Outages peaked around 60,000 customers

Tens of thousands of customers are without power and parts of Highway 401 were closed Tuesday morning as blasts of blowing snow hit the Ottawa-Gatineau area.

A wind warning left over from Monday in southern Prince Edward County about morning gusts up to 100 km/h.

Communities near the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario could see gusts around 80 km/h Tuesday morning, according to a special weather statement.

A different statement for Ottawa and communities ranging from Westport to Hawkesbury warns of morning blasts of snow in gusts up to 70 km/h.

Snow squall warnings for the Outaouais ended by 9:30 a.m.

More than 24,000 local customers were without power as of 2 p.m., according to Hydro One, Ottawa and Québec. There are no significant outages under Utilities Kingston.

That number peaked near 60,000 mid-morning.

Algonquin College cancelled classes across its three campuses Tuesday, citing the outages. It said it plans to resume classes Wednesday.

WATCH | The risks that come with 'such a shift in climate':

Highway closures done

Westbound Highway 401 was closed because of crashes from Palace Road to Centre Street in the Napanee area until around 12:45 p.m.

The eastbound 401 was closed near Odessa until around 10:30 a.m. because of what Ontario's transportation ministry (MTO) describes as "road conditions."

Previous westbound crashes around Sydenham Road in Kingston and around Gananoque have also been cleared away.

Around 7:30 a.m. the MTO listed much of Highway 15 and Highway 401 near Kingston as snow-covered, with poor visibility. Parts of highways 7 and 416 were partly snow covered.

Quebec said the same for highways 5, 50 and 148 in and around Gatineau.

No local school bus agencies cancelled service Tuesday.

Kingston is one of the best places in Ontario for a short city break that combines waterfront views, historic streets, and easy access to major attractions in one compact area. The city is known for its walkable downtown, limestone architecture, public market, harbour, and nearby 1000 Islands experiences, making it a practical destination for travelers who want a getaway that feels full without needing a long itinerary.

Part of what makes Kingston so appealing is the flexibility it offers. You can spend the day exploring historic sites, walking by the waterfront, taking a cruise, or browsing local markets, then wind down in the evening however you like—whether that means dinner by the harbour, a quiet hotel night, or a few minutes of mobile entertainment such as after a full day of sightseeing.

Why Start Your Ontario Getaway in Kingston

Kingston is more than just a stop between larger cities. It is a destination in its own right, with enough attractions to fill a full weekend at an easy pace. For travelers looking for a place that blends history, culture, and water views without the scale of Toronto or Ottawa, Kingston makes an easy and comfortable base. Visit Kingston describes it as a walkable city with museums, historic sites, shopping, dining, and public spaces all close together.

Start with the waterfront and downtown core

One of the best ways to get a feel for Kingston is simply to begin on foot. The downtown waterfront area connects visitors to marinas, public squares, historic buildings, and easy walking routes through the old city. That close relationship between the harbour and the historic core is one of the reasons Kingston feels so naturally suited to a weekend trip.

Spend time around Springer Market Square

Springer Market Square adds a lively, local side to the trip. It sits at the heart of downtown and links naturally to cafés, shops, and nearby heritage streets. The square is also home to the Kingston Public Market, which the City of Kingston describes as the oldest and longest-running public market in Ontario.

Explore the city’s limestone character

Kingston’s historic look is a big part of its appeal. The city is widely associated with its limestone buildings, and that visual character gives even an ordinary walk through downtown a sense of place. For travelers who enjoy urban destinations with strong architectural identity, Kingston feels distinctive without trying too hard.

Getting Around Kingston

One of the reasons this trip works so well is that much of it is easy to do without complicated planning. You do not need a long-distance road trip to make Kingston feel rewarding. The main attractions are close enough together that the city works well for walking, short drives, and a few scheduled stops rather than a tightly packed itinerary. Visit Kingston specifically promotes the city’s walkability as part of its appeal to visitors.

For many travelers, this is the ideal type of short getaway: easy enough to organize, but varied enough to feel like a real break from routine. You can move from public squares to waterfront views to historic landmarks in a single day without the trip becoming exhausting.

Best Things to See and Do in Kingston

Kingston is the kind of city where it makes sense to focus on a few standout experiences instead of trying to see everything at once. The mix of history, tours, and water-based attractions gives the city enough variety to keep a weekend interesting.

Visit Fort Henry

Fort Henry is one of Kingston’s defining landmarks and one of the clearest reasons to visit the city in the first place. The fort overlooks Kingston Harbour and offers visitors a combination of military history, large-scale stone architecture, and broad views over the surrounding area. Its official visitor information presents it as one of the city’s major historic attractions.

Take a Kingston Penitentiary tour

Kingston Penitentiary gives the city a very different kind of historic attraction. The official tour site describes it as Canada’s oldest and most infamous maximum-security prison, and that alone makes it memorable for visitors looking for something more unusual than a standard museum stop. It adds a darker, more distinctive edge to the city’s travel appeal.

Get out on the water with a cruise

A sightseeing cruise is one of the easiest ways to round out a Kingston itinerary. Kingston 1000 Islands Cruises operates from downtown and offers short and longer sightseeing options into the 1000 Islands region, which makes it a practical addition to a city-based weekend. Seeing Kingston from the water gives the trip a different rhythm and helps balance the more history-heavy attractions on land.

A Trip to the Market and Waterfront

No article on Kingston feels complete without a section on the market and waterfront. These are the everyday spaces that help define the city just as much as its major attractions.

Why the Kingston Public Market is worth a stop

The Kingston Public Market remains one of the city’s most useful and character-filled stops, especially for travelers who prefer destinations that still have a strong sense of local routine. Because of its long history and central location, it feels like a genuine part of the city rather than a visitor add-on. That makes it a good place to slow down between bigger sightseeing stops.

The waterfront deserves unplanned time

The harbour area works best when you leave some room to simply enjoy it. Kingston’s waterfront is not just a backdrop for photos; it is one of the city’s most pleasant spaces for walking, sitting, or easing into the day before moving on to a fort tour, market visit, or cruise departure. This is one of the reasons Kingston works so well for travelers who do not want every hour scheduled.

Optional Extension: Add a Trolley Tour

If you want to extend the trip without making it more complicated, a trolley tour is an easy addition. Kingston Trolley Tours highlights downtown, the waterfront, Fort Henry, Queen’s University, and other historic points of interest, making it useful for first-time visitors who want an overview before exploring more on their own.

This optional extension works well for visitors who want their Kingston weekend to include a broader look at the city without turning the trip into a rushed checklist.

Practical Tips for Planning the Trip

A little planning makes a Kingston getaway much smoother, especially if you want to fit in both major attractions and slower waterfront time.

Leave room for short stops

One of the best parts of Kingston is that not every enjoyable moment comes from a major attraction. Some of the most memorable parts of the trip can be short pauses by the harbour, a slow walk through downtown, or an unplanned stop at the market or a café.

Do not overpack the itinerary

It is tempting to try to fit Fort Henry, the penitentiary, a cruise, the market, and a full downtown walk into one rushed day. In practice, Kingston is much more enjoyable when you leave room to move around at a slower pace and enjoy the spaces between attractions.

Expect a different feel depending on the season

The feel of the trip changes depending on the time of year. Warmer months are ideal for cruises, waterfront walks, and outdoor wandering, while cooler months shift the focus more toward architecture, indoor attractions, and a quieter downtown atmosphere. Cruise season itself runs from April to October, according to Kingston 1000 Islands Cruises.

Where to Eat, Pause, and Recharge

One reason Kingston suits so many travelers is that it balances activity with comfort. You can spend the day walking through historic spaces, touring landmarks, and exploring the waterfront, then still end the evening with a good meal and a slower pace.

That contrast is part of what makes the trip feel complete. It is not only about checking off attractions, but about enjoying the rhythm of the city from old stone streets to harbour views and back to a relaxed evening.

Conclusion

A weekend in Kingston offers one of the most accessible and rewarding short getaways in Ontario. It combines history, walkable city streets, waterfront scenery, and memorable attractions in a way that feels both easy to plan and rich in experiences. With Fort Henry, Kingston Penitentiary, the public market, and 1000 Islands cruises all contributing something different to the visit, Kingston works especially well for travelers who want a specific place with plenty to see and do.

Kingston residents may see an increase of military vehicles along Highway 401 as the Canadian Army Reserve personnel from 33 Canadian Brigade Group (33 CBG) participates in Ex WOLF AMBUSH.

Between March 20 and 22, and March 27 and 29, transport and supply convoys will be travelling to and from Petawawa, through multiple communities, including Kingston.

It’s a part of a “training ground of the warriors” which is a major brigade-level training event featuring simulated combat operations.

Its goal is to prepare the Canadian Army for future missions.

Members of the public may see increased military traffic with Canadian Army vehicles operating on various area roads including Ontario highways 7, 17, 26, 41, 55, 115, 401, 416 and 417.

The convoys will transport approximately 300 soldiers and their equipment in Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) vehicles and buses.

Participating personnel will conduct planned, short stops along the routes, stopping for rest, fuel and scheduled maintenance.

Participating soldiers will not carry any weapons or ammunition while making public stops on the designated routes of travel to and from this routine combat readiness exercise.

Members of the public are asked to take extra caution when approaching military vehicles.

Ontario Construction News staff writer

The City of Kingston and the YMCA of Eastern Ontario are moving forward with a massive $102-million recreational expansion, signaling a major shift in the city’s infrastructure landscape.

The project, dubbed the “Centre of Community,” will see a significant addition to the existing Invista Centre at 1350 Gardiners Rd. The centerpiece of the build is a new competitive 25-metre, 10-lane aquatics facility, alongside a leisure pool and a comprehensive wellness centre.

According to a City of Kingston staff report presented to council in late 2025, the project’s capital cost is estimated at $102 million in 2024 dollars. Financing is expected to be a multi-stream effort involving municipal debt, grants, the Municipal Accommodation Tax, and a capital contribution from the YMCA through fundraising.

The construction timeline is accelerating following the appointment of CS&P Architects as the prime consultant in March 2025. The firm was selected through a competitive procurement process to lead the conceptual and schematic design phases.

Current plans involve constructing a new fitness wing and repurposing existing fitness spaces within the Invista Centre for a third-party wellness operator.

“Following a detailed and competitive procurement process, CS&P was retained… work is being accelerated in preparation for a potential construction start in 2027,” stated Neil Carbone, Commissioner of Corporate Services, in a recent report to council.

While the West End expansion promises state-of-the-art facilities, it has sparked significant concern among residents near the current YMCA branch on Wright Crescent. The “Centre of Community” model effectively serves as a relocation for the YMCA’s primary operations, leading to the eventual closure of the aging Wright Crescent building.

Local residents have voiced opposition, citing the loss of a walkable community hub and the impact on seniors and lower-income families who rely on the central location.

“The YMCA is thinning out its ranks… this decision brings us one step closer to building a new centrally located facility,” YMCA of Eastern Ontario CEO Rob Adams previously noted during earlier restructuring discussions, though the shift to the Invista site in the West End represents a pivot from earlier “central” location rumors near Princess Street.

The city has attempted to mitigate these concerns by proposing a new parkette at the southeast corner of Wright Crescent. This smaller recreational project will include a play structure and landscaping to maintain some public utility on the lands held by the Kingston & Frontenac Housing Corporation (KFHC).

The YMCA project is the flagship of a broader surge in Kingston’s recreational construction. Other active and upcoming projects include:

For the Ontario construction industry, the Invista expansion represents one of the largest institutional tenders in the region for the coming years. The city has already allocated $3 million from the municipal capital reserve fund for initial design work.

The mayor’s 2026 Budget Direction has instructed staff to prepare for debt issuance to support a 2027 groundbreaking and the release of further Request for Proposals (RFPs) in late 2026.

Are you ready for a Road Trip?

RoadTrip Music Festival is heading to downtown Kingston on Sept. 12, presenting an all-Canadian lineup of musically diverse artists.

Heading the bill are Vancouver indie-pop favourites Peach Pit, Kingston alt-rockers Kasador, soul-pop artist Katie Tupper and alt-country songwriter Mariel Buckley, alongside Toronto dream-pop outfit Absolute Treat, singer-songwriter Gabriel Jacoby and hometown acts Tiny Horse, Piner, and O Green, performing on four different stages in the city's downtown core.

The event may be new, but one of the key players behind its launch is a very prominent Canadian music industry veteran, Steve Jordan. He is known as the founder and executive director of the Polaris Music Prize, a role he assumed for 15 years, prior to leaving to become the senior director of CBC Music in 2020.

In a post on his LinkedIn a week ago, Jordan reported that "My longtime friend Virginia Clark and I have been working with the Kingston Downtown BIA on a new music festival, and it's called RoadTrip Music Festival. The name implies the activity, so fasten your seatbelts."

Jordan has teamed with Wolfe Island Music Festival co-founder Virginia Clark of Flying V Productions and the Kingston Downtown Business Improvement Area

"We’ve invited artists we deeply believe are exceptional," says Clark. "RoadTrip is about welcoming people to Kingston to spend the day with us — to walk our streets, discover new music, and celebrate together. It’s incredibly meaningful to create something like this in my hometown.'"

RoadTrip will feature daytime performances along Princess Street prior to main stage action in the evening. Check out the full schedule here. Tickets go on sale here on March 19 at 10 am ET>

Jordan's involvement with the festival represents a return to his hometown roots. He got his start in the business at Kingston radio station, CKLC, as a teenaged intern and eventually became music director before moving to Toronto and working in promotion for indie label Kinetic Records. He joined Warner Music Canada’s A&R department for a three year stint, prior to being hired as a talent scout for True North Records in 2002. He then devoted his energies to the Polaris Music Prize, one he launched in 2006.

After joining CBC Music in March 2020, Jordan exited two years later. Broadcast Dialogue reported that "During Jordan’s tenure, he brought shows like The Block, Frequencies, Canada Listens, The Intro, and About Time to life, while parting ways with long-running programs, including Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap."

Based on the name of the festival, it sounds like the city hopes to show itself off to people driving in for the festival from nearby areas. Kingston has a rich musical heritage, most notably the hometown of Canadian rock heroes The Tragically Hip.