Calgary 
Chinook Blast, Calgary’s premier winter festival, is returning for its sixth annual celebration.
Credit: Chinook Blast
Calgary is gearing up for a brighter, louder, and much more playful winter as Chinook Blast prepares to take over its new home at the renovated Eau Claire Plaza from January 30 to February 16, 2026.
The festival is expanding into a full seasonal hub, combining art installations, winter sports, live entertainment, cultural markets, and plenty of reasons to bundle up and stay outside.
The shift comes with a creative overhaul led by three guest curators, Paul Magnuson, Victoria Bucholtz and Kayla Bigras, who are shaping the grounds into a cold-weather playground built around performance, light, and community.
Here are some of the highlights:
Art Installations
- A 13-metre geodesic dome will anchor the plaza as a glowing festival centrepiece. Visitors won’t know what’s inside until they step in, but the exterior alone is positioned to dominate the skyline.
- Electric Dandelions, towering at 28 feet, arrive from California as oversized, LED-lit sculptures reinventing the idea of a winter bloom.
- Works like Ursa Major / Minor, Frost and Found and Crystal Wishes invite reflection through animation, sculpture and responsive projections.
- Others, including Where Light Gathers, LightScape, and The Cloud Swing, encourage play through illuminated spaces and community-made designs.
- Immersive pieces such as Luminisona, Parallax Wayfinders and Electric Grove transform public areas with shifting colour, sound and LED environments.
- Sculptural works such as Vaulted Arch Lanterns and Prairie Fire create striking visual landmarks, while Out From Under the Shadows3 reshapes space through motion and shadow.
Live Entertainment
- Drag on Ice 4 brings Joey Jay of RuPaul’s Drag Race and Calgary performer Karla Marx to Prince’s Island Lagoon for a performance that mixes skating with drag theatrics.
- The PK Sound Outdoor Electronic Showcase features local and regional artists, fire dancers, large-scale lighting, and open-air sets presented with VERSIONS, ILTYYC and B!G ART.
- Blue Jay Sessions: Valentine’s Edition offers a quieter contrast, with Tea Fannie, Alex Hughes and others performing collaborative love-themed sets.
Credit: Chinook Blast
Partner Programming
- High Performance Rodeo opens the festival with Kris Demeanor, Calgary’s first Poet Laureate, bringing spoken-word energy to the stage.
- Calgary Folk Music Festival’s Block Heater follows with performances by indie art-rock group L’omelette and Tribe Artist Society, blending hip hop and visual culture.
- Ethnik Festivals closes out Family Day with Afropop artist Skinny Blaizfaya and singer-songwriter Ray Val.
Markets & Food
- The Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre hosts this year’s markets, including Authentically Indigenous, featuring makers whose work highlights cultural storytelling, and Seconds Collective, focused on sustainable second-hand textiles.
- A new beer garden by Eighty-Eight Brewing Co. serves craft beer, mulled wine, Baileys and winter warmers for visitors looking to take a break and heat back up.
The full lineup will be released in January 2026.
