheer.

The parade volunteers got themselves organized with Groomer Dave leading off and hoping that Santa granted his wish for a nice big early snowfall. Craig followed next with his vintage trunk and the tree. Santa came next along with all his helpers who collected donations.

We captured Santa and his helpers in action along the parade route and he was in fine form and his helpers were quite busy.

Many thanks to all of the neighbours who participated and contributed! The numbers are in… we delivered two van loads of food to the Westboro Food Bank and $650 in cash donations. Amazing!

Westboro Beach Residents Revitalize Atlantis Woods

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On Sunday, May 4, 2025, an enthusiastic group of Westboro Beach residents got together to replant Atlantis Woods following the removal of the invasive buckthorn. The weather was perfect, over 60 people came out to help, we got the job done and we had a blast!

The NCC provided all of the trees, shrubs, plants and seeds and subcontracted the project management and installation to the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA). Many thanks to both organizations!

Approximately 588 native trees, shrubs, ground cover were planted. Also, 4 kilograms of native wild flower seeds were spread. The complete breakdown below.

Atlantis Woods_Final Count full screenDownload

Next Steps:

We will monitor the growth of everything that we planted – they are all marked with red flags.

The RVCA will be back in the fall to evaluate the success of the planting.

As a community, we will continue to keep an eye on the buckthorn and regularly remove roots as they appear. This will take effort and persistence!

There is an Atlantis Woods What’sApp group. Please contact Briar Howes (Briarhowes@gmail.com) if you would like to join and get regular updates on Atlantis Woods.

A fun Easter Egg Hunt in 2025

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The weather was great. The Easter Eggs were plenty and of course, well hidden. There was hot chocolate. And most important, the kids were ready to go. Every one had a great time on Sunday, April 20th for our annual Easter Egg hunt. Families from all over the neighbourhood joined us for a morning of fun. It all started at the beach where we gathered the little ones for a parade through the neighbourhood and an opportunity to make as much noise as the they wanted.

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The parade ended at our new Easter Egg hunt location, Selby Plain near Churchill and Selby which provided lots of open space and great hiding locations. The smallest children were given a head start and then they everyone joined in to find the many eggs that had been hidden by the organizers, volunteers and parents.

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We wanted to extend a special thank you to our local organizers – Indi, Karina, Imogen and Jasper who helped make this all happen. We consider them “graduates” having been part of the Easter Egg hunt when it was just a simple activity in the neighbourhood to something that has grown to a neighbourhood event, now run by them. Also, a special shout out to Gabriella, a young organizer in training and part of the next generation.

We are already starting to think about our End of School/Beach Opening party in June, just two months away now. We will be trading in chocolate eggs for burgers and hot dogs. See you then!

Cleaning the Capital 2025

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Join in and help clean up your neighbourhood

It’s our third year participating in Cleaning the Capital to make our neighbourhood a cleaner and safer place to live and play. Cleaning the Capital is a city-wide cleanup that occurs in the spring and fall of every year, bringing Ottawa residents together as a community to help clean litter from our public spaces.

Join your neighbours from April 17 to May 2 and help make the Westboro Beach Community a little bit cleaner.

Check out the schedule, instructions and SIGN UP!

WHO: Neighbours and friends of Westboro Beach Community
WHAT: Grab a garbage bag and gloves, and pick up waste when you see it! (locations with stars on map: 219 Royal Ave, Mahoney Park, Churchill/Workman bench, others TBD)
WHEN: Between Thursday, 17 April and Friday, 02 May, noting 19 Apr & 03 May are Garbage/Recycling Days!
Blitz Day will be Saturday, 19 April, 0900-1100 to prep for the EASTER HUNT
WHY: To keep our neighbourhood clean and get ready for summer!
WHERE: Anywhere within Westboro Beach Community, your street or local forest or park!
BLITZ Day will start at Selby and Churchill Avenues intersection and end with Earth Day cake at 219 Royal Avenue!
How: Garbage bags and gloves are available at Mahoney Park, Churchill and Workman (bench), and 219 Royal Ave as of 17 April, or use your own! Pick up garbage when you’re out for a walk, and throw it away with your regular trash on garbage pick-up day!

BONUS DAY: 22 April 2024 is EARTH DAY, and picking up garbage is a great way to maximise your morning or evening walk:) We’ll be celebrating early this year on Saturday, 19 April with an Earth Day Cake at 219 Royal!
Are you a Business Owner in the neighbourhood? Why not get your team out for a group clean-up on a coffee or lunch break?

Have your own garbage pickers? What a great reason to get out and use them?

Another great Winter Carnival

westborobeach

We had the snow and perfect winter weather on Saturday. It was a great way to end Winterlude or make it a fun Family Day weekend. A big thank you to all of our volunteers – the chili makers and our volunteer who sold bowls of chili the entire afternoon, the snow block makers, the set up and tear down team, the fire pit managers, the volunteers who helped the kids at the snow blocks, the hot chocolate and cookie makers and of course, the marshmallow support team. Most of all thanks to everyone who dropped by, bought some chili, made a donation and had some fun.

The carnival included our traditional snow block wall and spray bottles for kids to paint, the fire pit to roast marshmallows (we went through 6 bags of marshmallows), hot chocolate (many large pots came and went) and over 16 dozen homemade cookies. We sold homemade chili, we borrowed a large warming fire pit and we had a snow soccer pitch! The kids were busy and the we all had a chance to connect and socialize.

A special shoutout to our very own Dave Adams and Cheryl Caldwell from Kichi Sibi Winter Trail who helped out by grooming the area, transporting supplies and providing the large fire pit warming area. Dave and Cheryl arranged for extra help this year. A very special thanks to two sponsors. Spencer from Meridian Bank for taking care of the marshmallows and skewers and Tom and the team at Caldwell Wealth Management for the hot chocolate and lots of volunteers.

We are already starting to plan our 2026 Winter Carnival, making it bigger and more fun next year. In the meantime, start planning ahead and mark your calendars for June 27th, 2025 for our End of School Beach BBQ! Let us know if you have any suggestions, we love hearing from you!

2024 Holiday Parade

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Santa and his elves made an appearance in Westboro Beach on December 1, and we were ready with lots of holiday cheer and with our donations for the Westboro Food Bank!

Many thanks to all of the neighbours who participated and contributed! The numbers are in… we delivered two truck loads of food to the Westboro Food Bank and $1140 in cash donations. Amazing!