Brewer Park is a municipal park in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Rideau River

Rideau River

thumb|Rapids on the Rideau River opposite [[Carleton University]].The Rideau River is a Southern Ontario river which flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is 146 km...

 at Bronson Avenue and Carleton University

Carleton University

Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...

.

The park is very popular, attracting many different types of people. In the winter, Brewer park houses a world-class speed skating

Speed skating

Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...

 oval, two smaller-sized hockey

Hockey

Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...

 rinks as well as Canada's largest Legal Graffiti wall under Dunbar Bridge. It is one of the most popular places for the students of Carleton University, who can study or involve themselves in many sports.

Sport and Playground Facilities

Brewer park contains facilities for both the young and old.

• 3 soccer fields (two are also football
  Canadian football
  Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
  
   accessible)
• 3 baseball
  Baseball
  Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
  
   diamonds
• a hockey arena (Brewer arena)
• legal graffiti wall
• many biking paths
• half of a basketball
  Basketball
  Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
  
   court
• a mini-waterpark
• 4 play-structure
• waterfront and pond

Brewer Park is also home to the Annual House of Paint Hip Hop Festival (Aug. 6, 2011 - www.houseofpaint.ca). Over 200+ urban artists worldwide gather once a year to celebrate positive hiphop community with a block party stlye festival. At this event the underbelly of the Dunbar Bridge is covered with art from 75 graffiti artists from around North America.

Though not part of the park, Brewer is adjacent to the Ottawa Tennis & Lawn Bowling Club, to the Westboro Academy

Westboro Academy

Westboro Academy is a private elementary school in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It features a bilingual program that caters to students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8. The students wear Westboro uniforms, informal, formal and gym....

, and to Brewer Pool

Swimming pool

A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...

, a fairly large indoor pool.

History

In the 1960s and 1970s, Brewer park housed a public beach

Beach

A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...

 that encircled Brewer pond

Pond

A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens, water features and koi ponds; all designed for aesthetic ornamentation as landscape or architectural...

, a shallow pond approximately 100 meters in diameter, which drew a young crowd around the area. But pollution

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...

 measurement and clarity standards in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

changed and enclosed beaches were not permitted, and the beach was closed permanently in 1970. The pond is still there, and the building that once housed a canteen and many storage items is now used as a locker room for many football teams who play on the neighboring field. As it is on the floodplain it is designed on stilts so the lower portion of the building can be flooded (usually each spring) without suffering damage.

The remainder of the park, tennis club and nearby low-lying residential areas are protected by a low berm/dam constructed in the 1980s.

House of Paint wall

In 2001 the city of Ottawa legalized the wall under the Dunbar Bridge at Brewer Park in Ottawa, Ontario.

The wall overlooks Carleton University and the Rideau river. Graffiti art had been painted here for years before the legalization but now is an open forum for artists to show creativity. Most works of art are not around for more than a couple weeks due to the painting being replaced.

The wall was named by artists in the late 90s by a crew called AES, who used to listen to House of Pain while painting. After many years, it was renamed to House of Paint by the city and the House of Paint Festival was born.

The "House of Paint" graffiti jam was started in 2003 with a piece of linoleum, some music and breakers.

Now in 2010 it is host to 80-100 Graffiti artists coming from all over Canada and the USA to paint the underside of the bridge. Break dancers from across Canada, DJ's, workshops are housed at the event as well. There are also satellite nights leading up to the event that promote community building in hiphop and local arts. the event generates around 2000 spectators, and runs rain or shine as its under the large area under the bridge.

The event has stood the test of time through the recession by getting support from local government and city agencies. Other similar events around North America have gone defunct because of the lack of corporate funding.

Aside from the paint being used on the wall, the House of Paint Festival is now the most Eco-Conscious festival in the Ottawa area. There are many recycling and eco friendly initiatives to take care of waste from the event. HOP staff also have a "Clean up day" around the event space leading up to the event to do their part to keep things clean.