The Regional Municipality of Waterloo has 575,847 people, making it the 10th-largest census metropolitan area (CMA) in Canada and the fourth-largest CMA in Ontario. Kitchener and Waterloo are considered “”twin cities””, which are often referred to jointly as “”Kitchener–Waterloo”” (K–W), although they have separate municipal governments.
Kitchener’s cultural highlights include CAFKA, The Open Ears Festival, IMPACT theatre festival, the Multicultural Festival, the Kitchener Blues Festival and KidsPark, many of which are free to the public. Kitchener is also home to venues such as Homer Watson House & Gallery, Kitchener–Waterloo Art Gallery, THEMUSEUM, JM Drama Alumni and Centre In The Square. Also the cities recently had two local and regional museums built in the region, one being the Waterloo Region Children Museum and the Doon Heritage Village. Live music by popular artists can be heard at venues such as Centre In The Square and The Aud. The Kitchener Public Library is another community stalwart. Kitchener is also home to independent music label, Busted Flat Records which features the music of many Kitchener–Waterloo based musicians. Kitchener–Waterloo’s Oktoberfest celebration is an annual nine-day event that started in 1969. Based on the original German Oktoberfest, it is billed as Canada’s Greatest Bavarian Festival. It is held every October, starting on the Friday before Canadian Thanksgiving and running until the Saturday after. It is the largest Bavarian festival outside of Germany.