October 17

Hello Canberra,

📆 Today: It’s Friday, 17 October.

💨 Weather: 27° and windy. A small (20%) chance of a thunderstorm and showers in the afternoon.

Coming Up: 🪇 La Fiesta

Next Saturday (25 October), the city centre will come alive with the music, food and colours of Latin America. Canberra’s Latin American festival La Fiesta is back with an explosion of live Latin American bands, DJs, dancers, street food favourites, art and hands-on workshops—all packed into one unforgettable afternoon and night. Details here.

This Weekend in Canberra

Embassies are opening their doors to the public for Windows to the World, historic St John’s is hosting its spring fair, there’s a native plant sale at the Botanic Gardens, and much more is happening this weekend in Canberra.

Get the full rundown of weekend events.

👏 Spirit of Canberra Award Winners

Congratulations to the Spirit of Canberra Award winners. The awards, run by Lifeline Canberra, celebrate and acknowledge those driving positive change in the community. The winners were announced at a ceremony on Thursday afternoon:

Cafe Stepping Stone was awarded The Spirit of Hope Award, recognising individuals and businesses with a unique vision for Canberra’s future. The social enterprise provides employment and training for migrant and refugee women facing barriers to work.

Capital Chemist received The Spirit of Impact Award, recognising businesses and organisations making a difference. The chemist chain is a long-standing pillar of community health in the ACT and has contributed over $8 million in financial, in-kind and practical support.

Chris Thompson Lang, a former combat engineer in Timor-Leste and troop commander in Afghanistan who was medically discharged after being hospitalised with PTSD, received The Spirit of Resilience Award. He retrained as a trauma-aware teacher and co-founded Frontline Yoga, providing free support to thousands of veterans, first responders and healthcare workers.

Wombat Rescue received the 2025 People’s Choice Award. The dedicated team works tirelessly day and night to rescue injured wombats, rehabilitate orphans and provide long-term care to protect one of the ACT’s most iconic native species.

Comedy: 🤣 Daniel Sloss

Scotland’s international comedy superstar Daniel Sloss is coming to Canberra next April with his brand-new show Bitter. His comedy specials include Jigsaw and DARKon Netflix. Details here.

📰 Tidbits

Windows to the World: Visiting the embassies this weekend? There isn’t any street parking around the embassies, but you can take the Windows to the World shuttle, which stops at several parking locations. Details here.

Road Closures: From 8 pm Friday, 17 October to 6 am Monday, 20 October, Northbourne Avenue will be closed southbound between Cooyong Street and Vernon Circle. Detours will be in place.

And from 7 pm Friday 17 October to 5 am Monday 20 October, Lanyon Drive—between the northbound and southbound carriageways of Monaro Highway—will be closed.

Biggest Floriade Ever: A record total of 519,413 attendees visited Floriade this year—an increase of 10 per cent on the previous high set in 2019. It looks like tourism has finally recovered post-COVID!

Barbecues: With temperatures hitting the mid-20s this weekend, it’s the perfect time to get outside for a BBQ. Did you know there are 125 free-to-use barbecues across the ACT? Any favourite spots I should know about? Details here.

Coming Up: 🎾 Try a New Sport

Canberra Community Tennis Open Day: Canberra’s summer of tennis is launching with a free community tennis day. Kids can take part in free Tennis Hot Shots sessions, along with roaming acts, face painting and glitter tattoos. Adults can join in the fun too—have a go at Cardio Tennis or try out POP Tennis. There’ll also be delicious food options, tunes from a local DJ and free seated massages thanks to CBR Massage. The first 200 kids aged 12 and under through the gates will receive a free tennis racquet! Details here.

Canoe Club Open Day: Burley Griffin Canoe Club is hosting an open day. Come along and experience all the fun activities Canberra’s only canoe and kayak club has to offer. There’ll be several on- and off-water activities to try, with some exciting prizes on offer. Details here.

Dragon Boating Come and Try: Dragon Boat ACT is running a Come & Try Day on 25–26 October. Dragon boating is a fun and accessible sport for people aged 10 and over, at all fitness levels—a perfect way to get fit and meet new people. There are clubs in the ACT that cater to both competitive and social paddlers. Details here.

🏇 Does Canberra Care About the Melbourne Cup?

I’ve noticed a number of Melbourne Cup events coming up around town and wanted to get a sense from readers—does the day still draw much interest in Canberra? Answer the poll or just hit reply and let me know.

Puzzle: 🧩 The Canberra Digest Quiz

Gather the brains trust for this Friday’s quiz featuring fonts, bees, beef rendang and more.

Play this week’s quiz.

Supported By:

🪐 Cottis Conducts The Planets: The Canberra Symphony Orchestra performs 'The Planets', an expansive, spine-tingling musical suite that served as a source of inspiration for some of cinema's greatest composers, including John Williams and Hans Zimmer. Don't miss this epic orchestral masterwork that shaped the sound of cinema itself! Details here.

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✨ Remember what it feels like to be calm? Starts 29 Oct - Transformational Mind Intelligence™ Program. Life can pull us off balance. This 5-week, science-backed mindfulness program helps you restore focus, emotional balance, and resilience. Discover practical tools to integrate mindful awareness into daily life. So you can perform at your best, with greater ease. Find your calm again — feel better, live better! Get info & tickets now (first release tickets available for limited time)

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Classifieds support Canberra Digest.

Cause: 🎙️ ArtSound

Canberra’s community arts radio station, ArtSound, is holding a Radiothon from this evening through to Sunday. The annual event raises money to keep the station on air for another year, with donations of $45 or more going into the daily draw for movie and show passes.

Also on 26 October, ArtSound is hosting an Open Day and Garage Sale at its studios in the Manuka Arts Centre. Come along for a rummage—every item is $2. I’ll have event details closer to the date.

Canberra Digest will be back on Monday. Have a great weekend!