Edmonton’s Folk Music Festival and 100,000 people took over Gallagher Park for four days of music, food and fun.
The four-day festival treated people to performances from dozens of artists, including Blue Rodeo, KT Tunstall and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss.
“Such a great show,” Terry Wickham, the festival producer, said.
“I couldn’t be happier. The weather was so good … the audience was great, the volunteers were great. No complaints.”
The festival has been attracting crowds for 45 years now and the crowds were happy to come.
“It’s phenomenal. It’s an amazing atmosphere, something for everybody,” Alyssa Agostinis, one of the attendees, said.
The first year Folk Fest was held it was at Gold Bar Park, but it’s been at Gallagher Park every year after that.
“It has the iconic view, but it also has the practicality of (being) a natural acoustic amphitheater, so the sound is very good,” Wickham said. “It has spectacle and drama because it fits so many people.”
The festival runs at a capacity of 25,000 people per day and all four days were full to bursting, according to Wickham.
“You get a really great sense of community here,” an attendee told CTV News Edmonton. “If you really want to see what Edmonton is all about, you want to enjoy the river valley, listen to great music, meet some great people, this is just a great place to be for that.”
Last week, there were some tickets left for Thursday, but the festival decided to give tickets to displaced Jasper residents.
“We had the space … it doesn’t cost us anything,” Wickham said. “I just thought people there might have a chance to connect with some community.
“I see family here, I see colleagues, I see friends that maybe I haven’t seen for a year, and I think for everybody it’s the same. It’s a real reunion.”