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The Best Festivals and Celebrations
The Calgary Stampede: Whether you want to call it a festival or not is your choice, but there's no denying that this is the biggest party Alberta has every year, bar none. Forget the thousands of tourists for a moment -- it's Calgarians pulling on their boots, donning their Stetsons, and leaving work at noon every day (if they show up at all) that sets things alight. Oh, and there's that biggest-rodeo-on-earth aspect as well, but it's only part of the fun. This is the one event where an entire city goes to the same party.
The Edmonton Fringe Festival: After Edinburgh, the world's first and largest, Edmonton's Fringe Theatre Festival has no equal. This is a theater town, and it's never more apparent than during the 10 days in June when theater companies from all over the world descend on the Alberta capital with their finest, freshest work. This is truly a cross-section of the best contemporary theater the world has to offer -- a can't-miss event for those in love with live performance.
Wordfest: Calgary's answer to Toronto's International Festival of Authors (one of the world's biggest), Wordfest (aka the Banff-Calgary International Writer's Festival) has become an increasingly popular draw for an A-list of writers. Readings are open to the public, and have included such luminaries as Richard Ford and David Adams Richards. It takes place each October.
Banff Television Festival: It's more an industry shindig than a public event, but a lot of big names descend on Banff each year for this annual meet-and-greet marketplace. Public events are scant, but if you're ever going to see Michelle Pfeiffer (on the arm of TV impresario hubby David E. Kelly) trotting her Manolos in the midst of the Rockies, then this is where you should be. The Banff Centre (tel. 800/565-9989), a cultural hub, hosts talks by TV big wheels (past guests have been Sex and the City creator Darren Star and West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin) that a well-planned visitor might see. And if not that, the throngs of aspiring TV creators, pitching madly to whomever will listen, provide amusement enough.
Beethoven in the Badlands: Set in a natural amphitheater that seats 2,500 just outside Drumheller, Beethoven in the Badlands is an annual event that takes the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra into the open air. The setting is truly spectacular: A stone bowl curves around and back from a flat plane of rock, and the acoustic effect is astonishing and crystal clear. The site of Drumheller's annual Passion Play, about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you'd almost think this natural formation was planned by Somebody.
The Calgary Folk Music Festival: There are bigger music festivals, and there may even be better ones (because music depends on your point of view, doesn't it?), but on a sunny afternoon, the setting, on Prince's Island Park, can hardly be matched. And with a list of past headliners that includes Blue Rodeo, Ani DiFranco, Kris Kristofferson, Calexico, Bedouin Soundclash, and Charlie Musselwhite, the music ain't bad, either.
Leonard Cohen International Festival: For purists, to be sure, this Edmonton festival is the result of the coupling of two Cohenite bodies, the Leonard Cohen Files and the Leonard Cohen Nights festival. The latter is an annual Edmonton event; the "international" iteration is meant to be biannual, in the even years. With local and international acts performing their various tributes, it's as much of the revered songsmith as anyone could hope for.
Improvaganza: Small but mighty, Edmonton's annual festival of improv comedy is a sight to behold. Held in June every year amid the city's wealth of theater spaces, it's about as many laughs as you could possibly handle in one place. Some of the best troupes from across the country come here, drawn by Edmonton's strong theater reputation.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
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