Sparks Street, Ottawa

I visited Ottawa recently, having lived there for many years up until the late 80s. Sparks Street at one time was a pretty vibrant street with lots of people and lots of major shops. The best thing the city could do is cover it in a glass enclosure, like Fremont Street in Las Vegas, and make it a place people want to come to. But this would be visionary, and Ottawa these days appears to lack any kind of forward thinking direction.

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Sparks Street is sort of Ottawa's equivalent of Toronto's Hazelton Lanes, except that it also has a few discount stores thrown in for good measure. Sparks Street is the only area near Parliament Hill where you will find a large number of restaurants, souvenir shops and clothing stores. It also contains Parliament Hill's Library and the offices of the Canadian Broadcasting Corportation (CBC). Sparks Street is a lovely pedestrian arcade during the spring and summer, but is a bit desolate during the winter when the potted plants can't survive out of doors. At the end of the shopping arcade, at the corner of Kent and Sparks, there is a high-end shopping mall of a kind in which you can find a Holt Renfew and an LCBO.

Start at Elgin street and wander down Sparks Street. It's closed off to traffic and has been turned into a cozy little outdoor "mall". There are plenty of pubs and eateries along the way making this a popular hang out spot.

Sparks Street 'the largest outdoor shopping mall' is not open much in the harsh Ottawa winter. Really, it seems like it would have been better placed in a different country capital (where they have reliable weather). Really just like any other mall, with more than its share of souvenier stores.

Sparks Street is a pedestrian-only street located in the heart of downtown Ottawa, literally one block away from the Parliament Building. The street spans east-west and is home to a great assortment of restaurants, pubs, clothing stores, music shops, souvenir shops, and offices.

I spent a few afternoons strolling Sparks Street. I found that the restaurants and pubs would fence off a section of the street and would open up their patio there. These central-sidewalk pubs would be popular to the local office workers, likely federal employees, who were there to enjoy a lunchtime beer.

During the weekdays in May, Sparks street was kind of quiet, although it became more lively on sunny days and weekends.

I was in Ottawa during their annual tulip festival, and on some days they had sectioned off a part of Sparks Street for a petting zoo and a pony ride! And apparently during Canada Day, Sparks Street is blocked off for a street-wide party that lasts all night!

In any case, if you're wanting to visit a unique downtown street where you can grab a beer and do a bit of shopping, Sparks Street's the place.