One thing I hear people say a lot, living in Waterloo Region, is that people complain that there’s nothing to do. Now, I’ve never actually heard the words “there’s nothing to do” come out of anyone’s mouth, as my friends and I are usually pretty evented-out, but one thing I will say is it can be pretty tricky finding out what there is to do on any given night.

When I first moved to Waterloo, I basically hibernated for the first six months. But once spring sprung, I was so impressed by all the fun activities happening in Victoria Park, Uptown and in the tech community.

Since starting at Communitech, my job has included attending as many community events as I can, so people who want to know more about the local tech community but don’t really know where to begin can at least have one contact who can possibly help.

In that function, there has been no absence of events for me to attend, and I wanted to share some of the great community resources that I use to help find fun or interesting events.

The Community Edition, our indie community paper, is a great go-to for hyper-local news and profiles so you can know what’s happening in town, but honestly it’s way more than that. It hosts the region’s coolest art party, Steel Rails, which usually takes place on a train, and in 2017 brought about one of my first ‘whoa, this place is really different and cool’ moments.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention TL;WR, my teammate Alex Kinsella’s weekly newsletter rundown of what’s happening around the region. He usually gets a good mix of food and fun, with more active and more chill events to choose from. You can subscribe to it here.  Communitech (aka still Alex) also manages a community calendar of not-exclusively-tech events you can check out and subscribe to as well.

Sometimes I want to attend events that are more community-facing, and I find Snap’d to be a great source for things that are maybe outside of your usual circle, or for people with a family who want to do more things, too.

Social media in general is usually a great way to find out about community events. Facebook events are still the most reliable listings for events in town, I find (I’ll often browse through the ‘Discover Events’ section to make sure I’m not missing anything important) but I love Instagram for the pictures and stories. Great accounts on Insta to follow for event announcements and local tips include KW FOMO, CBC KW, Uptown Waterloo, Downtown Kitchener, Culture Fancier, Open Sesame, TheMuseum, Sofar Sounds Waterloo, Eat Local Waterloo Region, and Descendants Beer.

The Local Advocate is another great resource, especially on Instagram.

Kayla Zawitski, the Local Advocate’s founder, was on the Why Waterloo podcast about a year ago where she shared why, as a recent transplant to the region, she started blogging about cultural events.

Some recurring events that should be on your radar include: Girl Geek Dinners (you can find a bunch of tech-centric events on Meetup and it’s a great resource to browse for local programming); Sofar Sounds Waterloo;

Plugin; the Greater K-W Chamber of Commerce’s networking socials; and HackerNest Tech Socials and MakingSpace.Tech for queer and ally-friendly gatherings.

If sports are your thing there’s year-round action in town, with the popular Kitchener Rangers (heyyy did you hear there’s a special $19 Communitech ticket code for the Friday March 15 game?) hockey team, the always-entertaining K-W Titans basketball team, and the 101-year-old Kitchener Panthers baseball team all playing out of the Memorial Auditorium.

Is there anything glaring I’m missing? Would you like to see a calendar specifically for charitable or giving events? Let me know via email at beisan.zubi@communitech.ca.

Something Good

Axonify recently raised 915 meals for the Food Bank by challenging different teams to build really cool mini-”canstructions.” Check out some pics here.

What can I do?

Tech Night at the Rangers Game: The Aud, March 15 at 7:30 p.m., ticket code expires March 8

Rocky: The Musical: 46 Grand Ave., Cambridge, March 6-31, Drayton Entertainment

Clay and Glass Gala: 25 Caroline St. N., Saturday, March 23 - Clay and Glass Gallery

Plasma Car Fundraiser: Conestoga Mall, Friday, April 5 at 7 a.m.- KidsAbility

HockeyFest: The Aud, May 11-12, Family and Children’s Services