Calgary’s GlobalFest Fireworks Festival Returns ‘Full Force’ for 20th Anniversary

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Calgary’s most explosive festival is back in “full force” for its 20th anniversary, according to organizers, with business expected to be as thriving as the fireworks on display.

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The annual GlobalFest multicultural celebration and the fireworks festival will take place in Elliston Park in East Calgary over five nights between August 18-27, and patrons will be able to enjoy food trucks, 24 cultural pavilions at the OneWorld Festival, a night market and a host of other family activities. friendly activities. This is the first large-scale GlobalFest since 2019, after a cancellation in 2020 and a scaled-down event in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If anything, what COVID showed is the fragility of community and the fact that Calgarians and people need to come together, they need to be in community,” said Ken Goosen, GlobalFest’s director of operations. “It’s events like GlobalFest that allow people to experience their community and experience it in a meaningful way.”

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The festival kicks off on Thursday night with a new show from the country that featured last year’s winning fireworks show, India. But this time, the artists will be on the same continent as their masterpiece as it explodes over Elliston Park.

“This year we have the designers with us in person,” Goossen said. “It makes it a completely different experience for our fireworks team to have the person who has that concept and put it together.

“It is one thing to read the plan and implement it; It’s another thing to have that conversation to understand what the designer is going for because that changes some of the nuances of how a show is put together.”

Reflecting on the 20-year trip, Goossen said that while impressive fireworks displays are what made the GlobalFest organization popular, its most important work is done during the rest of the year.

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“Ninety percent of people are attracted to fireworks. And we are so much more than fireworks,” he said, referring to the multiple services the group has headlined throughout the year, including its Human Rights Forum and other multicultural initiatives.

“Throughout the year, we do a lot to promote diversity engagement and profile diverse communities, and really what Elliston Park has become now is that celebration event. It is to celebrate all that incredible work that is done throughout the year and invite everyone to see it and share it.”

For more information on GlobalFest or to purchase festival tickets, visit globalfest.ca.

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Twitter: @miguelrdrguez