May 5: Waterloo / Elora ON

Today is a family day in Waterloo, celebrating a birthday and visiting very dear, long time friends in nearby Elora.

Waterloo, ON

Waterloo is a university town in southern Ontario, west of Toronto and east of London, ON. Waterloo and its neighbor Kitchener are so close to each other it is often referred to as K-W.

Waterloo is home to the following universities and colleges: the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, St. Jerome’s University, St. Paul’s University College, Conrad Grebel University College, Renison University College, and Conestoga College (based in Kitchener but has a Waterloo campus). The University of Waterloo is a public research university that saw 37,884 students in 2022. The university has the largest post-secondary co-op program in the world and ranked 151–200 in the world and 7–8 in Canada in the 2021 Academic Ranking of World Universities. Wilfrid Laurier University saw about 20,000 students in 2022, including its campuses in Brantford and Milton.

Waterloo is the tech center of Canada being home to both RIM/Blackberry and Google.

Waterloo is named after Waterloo, Belgium, the site of the Battle of Waterloo (1815), which ended the Napoleonic Wars in Europe.

The Region of Waterloo is also home to a large Mennonite population based around nearby St.Jacobs which has the best farmers market I’ve ever seen. It’s a huge tourist draw on the weekends. Horse drawn buggies are not an unusual sight here. In the year 1800 Mennonites from Pennsylvania counties Lancaster and Montgomery were the first wave of immigrants to the area.

Kitchener–Waterloo Oktoberfest hosts a nine-day Oktoberfest celebration held in both Kitchener and Waterloo. It is the second largest Oktoberfest celebration in the world,  and the largest outside of Germany

Elora, ON

Elora is considered to be one of Ontario’s most beautiful villages, perched on the banks of the Elora River and its famous Elora Gorge. Its twin, Fergus, sits across the river.