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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.


Arts + Culture

Andrea Bocelli announces sole Canadian appearance in Hamilton

Renowned Italian tenor will perform at transformed Hamilton Arena on Dec. 9. Ticket sales begin April 1. World-renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli will make his first appearance in Hamilton when he is among the very first to perform at the newly reopened Hamilton Arena on Dec.
Arts + Culture

AGH exhibit celebrates the mystery of the lost painting

Ongoing exhibit running until May 25 features more than 60 works by Helen McNicoll, an important Canadian Impressionist who was recognized by contemporaries during her short career. The Art Gallery of Hamilton played a key role in determining the authenticity of a long-lost…
Arts + Culture

Review: Deep, authentic performances carry Tuesdays With Morrie

The Players’ Guild of Hamilton stages popular production that delivers ‘cathartic spirit and a sweet hopefulness.’ Tuesdays with Morrie, on stage now at The Players’ Guild of Hamilton, had been on the radar for co-producers and directors Sandi Katz and Dan Penrose for quite some time. With the…
City Life

Community event delivers free cuts and styles to 257 kids and youth

Excel in Style saw 66 textured hair professionals donate their Saturday to boost confidence and self-expression for Black and racialized young people. Lohifa Pogoson Acker gets teary when she recaps a recent event to deliver haircuts and styling to more than 250 Black and racialized kids and…
Arts + Culture

Tom Wilson donates two paintings to Theatre Aquarius

Hamilton musician, artist, author and playwright made the offer of the gift after the world premiere of his musical Beautiful Scars. Two paintings by Hamilton musician, author, playwright and artist Tom Wilson now hang at either end of the lobby at Theatre Aquarius. A who’s who of…
Arts + Culture

JUNOS coming to Hamilton’s downtown arena in 2026

Newly transformed and modernized venue will host awards week for the seventh time next March. The first big news for Hamilton’s transforming arena is that the venue will host the 2026 JUNO Awards. The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) made the announcement Thursday. Next year…
Arts + Culture

Dundas Valley music teacher up for national award

Emily Dominey will travel to the JUNOs at the end of the month where the winner of MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award will be announced. UPDATE: Jeannie Hunter, a teacher at Nepean High School in Ottawa, received the 2025 MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award during the…
City Life

Hamilton’s arena transformation on time and on budget, says developer

Concert and hockey venue at Bay Street and York Boulevard will see vast unused space turned into clubs, lounges, restaurants and concessions. Check out the gallery below! From the outside, it may look like little is happening within the walls of Hamilton’s downtown arena.  But that’s…