Cowtown’s hottest summer festivals
Afrikadey! 2009
Aug. 2-8
You hope that it’s a safe bet to schedule a week long, primarily outdoors festival at the beginning of August in the city of Calgary, but it can be a gamble with past festivals suffering un-African like rains and even hailstorms. But if the sky is clear enough to bring out the sun we love so much it’s easy to get lost in the sights and sounds of Calgary’s annual Afrikadey! festival. Running The musical lineup for the final day hasn’t been confirmed as of yet. Last year’s performers included Habib Koite, Samputu and Klyde Broox.
Carifest 2009
June 7
Also known as the Sunshine Festival, Carifest happens at Shaw Millennium Park after the colourful parade makes it way from Olympic Plaza to the park. Cross your fingers that the performers dance up some real Caribbean sunshine so we can bask in the sun while sitting in the beer gardens and mowing down on some genuine Caribbean eats. A line up of performers will be announced as soon as the website is up and running.
Fiestaval
July 17-19, fiestaval.ca
If you step off the train at Olympic Plaza and aare bewildered for a moment, unsure if you’re still in Calgary, it’s likely because the sounds of hot Latin beats coming from the plaza. The weekend festival features music, dance, food and culture exhibitions from the many countries that make up Calgary’s strong Latin community. Festival performers and vendors are still being gathered.
2009 Calgary Jazz Festival
Begins June 24
C-Jazz promotes jazz music all year long with musical performances happening citywide. But it’s the annual summer jazz festival that becomes a true celebration of the music genre. A few of the headliners for the week long festival have announced, including Jimmy Cobb’s So What Band, King Sunny Ade and the African Beats, Michael Kaeshammer and the Branford Marsalis Quartet are all lined up to take over downtown venues. Celebrating its 30th year of toe-tapping, soul-moving sounds, this year’s festival promises to keep that tradition.
Calgary Folk Festival
July 23-26
Calgary sure has some hard-core folk fans out there. Prime example of this? The running of the tarpies. What? When the gates finally open the weekend of the annual Folk Festival, attendees flood through the gates to lay down tarps, blankets and chairs to claim the primo spot to watch the incredible line up. It some what mellows after that, but only in the way that everyone happily settles down to take in the stellar sounds coming from the stage. The official line up is announced May 14 but so far the festival includes Kid Koala, Deep Dark Woods, Bellowhead, Pacifika, Mark Berubs and the Patriotic Few and Mavis Staples. A true family event, the Folk Festival has a designated family area so kids can entertain themselves with crafts and activities. Performers for the Little Folks’ area include Fada Dance, The Sizeable Men and Wagon Stage.
Vans Warped Tour
Aug. 12, warpedtour.com
The annual Warped Tour screeches into Race City Speedway with a line up not yet announced. Their website encourages attendees to suggests bands they’d like to see in the comment section of the page. Nothing is confirmed as of yet but you can view potential bands on the website as well. Keep checking back for more info.