River City Writer

The August long weekend is the Heritage Festival in Edmonton. This year is the biggest year yet, with 63 pavilions, representing 75 cultures. For non-locals, or people who have only been in Edmonton for a short time, that should give you an idea of how multi-cultural this city is.

I’d wager that there are probably additional cultures that aren’t represented at the festival, either because they don’t want to participate, or because they don’t have enough money to setup a pavilion. For example, there is no Scottish pavilion. There is an Irish one, and an English one, but no Scottish one.

This always surprises me, as someone with Scottish ancestry, because I know that there is a fairly large Scottish population in Edmonton (just like in most of Canada). Mostly, it disappoints me because it means I can’t throw down some food tickets to taste of the “Great chieftain o the puddin’-race (Robbie Burns).”

If you’ve never been to the Heritage Festival, I recommend that you remedy this. It really is one of the best festivals of the summer. It mostly involves walking around the hot sun and eating a lot of “ethnic” food. It’s a pretty awesome way to spend a hot day in August. I only started going last year, but I’m already hooked. One year, I think I may go on the Sunday or Monday, so that the Israeli pavilion will be open (it’s closed on Saturday, as it’s the Jewish Sabbath from Friday sundown until Saturday sundown, at which point the festival is shutdown for the day).

This year, I’m looking forward to trying new food, and seeing new cultures that weren’t represented before. I’m also looking forward to some of my favourite things from last year:

• Falafel at the Arab pavilion (which also happens to be one of the largest and best designed pavilions)
• Bannock at the First Nations pavilion
• Curries from all around Asia and India
• Jerk chicken at the Jamaican pavilion
• Langos from the Hungarian pavilion
• Irish jig-dancing girls
• Steel drums at a couple of the African pavilions
• Croatian dancers (mainly because I know one of the dancers, and enjoy teasing her)
• German bratwurst

There is a whole lot of other cool stuff that happens down at the Heritage Festival, and I’m sure you’ll find something that you enjoy as much as I enjoy the things I’ve listed. Plus, if you get tired of walking around all day, you can just find a spot on the grass and chill out in the park for a while. The festival is spread over a large enough area that you actually can escape from the crowd if you need to.

If you’d like to come and meet me and my friends at the festival, we will be meeting at the main gates to Hawrelak Park at approximately 11AM. If you miss us, and you know my cellphone number, give me a call and we’ll come find you.

P.S.: If you have left over food tickets at the end of the day, the Edmonton Food Bank will take them off of your hands (they receive $0.75 for every donated food ticket). I should also mention that admission to the festival is free with a donation to the Food Bank.

The Edmonton Heritage Festival runs August 4 - 6 at William Hawrelak Park, the pavilions open at noon on Saturday, and 10AM on Sunday and Monday. There is no public parking at the Park during this festival. Please use public transit or park & ride service.