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Food + Drink

Hamilton-made cotton candy hot sauce is the official hot sauce of the CNE

CNE Sweet Heat, by Tijuana Tom's House of Hot Sauce, will be featured on a concoction by Jerk Dogs, another Hamilton brand, which is serving its chicken hot dogs on a waffle bun, topped with cotton candy and big drizzle of hot sauce. The CNE opens today and…
City Life

Kenadie, how do I talk to pretty girls?

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…
Arts + Culture

HAMILTON READS

From pantless guinea pigs and spicy romantic fantasy, and from a tragically needless death in Ancaster to wartime memories hashed out in a Hamilton bar, these are local reads to heat up your summer! Summer is the perfect time to conquer your to-be-read pile, whether you’re soaking in…
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…
Made in Hamilton

Saving the strays at Ladybird Animal Sanctuary

After rescuing nearly 1,900 animals over 16 years, Hamilton-based Ladybird Animal Sanctuary is close to creating a farm that will be a refuge for animals in desperate need. It all started with three friends working together for one unforgettable cat. Sweet Oliver the cat was the first…
Made in Hamilton

Made in Hamilton: The Mabel’s Labels Story

A frustrating parenting problem, a vision to solve it, and some tenacity helped a quartet of moms create an enduring brand. Read on for co-founder Julie Cole's six business lessons learned. Over 23 years ago, my sister and two friends, all of us former students…
City Life

Wesley: Never standing still

The made-in-Hamilton non-profit began its work in a church basement 71 years ago. Focused on poverty, homelessness, and the complex social challenges at the root of those issues, Wesley’s more than 300 staff lead critical social programs in 17 locations in Hamilton and beyond. Ryan S. was…
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…

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

PREVIEW: Hamilton Fringe Festival 2026

Iconic indie theatre performance festival celebrates 22 years of keeping Hamilton weird. ‘There’s room for everybody at this table,’ says festival director Chris Stanton. Festival director Chris Stanton can’t help but smile as he describes the enduring legacy and appeal of the Hamilton Fringe, the iconic independent theatre…
City Life

PRIDE Q&A: Sarah Barnhart, primary dreamer at FruitSalad

The events series for ‘lesbians, 2SLGBTQIA+ women, femmes, gender non-conforming folks, and their friends’ turns five in August. Sarah Barnhart (she/they) describes herself as the primary dreamer of FruitSalad. Originally from Burlington, Barnhart created the Hamilton-based FruitSalad after a visit to Montreal in 2021. FruitSalad is a…
Arts + Culture

Supercrawl reveals stellar 2026 lineup

Headliners Aysanabee, Protest the Hero, Mariel Buckley, The Grapes of Wrath, Murda Beatz, and William Prince join local performers Superstar Crush, Emma Whale, Golden Feather, Chore, Capitol, and Steve Strongman. For one weekend every September, James Street North in Hamilton transforms into the epicentre of Canadian music. Since…
Arts + Culture

Book lovers can find the romance in Hamilton

Steel Town Love, a one-day festival dedicated to romance books, is coming to the Central Library on July 11. Hamilton will be right up there with the romance capitals of the world, when the Hamilton Public Library central branch hosts the second annual romance book festival Steel…
Arts + Culture

PREVIEW: Harold Pinter’s Old Times burrows into ‘dark, unspoken places’

Production brings together four old friends, including local theatre giant Gary Smith as director, for the British playwright’s intriguing and haunting tale about memory, power and desire. Long-time area actor and director Dia Gupta Frid formed her production company, Frid Pro Quo at the end of 2025 and…
City Life

Kenadie St. James: Bad Advice from a Good Drag Queen

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 CITY Magazine column: Bad Advice From A Good Drag Queen. Think Dear Abby … if Abby was wearing six-inch heels, three…
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…
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…