This 613 Day, Ottawa turns the page on 200 years — so let’s pack the patios.
On June 8, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe declared June 13 — 6/13, our area code — officially Ottawa Day, or 613 Day. It lands squarely in a milestone year: Ottawa’s 200th, a citywide celebration under the theme Celebrate Together.
For Ottawa’s BIAs and the merchants who power them, the timing couldn’t be better. The City has waived patio fees for the entire summer, clearing the way for restaurants to spill onto the sidewalks and for neighbourhoods to come alive. Patios are open, the weather’s turning, and there’s every reason to gather.
So here’s the rallying cry: Pack the patios.
613 Day is a chance to do what BIAs do best — bring people to the mainstreet. Every neighbourhood has its own flavour, its own merchants, its own reasons to celebrate. On June 13, we want Ottawa out in full force: eating on the patios, shopping local, and rediscovering the corners of the city that make it ours.
OCOBIA is making it easy for every BIA to take part. We’ve pulled together a free toolkit — ready-to-use graphics, caption suggestions, and this article — lightly OCOBIA-branded with plenty of room for yours. Grab it, customize it, post it.
A few ways to get involved:
- Promote your patios. Spotlight your restaurants and invite people to fill a table on June 13.
- Activate your mainstreet. Sidewalk sales, live music, whatever fits your neighbourhood.
- Tag and amplify. Use #613Day, #OttawaDay, and #Ottawa200 alongside your own BIA hashtag so we can find and reshare each other.
Two hundred years is worth celebrating — and the best way is together, on the mainstreets and patios that make Ottawa, Ottawa.
See you out there on June 13.