Three things I've liked recently in London Ontario and area - Fourth of July Edition

America.

250.

That’s a big number.

Having survived the War of 1812, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, Vietnam, and defeating Iran 38 times in the spring of 2026, it is a remarkable achievement for the United States to still be standing today.

Canada will hopefully pay homage to this milestone, and the dissolution of CUSMA, the greatest deal negotiated ever, by defeating Morocco today at 1 p.m. and continuing to break new ground in international soccer.

Yeah, I said it. Soccer.

It is not football when the only time your head hurts is when you try to redirect a shot with it, or you catch a whiff of the nineteen sprays of Dior Sauvage the Striker on the other team is wearing.

I bet you can smell this guy from the other world cup stadiums (or "pitches")

Anyways, I digress.

Welcome to what I hope will become an occasional feature of this blog: three things I like around London and Southwestern Ontario, reviewed at speed by an elder millennial man-about-town who is easily distracted, curious about almost everything, and only sometimes knows where to park.

My kids are getting to an age where they like things independently, and sometimes even share in things that I like too. The downside is no more Wiggles concerts until I have grandkids, by which point I assume there will be 47 Wiggles based on their current pace. Mauve and Taupe Wiggles could even be identical twins.

Imagine these guys in Wiggles sweaters....

The upside of this age for my kids is that I can teach them about things I know, and they can teach me things that I need to know too, that didn't exist in the era of dial-up, as my remaining coolness escapes slowly into the atmosphere.

#1: London Majors Games

It is a bit embarrassing to admit, but on Canada Day I attended my first ever London Majors game, in my thirtieth year of being a London resident.

I had to start the experience by asking my neighbourhood Facebook group where people generally park while attending games, but it was only up from there.

The tickets are super affordable, usually around $12 to $14, and the baseball is solid.

There are lots of kids there, and the players are very interactive and friendly with them.

Sitting front row by the bullpen, I only heard one f-bomb, which is impressive any time sports are involved.

The food and beer are also very reasonably priced. Two hot dogs, three Drumsticks, the ice cream kind, not chicken, and five bottles of water cost me $34.75.

A beer is about half the price of Canada Labatt Gardens, down at Talbot and King, and as a bonus, they even carry Side Launch at that price point.

My only complaint, in an embarrassment of riches, is that there are only two food stands and two beer stands, along with one food truck.

That meant we got food at the bottom of the eighth inning, because that was the first time the line wasn’t 200 people deep.

The only way I could see improving the game experience would be to add people selling popcorn, hot dogs, chips, and other easily transported food items right in the bleachers.

The girl at the beer stand with "volunteer - tips appreciated" sign on the no longer empty pitcher on the counter with $300+ in change in it had the inside track on how it could be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Well done, Majors. A 5-4 walk-off victory in the bottom of the 10th, followed by sitting on the field to watch the Canada Day fireworks, was a fantastic experience for the entire family. We WILL return.

#2: Drivable Live Shows

London gets some amazing live performances a few times a year.

This year, two big highlights have been Nate Bargatze at Canada Life Place and The Lumineers coming up at Rock the Park in a few weeks.

The setup for Nate at CLP

According to Google, booking acts at that level costs a pretty - mid six to low seven figures, so it makes sense that we are often hopping on the 401 to see additional shows with similar name recognition.

(I know this because one of my grandiose ideas involved booking Mumford and Sons for my wife's birthday. The markets have been good, but not THAT good.)

London could definitely benefit from a bigger performing arts centre for more consistent big name acts, beauty of The Grand Theatre aside.

Thankfully, we still have 5,000-seat theatres like Caesars Windsor, Fallsview Casino, and the new Woodbine Casino within a couple of hours. We also now have Rogers Stadium in Toronto as a new outdoor option.

That allowed me to see Daniel Tosh live recently in Windsor, which was a bucket list item, and it will also let me take my daughter and her friends to see their favourite band, Sublime, in August in Toronto.

(Shhh. It’s for her birthday, so she doesn’t know!)

Comedians are hardcore about kicking people out for phone usage, but I snapped this photo of Epic Beard Guard from our front row seats right before the show started

We also took the kids to see our favourite band, Mumford & Sons, at Rogers Stadium.

They are one of the best live acts in the business, and this was no different.

But if you have yet to go to outdoor Rogers Stadium, not to be confused with Rogers Centre, and are going soon, brace yourself for port-a-potties, folding chairs on a former airport runway, and really rough acoustics.

When I first bought tickets, I was shocked at how affordable our back row D5 floor seats were. Little did I know, it's because you needed a golf cart to get to the stage, ha ha.

Hopefully the fact that just about every show there is a sellout, including Bruno Mars selling out five nights in a row, will lead the decision-makers to build a permanent venue with good sightlines, so that less vertically gifted folks like my nine-year-old son, and basically anyone who isn’t 6’9” like me, can see the stage without standing on one of the over twenty thousand folding chairs that constitute floor level seats.

#3: Youth Sports

Kids these days have unlimited dopamine an arm’s length away, if we let them.

Youth sports have changed drastically in the past twenty years too.

Although enrollment levels are similar, kids are quitting way earlier because of the emphasis on “competitive,” “travel,” and “exposure,” along with the corresponding costs.

London, to its credit, has a pretty solid grassroots sports structure.

When I was a teen in the late 90s and early 2000s, (shhh, don’t tell anyone), club basketball ended in March. After that, you were paying $2 a session to head to Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre to either work on your game alone or hope enough other people showed up for 3-on-3 or 5-on-5.

Now, my kids can be coached throughout the entire spring and summer, which I LOVE.

We have had a fantastic experience with London CYO for the girls, Elite Stars Elgin for the boy, and Next Level Sports, run by former London Lightning all-star Maurice Bolden out of BGC London, for all three.

The Spring 2026 London CYO crew

Skill development, scrimmaging, and positive feedback have helped their love of basketball and their confidence grow together. That is not a small thing.

The world is loud. Screens are loud. Pressure is loud. Finding spaces where kids can move, learn, fail, improve, laugh, and feel like they belong is worth celebrating.

And we keep coming back.

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What have you been loving in London and area recently?

Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading!