Festival, Events & Protests - How to Find Them

Sometimes people ask me how I know about the events I photograph. For the most part, many of them are events that I go to every year. Then there are sources I subscribe to either by email or on Facebook to keep me informed.  Plus there are friends who tell me about events or festivals I might not have heard about. Which is entirely possible. Calgary has become really diverse and I can barely keep up with all the cultural celebrations that pop up.

If you can't find a weekend festival, then you are not looking. I'm always looking. If there's a fair, festival, pow wow, protest, or cultural celebration that you'd like to share add a comment.

I thought that I had already made a blog of my event sources, but apparently not. So here are lists of a few events I like to photograph and resources.

Festivals & Events

For festival and event lists try these:

• The Visit Calgary website
• Events in Calgary Facebook page, 
• Downtown Calgary website - can sign up for weekly email notification.
• Avenue magazine - sign up for free e-newsletters.
• Swerve Magazine - Events page or follow on Facebook.

Some of my favorite festivals/events:

• Calgary Comic Expo Parade of Wonders - It's always fun photographing the cosplayers and people who just want to be comic book characters. 

• Lilac Festival - My festival season warmer-upper.

• Canada Day - This year is Canada's 150th anniversary and there are a ton of things happening in downtown Calgary, and tons of things (musicians, pow-wow dancers, people, show cars, fireworks...) to photograph. If you want something a little less hectic, just south of Calgary is the Canada Day Millarville Races. 

• Calgary Stampede - Whether you go to the parade, pay to stroll Stampede Park, or catch the freebies on Stephen Avenue, the Calgary Stampede is a dream to photograph.

• Inglewood Sunfest - Street performers, musicians, and local shops put on a pretty good show.

• Calgary Carifest - After a taking a break last year, looks like Carifest is back and active on Facebook.

• Calgary Pride - Feel the love! Although the actual festival is more than a week long, I usually only go to the Pride Parade, which keeps getting bigger every year, and the party that follows.  This year the parade route has changed and the party has moved to Princes Island Park.

• Zombie Walk - Totally gruesome fun, usually the second Saturday in October.  With only a Facebook page, the annual Zombie Walk is totally grassroots organized.  This one is touch and go (or run) for me, depending on if I have to work.  I just discovered a Calgary Zombie Survivor, an obstacle course run that's happening in August at the Millarville Racetrack. Not sure, but I think this is the one that started in Cochrane.

• Beakerhead - Science and art, how cool is that!

• Remembrance Day - Ceremonies take place in a few key areas in Calgary, notably Memorial Park, Museum of the Regiments, and the Field of Poppies (Memorial Drive west of Centre Street Bridge).

Protests:

Protests are different than festivals in that some are annual, like Earth Day in April, or spur of the moment, like the Women's March or the March for Science that happened as a reaction to Donald Trump becoming president. A few you can mark on your calendar, while others you will need to connect with activist sites to stay informed.

Activist Facebook sites to follow:

• Calgary Social Change Events & Action
• Calgary Raging Grannies
• Take Back the Night Treaty 7 
• Calgary Idle No More Next Steps

Annual activist events:

The United Nations has a list of International Days commemorating various causes. Here are a few that I have covered in Calgary.

• International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (a weekend close to March 21)
• 4/20 (April 20) - An international rally to legalize marijuana. Although with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau soon to make pot legal, I'm not sure where this group is going in Canada. Here is the Calgary chapter.
• Earth Day (April 22)
• Calgary Pride Parade (first Sunday in September)

Notable Links:

For when you want to get out of the big city, take a look at these websites.

• Travel Alberta or Travel Alberta Rodeos
• Alberta Pow Wows
• Government of Alberta Department of Agriculture and Forestry: Fairs and Exhibitions
• CAFE Calendar of Fairs

Inglewood Sunfest 2013

Inglewood Sunfest 2013 - retro bass, a photo by Wanderfull1 on Flickr.

Spent most of Saturday in Inglewood. Every time I go to Inglewood I find something new to love.

First, I started off the day wandering the back streets of Inglewood with a new photo Meetup group called Photo to Brew. The idea being we meetup, take photos, and then go for a brew. The call to shoot the Inglewood Sunfest was strong, though, and I didn't join the group for the lunch and brew part. Maybe next time.

At the festival vendors lined both side of 9th Avenue for blocks and performers (some from the Fringe Festival) were everywhere. There was a lot to see and a lot of people wandering around looking. The regular neighborhood stores had special sales, as well.

Robinson's Camera had a big sale on Pentax stuff. Wound up unexpectedly buying a new lens (75-300mm), a double pack of remote cable releases, and a level all for less than $200. I won't go into what I got at Recordland, but I could've easily spent that much there, too.

The performers were great, but I found myself returning to The Blues Can. First I saw a trio called Stone of Nowhere. They described themselves as being mostly 14 year olds, but their style was vintage. (This photo is their bass player.) They nailed a Led Zeppelin classic better than some musicians I've heard twice their age. Later on I saw some older fellows doing some majorly smooth blues riffs. Pure heaven.  Will definitely have to check out more of The Blues Can, I think.

The Inglewood Sunfest is not quite as big as the Lilac Festival or Kensington's Sun & Salsa Fest, which is a good thing.  You can get still get close to the vendors and performers.  Still, I think it will become another major festival to check out every summer.

Links:

* Inglewood Sunfest

* The Blues Can

* Stone of Nowhere

* Inglewood Sunfest - Flickr Set

* Robinson's Camera

* Recordland

* Photo to Brew - Meetup Group

* Calgary Fringe Festival

A Million Things in Calgary

Yesterday, there were a million things going on in Calgary.  It started in the early morning (as I was watering my community garden plot) with a chat with an artist friend who has been commissioned to create a collaborative mural downtown.  He's going to let me be their documentary photographer.  Then I rushed downtown and managed to do a CPL Photo Club walkabout.  I caught bits of Fiestaval, Rock the Walk in East Village, Market Collective at the Mewata Armory, the Parade of Chariots at Shaw Millennium Park, and everything in between. Met some other photographers, some new ... hey, Photo to Brew Meetup crew!... and some I hadn't seen for a while.  It made for a very cool day.

Small portions of several murals painted on the 4th Street flyover pillars, along the river bike path in East Village.

A devout worshiper participating in the Parade of Chariots festival on Stephen Avenue. 

A shopper at the Rock the Walk festival in East Village.

Dancers and a rainbow diablo at Fiestaval.