K-Days, Carnaval and chapbooks: Edmonton this weekend
Taste of Edmonton has been "putting picnics to shame for 33 years," the website boasts. Trade in your wicker baskets and checkered blankets for tented food vendors and a craft brew in the shadow of the legislature. The festival has grown from eight restaurants in 1984 to 60 food and dessert vendors for the festival's first year at Capital Plaza.
K-Days is the one-stop shop of weekend events: everything you didn't know you needed in one neatly packaged festival ground. From the millennial nostalgia of Billy Talent or the baby boomer nostalgia of the Beach Boys, there are plenty of musical options. But there is much more to entertain you, including the makers exhibition, ribfest, the rodeo to the powwow, there is truly something to satisfy all persuasions.
The festival season continues with another instalment of Edmonton Carnaval. This multicultural arts festival celebrates the Latin and Hispanic experience, with a diverse array of vendors and performers including local salsa dancers and international musicians.The free fiesta lasts all weekend at Dr. Wilbert McIntyre Park.
Interstellar Rodeo has managed to pull in another impressive bill of performers, including headliners Feist, July Talk and Courtney Barnett. A third of this year's lineup is made up of Indigenous performers, featuring the powwow meets hip-hop stylings of DJ collective A Tribe Called Red and the Inuk folk-pop of Riit. The three-day festival kicks off on Friday evening at Hawrelak Park.
In 1960, some pals from Edmonton Power were devising a plan for some weekend fun and decided on a makeshift raft race. Now, 58 years later, that informal competition has turned into the annual Sourdough Raft Race on the North Saskatchewan. The rafting hijinks begins at 11:00 a.m. from Terwillegar Park, or get there early for a pancake breakfast.
Queens toppled from their throne deserve a eulogy, and we're not just talking about monarchs. Each poem in Matthew Stepanic's chapbook Relying on That Body is a dedicated response to the drag queens eliminated from RuPaul's Drag Race during the reality TV show's 10th season. To launch the collection, Stepanic will perform some of those poems at Evolution Wonderlounge alongside Edmonton's Youth Poet Laureate, Grayson Thate.
If you're looking for a family friendly weekend respite, join in on the Parks Day celebrations this Saturday at nearby provincial parks. There's canoe tours at Elk Island, scavenger hunts at Miquelon Lake and a hot dog BBQ at Lake-Blackfoot.
The opening night jitters have been shaken and Teatro La Quindicina is ready to take the stage for its second weekend of The Importance of Being Earnest. The local troupe will take the Varscona Theatre stage on Friday and Saturday, including a discounted matinee show.
Baseball players will compete for a taste of glory this weekend as the Little League Canada Senior Championship reaches its apogee at RE/MAX Field. The semi-finals are Saturday afternoon and the winner will be decided on Sunday. The successful team will compete at the travelling Mecca of youth baseball, the Little League World Championships in South Carolina. Go for the impressive junior baseball, stay for the antics of dedicated sports parents.
Grizzlar Coffee & Records, the coffee roaster/record company/cafe, hasn't officially opened yet. But this Friday, espresso enthusiasts and punk freaks will get a first look at the space while tasting the roasts on offer and listening to the first six releases on Grizzlar Records.
