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Celebrating all things Hamilton / Welcome Message
Arts + Culture

Readers and writers: Your guide to gritLIT 2026

The literary festival offers five days of readings, panels, workshops, and social events that celebrate writers of all kinds and the readers who read them. For 22 years, the Hamilton-born gritLIT has celebrated established writers, helped new ones develop, and given readers a front-row seat to well over…
Arts + Culture

World premiere shines a light on Canada, The Hip, and what home really means

It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken, opening April 22 at Theatre Aquarius, is about connection, love, and saying something that needs to be said. That spirit, and the spirit of Gord Downie, are in the rehearsal room as this show comes to life, say its stars.
Arts + Culture

REVIEW: Calendar Girls is balm for weary souls

Story of group of English women posing nude to raise money for their church is a nuanced exploration of aging, expectation, disappointment, and refusing to accept limitations. Binbrook Little Theatre’s production features brave performances and a solid focus on the story. Uplifting stories seem hard to find these…
Arts + Culture

New music venues: This booker is back

Brodie Schwendiman, operator of the late and beloved Casbah, is back booking music in a new downtown venue called Ridiculous, and other live-music locations in the region. 2025 was a rollercoaster ride of a year for Brodie Schwendiman. The music club operator and booker has played a crucial…
Food + Drink

Chef Matty Matheson: By the books

The celebrity chef has now made his mark in Hamilton, with elevated pub Iron Cow Public House at TD Coliseum. So what can we glean about him from the recipes and stories in his three cookbooks?  For months, his name was on the lips of Hamilton food…
Arts + Culture

THE PLAYLIST

Dylan Hudecki is a Canadian indie-rock vet having played in many different bands, including By Divine Right, Cowlick, Slow Beach and The Dill. He’s a proud Hamiltonian who covers local album releases for HAMILTON CITY Magazine. TV FREAKS  – Blue Genie (garage, punk rock) Devotion, distortion, and the…
Food + Drink

Getting out: Music & menus

If live tunes help your food taste better, here’s a list of places where the grub is as good as the setlist! With this issue being HAMILTON CITY Magazine’s music issue, it seemed fitting to round-up a bundle of local restaurants where you can see and enjoy some…
City Life

Hounds of Hamilton

We need a big dose of dogs these days so HAMILTON CITY Magazine's new feature celebrates the city's canines. Send in your dogs (and cats)! Escape the relentless news cycle, doom scrolling and polarizing politics, and find joy and laughter in pets. Hounds of Hamilton…

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HAMILTON CITY Magazine’s mission is to tell the stories that celebrate the city’s past, present and future by featuring stunning photography, illustrations and world-class writing. It’s your city. It’s your magazine.


Made in Hamilton

GIFT GUIDE: Pampering the Hamilton homebody

Here are a few cozy, city-living ideas to help your favourite stay-at-home fans relax and indulge themselves. There’s a special breed of person who’s perfected the art of staying home — and we’re not talking about lazy Sundays in old sweats (though those have their place). These…
Made in Hamilton

GIFT GUIDE: Can’t someone else do it?

Tis the season… to feel totally overwhelmed by your gift list! The holidays can be stressful when you’ve got a gift list as long as your arm that includes your clients, employees, teachers, the babysitter, your hairstylist, massage therapist, and mail carrier. Wouldn’t it be great to…
Arts + Culture

REVIEW: Classic play seems more relevant and powerful today

Dundas Little Theatre’s strong production of Death of a Salesman shows its themes of unfettered capitalism, the damaging effects of the pursuit of the American Dream, and the danger of the unchecked male ego resonate even more today than when the play debuted 76 years ago. Death of…
Arts + Culture

Thrills and chills: Joe Hill and Linwood Barclay coming to Hamilton

Two bestselling authors make gritLIT appearance as part of Tour De Fear mini-tour. See them Nov. 10, 7 p.m. at the Playhouse Cinema. Prolific horror author Joe Hill wants his readers to lose sleep over his work. “I want to make it hard for you to go to…
City Life

Haunted Halloween in Hamilton

Hamilton Prop House was back to haunt Barton Street for its second Halloween party featuring film sets and scenery inspired by Silent Hill 2. Check out the photos below. Photos by Janice Thiessen/@automaticjane…
Arts + Culture

Using art to escape cancer, even for a few hours

A collaboration between the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the Cancer Assistance Program brings patients and families together to talk about art, forge social connections, and leave their diagnosis behind. Accessible, experiential, and enjoyable – that’s how the Art Gallery of Hamilton describes the innovative…
Food + Drink

ON THE MENU: WHAT’S OPENED AND CLOSED ON THE LOCAL RESTAURANT SCENE

Here's a list of what has come, gone and changed in Hamilton and Burlington in October. Launched Kufiya Restaurant (3241 Appleby Line, Burlington) Authentic Palestinian restaurant offering grilled shawarma, tender kebabs, and a wide variety of BBQ specialties made with traditional recipes. Leave room…
Arts + Culture

HPO travels to worlds of famous composers

Light Emerges on Nov. 8 features great melodies of Verdi, Elgar, Kilar, and Mendelssohn with guest conductor Nil Venditti. Editor’s note: HAMILTON CITY Magazine is thrilled to embark on a partnership with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra that will feature each show of the concert season.  Take an orchestral…