2020 On-Site Edmonton Heritage Festival Cancelled – Moves To Virtual Format
Deborah Forst
Marketing & Communications Director – Edmonton Heritage Festival
Yesterday the Government of Alberta, through Dr. Hinshaw, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, clarified that mass gathering restrictions apply to all summer festivals events in Alberta for the “foreseeable future”. As a result, the annual August long weekend tradition, the Edmonton Heritage Festival presented by Servus Credit Union, will not be celebrated in Hawrelak Park this year, and is instead being reformatted from an on-site event into a virtual festival.
“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.
The Edmonton Heritage Festival is the largest multicultural Festival of its kind in the world. This 3-day annual event takes place on the Heritage Day long weekend at Hawrelak Park, Edmonton, and is organized by the Edmonton Heritage Festival whose mandate is to promote public awareness and understanding of cultural diversity.
