Clean Bin Tour Day 77 - Kingston to Ottawa

Our tour is getting busy! We had 4 bookings in 6 days including back to back screenings in Kingston and Perth. I could go on and on about each screening but I'll try to be brief.

Grant and I absolutely loved Kingston.  Anna, who had been following the blog, had contacted us a couple months back to see if we'd be coming to town.  With no prior event experience, she and her husband Roger agreed not only to set up a screening, but to have us stay at their house with their family! We are continually amazed and honoured by the people who open their homes to us along this trip.

We got there early enough to spend our morning doing a CBC interview, visiting John A Macdonald's house, discovering a fabulous bakery, touring Queen's University, and taking a  quick dip off the dock before having what turned out to be our largest screening since Vancouver! The feedback was fantstic, and many educators got really excited about showing our fillm in classrooms.

In Perth (why is every town in Ontario so darn quaint and lovely?), our screening was hosted by Canada World Youth who were spending 6 months volunteering: 3 months in Perth and 3 months in South America. We have been fortunate to connect with and learn from so many great youth programs on this trip - I wish I had taken part when I was under 25. Grant and I lent our handprints to a huge CWY banner and hosted a great audience including Grant's aunt Marion.

Onwards to Ottawa where we were 'star spotted' coming in to town on our bicycles by a super nice fellow who gave us some insider tips on where to get the best food in town (thanks Charlie!). We spent a couple days with Grant's cousin Laura, touristed around the markets and parliament buildings, had a lunch and learn with the City, and did an interview with CBC before screening to a packed house at the old firehall community centre. David Chernushenko hosted the screening and showed a clip from his new film, and Sarah from Purple Urchin donated some local soap as door prizes. After the screening we went to a local pub (Ottawa seems to have more pubs per capita than any other city) for a drink and some great conversation.

We are buzzing from so many successful shows in a row and are really happy that people seem to be spreading the word; quite a few people said they came on the recommendation of friends in other cities who had seen us! And that is the best feedback we could hope for!