Events at The Gardens Gate
Gather. Create. Connect.
Gardens Gate offers more than a meal. We offers a place to slow down, reconnect, and experience the beauty of the season.
Throughout the summer, our grounds come alive with creative gatherings, community collaborations, immersive garden experiences, and our Garden Artist Residency Program. Whether you're joining us for lunch, contributing to a community art project, meeting a resident artist, participating in a guided experience, or simply wandering the gardens, there is always something unfolding here.
On this page you'll find opportunities to create, connect, reflect, and explore. From complimentary community offerings and artist residencies to intimate workshops and seasonal retreats.
We invite you to scroll through the season and discover what calls to you.
Complimentary Community Collaborations
This season we invite guests of all ages to participate in a series of evolving community art installations.
Each month brings a new opportunity to contribute, create, and become part of the story of Gardens Gate.
Participation is complimentary and open during regular restaurant hours.
July • Make Your Mark
A collaborative artwork created one mark at a time.
Visit the residency tent and add your contribution to a large community canvas. A brushstroke, a symbol, a colour, a word. Every mark matters.
August • The Community Loom
A tapestry woven by many hands.
Add ribbon, fibre, fabric, or natural materials to a collective weaving that evolves throughout the month.
September • The Gratitude Garden
A harvest of appreciation.
Leave a note of gratitude and help create a beautiful installation celebrating the season, the land, and the community that gathered here.
Garden Gatherings & Special Events
Our Garden Experiences are intimate gatherings designed to nourish body, mind, and spirit through creativity, reflection, nature, and connection.
Space is limited for these offerings and advance registration is recommended.
Join us for four unforgettable evenings celebrating the abundance of Manitoulin Island at the height of harvest.
Limited to just 20 guests per evening, The Harvest Table is an intimate seven-course tasting experience thoughtfully crafted by Executive Chef Kevin Hemstreet. Each course showcases the island's finest seasonal ingredients—sourced from local lakes, rivers, forests, fields, and farms—and elevated through refined culinary techniques and globally inspired flavours.
Throughout the evening, you'll discover the stories behind the food, celebrating the farmers, fishers, foragers, growers, and producers whose passion and stewardship make this feast possible. Live music, curated non-alcoholic beverage pairings, and the beauty of the gardens complete an unforgettable autumn experience.
Where Manitoulin meets the world.
Experience Includes
Seven-course seasonal tasting menu
Curated non-alcoholic beverage pairings
Live music (featured artist to be announced)
Stories behind each course and its local producers
An intimate evening with just 20 guests
Dates
October 2, 3, 9 & 10, 2026
Time
Seating 5:45pm
First Course Served at 6:00pm
Investment
$199 per guest, or $175 with our Flexible Harvest Rate, where we'll choose your evening and ensure parties booked together are seated together.
Drum Circle | Free Community Event
RSVP HERE
Fibre Garden Tea Time
Bring your knitting, crochet, embroidery, spinning, weaving, mending or any fibre project in progress and settle into the gardens for a cozy afternoon of creativity and connection. Enjoy a cup of hot tea or refreshing iced tea while you stitch, chat, and create alongside fellow fibre lovers in a peaceful garden setting.
We’re delighted to welcome a special guest from The Knitter’s Cove, who will be helping facilitate the afternoon and bringing a beautiful selection of yarns, notions, and fibre art supplies available for purchase. Whether you’re looking for a new skein of yarn, a special notion, or simply some inspiration, there will be treasures to browse.
More information is on our FB Event Page where we ask that you RSVP to let us know you're planning to join us!
RSVP HERE
The Salt Bowl Gathering
Remember • Restore • Rejoice
Join us in the gardens for a meaningful ceremony rooted in intention, symbolism, and the elemental magic of salt.
Used throughout history as a symbol of purification, preservation, protection, and blessing, salt serves as the foundation for this unique gathering. Through guided reflection, intention setting, and the Salt Bowl practice, participants are invited to remember what matters most, restore connection to themselves and their path, and rejoice in what is ready to be welcomed into the next season of life.
Together we will explore the alchemy that occurs when awareness meets intention and simple ritual becomes a catalyst for transformation.
Dates: July 14 & August 12, 2026
Duration: Approximately 2 hours
Investment: $33 CAD per person
No experience required.
Space is limited.
REGISTER HERE
Mandala Garden Gatherings
Nature-Based Creative Practice
Join us in the gardens for a gentle, creative experience inspired by nature, presence, and the beauty of impermanence. Together we'll explore the symbolism of mandalas, participate in a guided meditation, and create temporary nature mandalas using materials gathered from the land and gardens. Following our creative practice, we'll gather inside The Garden's Gate Restaurant for a nourishing lunch of seasonal soup, fresh salad, and house-made bread.
Gatherings include guided instruction, nature-based mandala creation, time in the gardens, and lunch. No artistic experience is required, simply come as you are.
A nature-based creative practice and lunch experience for adults.
General Gateway
Thursday, July 9, 2026
Mama & Baby Mandala Garden
Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Wednesday, Aug 25, 2026
REGISTER HERE
A relaxed, baby-friendly mandala gathering for mamas and little ones (under 2), followed by lunch.
Creative Spirit Retreat
A Garden Immersion
Saturday, August 8, 2026
Join us for an immersive afternoon where creativity, nature, nourishment, and meaningful connection come together in the gardens at The Garden's Gate.
Hosted by Sheina Hemstreet and 2026 Garden Artist in Residence Maxim Grunin, this intimate experience includes a beautiful garden lunch, guided meditation, garden somatics, flower essence creation, a live floral painting demonstration and workshop, the Salt Bowl Ceremony, reflection, and a chef-crafted dessert served in the gardens.
No artistic experience is required, simply come as you are.
Limited to 12 participants
Investment: $222 CAD
Gardens Gate, where nourishment extends beyond the plate.
Interested in Becoming a Resident Artist?
The Garden Artist Residency Program offers artists an opportunity to spend a week creating within a beautiful garden setting on Manitoulin Island while connecting with visitors, nature, and community.
Applications are accepted throughout the season as space allows.
Learn More About the Residency Program → HERE!
Plan Your Visit
Whether you come for a meal, a creative gathering, a special event, or simply to wander the gardens, we hope you leave feeling a little more connected to yourself, to nature, and to the community around you.
All community collaborations are complimentary.
Garden Experiences require registration and may have associated fees.
For questions, private bookings, or upcoming event details, please contact us directly or follow along on social media for seasonal announcements.