Every year since we purchased our condo in Ottawa we have attended the Ottawa Jazz Festival for at least one performance. It runs for several days with multiple shows a day. You can buy a festival pass for a boatload but we prefer to pick a few shows we’d like to see and buy individual tickets. What’s really nice though, is some shows you can see for free.

In the days leading up to the festival there are free shows scattered around Ottawa featuring local bands. Those shows are called The Home Grown Series. This year there was a show only 2.5 blocks from the condo at a brew pub that we adore called Beyond the Pale. The band was LH Express and they were dynamite.

Can you imagine anything better than sitting outside with excellent food, perfect cider, and live music? It was the most pleasant Sunday afternoon I could imagine, and now I have a new local band to follow!