WestFest is a celebration of the Westboro Village and a fantastic opportunity to celebrate local and Canadian music, literature, and art. Now in its seventh year, this three day celebration continues to expand with local businesses eager to showcase what they do best and big Canadian acts realizing the immense popularity and uniqueness of WestFest. Regardless of the weather, an estimated 200,000 people are expected this weekend.

Beginning the evening of June 11th, the party doesn't stop until late Sunday night. You can check out the entertainment for the weekend, including the big music headliners, street performers, and vendors at the WestFest website.

Last year was the first year Don and I volunteered for this popular event. We had attended in previous years, but it was not until we became volunteers ourselves we truly understood the amount of work and planning behind the festival. The majority of of volunteers in the core group (the "crew") have full-time jobs, yet are willing to donate time to WestFest simply because they love and are proud of their neighbourhood. Kudos to them for all the hard work they put in!

After a great volunteer experience last year, we were eager to to sign up again. As a result, last night, Don and I did our first 6 hour shift with 12 more hours to go today. Originally, we had been slotted to sell bar tickets and bus tables. However, Beau's Beer (a major sponsor for this year's event) decided to bring in its own staff to serve alcohol. As such, Don and I have been re-assigned to other duties.

Despite the mix-up, we were busy, but still found time to walk up and down a partially blocked off Richmond Road. During our break, we managed to partake in some of the fun and delicious foods of WestFest. Please note Friday night was only a sample of what this great festival has to offer. The real fun starts on Saturday and Sunday when much of Richmond Road is blocked off (from Kirkwood to Broadview). There, you will find street performers, local shops and restaurants extending their businesses into the street, and family-friendly activities.



Don and I will be out and about all day today. Hope to see you there!

As a head's up food-wise, Westboro's The Piggy Market (400 Thurston) will be making Jamaican patties every half hour to serve at WestFest. They will also be sending out trays of charcuiterie to the street. Hintonburg's Essence Catering has an adorable site between Roosevelt and Golden. They are serving the most amazing smoked Pork Po' Boy, easily the best sandwich at WestFest.

I'll be checking out Sloan tonight!

At the end of July, the organizers of WestFest held a thank-you dinner at Westboro's Newport Restaurant for the event's volunteers.

Newport Restaurant

Dining Room

There, we were presented with thank-you notes and some fine pizza.

Thank-you's

Slices of Combination and Deluxe
I can think of few better thank-you's than slices of gourmet pizza like those served at Newport. On the menu, the combination is called "Moe's Rock 'n Combo" and includes tomato sauce, peperoni, mushrooms, and green peppers. The deluxe adds bacon and olives.

Legend has it that the restaurant's owner, Moe, learned the art of pizza-making while working in the kitchens of Colonnade Pizza's original location on Metcalfe. Colonnade is one of Ottawa's famed pizzerias. Newport's pizzas sports an almost identical hand-worked crust that is also made to order. They are topped with quality fresh ingredients and real mozzarella cheese. They are baked in hot pizza ovens where both the cheese and crust develops great colour and texture.

Pizza Oven Crisped Crust

Best yet, the volunteer co-ordinator came across foodiePrints' piece on this year's WestFest. He sent printed copies of our blog entry around. In fact, our coverage seems to have urged WestFest organizers to look into having more local performers on stage and more uniform food concessions from local producers.

I should note that as we enjoyed our pizza, a caricature artist wandered the tables, drawing pictures of volunteers. Here is ours:

Me and Jenn

Both Jenn and I are looking forward to volunteering again next year when this field

Field
is again transformed into a festival ground.

WestFest

Particulars:
Newport Restaurant
334 Richmond Road
(613)722-9322

Colonnade Pizza
280 Metcalfe Street near MacLeod
(613)237-3179

More after the jump...

Before we begin, I must apologize upfront for the quality of some of the pictures from this year's WestFest. It was a busy weekend. Most of the pics were snapped as Jenn and I moved from station to station or during our breaks. This year, we signed up to volunteer at the festival. I took on 3 shifts (1 on Friday and 2 on Saturday), donating a total of 18 hours. She, 2 shifts (both on Saturday), donating a total of 12.

My Volunteer Gear Minus My WestFest T-Shirt
Astoundingly, we met an 80 year old couple who signed up for 5 shifts, volunteering for all three days. I for one didn't have the stamina to put in 30 hours, back-to-back. Kudos to them!

For those who don't know, WestFest is an outdoor street festival that showcases Canadian musical, visual art, dance, spoken word, and performance art talent, mostly local.

2009 was its sixth annual and, since the weather co-operated so well, perhaps its most popular ever.

Popular Street Party
It is also free and open to anyone and everyone to attend. To keep it free, organizers rely on sponsors and volunteers.

Volunteers, mostly people from the surrounding Westboro, Wellington West, and Hintoburg neighbourhoods, spent the majority of their time posted around the WestFest main stage (Richmond and Golden Ave.). There, volunteer coordinator Rory Keenan kept us well organized. He assigned us to shifts at volunteer "central", the audience area (as floaters), the public washroom/water stations, the backstage gates, or the barricades. This year, Rory also assigned volunteers to supplement security staff at the road-side barricades that prevented cars from driving down Richmond.

Why barricades? During WestFest, many businesses setup extended patios that spill onto the street and there are several community stages erected at various intersections.

Road Barricade at Churchill

Extended Patios

Some businesses even stay open well into the night to serve WestFest-goers.

Truffle Treasures at 9:00 pm

Among my assigned tasks, I was posted to several barricades and gates. I was also sent to do various odds and ends, including unloading drums from a performance and liquor in the VIP area behind the main stage. Along with the other Friday volunteers, I also participated in a performance that involved passing around newspaper-wrapped packages with balloons attached to them, all to a classical waltz.

Ballooned Package

More Ballooned Packages
The performance was intended to distribute glow-sticks to the audience before that evening's headliner, Danny Michel, took the stage. It was somewhat successful.

Though our shifts were long and tiring, we enjoyed them. We were even lucky enough to be stationed near the main stage during several of the performances.

Danny Michel from Friday Night

Lynne Hanson from Saturday Night
My favourite had to be Ottawa-grown Danny Michel whose maritime sound was honed at the Manx on Elgin. He even opened his set, saying that he grew up in a local bar, which drew cheers from the crowd. And yes, I was at one of the backstage gates Saturday evening. Not knowing it at the time, I stopped several of Prairie Oyster's crew, asking them for identification to be in the VIP area. Apparently, I even spoke to their red-headed lead singer, Russell deCarle.

All that said, volunteers definitely weren't starved during our long shifts. We were given meal tickets worth $6 at any of the concessions around the main stage area.

Meal Ticket

During my Friday shift, I ate Jamaican Patties from the Carribean Flavors concession.

Carribean Flavors' Signage

Coke and 2 patties

Beef

Chicken
Think freshly made corn pastry surrounding finely ground meat fillings that were carefully seasoned and spiced. Both smacked of all spice and something bright, perhaps tomato...

After the Friday performances, as WestFest was shutting down, I spoke with Andrew Law, whose legendary hot dog stand is usually located at the corner of Bank and Wellington during weekday lunch hours.

Familiar Downtown Sight at Westfest, Sunnydays' Hot Dogs
Accordingly, he spent the last two years in China, running a restaurant with his wife. They have since returned to Ottawa with a 17 month old baby. According to the Apartment613 blog, Faithful locals are grateful he has taken up operating Sunnydays again. To many, he serves one of the best hot dogs in town.

On Saturday, I spent one shift's meal ticket finding out why. I also met Law's wife who was helping out at the stand. Both are wonderful people.

Andrew Law
It's true. He serves one fine hot dog.

One Fine Hot Dog
First off, his are freshly baked rolls, not the tawdry white bread hot dog buns from the local mega-mart. When I was a third grader, I actually discovered that hot dog buns from Loblaws were engineered to resist molding. Try as I could, I couldn't get it to mold for my science project.

Great All-Beef Frank
Secondly, Law's all beef franks give the "snap" as you bite into them that New Yorkers and Chicago-ans celebrate. They are also well seasoned and slightly spiced. Law cooks them up perfectly, letting them take on a smokiness. Yum!

Condiments Galore
Thirdly, I challenge Ottawa to find a hot dog stand that offers more quality or quantity condiments. While I recently found out that the best dog you can purchase from Law is topped with his signature grilled vegetables, I opted for salsa and hot peppers. It was great! I'll try the grilled vegetables next time.

BTW, Sunnydays and Law will be at the Hope Volleyball event in coming weeks.

More after the jump...

As always, hitting this year's Westfest was a great way to spend a Saturday during a warm June day.
West fest is an outdoor street festival that showcases local musical, visual art, dance, spoken word, and performance art talent. As before, it was a 3 day event that took place in the Westboro village of Ottawa.

WestFest 5

Westboro Village's WestFest
This year, however, there was an aboriginal component to the concessions. We'll get to that.

From the direction of Wellington, Richmond was cordoned off just passed the Superstore at Kirkwood. Here is what the festival looked like at 1:00 pm on the Saturday of the event.

Extended Patio

Crowds of Revelers
Just look at that bustling crowd. This was a day to be out and about.

A little further down, we stumbled into a Food Network crew who also decided to take in the sights and sounds. They shot parts of an episode of the road show "Road Grill." According to the Food Network:

Matt Dunigan and his Team set up their giant barbecue road show at a new location and event, bringing love, laughs and great food to people enjoying summertime outdoors. Shot before a live enthusiastic (and hungry!) audience, Matt shows us the simple secrets and techniques of great barbecue.

Road Grill

Film Crew

All Female Grill Masters
Not knowing that the grilled goods we smelled would be shared with the audience, we took pictures of the gathering crowd and ambled on. Oh well, no foodiePrints on television this year.

Several steps past the Road Grill crew, we ran into performers from the Amakhosi troupe that was performing at Landsdowne Park.

Amakhosi

Performers
Extremely friendly, they actually posed for us, but that picture didn't turn out well.

This year, we passed on a WestFest burger from the Works and headed down to the main concession stands. Always a supporter of Westfest, the Works' street patio was packed with happy people enjoying what looked like great food.

WestFest Newspaper Advertisement

Packed Patio

The first concession stand was Adrianna's Den.

Adrianna's Den
It served "traditional" aboriginal food.

Traditional Aboriginal Food

Menu
Now I find burgers, poutine, anything called a taco, bologna, and fries somewhat suspect when it comes to authentic aboriginal food. Though, I did notice something that I've been dying to try: fry bread. Also known as "fried bread" or "frybread", fry bread hand kneaded dough, leavened with either baking powder or yeast, that is deep-fried in oil. Having already eaten lunch, my better half and I shared a buffalo burger on fry bread.

Buffalo Burger

From the Side

Yum
The burger was marvelous. The bread was savory, light yet substantial, crunchy on the edges, and soft in the middle. The pattie was perfectly seasoned and juicy. Judging from the texture and grilled flavour, I surmise that the burger was made from 80/20 ground bison that was coated in a spiced or seasoned flour mixture and then grilled. Afterward, it was placed in a metal container with a lid for a post grill steam. There, escaped juiced and moisture mingled with the cooked flour to form a wonderful gravy-like coating. Still, the pattie isn't the best thing about this burger. There's a blowhole for excess ketchup to escape from. More than likely, the hole is put in the each round of fry bread to increase the surface area exposed to the hot oil and ensure even cooking.

Next door to Adrianna's was a stand from the Caribbean Flavours restaurant.

Caribbean Flavours
I followed the smell of fried corn flour to the stall. Once there, I found stacks of freshly made Jamaican patties that I couldn't turn down.

Green-Filled Fresh Jamaican Pattie

Bite

Filling
Oh it was great. Imagine the flavours and textures from biting into a freshly fried corn flour pastry stuffed with soft cooked greens. Just look at the delicate and flaky pastry. Caribbean pocket pies baby!

Printed menus from Caribbean Flavours follows after the jump.

On our way back home, we stopped at the Superstore to get a picture of store bought beef-filled frozen Jamaican Patties. They just don't compare.

Frozen Jamaican Patties from the Superstore

Apparently, we got inside just in time as the skies quickly clouded over and it rained.

Flash Rain
Thus ended our trip to Westfest 5. We're looking forward to Westfest 6 in 2009!

This just in: Here are buttons that were handed out during this year's WestFest

Buttons

More after the jump...

Westfest is a community-oriented outdoor festival that showcases local musical, visual art, dance, spoken word, and performance art talent. It is a 3 day event that takes place entirely in the Westboro village of Ottawa. During the event, a stretch of Richmond Road, between Tweedsmuir and Golden Avenues, is cordonned off from traffic. This year it took place on Friday, June 8, 2007 and ended on Sunday, June 10, 2007. Most importantly, Westfest is free. It is sponsored by the Ontario Trilliam Foundation and local businesses, newspapers, and, of course, restaurants.



Many of the eateries along Wellington and Richmond participate in WestFest by having open air stalls that showcase their distinctive wares. This includes artisanal bakeries, the Ottawa Bagel Shop, and Il Negozio Nicastro. A good number of restuarants either rent temporary accomondations or use their existing facilities to have open air patios as well. The patios at the restaurants closer to the festival itself open onto the street.

One of the restaurants that has participated in the festival year after year is the Works. The Works has 5 locations in the Ottawa area. One is on Bank Street (580) near the 417. Another is in Westboro, 326 Richmond Road at Churchill.

The Works is renowned for serving the best hamburgers in town, albeit perhaps the most expensive as well. The Westboro branch is rumored to puchase its meat from Saslove's on Wellington St., which is the local outlet for organic meats. During Westfest, the Works rents out large gas barbecue facilities and produces hamburgers for purchase. One is called the WestFest burger.

Jenn and I have been meaning to visit the Works ever since we moved here. Happily, we tied our inaugural visit to the Works with our annual visit to Westfest.

By the time Jenn and I could find time to visit WestFest, it was late Saturday evening, so we were scoping out possibilities for dinner. We stopped at the Works where we both orderred WestFest burgers; hers without cheese; mine with a nice slice of cheddar, non-processed to boot. What distinguised the WestFest burgers from the Works' regular cheese burgers was the addition of sauteed onions in an almost hickery barbecue suace. The burgers were sublime: juicy, flavorful, perfectly grilled with just a little crust formation, and, most importantly, fresh (made to order). A regular cheese burger cost $6.00 each. The WestFest burger cost $8.00 each. It was worth every penny.

We ate our burgers, sitting on a bench, listening to a live performance of a local band. We were surrounded by numerous families, young couples, elderly couples, and people just out walking their dogs. It was definately a wonderful way to spend a warm spring evening.

Particulars:
The Works
326 Richmond Road
(613)564-0406