With 30 Cultural Events, Edmonton Known As Canada's Festival City
Many large North American cities host perhaps three or four major cultural festivals each year. Edmonton hosts 30.
“We have certainly earned the nickname of Canada’s Festival City‚” says Jenifer Christenson‚ director of marketing and communications for Edmonton Tourism‚ a division of Edmonton Economic Development Corp. “Our city is becoming well known for annual music‚ arts and cultural events. We celebrate everything from theatre to heritage‚ and film to the visual arts.”
Diverse annual events include the Accordion Extravaganza‚ A Taste of Edmonton‚ the Canadian Finals Rodeo‚ Capital Ex (formerly Klondike Days)‚ the Heritage Festival‚ the Works Art and Design Festival‚ and the International Fringe Theatre Festival. There is also the International Street Performers Festival‚ International Children’s Festival‚ River City Shakespeare Festival and VisualEyez.
“We have a tag line of ‘Live All Year‚’ because something is happening every season‚” Christenson says. “A considerable amount of our festivals occur during the summer months‚ but January events such as Silver Skate Fest and Ice on Whyte in the winter are ways that we also bring fun into the winter season.”
Christenson says an initiative called Edmonton Festival City was launched in spring 2003 to market the Alberta capital as a preferred destination for leisure travel‚ business travel and film production. The message must be getting out; in 2005‚ nearly 4.5 million visitors came to Edmonton‚ accounting for more than $1 billion in expenditures.
“In April 2006‚ we also launched a program called Edmonton Festival City in a Box‚ which utilizes festivals as a sales tool‚” Christenson says. “The program encourages national and international event planners to choose Edmonton for their next meeting or convention‚ due in large part to the festival entertainment that is always available for corporate employees or conventioneers to enjoy. Indeed‚ festivals not only are fun in Edmonton‚ they are also becoming big business.”
For more information visit festivalcity.ca.
