Hamilton Happenings

I know it's been a rainy week, but you have to admit it's better than snow and a necessary way to start off the season we all can't help but love, SPRING! It's time to pack away the woolies and bust out of your hibernation rut. And Hamilton is ready for us, pasty skin and all. There's something exciting happening every day of the weekend. I'm going for a hat trick. Hope to see you there! How about you? What's going on in your city this weekend?

James North Art Crawl

On the second Friday of every month in the James Street North district of Hamilton, various galleries, studios and shops open their doors to the public until late into the evening, usually around 11 pm.

This is Hamilton as you've always wanted it to be... for one night a month at least. People are out and about, similing and interacting, talking about art over pints long after the galleries have closed. You'll seriously be wondering where these people are hiding the rest of the month.

This time around I'm pretty pumped for the "Circus Art Show" at Loose Canon Gallery, which has me intrigued, as well as the "Graphitti" wall outside Mixed Media.

Food and Drink Fest

I was at the event last year and it was fantastic! I've been to food and drink fests in Toronto before, but this one was way better in my opinion. There's live local entertainment; it was kept pretty small, so you felt like you could try it all if you wanted to; and the vendors were really friendly and open to conversing at depth about their products.

There were samples from last year's show that I still reminisce about... the ridiculously delicious garlic-drenched lobster slider from Prime, the $1 truffles from Beanermunky, and chatting with the winemaker from Vineland estates who pulled out a very expensive Syrah from under the table just to change our negative minds about Ontario reds.

This year we've convinced a couple of friends from Toronto to join us. I've been looking forward to it all week. I just hope the move to Copps Colliseum doesn't change the welcoming atmosphere.

Dundas Valley School of Art Auction

It's the 40th Anniversary of this popular fundraising event for the school and over 1500 works of art are now on display.

The live auction takes place on Saturday evening, but the silent auction is what draws me out to to the valley. All three floors of the school are filled with donated works of art that are up for silent auction. It's so fun to pick out your favourites and make a bid.

Last year Mikey J and I won a beautiful framed photograph by Paul Simon and, with a little detective work, discovered the actual place it was photographed behind the school! A regular Sherlock and Watson we are, huh? Ha!