Culture Days

September 19 - October 12, 2025

 

Immerse yourself in a cross-Canada celebration of arts, culture, and heritage!

The Brown Homestead is thrilled to join the 2025 Culture Days festival alongside a number of arts, heritage, and culture organizations and artists across Niagara. All programming is pay-what-you-may and accessible to the public.

This year, Niagara is a Festival Hub! Check out all the fun happening across the region September 26 - 28.

Children and their parents look around a treed area behind a logo cabin. They have their hand over their eyes as they seek clues in a game of I-Spy with The Brown Homestead staff.

  • Saturday, Oct. 4

    10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

    Families are invited to The Brown Homestead for an outdoor autumn playday on Saturday, October 4!

    • Youngsters (ages 3 - 6) can join a Storytime Circle at 10 a.m. led by St. Catharines Public Library

    • Discover nature-inspired arts and crafts with the Garden City Gardeners

    • Learn the process of transforming flax into linen with Historian Dr. Ali Macdonald

    • Help us harvest from our community-based garden

    • Explore our site with a self-guided scavenger hunt

    • and more!

    Families can drop-in anytime and take in all our pastoral historic site has to offer!

    More Information

    Sign up for the Storytime Circle with SCPL.

A woman uses stencils, paint and a brush to create ornate circular decorative motifs on a canvas.

  • Friday, Sept. 26

    10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

    We’re celebrating Culture Days by sharing the not-so-secrets of the heritage trades with a special Open House.

    You’ll get an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look as students of the Willowbank School of Restoration Arts complete their timber framing course on site, building a scissor truss using traditional joinery techniques.

    Check out various displays across our site detailing other ongoing adaptive reuse projects, including our 1850s Dairy, studying historic wallpapers and more.

    We’ll also have skilled tradespeople and Willowbank staff on site to share more about heritage conservation.

    More Information

A black and white image of a large wooden barn with a windmill on top. A man stands by the barn wall and nearby is a horse and open carriage, which looks to have a woman in a dress sitting inside.

  • Indigenous Agricultural Practices and Tools with Dr. Adrianne Lickers Xavier

    Thursday, Sept. 11, 7 - 8:30 p.m.

    A 6th Generation Dairy Farmer in Thorold with Rachel Summers

    Thursday, Sept. 25, 7 - 8:30 p.m.

    50 Years of Technological Changes on Ontario Farms: 1975—2025 with Hugh Fraser

    Thursday, Oct. 9, 7 - 8:30 p.m.

    On Being With the Land: Author Talk and Creative Writing Session with Tonya Lailey

    Thursday, Oct. 16, 7 - 8:30 p.m.

    We Lend a Hand Documentary Screening and Filmmaker Q&A at the FirstOntario PAC

    Thursday, Oct. 23, 7 - 8:30 p.m.

a group of women stand around a circular garden with newly planted seedlings. They are in conversation with one woman drumming on a traditional drum.

  • Saturday, Oct. 11, 10 - 11:30 a.m.

    Led by Jackie Labonte and Marie Louise.

    After a nourishing and rewarding growing season, join us in closing the Three Sisters Garden as a community. Together, we will offer our thanks and share in singing and drumming.

    All community members are welcome.

    About the Workshop Leaders

    Jackie Labonte (tekaiatakwas) is self identified from the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk Nation, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She resides in the Niagara region having worked with Native organisations for over 30 years providing services as a Cultural Advisor.

    Marie Louise is an Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Mohawk of Kahnawake. She helped establish the Willowbank Indigenous Community Love Garden eight years ago and continues to be a caretaker and volunteer gardener there. She has worked as a nurturing and guiding teacher of traditions for over 25 years.

    More information about Grow@ The Homestead on our website.

A group of people stand in front of the stone John Brown House, nearby is a stately looking portico. They group is listening intently to a tour guide.

  • Thursdays, Sept. 25, Oct. 2 & 9

    10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

    Explore the 220+ year-old buildings on our site, learn about heritage conservation practices, see restoration projects in progress, discover stories of rural farming families, and connect with Niagara's rich history.

    We encourage you to book a guided tour with our passionate staff and volunteers, or drop in to learn and explore. Tours are 60 minutes.

    Visitors are welcome to spend quality time on our property. Bring a meal to share on our picnic tables, engage in a children’s activity, or take a digital walking tour of our site using GuideTags.

    More Information

We are honoured to be a Culture Days Activity Program grant recipient through the St. Catharines Cultural Investment Program (SCCIP). Thank you to the City of St. Catharines for supporting our programming.

We also gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Ontario Culture Days.