All-ages Eastern Slopes Music and Arts Festival set to bring a buzz to Bridgeland Saturday

Pancake perform in Calgary Saturday as part of the Eastern Slopes Music & Arts Festival at Bridgeland Community Association. (Photo courtesy Eastern Slopes)

A new all-ages music festival has its debut Saturday, when the Eastern Slopes Music & Arts Festival takes place at the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association.

The lineup includes a variety of Calgary acts, such as The Ashley Hundred, Kate Stevens, Ashley Ghostkeeper and K-Riz, among others.

Edmonton-based bands St. Arnaud and Good Information are also in the lineup.

Festival executive director Hanah Unterschultz, one of the festival’s four founders (along with Tory Roso, Meghan McMaster and Ian St. Arnaud), says the festival was created to showcase the city’s musical diversity.

“I truly believe there is no such thing as too much art and culture,” Unterschultz said, in an email to CTV News. “The community we are a part of is so full of incredible talent, we wanted to find an opportunity to showcase it all and do it in a way that felt true to who we are as musicians, and as music lovers.

“I’m lucky enough to know a lot of talented people, not just musically, but in event planning, finance and marketing,” she added, “so it was a perfect combination of skills to put something like this together.”

Unterschultz said the name of the festival is a fishing reference.

“Our artistic director, Tory Rosso grew up fishing a lot and ES1 (Eastern Slopes 1) is the region that encompasses the east side of the Rockies, through the foothills, toward the eastern edge of the city of Calgary, where it then becomes the prairies,” she said.

“We thought this was a fitting name because the event takes place here in the Eastern Slopes, and we wanted to pay homage to this beautiful place we call home, and the amazing talent that’s right here in Calgary.”

Unterschultz said it’s hard to know how many people to expect when it’s your first festival, but estimated around 300 may attend Saturday.

As for whether or not the Eastern Slopes Music and Arts Festival becomes an annual event?

“We would love to do this again next year! As I mentioned, there is always an opportunity to inject more arts and culture into our community, so if this year goes well, it’s only onwards and upwards!”

The festival takes place Saturday between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. Tickets are $39.50 in advance and $45 at the door. There will be food trucks and a beer garden on site.

The Bridgeland Community Association is at 917 Centre Street.

For tickets and info, go here.