The Edmonton Heritage Festival is a three-day festival honouring Alberta's cultural heritage and cultural diversity, which is held annually over the Civic Holiday weekend in William Hawrelak Park in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
The festival has been organized annually by the Edmonton Heritage Festival Association since 1976. At that time eleven communities united with the intent to display their cultures by offering traditional cuisine, entertainment, interpretive materials, and crafts to visitors.
In 2015, its 40th anniversary, the festival included more than 85 different cultures in over 60 pavilions, where people present their cultural roots and local and national communities. The tents feature food, entertainment, artwork and crafts, and clothing, and teach visitors about various cultures with displays including photos, paraphernalia, and stories.
Overview
The Edmonton Heritage Festival, held annually in Edmonton's Hawrelak Park, is the world's largest three day celebration of multiculturalism. During the August long weekend, tented pavilions representing up to 100 countries and cultures offer over showings of cultural dance and song at shared stages, folk arts and cultural displays in individual tents, home life vignettes, and cultural foods from up to 70 kitchens. The festival requires over 2,200 volunteers over the course of the three days and uses almost 300 tents spread over 60 hectares. Onsite attendance of the 2017 Heritage Festival was 480,000.
The festival is a family-friendly, alcohol and tobacco free event. There is no admission charge to the site, nor is there admission to watch the up to 900 cultural folk music and dance shows on up to 50 shared stages. Admission to over 70 cultural displays is also free. Each county's set of display tents, known as Pavilions, offers a sampling of their unique cultural food and drinks. The organizers of the festival encourage visitors to donate to the local food bank.
William Hawrelak Park offers no public parking (except bicycles) during the festival, but is connected well to the City of Edmonton Transit through exclusive Park'n'Ride services. The park is open throughout the day between 5am and 11pm. Visitors are asked to leave their dogs at home.
The attendance of the festival has increased from 20,000 people in 1976 to 85,000 in 1977, and reached 320,000 in 1982, a record that was matched or beaten by the approximately 320,000 to 340,000 attendees during the 2011 festival. The 2017 festival saw an estimated 498,000 visitors over the three days, with a record Sunday of an estimated 348,000.
The 2023 event will run from August 5 to August 7.
Presentation of heritage and culture
Heritagefest provides opportunities for local communities and their organizations to present individual ethnic roots, culture, and heritage to a broader audience. In 2015, 85 different cultures were part of this display.
During the 45 years of the festival, a number of forms of heritage presentation have commonly been used, with ethnic food preparation leading the way.
Visitors also experience music and dance performances, and traditional clothes and costumes. Objects originating from different heritages or produced in traditional ways are also available.
Other participants give visitors of the festival an insight into their origin places and historic development. Large printed photos and texts on display, and there are many points of interests such as video and multi-media presentations, re-enactments like the Welsh Revolt initiated by the St. David's Welsh (Wales) pavilion at Heritagefest 2015, and a special-edition magazine distributed by the Bangladesh Heritage and Ethnic Society of Alberta.
Assisting other Arts, Cultural and Charitable Groups
In 1986 The Edmonton Heritage Festival Association funded and built the Heritage Amphitheatre. The Amphitheatre has been used since for thousands of events and activities, annual and perennial. Such events include Freewill Shakespeare, Symphony under the Sky, Edmonton Rockfest, Edmonton Blues Fest, private corporate events, weddings and countless others.
The Association also developed and upgraded Hawrelak Park and its infrastructure including the creation of permanent pavilions, equipment for water and electrical hook-ups, upgrades to the electrical systems and other improvements. This infrastructure is used by most of the festival and events that take part in the park including SilverSkate Festival, Paws in the Park, Edmonton Emergency Preparedness Days, Ice Castle and others.