Visitors enjoy the sights and sounds of the Edmonton Heritage Festival. City News Edmonton
Heritage Festival Returns with Joy and Worries
Edmonton’s popular Heritage Festival is back this weekend at Borden Park. But while the spirit of celebration remains strong, organizers are facing big financial worries.
Rob Rohatyn, who leads the festival, shared his concern. “There’s funding challenges that we have been dealing with for many years. Post-COVID certainly has been a challenge,” he said.
Like many events across the city, the festival is feeling the pressure of rising costs. The pandemic slowed things down for years. And now, prices keep going up. But the money coming in hasn't changed.
Storm Damage Made Things Worse
Last summer, a strong storm damaged parts of the festival site. That forced them to cancel their busiest day. It was a big blow.
Getting help from the government has been slow, says Rohatyn. “Accessing the funds from the various levels of government to help our associations go forward, that paired with the increase in cost environment, it’s become a double whammy for festivals as of late,” he said.
Helping the Food Bank
The Heritage Festival is not just about music, dance, and food. It also plays a big role in helping the local food bank.
This event is the second-largest food drive for Edmonton’s Food Bank. Right now, the need is very high.
“We are serving 44,000 people each month through our hamper programs, but that’s just one of the services we offer. We provide food to soup kitchens, shelters, school programs, and what we’re seeing is food comes in one door and goes out the other. It’s just a continuous pattern,” said Marjorie Bencz, who heads the food bank.
With more people needing help, the food bank is hoping festival visitors will donate whatever they can.
A Colorful Weekend at Borden Park
This year’s Heritage Festival features 67 cultural pavilions. People can enjoy food, music, and folk art from countries around the world.
It’s a great way to explore different cultures without leaving Edmonton. The festival runs from August 2 to 4, giving everyone a chance to join the fun.
Goodbye Borden Park, Hello Hawrelak
This will be the last year the festival takes place at Borden Park.
Next year, it moves back to Hawrelak Park, which has been under renovation for the past three years.
“There’s certainly some collaboration required for set up, with such a tight timeline between K-Days and our festival, there’s been a lot of work to make the west lot set up happen,” said Rohatyn.
Despite the hard times, organizers are hopeful that the festival will continue to grow and bring joy to the city.
