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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.
Arts + Culture

Review: Icemen is the best of local theatre

Theatre Burlington’s slick and thrilling production of Vern Thiessen’s riveting play is a triumph not to be missed. As edge-of-your-seat theatre goes, it’s hard to top Vern Thiessen’s Icemen. It’s a story of crime and consequences where the line between justice and guilt are blurred the deeper you…
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 September. Launched & opening soon Bagel N’ Brew Crew (318 James St. N., Hamilton) This Sault Ste. Marie bagel bakery opened a location on James North in time for…
Food + Drink

Sam and the great Grandad’s donut challenge

Sam Allen is devoted to the chocolate dip from the popular North End shop that serves up classic donuts. Will he find something he loves as much? He and his dad spent their summer sampling sweet fried treats in Hamilton and Burlington. Read on to find out the…
Food + Drink

Grown by Scout: A Garden of his own

Miles McVey's tomato business may be a tiny, he is finding big success with Hamilton’s top restaurants. Tending his plants is also helping him process grief over the loss of his mother. There may be no more rewarding and heartbreaking endeavour for the average home gardener than growing…
Arts + Culture

REVIEW: Mass Appeal tackles religious themes in palatable ways

The Players’ Guild production is gorgeously staged and well-acted, and raises some laughs while pondering some of the thorny complexities of human nature, power, popularity, and truth. The title of The Players’ Guild’s current production, Mass Appeal, is a play on words and a window into its plot.
Arts + Culture

New work by Hamilton playwright celebrates women who fought for landmark rights

Kristen Da Silva’s Sisters of ’78, which kicks off the 2026-2027 season at Theatre Aquarius, documents a little-known five-month strike by auto parts workers who worked in a plant known as the “butcher shop” in Centralia, Ont. Despite a massive police crackdown and political pressure, these women persevered…
City Life

Hamilton twin sisters win The Amazing Race Canada

Liz Liao, a family doctor and obstetrician who lives in Waterdown, and Tina Liao, a corporate lawyer living in Oakville, applied for the hit show 11 times before being cast. Tina and Liz Liao, 32-year-old twins born and raised in Hamilton, dominated this year’s edition of The Amazing…
Food + Drink

Westdale: Village fare

The compact and charming Westdale Village Dining District offers more than 30 food establishments offering everything from classic Italian to sushi to Persian fare catering to McMaster students, hospital staff, theatre-goers, and neighbourhood residents. In the last century, there was a chapter in my life when I rode…
Food + Drink

Jamie Waldron: Born for butchering

Many years ago, Jamie Waldron tried hard not to be a butcher. But something kept drawing him back. Now, he’s authored a book, hosted workshops, built a reputation as a leader in the nose-to-tail movement, and opened a Barton Street butcher shop that rejects industrialized meat production in…
Arts + Culture

HAMILTON READS

Depression Cooking by Sonali Menezes is part comic, recipe book, and memoir and is a ‘warm, generous, and illustrated guide to nurturing yourself when life – and the world – is too much.’ Depression Cooking: Feeding Yourself When It All Feels Too HardBy Sonali Menezes In…
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. Brandon Agnew – Night Shadows Volume 1 Brandon Agnew is a roots…
City Life

Kenadie, how do I get up the nerve to get on stage?

Welcome to the 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 new HAMILTON…

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

Opera Untamed: ‘Puccini to Dolly Parton’

Felicia Valenti wanted a platform to perform as a soprano, but something that wouldn’t intimidate audiences. She’s created Opera Untamed, a cross-genre music series. Singer, actor, and independent arts promoter Felicia Valenti believes opera shouldn’t require gowns or tuxes and that music is better when it doesn’t…
Arts + Culture

Hamilton venues: Music on the move

The ever-changing landscape of Hamilton’s music clubs has seen mainstays replaced with an eclectic mix of smaller venues, and shows staged in some interesting spaces.  Hamilton’s music club venues are in a constant state of flux. Just as the city’s thriving restaurant scene features a regular and…
Arts + Culture

REVIEW: Theatre Ancaster’s A Chorus Line kicks up its heels

The entertaining and enduring Broadway classic is the first production on Theatre Ancaster’s 30th anniversary playbill for 2026-2027. Entering its final weekend of shows, Theatre Ancaster’s mainstage production of A Chorus Line provides a great opportunity to see a Broadway classic and be very well entertained by a…
Arts + Culture

It’s 10 years of the Bard under the stars for Tottering Biped Theatre

Hamilton’s Tottering Biped Theatre celebrates a decade of staging summer Shakespeare with its most ambitious season yet – three 2026 productions and many returning artists. Ten years is a milestone few indie theatre companies can boast. Amid economic challenges, competing entertainments, and changing audiences, making theatre as an…
Arts + Culture

Local production of Pippin is ‘pure theatre magic’

Curtain Call Performaing Arts Company presents the classic, timeless musical as part of its Passion Project series at Gasworks until Aug. 21. Magical. Unpredictable. Extraordinary. Illusion. Discovery. Authentic. The members of Curtain Call Performing Arts Company have different words by which to describe their upcoming production…
Made in Hamilton

OPINION: Made in Hamilton has always meant something more

It’s not simply about location, but about the work ethic, resilience, creativity, and pride that have shaped this community for generations, and matters even more as Hamilton transforms. Made in Hamilton: It has never simply been about where a product was manufactured, where a business was founded, or…
City Life

Decolonizing, one book at a time

Decolonial Little Library started in Kirkendall and will be expanded across the city starting later this year. Late in the summer of 2023, my partner Ryan and I were in the midst of our walking craze that took hold during my pregnancy and had us in a postpartum…
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. Cut Flowers – Just Came Home to Come Home Cut Flowers arrive…