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Ottawa Bluesfest 2026 gets underway Thursday with the first of nine nights of music at LeBreton Flats around the Canadian War Museum.
Headliners include Cody Johnson on opening night, Limp Bizkit Friday July 10, Conan Gray to start Week 2 on Wednesday, July 15, and a weekend finale of Gwen Stefani and The Guess Who.
New this year is a free afternoon of music and family activities on Sunday, July 19, as part of Ottawa’s 200th anniversary celebrations.
Here’s some of what to expect getting to, into and around the festival.
Festival hours
Gates generally open around 5 p.m. The music starts around 6 p.m. and ends around 11 p.m.
There are two opening exceptions: On Friday, July 17, the festival moved some acts around to get Quebec prog rock sensations Angine de Poitrine on the main stage, meaning gates open at 4:30 p.m. ahead of a 5 p.m. start.
On July 19, the aforementioned free afternoon is from noon to 4 p.m. before paid programming begins.
Bluesfest takes a break July 13 and 14.
Transit options
Concertgoers are encouraged to use public transit to get to the festival, both to avoid traffic jams and because of a lack of parking at the site.
OC Transpo and Para Transpo fares are included in festival passes, meaning free transit starting three hours before showtime and ending about two hours afterward.
Concertgoers can either show their pass to transit staff or use the video chat at stations where there’s nobody to open a gate.
Line 1’s Pimisi station is about 350 metres from the festival gate, while Line 2’s Bayview station is about 1.4 kilometres west of it.
The Para Transpo drop-off is off Booth Street next to the museum and near the accessibility entrance.
People listen to music coming from the 2025 Ottawa Bluesfest on the walk from Bayview station. (Andrew Foote/CBC)
The city says there will be more Line 1 trains on festival evenings, and service on lines 1 and 2 will be extended until midnight on Sundays.
Five westbound bus routes will be outside Pimisi after the festival: the 57, 61, 63, 74 and 75.
Routes 8 and 13 will be detouring around road closures.
Road closures
The Kichi Zībī Mīkan, which runs east-west beside the museum, is affected by the festival between Parkdale Avenue and the Portage Bridge until Tuesday, July 21.
That includes full closures both weekends between Thursday evening and Monday morning.
North-south Booth Street closes next to the museum after 4:30 p.m. on festival nights.
Other ways to travel
There is no public parking at the museum.
The taxi stand, like previous years, is near the firefighter and Holocaust memorials on Wellington Street, just east of the festival site.
There is again free, supervised bike parking (with an optional donation) across Booth Street from the festival from 3:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m.
The 2026 Ottawa Bluesfest setup is similar to recent years, with the main stage facing east across the war museum’s front lawn. (Ottawa Bluesfest)
For those who choose to drive, Bluesfest has started selling tickets to a shuttle from a parking lot on rue Eddy in Hull.
Key policies
Among the key festival rules to remember is a ban on re-entry — there is no leaving and coming back in.
Do bring identification if you plan on drinking alcohol because it’s festival policy to ID everyone. Don’t bring cash to spend because Bluesfest is a cashless event.
Bluesfest has a maximum bag size (with some exemptions) and an area to leave banned items brought in error.
People watch the main stage of Ottawa Bluesfest the evening of July 12, 2025. (CBC)
Items allowed in include small meals, reusable water bottles and strollers, while banned items include glass containers for food or drink, glow sticks, drones, inflatables and beach balls, pets, and flags on poles.
Unlike other festivals, Bluesfest has no fenced-off beer garden-style area to enjoy a drink. Alcohol can generally be carried across the grounds.
Rain itself won’t cancel performances, but thunderstorms or other severe weather could send people inside the museum for shelter.
