Doors Open

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Doors Open Ontario is a province-wide celebration of community heritage that offers access, enhances awareness, and encourages excitement about our heritage. Doors Open provides residents and visitors alike a unique opportunity to explore and enjoy sometimes hidden and always interesting places within our community - all free of charge.

About Our Heritage

The City of Owen Sound is located on the southern shore of Georgian Bay in a valley below the limestone cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment. It lies at the foot of the Bruce Peninsula, famous for its exceptional geography. Known as the Scenic City, Owen Sound features an expansive harbour and bay, winding rivers, tree-lined streets, extensive parks and trails, and a thriving historic downtown with elegant original architecture.

Owen Sound was first inhabited by the Ojibway First Nations prior to European settlement. From its first survey in 1840, Owen Sound was known as the Village of Sydenham and was the last “terminal” of the underground railroad, used by thousands of slaves seeking refuge across the Canadian-U.S. border between 1830 and the end of the American Civil War. The community gained its current name in 1851 and was incorporated as a City in 1920.

For much of its history, Owen Sound was a major port, known as the ‘Chicago of the North’. With a prime location on Georgian Bay and access to the upper Great Lakes, major rail lines moved cargo south. As the ‘Gateway to the West’, thousands of settlers moved through here on their way to the prairies. At one time, industries lined both sides of the bay.

Today, most of the former port-based industries are gone, and the City has strived to bring identity back to the waterfront by creating inclusive and inviting spaces where new industry and tourism opportunities can thrive.

About Doors Open Owen Sound 2018

Saturday, June 2 & Sunday, June 3 from 10a.m. to 4p.m.

From gardens to gables, museums to mansions, Doors Open Owen Sound has given a wide ranging look into our community’s rich heritage since 2003. The theme for 2018, Equality and a Fair Society, will focus on exploring the strides of progress made over the past 100 years since women’s suffrage and the equality movement in Ontario.

2018 will be the 16th annual Doors Open Owen Sound. Come celebrate with us!

Sites This Year

Check out our new interactive Storymap Application for this year's Doors Open Owen Sound!

Some of our newest sites this year include the Eddie Sargent House, Bruce Grey Child & Family Services, the Muslim Association, the former McQuay Tannery building & the British Methodist Episcopal Church.

For the first time ever, Greenwood Cemetery will be hosting a guided tour on Friday, June 1, 2018 from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. Don't miss this exciting kick off to this year's Doors Open Owen Sound! Alternate tours will be available Saturday at 11:00 a.m. & Sunday at 1:00 p.m. with self-guided tours available throughout the weekend.

Guided tours will also be available at Inglis Falls Conservation Area & Water Filtration Plant, First United Church & Wiidosendiwag-Walking Together Tour & Mudtown Station Brewery & Restaurant. See all the details & times on our Storymap!

Sites are open 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

Get Involved!

We are still looking for enthusiastic volunteers who are interested in participating in our community’s rich heritage. Come spend some time immersed in one of our many historic Doors Open sites! Contact us by phone at 519-376-4440 ext. 1256 or by email at sollerton@owensound.ca

Contact Us

Visit our Facebook page and follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest event news and updates!

If you don't use social media:

Call us toll free at 1-800-675-5555 or 519-376-4440 ext. 1222

or send us an email at heritage@owensound.ca

Photo Contest - 2018

The Photo Contest will be returning to Doors Open Owen Sound this year. Stay tuned for more information on how to enter!

Thank you to the Artists' Co-op, Harrison Park Inn, Harrison Park Putt n' Paddle, and the Roxy Theatre for donating prizes for our Owen Sound Experience Prize Packages.

Full Contest Rules

The "Doors Open Owen Sound 2018 Contest" (the"Contest"), operated by Owen Sound Tourism, will run from June 2 at 10:00 AM EST to June 3 at 10:00 PM EST. In order to participate in the "Contest", entrants must fully comply with all the "Contest" rules contained herein (including the terms contained in the release form).
To enter the "Contest", you must:

Post at least one photo taken at a participating Doors Open Owen Sound 2018 site on either one or more of: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram OR via email to heritage@owensound.ca.
Photo must be posted or emailed no earlier than Saturday June 2, 2018 at 10:00AM EST and no later than Sunday June 3, 2018 at 10:00PM EST.
Social media entries must include the hashtag "#DoorsOpenOS" and email entries must include "#DoorsOpenOS" in the subject line.
Entries posted to social media must be visible to Owen Sound Tourism social media accounts (made public).

There are 2 prizes to be awarded by draw at random from the qualifying entries.
It is the responsibility of the social media account holder to ensure that their privacy settings permit Owen Sound Tourism to view their entry.
Odds of winning depend on the number of entries prior to the Contest Closing Date. Entries will not be accepted by phone, fax, or any other method not specifically stated herein.
Participants under the age of 19 will require parental consent to claim a prize unless otherwise specified.
Owen Sound Tourism shall not be responsible for entries not received or not considered eligible due to incomplete, unclear, indecipherable information, or any other reason whatsoever. Owen Sound Tourism assumes no liability for lost, stolen, delayed, damaged or misdirected entries during the Contest period. Any attempt to deliberately damage or to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest is a violation of criminal and civil laws, and should an attempt be made to do so, Owen Sound Tourism, reserves the right to seek remedies and damages to the fullest extent permitted by law, including criminal prosecution. All entries are subject to verification and will be declared invalid if they are illegible, incomplete, forged, falsified, altered, or tampered with in any way.
A City of Owen Sound employee will attempt to contact the selected Prize Winners within 72 hours of the Contest Closing Date via the social media account or email address used to enter. In order to qualify as a winner, the selected entrants must be reachable in the first 72 hours of the Contest Closing Date and must meet all of the Contest rules. Should a selected entrant be unreachable during this 72 hour time frame, or if they do not meet all of the Contest rules and regulations, Owen Sound Tourism, shall select another entrant at random from the remaining eligible entries. A City of Owen Sound employee shall attempt to contact the entrant of any such subsequent draws within 24 hours of such selection and such selection will be otherwise subject to the same conditions as set out in these rules and regulations. The prizes will only be released after the City of Owen Sound employee has confirmed that the eligible winners have complied with all rules and regulations contained herein.
The contest is open to all residents of Canada and the United States. Participants under the age of 19 will require parental consent to claim a prize. Excluded from the contest are all employees, agents and representatives of the Contest organizer (City of Owen Sound) and Contest Sponsors, as well as members of their immediate family (brothers, sisters, children, father, mother), their legal or common law spouse, and anyone domiciled with these employees, representatives and agents.
Owen Sound Tourism respects the municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Information received from all contest entries will remain property of Owen Sound Tourism, and will be used in accordance with the Privacy Legislation of the Government of Canada.
Owen Sound Tourism will not share personal information from contestants with any other party, unless the contestant requests to be contacted by a contest. For more information, contact Owen Sound Tourism at 519-371-9833. Photos posted to social media will be shared by Owen Sound Tourism.
By entering the Contest, all entrants consent to the use of their names, city of residence, photograph, voice and/or image for any publicity and programming purposes, commercial or otherwise, in all media used by Owen Sound Tourism, and the Contest Sponsors and their respective advertising and promotional agencies, without payment or compensation, throughout the world in perpetuity. The use of information from entries of contestants under the age of 18 will not be used for publicity, programming purposes--commercial or otherwise--in any media used by Owen Sound Tourism, or the Contest Sponsors and their respective advertising and promotional agencies unless specific parental consent is given. Social media posts will be shared by Owen Sound Tourism.
Further, by entering the Contest, each entrant accepts these Contest rules and regulations, which are subject to change without notice to Contest entrants individually and which changes shall be posted only at www.owensoundtourism.ca/doorsopen By entering the Contest, each entrant releases Owen Sound Tourism, and all of their divisions and the Contest Sponsors and any other person or entity associated in any way with the Contest, their respective parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, agents and their respective advertising and promotional agencies from any and all liability arising in connection with the Contest, including without limitation, the selection of the eligible winner and the administration of the Contest.
Owen Sound Tourism, and Contest Sponsors reserve the right to substitute, terminate, withdraw, suspend or cancel any portion of the Contest and/or component of the Prize at any time, without notice, for any reason whatsoever in their sole discretion. The Prizes are non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash or other substitutes, except where stated. If Owen Sound Tourism, and any Contest sponsor decide to substitute a prize, or a portion of a prize, they will do so for a prize of approximately the same value. No telephone contact will be entered into except with the eligible winners.
The Contest is void where prohibited by law and is subject to all Federal, Provincial and Municipal laws and regulations.
The Contest and the terms and conditions contained in these rules shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law. You, the Contest entrant, agree that any action at law or in equity arising out of or relating to the Contest and these terms and conditions shall be filed only in the provincial or federal courts located in Toronto, Ontario, and you hereby consent and submit to the personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purposes of litigating any such action.

Thank you to the following community-minded businesses for generously sponsoring Doors Open Owen Sound 2018:
Barry's Construction Ltd., Georgian Shores Marina, MHBC Planning, and Sprucedale Agromart.

Georgian Shores Marina Logo MHBC Logo

Agromart Logo