Credit: Edmonton Heritage Festival
Yesterday, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw confirmed that gathering restrictions currently in place also apply to all one-time or annual summer events, including arts and culture festivals, agricultural fairs and rodeos, major sporting championships and industry conferences. As a result, The Edmonton Heritage Festival presented by Servus Credit Union, the largest multicultural Festival of its kind in the world, will not be celebrated in Hawrelak Park this year and will be reformatted from an on-site event into a virtual festival.
Announcing the change in format, Jim Gibbon, Executive Director of Edmonton Heritage Festival, said, “We regret not being able to join together, as in the past, to participate in a collective celebration of cultural diversity, but we recognize the challenges we are all dealing with at this time; and large crowds are neither appropriate nor acceptable during the pandemic,” said Jim Gibbon, Executive Director.
The 2020 Festival, previously scheduled to run from August 1 – 3 in Hawrelak Park, was to showcase food, culture, and entertainment from 74 Edmonton-based cultural groups.
New opportunities to share cultural content and entertainment are being planned in a virtual version of the Festival, and food for purchase from the cultural societies is to be offered through online ordering with pickup and delivery.
More details will be provided in the coming weeks.
Major Edmonton festivals like Taste of Edmonton, Edmonton Folk Festival, and Edmonton Fringe Festival are also cancelled due to COVID-19.