Preview
Global Fest
August 19 to 24
Elliston Park and various venues
It was a decade ago that a handful of Calgarians found they had a common civic lust for displays of explosions set to music, like those that make up the international fireworks competitions in Vancouver and Montreal. Said Calgarians then posed a question to each other: If those cities can do it, why can't we?
The simple answer to that question, they soon found, nearly ended their waking dream. Calgary can't have one, they concluded, because there isn't a suitable location. Fireworks and ocean harbours work wonderfully together, but fireworks and dry fescue aren’t exactly complementary.
But never underestimate the tenacity of a group of well-connected Calgarians (including Lindsay Dann and Martin Landy, among many others) with a nagging case of explosion envy. Eureka hit the group a few years later in the form of a 20-hectare stormwater collector near a garbage dump – a.k.a Elliston Park, a relatively new city-owned park in the southeast that boasts Calgary’s second largest lake and a beautiful sprawling greenspace that completely obscures the nearby landfill. Their dream finally had a home.
But said heroes weren't finished. Another wave of inspiration had buried itself in their minds, this time emerging from the banks of the Red River. Winnipeg's two-week summer multicultural extravaganza, Folklorama, had the group asking a similar question: If they can do it, why can’t we?
Enter Global Fest: a two-part, six-day festival featuring the city's first international fireworks competition and a multicultural celebration named the One World Festival. It may have taken a while, but backed by some high-profile sponsors and a roster of musical firebugs from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, organizers are hoping Global Fest makes a quick leap to the top of Calgary’s festival list.
That may be an ambitious goal in a city rife with dozens of summer festivals, but there seems to be no lack of ambition down at Global Fest headquarters, where Daniela Lindner says plans are already in the works to bring in more fireworks teams and cultural organizations over the next two years.
"Oh yes, we’re already looking beyond this year. We intend to make this an annual event," Lindner says. "We had cultural organizations say ‘This is great,’ but, for whatever reason, they couldn’t do it this year. We definitely want to expand it."
Most people involved would probably be heartened to hear such talk. The festival has the support of several surrounding communities and the International Avenue (17th Avenue S.E.) Business Revitalization Zone, and 11 different cultural organizations have signed on to operate cultural pavilions as part of the multicultural festival.
Those pavilions make the festival truly regional because they are scattered throughout the surrounding community at churches and community halls, rather than just at Elliston Park. The Africa pavilion, for example, will be located at the Holy Trinity Family Activity Centre, while the German pavilion will reside at the German Canadian Club.
Lindner says using such a format involves more of the community and helps better identify the multiculturalism of the city.
"All of Calgary is pretty multicultural. We tend to forget that, especially if we are of north European background," Lindner says. "It’s really exciting... to see all these different cultures. It’s a very dynamic city."
Mixing an international fireworks competition with a multicultural festival may be called dynamic as well.
For its part, the fireworks competition isn’t made up of a few beer-fuelled pyros – the participants are international competitors launching elaborate exhibitions set to music. They are judged on quality, synchronization, general appreciation and something called "pyromusical concept" (or the overall artistry of the performance). Fireworks displays of this magnitude have never been seen in Calgary before.
As with all new festivals, however, there is a wrinkle, albeit a surmountable one – there is virtually no parking at Elliston Park and very little in the surrounding area, as parts of 17th Avenue S.E. will be closed for a few hours each evening during the festival. Lindner encourages everyone to use city transit to get to the park and pavilions, and says designated shuttle buses are set to travel between pavilions and Elliston Park. (If heading straight to the fireworks, Global Fest organizers say the best way to get to Elliston Park is by taking bus route 45 from the Marlborough C-Train station.)
"Ideally, take your bike down to the bus and have a good time," Lindner says. "If (you) must drive, see a pavilion and take the shuttle bus. But we’d like to see Calgarians part with their cars."
But if Global Fest’s organizers pull off their two-pronged event with parking as the only wrinkle, their success will be well deserved. It may even leave some out-of-towners with a nagging question in their minds: If Calgary can do that...?
Global Fest locations
Global Fest’s International Fireworks Competition takes place August 20 - 24 at Elliston Park, located at 17th Avenue and 60th Street S.E. The park remains open to the public during the week, except during the hours of the fireworks festival, from about 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. from August 20 to 23rd (and perhaps August 24, if weather forces a cancellation on one of those evenings), when tickets are required. The One World Festival takes place August 19 to August 24 (check www.globalfest.ca for pavilion times) at the following locations:
· Africa, located at the Holy Trinity Family Activity Centre (1514 - 44 St. S.E.).
· Spirit of Asia, located at Marlborough Community Centre (636 Marlborough Way N.E.).
· Congo RDC, located at Forest Heights Community Hall (4909 Forego Ave. S.E.).
· Franco-Canadian, located at Marlborough Community Centre.
· German, located at German Canadian Club (2626 - 23 St. N.E.).
·Indian, located at Indo-Canadian Centre Hall (826 Edmonton Tr.l N.E.).
· Irish, located at Penbrooke Meadows Community Hall (6100 Penbrooke Dr. S.E.).
· Metis, located at Forest Lawn Community Hall (4020 - 26 Ave. S.W.).
·Mexico Lindo, located at Inglewood Community Hall (1740 - 24 Ave. S.E.).
·Dances of the Middle East, located at St. Vladmir’s Cultural Centre (402 Meredith Rd. N.E.). |
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