CNW Group

The Rideau Canal Festival Committee today announced Ottawa’s first celebration of Canada’s most recent UNESCO World Heritage Site – the Rideau Canal. The inaugural edition of the festival is slated for the August Civic Holiday long weekend (August 1st – 4th, 2008).

“This festival demonstrates that tourism, leisure, and environmentalism, and heritage can indeed converge very *successfully,” said Henry Storgaard, the first Volunteer Chairman of the Rideau Canal Festival Committee, a group of prominent local citizens who pooled their time and resources to make the festival a reality. “It always impresses me to see how friends and colleagues across Canada speak with such pride about the canal and the activities that surround it. It’s a real Canadian icon and it is wonderful that it will now become a heritage site for the world to enjoy,” he added.

This free festival will have myriad activities for everyone: Colonel By Heritage Fair, the first Rideau Canal Night Flotilla, World Heritage Flotilla starting from Fort Henry in Kingston, the world’s largest parade of bicylces (aiming for a Guinness World Record), Ecosphere – The Green Rendezvous, and more.

The Ontario Government was instrumental in bringing the festival to fruition. “The McGuinty Government is proud to be a partner in this exciting festival that celebrates our rich culture and heritage and commemorates the Rideau Canal as Ontario’s only UNESCO world heritage site,” said Madeleine Meilleur, M.P.P. for Ottawa-Vanier.

The festival has partnered with Zerofootprint, a Toronto-based not-for-profit organization that helps organizations work towards eco-friendly events and activities.

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