The festival · pavilions
A villageof pavilions.
Walk from one community to the next in an afternoon. Every pavilion is run by the people it is about: their kitchen, their music, their exhibition, their name over the door.
September 2027 · exact dates to be confirmed · subject to permits
Inside a pavilion.
Four parts, the same shape for every community. The community fills them; the festival builds the frame around them.
Every box on this strip: planned
The kitchen
Cooked in an approved kitchen, held and served on the field by a certified food handler. Every pavilion also serves one small tasting portion, so a visitor can eat across the whole village.
The programme
Dance, music, a demonstration, a craft made in front of a crowd. At least five hours of programme on each of the two days, across the village and the stage.
The exhibition
Objects, panels and a theme for the year, explained in English and French. It is the part a visitor remembers a year later.
The people
A pavilion coordinator, a deputy and the community's own crew of volunteers.
Who keeps what.
Communities in this city already run festivals of their own, and every one of them keeps its own kitchen. A shared weekend has to match that, so it does. The festival earns from the commercial vendors it invites, from grants and from sponsors.
Who runs a pavilion.
An Ontario non-profit with a majority of its board living in the Ottawa region runs the pavilion. Embassies and consulates stand beside it as a programme partner or a sponsor, never as its operator: strike the mission's name out of the materials and the pavilion still stands on its own.
No community has been asked yet and no pavilion is confirmed. The names on this site are communities that already cook in this city.
Questions.
Is it free to visit the pavilions?
Yes. Entry is free both days; you pay only for what you eat or buy at a counter.
Which communities will have a pavilion?
The ones whose organisations apply and sign. Expressions of interest are open now; the list publishes when agreements are signed.
Can an embassy run a pavilion?
No. A diplomatic mission can support a pavilion as a programme partner or join the general list of sponsors. The operator is always a community organisation.