Lifestyle

Classical Concerts And Drive-In Movies
You can enjoy live jazz, folk music, country, blues and rock at coffee houses, pubs and community theatres around the region. While we are well-served with first-run movies - including double features at our vintage Drive-In - discerning cinephiles can enjoy a steady diet of top Canadian and international films at Cinefest Picton and the Quinte and Napanee film societies.

Sports and Recreation
Keep fit indoors: at our well-equipped recreation centre with the latest workout machines, weights and pool. There’s curling, ice skating and hockey at community arenas, and yoga, tai chi and pilates for the gentler spirit. There’s even an exuberant women’s drumming circle.

Keep fit outdoors: You can enjoy kayaking, rowing, scuba diving, water-skiing and fishing here, or sail from one of our many marinas. If you prefer to keep your feet dry, there’s great biking, hiking and walking trails plus cross-country skiing, long sandy beaches and spectacular rocky coves. For the athletically adventurous we’ve added a marathon, too.

Spend time golfing or enjoy a gourmet cooking class; look up your ancestors at the Marilyn Adams Genealogical Research Centre (the only one of its kind in Canada,) take a wine appreciation class or get creative at a workshop at an artist or craftperson’s studio.

Festivals And Events
We celebrate all year. We start in spring with a maple celebration and just keep going with the Jazz Festival, Art in the County, the Studio Tour, the Amazing Loyalist County Adventure and Pumpkinfest to name just a few. There’s always something going on. We have an authors’ festival, a Boston qualifier road race marathon and a great food and wine celebration. Whether your taste runs to extreme cycling or chamber music, we’ve got it. Love birding events? Great big antique shows? Quilt shows? We’ve got them. We celebrate spring, summer, autumn and winter. In the unlikely event you feel you’ve done it all, try some garlic ice cream at the Garlic Festival.

Click here for event details
 

Shopping
We like to shop locally and can find pretty much all we need right here. We don’t have suburban sprawl, but we do have national grocery chains, specialty health foods, gourmet shops, designer clothing, import shops and bakers. Every town has its hardware and garden centre, and the “big box” stores and malls are just “over the bridge” in Belleville. For special gift ideas, home décor shops and artists’ studios, Bloomfield is a favourite, and if it’s antiques you want you’ll find little and large antique shops everywhere.

We love books and have many libraries. Picton has a very good bookstore with up-to-the-minute selection and old-fashioned customer service, and a great secondhand bookshop where you can get lost in comfy armchairs and a treasure trove of rare and secondhand books.
 

Regional Cuisine
We have national food chains, and great local coffee shops, family restaurants, bistros and cafes, too, as well as truly fine dining. World-class chefs preside at several smart restaurants and country inns, and a gold-medalist Austrian pastry chef runs two delightful European-style cafés here.

Read more about culinary tourism here.

 
Wineries, Breweries, Cideries
We have almost a dozen wineries, a cidery and a microbrewery, and more wineries are planned to open over the coming years. Prince Edward County is rightfully becoming a major regional cuisine destination.
 

Entertainment: An Ontario Hot Spot
The Globe and Mail recently referred to Prince Edward County as Ontario’s other arts hot spot and suggested passing on New York and going straight to Picton for cultural pursuits!

Read full article here.

Prince Edward County and the entire Quinte region has undergone an arts and cultural awakening in recent years. Picton’s restored Regent Theatre adds its summer-long festival to a regional performance schedule that includes Pinnacle Playhouse in Belleville, Quinte Symphony Orchestra and the Quinte Ballet School, one of Canada's finest professional dance schools.

Visit our theatre district here.