KITCHENER, ONTARIO
Planning a hybrid or entirely virtual event?
We can bring your event to life online.
Bring your event’s in-person and virtual attendees together with Eyepowered Media's end-to-end hybrid event design and hosting solution.
From corporate events, non-profit fundraising, employee summits, celebrations, and community events, we have years of experience with all types of virtual events, live streams and video production.
What is hybrid meeting?
Hybrid meetings are shared event experiences designed and organized for both in-person and virtual online attendees.
With COVID restriction being lifted, rather than hosting an event for just the local in-person audience, a hybrid meeting delivers two interconnected experiences and allows engagement by on-site attendees and online audiences where it is impractical or too expensive for them to attend in-person.
Eyepowered Media's hybrid meeting technology combines our on-site cameras, audio, slides and video playback with our unique virtual event platform.
Elevate your virtual or hybrid event
Eyepowered Media's cross-device computer and mobile experience platform combines cutting-edge creative design, integrated live and remote speakers, slides, video playback and smooth facilitation of audience questions. Our hybrid or virtual events access the best parts of physical and online environments to create a successful experience for all attendees and stakeholders.
We're exciting to bring you the newest technology and trends in event live streaming. Let's talk about your event needs.
Hosting an event in Kitchener?
Kitchener is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario, about 100 km (62 mi) west of Toronto. It is one of three cities that make up the Regional Municipality of Waterloo and is the regional seat. Kitchener was known as Berlin until a 1916 referendum changed its name. The city covers an area of 136.86 km2, and had a population of 256,885 at the time of the 2021 Canadian census.
Kitchener's cultural highlights include CAFKA, The Open Ears Festival, IMPACT theatre festival, the Multicultural Festival, the Kitchener Blues Festival and KidsPark, many of which are free to the public. Kitchener is also home to venues such as Homer Watson House & Gallery, Kitchener–Waterloo Art Gallery, THEMUSEUM, JM Drama Alumni and Centre In The Square. Also the cities recently had two local and regional museums built in the region, one being the Waterloo Region Children Museum and the Doon Heritage Village.
Live music by popular artists can be heard at venues such as Centre In The Square and The Aud. The Kitchener Public Library is another community stalwart. Kitchener is also home to independent music label, Busted Flat Records which features the music of many Kitchener–Waterloo based musicians.
Kitchener–Waterloo Oktoberfest
Kitchener–Waterloo Oktoberfest
Kitchener–Waterloo's Oktoberfest celebration is an annual nine-day event that started in 1969. Based on the original German Oktoberfest, it is billed as Canada's Greatest Bavarian Festival. It is held every October, starting on the Friday before Canadian Thanksgiving and running until the Saturday after. It is the largest Bavarian festival outside of Germany.
While its best-known draws are the beer-based celebrations, other family and cultural events also fill the week. The best-known is the Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade held on Thanksgiving Day; as it is the only major parade on Canadian Thanksgiving, it is televised nationally. Another icon of the festival is Miss Oktoberfest. This festival ambassador position is selected by a closed committee of judges from a panel of local applicants; community involvement and personal character are the main selection criteria.
The festival attracts an average of 700,000 people. During the 2016 Oktoberfest parade, an estimated 150,000 lined the streets along the route.
Kitchener Blues Festival
The Kitchener Blues Festival is a four-day festival in downtown Kitchener dedicated to blues music, always held in August on the weekend following the civic holiday. The festival has expanded to four stages and two workshop stages throughout the downtown area, with over 90 performances. It has grown from a one-day event with an attendance of 3,000 to a four-day event with over 150,000 attending. In 2014 the Kitchener Blues Festival celebrated its 14th year.
Kitchener–Waterloo Multicultural Festival
This is a two-day event in Victoria Park commencing usually on the first weekend of the summer. Run by the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre, the festival features foods, dance and music from around the world. The festival also showcases several vendors that sell artifacts and crafts from around the world. This festival has been ongoing for well over 40 years. Well over 50,000 attend every year.
KOI Music Festival
KOI Music Festival is a three-day festival held annually in downtown Kitchener each September. The festival was started in 2010 and has since expanded to include a free concert on Friday and a full day of performance Saturday and Sunday. KOI features more than 100 rock bands every year, with a large focus on local, independent musicians. Notable past performers include Every Time I Die, Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker, Chiodos, Walk Off The Earth, Four Year Strong, Protest the Hero, Mad Caddies, Monster Truck, Gob, Treble Charger, Cute Is What We Aim For, The Planet Smashers, Bayside, and several hundred more.
Kultrun World Music Festival
Kultrún is an annual festival of world music, food, culture, and art that takes place in Victoria Park each July. Music from various cultures is performed on two stages, and the rest of the park is covered with vendors selling their goods. A key part of the festival is the large number of food stands selling foods from all different ethnic backgrounds.
LGBT culture
The Kitchener-Waterloo region is home to tri-Pride and the Rainbow Reels Queer and Trans Film Festival. Unlike most LGBT pride events, tri-Pride does not currently organize a parade, but instead is centred on an afternoon music festival on the final weekend.
The Kitchener–Waterloo Symphony is located in Kitchener, which performs over 222 concerts annually to an audience of over 90,000, both in the concert hall and across Waterloo Region. The KWS continues to be the largest employer of artists and cultural workers and the most significant cultural asset for Waterloo Region.
Kitchener's oldest outdoor park is Victoria Park, in the heart of downtown Kitchener. Numerous events and festivities are held in this park.
A cast-bronze statue of Queen Victoria is in Victoria Park, along with a cannon. The statue was unveiled in May 1911, on Victoria Day (the Queen's birthday) in the tenth year after her death. The Princess of Wales Chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire raised the $6,000 needed for the monument.
Victoria Park
Another significant beauty spot in the city is Rockway Gardens. Adjacent to the Rockway golf course, the gardens occupy a long narrow strip of land alongside King Street as it rushes down to meet the Conestoga Parkway and become Highway 8. Here there are many fountains, ponds, waterfalls and rock grottoes. It is a popular site for wedding photos in the summer.
Kitchener has an extensive and safe community trail system. The trails, which are controlled and run by the city, are hundreds of kilometres in length. Due to Kitchener's close proximity to the Grand River, several community trails and paths border the river's shores. This convenient access to the Grand River has drawn nature-seeking tourists to the city. However, Kitchener's trails and especially natural areas remain underfunded by city council and as a result, many are not adequately maintained.
In 2011, a bike park at the newly constructed McLennan Park, in the city's south end, was hailed as one of the best city-run bike parks in Southern Ontario by BMX and mountain biking enthusiasts. The bike park offers a four-cross (4X) section, a pump track section, a jump park, and a free-ride course. McLennan Park also features an accessible play area, a splash pad, basketball courts, beach volleyball courts, a leash-free dog area, and a toboggan hill.
Chicopee Ski Club is also within the city limits.