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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

New season at Aquarius features Frozen and plenty of Canada

Disney musical, Agatha Christie mystery, comedy set in Hamilton, Gen X mashup, and play based on music of The Tragically Hip make up the 2025-2026 lineup. Theatre Aquarius’s next season seems tailor made for the buy Canadian sentiment that is surging right now in the face of U.S.
Arts + Culture

REVIEW: ‘Family entertainment that will make almost anyone chuckle’

Hamilton Theatre Inc.'s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee features great performances and plenty of fun. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, presented by Hamilton Theatre Inc., has been enjoying a robust mid-winter run spurred on by enthusiastic (and interactive!) audiences. It has three remaining performances…
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 February. Launched 7 Wonders Diner (96 George St., Hamilton)Housed in the pastel-hued building that was recently home to Electric Diner’s first location in Hess Village, 7 Wonders Diner offers a substantial brunch menu.
Arts + Culture

GALLERY: Time Isn’t Real exhibition

Art Gallery of Burlington show, running until April 27, reminds us that there are many ways to consider time. “Time Isn’t Real” invites visitors to reflect on the fluidity of time and its relationship to one of the oldest and most enduring art forms—ceramics. The exhibition takes…
City Life

Maple syrup is a tasty rite of spring

Tapping trees, collecting sap and boiling it down for a delicious syrup is a time-consuming but satisfying endeavour. But you don’t have to do all that to enjoy maple syrup season locally. It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Not Christmas, although that’s pretty great. And it’s…
Arts + Culture

REVIEW: Casey and Diana is powerful, gripping, funny and hopeful

This play, set at the height of fear and death caused by the AIDS pandemic, will stick with you long after you leave the theatre. How do you manage to live when you are dying? How do you navigate relationships and find compassion in an era of…
Arts + Culture

Theatre Aquarius will debut new musical based on music of The Hip

It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken is being produced by theatre superstars David and Hannah Mirvish and Michael Rubinoff and will hit the Hamilton stage in 2026.   It seems like the perfect time to be talking about a musical based on the music of Canada’s…
Arts + Culture

gritLIT opens a new chapter

Launch party at Theatre Aquarius marks an exciting new page for Hamilton's literary festival. It was a chilly evening, but the vibe was warm Tuesday as gritLIT, Hamilton’s premiere literary festival, celebrated the launch of its April 2025 event in the lobby of Theatre Aquarius. Hosted by Lishai…