The Edmonton Heritage Festival is an annual festival held over the August long weekend (first Monday of August) that celebrates the cultural diversity in the city. In 2019, it was held over the Aug 3-5 long weekend. I went in the afternoon of the first day, Saturday Aug 03 2019.

The festival is held in Hawrelak Park, and the format has each country being alloted one or two tents, and then turning the tent/s into food or souvenir shops and staffing them with volunteers from what assumedly is the country’s local cultural association.

This blog was written on Aug 01 2021. It’s really just a screenshot dump because I don’t remember much detail about the event two years after it happened. I wanted to get this out though, so that I could link a picture or two in the 2021 thread. There are 15 pictures in all.

First up, this is a map of the festival in 2019. There were 73 numbered tents in all, though not all of them are countries.

This was a screenshot of the crowd at 1:47 pm. Lots of people! No masks! (This was pre-pandemic.)

One of the performing groups. I couldn’t tell you which one by now. Probably Mauritius or Fiji based on the map.

A big sweltering Pikachu! I wouldn’t want to be inside that costume.

A board in the Japanese tent where you could write wishes and hang them up. I guess it replaced Tanabata, which is celebrated in Japan on July 7th.

Some random person’s wish.

Another performance. I feel like this might have been the Russian one but I have no proof, just an inkling of a memory.

Another one that looks like a Russian/Ukrainian style dance, but that I can’t pinpoint for sure.

Serbian currency through the ages. Cool!

It’s so nice when they label the stage. Thanks Italy!

Probably Indonesia, based on the flags.

I think this was some sort of fancy old ice cream or drink maker that you made by turning that big wheel.

A duck!

A duck watching people paddle by on inflatable rafts.

A duck proving its superiority over inflatable rafts.