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Celebrating all things Hamilton / Welcome Message
City Life

PRIDE: Kenadie, how do you shake off judgment?

Welcome to the first monthly column from Hamilton drag queen Kenadie St. James! Read on for the best bad advice you’ve ever had! Hamilton, your problems are officially about to get WORSE. 💋 Local drag legend Kenadie St. James is serving up catastrophically bad life advice in her…
Arts + Culture

Festival season: Summer on parade

Here is your hot 2026 summer festivals guide for Hamilton and Burlington. You’ll find everything from inaugural events to two local traditions that are turning 50 years old this year! Our summers may be short but fortunately for us, the list of local festivals is long. Spend warm-weather…
Arts + Culture

THE PLAYLIST

Born Ruffians – Beauty’s Pride For a band that once felt like it might combust from sheer nervous energy and mileage logged, Born Ruffians have aged in a surprisingly graceful, and still charmingly unpredictable way. Beauty’s Pride finds the long-running Toronto/Hamilton group loosening their grip on that early, jittery urgency…
Made in Hamilton

OPINION: Election 2026 is the time to build

The last municipal election saw just over 35 per cent of eligible Hamiltonians vote. We must do better this time because this city needs to deliver on its potential.  October 2026 will define Hamilton’s next chapter. We are entering a municipal election that will shape how our…
City Life

7 2SLGBTQIA+ leaders you should know

In honour of Pride in June, we asked inspiring local advocates and community leaders about their work, why marking Pride matters, what needs to change at the local level, and their greatest wish for the communities they serve. These are just seven Hamiltonians who champion 2SLGBTIA+ people locally.
Arts + Culture

Silverstein never stands still

Twenty-six years,13 albums, and a million records sold later, and the Burlington-born hardcore/punk band continues to defy the odds. Silverstein began making music during a fertile period in heavy guitar rock. The turn of the millennium saw guitar rock genres splinter into even more subgenres as bands borrowed…
Arts + Culture

PRIDE: Queer and crafting in Hamilton

QUARTZ: Queer Art Hang at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and Queer Craft Club at Hamilton Craft Studios offers an oulet for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community to gather and create. If you are queer and into crafting, you have two options to let your creative flag fly and…
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 May. Launched & opening soon Chubby Tiger (2016 Victoria Ave., Burlington) Early reviewers have described the cuisine at Chubby Tiger as reminiscent of food court Canadian Chinese fare, with…
Arts + Culture

Cadence Weapon wants you to stop scrolling and start listening

Rollie Pemberton, aka Cadence Weapon, is done with treating music as background filler. In his new book Ways of Listening, the Hamilton rapper explores the transition from record bins to algorithms and reimagines how we can reclaim a deep connection with music in the age of streaming. When…
Arts + Culture

For Spoons, ‘Old Emotions’ are new again

Burlington band that had a string of hits in the 1980s, is releasing a new album and taking on a new musical sound. By Jenna Yeomans and Stephen Metelsky  Nov. 1, 2025. The bottom of the 11th inning of the World Series at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. The Jays…
Arts + Culture

incite: Delivering on a mission

Since the incite Foundation for the Arts was formed in 2011, it has donated $11 million to local arts organizations. On its 15th anniversary, the incite Foundation for the Arts is reaffirming its mission to revolutionize support for the arts in the greater Hamilton community.  incite strives to…
Food + Drink

Delicious and Indigenous

There are a growing number of notable food options in Six Nations, along with a beloved Indigenous-owned diner in Hamilton. Six Nations & Beyond  Just south of the city, not far from the edges of Hamilton, is the community of Six Nations. With a whole variety of…
Arts + Culture

Hamilton’s music scene: What is and what could be

Music writer Dylan Hudecki asked Hamilton’s music insiders for their opinions about how to keep the local music scene thriving and reinventing itself. Think of it as a suggestion box to turn up the volume on Hamilton. Hamilton’s music scene continues to thrive as one of Canada’s most…
Food + Drink

DINING DISTRICTS: A Locke on food

This interesting west Hamilton street is ever-evolving, with newcomers joining long-time eateries to make for a true foodie destination. On the whole, my visits to Locke Street have all been linked to food. It must be said that I can think of over a dozen eateries that closed…
City Life

CITY VIEW: A Hamilton storyteller

Annette Hamm is about to retire after being part of the CHCH News team since 1986. We talked to her about her career and what Hamilton means to her. ANNETTE HAMM is retiring next month after a 40-year career at CHCH. She's spent the last 21 of those…

you are HAMILTON

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

Sharp Words: Read all about it

Hamilton’s winter book fair returns for its third season to Bridgeworks on Feb. 15, featuring local publishers, writers, bookstores and creators. Book publishing is a marketplace dominated by multinational corporations, most of them based in the United States. A quick visit to the nearest Chapters or Indigo (or…
Arts + Culture

REVIEW: Dundas Little Theatre stages fresh take on Shakespeare

Eighties-inspired Much Ado About Nothing shifts comedy to a corporate setting, led by a talented and diverse cast and imaginative set and costumes. For another two weekends, Dundas Little Theatre is presenting one of William Shakespeare’s comedies, Much Ado About Nothing, in a truly inclusive production with a…
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 January. Launched  Afro Fusion Resto (337 James St. N., Hamilton)Dine in or take out from the newly opened Afro Fusion Resto, which showcases rich natural flavours of West Africa.
Arts + Culture

Hamilton-produced music featured in Indigenous land fight documentary

YINTAH, now on Netflix throughout Turtle Island (US and Canada), the UK and Ireland, chronicles a decade-long battle by the Wet’suwet’en people over 22,000 square kilometres in northern British Columbia. The documentary YINTAH, added to Netflix in the fall, follows the Wet’suwet’en people’s ongoing fight for their rights…
Food + Drink

Savour a Taste of Burlington

Thirty-eight restaurants are offering special prix-fixe menus for the next two weeks. Taste of Burlington, the city’s premier culinary event, is officially underway. From now until Feb. 9, 38 restaurants will offer specially curated prix-fixe menus for the program, showcasing the flavours and dishes that are contributing to…
Arts + Culture

REVIEW: The Catering Queen provides a reprieve from what ails us

The Players’ Guild of Hamilton delivers with a play that provides laughs, a villain to hate and a dive into the stories beyond the aprons serving at a fancy law firm Christmas party. If January has felt like an interminable month of Mondays, and psychic weariness has set…
City Life

Art, sex, and artificial intelligence

AI is a powerful tool shaping intimacy and creativity in Hamilton but we must ensure we are careful about the intentions behind its use. Editor's note: This is the first of regular contributions from Maria Orrego, a Hamilton-based registered psychotherapist & sex therapist. Hamilton is a city…
Arts + Culture

David Robertson says sharing mental health struggles was first step to healing

Hamilton gritLIT event is among first stops for the author after release of All the Little Monsters: How I Learned to Live with Anxiety. Prolific author David Robertson says he was skilled at hiding his bouts of depression and his battles with anxiety. He had a breakdown…