Two giant monsters will be roaming the City of Ottawa this weekend.
La Machine is making its North American debut as part of Canada's 150th birthday celebrations. There will be four days of performances for the public through the downtown, ByWard Market and Lowertown, along with road closures and traffic disruptions.
The show is entitled "The Spirit of the Dragon-Horse, With Stolen Wings." It features LongMa, a 12-metres high, five metres wide part-dragon and part-horse, and Kumo, a spider that's 20 metres long when fully outstretched.*
After roaming the downtown streets for four days, the two creatures will both end up at the Canadian War Museum Sunday night. Roughly 100,000 people are expected over the four day event.
"You will be able to almost touch the machines and feel the breathing of the dragon, the spray coming out of the spider," says Guy LaFlamme, the Director of Ottawa 2017. "We will be staging different scenes in different locations."
LaFlamme says the Ottawa 2017 event will be more than just a parade. He says members of the public will be active participants in the performance that will take place throughout the downtown core.
People heading to work in the core, or coming downtown to see La Machine, are being urged to take public transit, walk, bike or carpool. The City of Ottawa says parts of downtown and the ByWard Market will be turned into temporary pedestrian only zones over the weekend. A list of the traffic impacts is available on the City of Ottawa's website.
Below is the full La Machine schedule for Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday
Day 1: Thursday, July 27
8 p.m.: Kumo awakens near the National Gallery of Canada
View the traffic impacts in-depth on the City of Ottawa website.
(City of Ottawa)
Day 2: Friday, July 28
10 a.m.: Long Ma awakens at City Hall
10:30 a.m.: Long Ma Walkabout: departs from City Hall
2 p.m.: Kumo Walkabout: departs from the National Gallery
2 p.m.: Long Ma Walkabout: departs from the National Gallery
8 p.m.: Kumo Walkabout: departs from the Shaw Centre
8 p.m.: Long Ma Walkabout: departs from Confederation Park
View the traffic impacts in-depth on the City of Ottawa website.
(City of Ottawa)
Day 3: Saturday, July 29
11 a.m.: Kumo Walkabout: By Ward Market
11 a.m.: Long Ma Walkabout: ByWard Market
3 p.m.: Long Ma Walkabout: departs from the ByWard Market
3:10 p.m.: Kumo Walkabout: departs from the ByWard Market
8: 30 p.m.: Long Ma Walkabout: departs from Confederation Park
9:30 p.m.: Kumo and Long Ma at the Supreme Court of Canada
View the traffic impacts in-depth on the City of Ottawa website.
(City of Ottawa)
Day 4: Sunday, July 30
2:30 p.m.: Kumo Walkabout: departs from the Supreme Court of Canada
3 p.m.: Long Ma Walkabout: departs from the Supreme Court of Canada
8:30 p.m.: Long Ma Walkabout: departs from the Chaudière Falls
9 p.m.: Kumo and Long Ma at the Canadian War Museum
View the traffic impacts in-depth on the City of Ottawa website.
(City of Ottawa)
