How far is Carleton Place from Ottawa?

About 45 minutes by car, west along Highway 7.

What is there to do in Lanark County?

Three river towns within half an hour of each other: Carleton Place on the Mississippi River, Almonte with its falls and stone mills, and Perth with its 1816 garrison-town architecture.

What is Mississippi Mills?

The Ontario municipality formed in 1998 from Almonte, Pakenham and Ramsay Township, named for the Mississippi River that runs through it — an Ottawa River tributary unrelated to the American river.

When is the Ukrainian festival in Carleton Place?

Sunday, September 13, 2026, from 12 PM to 6 PM at Riverside Park Beach, Lake Ave W, Carleton Place.

Is there anything to do near Ottawa on a weekend without driving far?

Lanark County is the closest of the day-trip options — Carleton Place is 45 minutes out, and the three towns together make a loop of under two hours' driving.

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A Day in Lanark County: Carleton Place, Almonte and Perth

The UAFest kitchen team

August 2026 · 8 min read

Lanark County starts about half an hour west of Ottawa and runs south to the Rideau. It is limestone, river and farmland, with a handful of nineteenth-century mill towns strung along the water, and it makes an easy day out from the city.

Three of those towns sit close enough together to visit in one afternoon: Carleton Place, Almonte and Perth. This is what each is, how they connect, and where a Ukrainian festival on the riverbank fits into the picture.

Carleton Place

Carleton Place sits on the Mississippi River — the Ontario one, a tributary of the Ottawa River that has nothing to do with the American Mississippi beyond the name. Highway 7 puts it about 45 minutes from downtown Ottawa.

The town grew as a mill town and kept the shape: a main street of low nineteenth-century storefronts, a bridge over the river, and parkland along the water. Riverside Park sits on the town side of the river with a beach, open field and a view back across the water.

That park is where UAFest is held. On September 13, 2026, from 12 PM to 6 PM, it holds a stage, a food court, a market of Ukrainian makers, a kids zone and a hospitality area called the Korchma.

Almonte, in Mississippi Mills

Almonte is ten minutes north of Carleton Place, on the same river, and it is the reason people search for Mississippi Mills — the municipality that Almonte, Pakenham and Ramsay were amalgamated into in 1998.

The river drops through the middle of the town in a set of falls that powered the woollen mills in the 1800s, and the stone mill buildings still stand over the water. Almonte is also the birthplace of James Naismith, who invented basketball in 1891 after emigrating from here.

Perth

Perth is about 25 minutes southwest of Carleton Place, founded in 1816 as a settlement for British soldiers after the Napoleonic wars. It kept more of its early stone architecture than almost any town in eastern Ontario, and the Tay River runs through the middle of it with a basin and a canal.

Between the three towns you have a mill town, a falls town and a garrison town, all within twenty-five minutes of each other.

How to string them together

The natural loop from Ottawa runs west along Highway 7 to Carleton Place, north to Almonte on County Road 29, back down and southwest to Perth, then home on Highway 7. The whole circuit is under two hours of driving.

On festival day the simpler plan is to give the afternoon to Riverside Park and take one of the other towns on the way in or out.

Ottawa to Carleton Place: about 45 minutes on Highway 7.
Carleton Place to Almonte: about 12 minutes.
Almonte to Perth: about 30 minutes.
Perth back to Ottawa: about 55 minutes.

Coming for the festival

UAFest — Ukrainian Fest Lanark County — began as a community garage sale in Carleton Place in spring 2023, organised to support Ukrainian families displaced by the war. It drew over 1,000 people in its first year, more than 3,000 in 2024 and over 4,000 in 2025.

The Unity Ride & Drive travels from Ottawa to the festival on the day, a convoy of cars and motorcycles that ends with a walk to the entrance. It is the easiest way to arrive if driving out alone feels dull.

Bring a folding chair or blanket — the stage programme runs for hours on grass.
The parking lot fills from noon; check the location page before leaving.
September afternoons by the river turn cool early; take a layer.