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Celebrating all things Hamilton / Welcome Message
Arts + Culture

Hamilton stars at the Hamilton Film Festival

The 21-year-old film event features 100 shorts, documentaries and features, from established and new filmmakers, shown over 10 days. Here we talk with festival director Nathan Fleet and Hamilton filmmakers Rita Chiarelli, Liv Ellis, Maddy Foley, and Jeff Robinson. The Hamilton Film Festival works every year to…
City Life

State of the City: Hamilton needs 50 ideas to turn around the downtown

Business leaders, urban planners, and police officials call for well-executed small wins, stronger partnerships with other levels of government, and coordinated community action to restore confidence in the city’s core. Hamilton’s downtown revival will depend as much on fixing everyday problems as it does on major infrastructure…
Arts + Culture

Learning to Breathe: Clara Hughes discovers life beyond the finish line

After a lifetime of pushing her body to extraordinary limits, the six-time Olympic medallist found herself facing an unfamiliar opponent: stillness. In her new memoir, the cyclist and speed skater explores a devastating injury, menopausal upheaval, and buried trauma that forced her to rethink everything she thought she…
Arts + Culture

Staats shines at folk awards in Hamilton

The Ontario Folk Music Awards kicked off the five-day Folk Canada conference taking place in downtown Hamilton. Six Nations of the Grand River singer-songwriter Logan Staats won big, along with Tanika Charles and Aysanabee at the awards show hosted by Terra Lightfoot. Six Nations of the Grand River…
City Life

CANDIDATE SURVEY: HAMILTON MUNICIPAL ELECTION 2026

The Hamilton Arts Council, Hamilton Phil, and HAMILTON CITY Magazine have teamed up to produce a four-question survey of mayoral and ward candidates vying for seats at City council in the Oct. 26 municipal election. Read on to for the candidates' thoughts about arts and culture in Hamilton.
Food + Drink

Your ultimate Hamilton fun & food guide

Are you looking to play with your food? From bowling, escape rooms, and axe throwing to open mics, batting cages, karaoke bars, and board game cafés, you'll never have to choose between a great meal and a great time. We’ve all been there. You and your besties are…
Arts + Culture

A winding musical road

James Bryan has had a long and varied career as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, mentor, and concert producer who has worked with huge names in music in a variety of genres, and fronted two successful Canadian bands. His animated pop duo Prozzak will play FirstOntario Concert…
Arts + Culture

PREVIEW: Crown Point Players presenting unique companion plays

Lone Star and Laundry and Bourbon features two one-act plays set in 1970s Texas, one with an all-female cast and the other with an all male cast. It will run at Crown & Press from Oct. 16 to 24. New theatre company Crown Point Players is presenting…
Food + Drink

Buzz worthy: 5 restaurants in Hamilton, Burlington generating social media love

When you can’t make a decision about what restaurant to go to or order from, you simply can’t go wrong with any of these choices. These are eateries that consistently generate glowing reviews from patrons. Visit while they’re hot! Cowabunga 4.5-star average on Google Reviews Cowabunga…
Food + Drink

Jerk, done right

We are spoiled for local restaurants bringing big, bold Caribbean flavour to the table – just in time for the arrival of cooler weather. There is something heart-warming about the bold delicious flavours of a jerk chicken dish – some spice, some sweetness, and a…

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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.


City Life

Canada is facing a new economic era

Our country is at a turning point, and Hamilton could be a big winner – if we believe and prepare. Not even the most jaded observer could have predicted just how quickly the political situation would deteriorate in the United States after the election of Donald Trump to…
Food + Drink

East-end staple Rankin’s Bar & Grill has served its last pint

Hamilton landmark served patrons for 45 years, surviving as a three-generation family business that, over 87 years, evolved from a china shop to a snack bar to a classic neighbourhood restaurant. The TV classic Cheers has been in the news recently following the death of George Wendt, who…
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 Bim’s Kusina (184 King St. E., Hamilton)What began as a small birria taco business with a food truck, then a physical location in Burlington last summer, has quickly expanded to a…
City Life

PRIDE: A royal legacy for Rainbow Kings and Queens

More than 350 LGBTQ+ asylum-seekers from eight African countries have settled in Hamilton for a life of safety, acceptance and peace and are building of their own community. Herbert Ddiba can’t quite recall how he came up with the name Rainbow Kings and Queens. He knew he…
Arts + Culture

PRIDE: Trans artist Ardyn Gibbs is living in the light

Their work explores the pleasures, resilience and secrets of the queer experience through holograms, lenticular prints, digital renderings, and the reflective distortions of chrome. I can’t help but think of holograms as the neon-retro dreams of a future that never came, which made my first encounter with Ardyn…
Arts + Culture

Piindigen: Amplifying once-excluded theatre voices

For two years, Theatre Aquarius’s Indigenous Piindigen program has actively sought out traditionally unheard storytellers to teach and showcase their work. The culmination of this year's program is being presented Saturday as part of the Brave New Works Festival. The Brave New Works Festival, Theatre Aquarius’ annual…
Arts + Culture

City reflected in Hamilton Arts Week

Hamilton Arts Council’s annual cultural celebration returns for 2025 with 12 signature events from June 3-12 that showcase the diversity, creativity, and stories of our city. Hamilton is an arts town and that is never more true than during Hamilton Arts Week, taking place across the city…
Arts + Culture

Festitalia: ‘We will cover Hamilton with Italy’

City’s Italian celebration is marking its 50-year anniversary this year with a cultural expo and a street festival in June and its traditional events in September. For 50 years in September, Festitalia has brought Italy to Hamilton with dinners, dances, art shows, and grape stomps. This year,…