One Day in Ukraine.
A Lifetime of Connection.
The Ottawa Valley's Ukrainian cultural festival returns to Riverside Park — a free day of food, music, dance and craft for the whole community, Ukrainian and Canadian alike.
A 160-metre rushnyk crosses the Atlantic — and lands here first
Stitched by 120+ embroiderers across 13 European countries and holder of a European Record, the Rushnyk Yednosti – Rushnyk Peremohy makes its North American Premiere at UAFest this September — and Lanark County is invited to add its own panel to the cloth.
Sunday, September 13 · 11:00 AM · Carleton Place
125 people carry the Rushnyk into the festival
Adults, teens and children walk the 160-metre cloth from the Roy Brown Statue into Riverside Park. Registration is free and takes a minute.
- Adults register themselves
- Parents register a child
- Free · no experience needed
Unity Ride & Drive 2026 — Ottawa → Carleton Place
A car and motorcycle convoy rolls from Ottawa to the festival gates, arriving just as UAFest opens at noon.
Register your vehicle — free
Ottawa assembly · 2024A festival built by the community
UAFest is a Ukrainian cultural festival near Ottawa — an open day for everyone who wants to experience Ukraine. It brings together Ukrainian food, music, dance, crafts, art, children's activities, entrepreneurs, volunteers and local partners in one welcoming public space — a cultural bridge between Ukrainians and Canadians, between heritage and future, between local community and global support.
From a garage sale to the Ottawa Valley's Ukrainian festival
In spring 2023, Carleton Place resident Gloria Bradley held a garage sale to support Ukrainian families newly arrived in Lanark County. That fall, the first Ukrainian Fest welcomed about 1,000 guests and raised enough to send Christmas gifts to 50 children in Ukraine's Kharkiv region.
Every year since, the table has gotten bigger: roughly 3,000 guests in 2024, more than 4,000 in 2025 — and for September 13, 2026, we're aiming for 5,000+. Same volunteer-run, community-first festival, just a bigger crowd around it.
UAFest began as thanks to the Canadians who welcomed Ukrainians into their communities, and that spirit still shapes the day: free admission, an open door for vendors and volunteers, and a portion of every festival's proceeds going back to families still living through the hardest version of that story.
Read the full story →Eight zones, one big day
Wander from the tavern to the market to the main stage — there's something new to taste, hear or make around every corner, from noon until the festival closes at 6 PM.
This year we're setting the table for 5,000+ — join the crowd on Sunday, September 13 at Riverside Park.
What a day at Riverside Park looks like
Real faces from real festivals — the crowd, the music, the market and the kids who make UAFest what it is.
More than a festival day
A portion of every UAFest goes directly to Kids of Ukraine, supporting psychosocial programs for children and teens affected by the war — proof that a neighbourhood festival can reach further than Lanark County.
“We started with a single garage sale and one idea — bring people together. Every year since, the community has leaned in a little more.”
— The UAFest Lanark County TeamThere's a place for you at UAFest
However you want to show up — as a guest, a vendor, a sponsor, a volunteer or a performer — we'll be glad to see you.
Take the festival home with you
Two collections drawn for UAFest 2026 by Lulu Design Studio — the UAFEST code, and the cities of Ukraine. Every piece is printed to order: send a request, and the team confirms the price and the handover before anything goes to print.
A growing ecosystem
UAFest is more than one day a year. Three projects extend the community's reach year-round.
Backed by community and business
Past festival supporters have included
Become a Sponsor
The people you'd be joining
UAFest is 100% volunteer-run. This is the organizing core behind the 2026 festival.
Olga Ialovenko is the festival director and lead organizer of UAFest, and president of the Ukrainian Community of Lanark County — the volunteer non-profit that runs the annual Ukrainian festival at Riverside Park in Carleton Place, Ontario. She leads UAFest as a volunteer, the same as everyone else on the team. She has been with the festival from the beginning. It grew out of a neighbourhood effort to help a Ukrainian family settle in Lanark County, and the first Ukrainian Fest Lanark County started from a garage sale in 2023. The Carleton Place Town Council has since designated the festival a culturally significant event, and in 2025 it welcomed more than 4,000 guests. In her own words: “We don't aim to be the biggest — we strive to be the most genuine and meaningful.” Away from festival day she is a financial-literacy educator and a certified Rotary trainer. She also coordinates the Rushnyk of Unity – Rushnyk of Victory Pan-American Tour, a separate body from the festival's organizing committee, keeping its route, its host communities and the handoff from city to city moving.
Anna Tkachenko is a co-organizer of UAFest 2026 and the owner of Wedding Boutique ALICE, the Ottawa bridal shop the festival lists among its organizing partners. The boutique introduces itself in its own words: "WEDDING & GRADUATION & EVENING & KIDS DRESSES 👗 in Ottawa, ON 🇨🇦 ✅ The best quality! ✅ European style!" Alongside the dresses it lists a custom tailoring service from a designer, a dress fitting service, and a dress cleaning service for its own dresses. Facebook files the page as a Bridal Shop, with delivery and in-store shopping, and shipping to Canada and the USA. A graduation-season post sets out how the made-to-order side works: "At ALICE Bridal Boutique, we offer custom evening and graduation dresses from Europe, created in beautiful designs and tailored according to your measurements." The post asks for consultations to be booked in advance — delivery takes approximately 1.5 months — and describes dresses for "graduation, prom, evening events, birthdays, and special celebrations." For brides, the boutique goes past the gown. "At Alice, we carry a curated selection of accessories — veils, crowns, earrings, hairpieces — each designed to complement your gown and bring your bridal vision to life," reads one of its reels, which ends with an invitation to "Send us a DM to book your fitting in Ottawa." Another reel describes a milk-white satin mermaid gown with a soft front slit and a shimmering lace insert, "designed for brides who adore clean lines and breathtaking detail."
Maksym Stepanenko is a co-organizer of UAFest and leads its marketing and its digital platform. He also leads the festival's three year-round projects: UAFest.Business, UAFest.Capital and UAFest.Network. The festival lists him as one of its spokespeople, for growth, partnerships, media and digital, in English and Ukrainian. On the Rushnyk of Unity – Rushnyk of Victory Pan-American Tour, a separate body from the festival's organizing committee, he carries marketing strategy: the tour's public story, its digital tools and its launch plan, so each new stop can be found and understood.
Olga leads UAFest's concert and cultural program from end to end: coordinating performers, music, dance, stage flow and the Ukrainian traditions that give the festival its heart. She hosted the 2024 and 2025 festivals with Mike Rynzak and continues to shape the program with the wider cultural team.
Yuliia is one of the organizers who turns UAFest plans into visible, partner-ready work. She coordinates sponsorship and partnership relationships, contributes the festival's visual design, and supports project administration, grant work and design for the Rushnyk of Unity – Rushnyk of Victory Pan-American Tour.