Street festivals return in Calgary with family-friendly Marda Gras 'lite' on Aug. 8
The Marda Gras Street Festival is back this year, marking the return of street festivals in Calgary.
The festival will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 8 in Marda Loop — at 33 Avenue and 22 Street S.W. — and is free to attend.
Marda Gras is returning with a 'lite' version of the festival after event organizers discussed crowd comfort levels and restrictions this summer.
Due to these organizational challenged, the festival had to change some of the traditional Marda Gras festivities.
The street festival offers visitors a chance to shop locally, reconnect with their community, and stretch their legs at this family-friendly event.
This year’s festival puts an emphasis on outdoor fun. There will be four, street performer corners attendees can walk to and from to take in music, magic and dance groups.
The smaller performances featured this year will replace the usual, larger-scale performances and organizers say the large, elevated stages will return to the Marda Gras Street Festival in 2022.
In order to address crowd comfort levels, there will be no kid’s zone this year — but it will also return in 2022 — and kids can instead pick up a free Marda Loop-themed colouring book.
The event will be pet friendly as well. Guests are also encouraged to bring their pet by the free pet photo booth for a fun Marda Gras-themed picture.
Local vendors and businesses will be set up on the street for people to do some outdoor shopping and browsing.
There will also be prizes given out at the festival, including special offers with a few of the local vendors set up at the festival.
Organizers say the festival is still subject to change, depending on public health restrictions.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.