Edmonton Heritage Festival returns for 52nd year, last time at Borden Park
'It's a festival that brings the world together — it brings the community together,' said Rob Rohatyn, executive director of the Edmonton Heritage Festival Association.
'It gives the community an opportunity to meet and engage with all of the cultures that make up Edmonton.'
The Exhibition Lands (formerly Northlands) and Borden Park sit beside each other in central Edmonton, near 112 Avenue between 79 Street and Wayne Gretzky Drive.
From cultural music and dances to arts, crafts and food — this year there will be 67 pavilions to experience from August 2 to 4.
'All of our cultural pavilions are made up of not-for-profit cultural organizations from right here in Edmonton, they put in countless hours volunteer time, as well as their financial support in putting their pavilions together,' Rohatyn said.
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'Our festival is a really great revenue generator for these groups.
'The funds that they raise from this festival help to support cultural programs through their organization.'
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It will also be the last time for the event at the Exhibition Lands and Borden Park.
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The festival was forced to relocate there in 2023 from Hawrelak Park, which has been closed since then in order to carry out an extensive rehabilitation of the park in the North Saskatchewan River Valley.
Part of the heritage festival agreeing to relocate to Border Park for three years came with a number of expectations of the city, including a memorandum of understanding guaranteeing a right to return to Hawrelak Park, an agreement about incremental cost coverage and improvements to the site's egress.
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The work should leave the massive river valley park updated for decades to come.
'Excited to return to Hawrelak in 2026,' Rohatyn said.
'It's been our home — we've been removed from it for the last three years, but it's going to be a beautiful space when we return.'
Most of the infrastructure in Hawrelak was original to the park since its opening in 1967 and had exceeded its lifespan.
The project is addressing the utilities, transportation, open spaces and facility infrastructure throughout the entire park. A large part of the work: digging up and replacing underground lines and pipes.
The city is replacing the entire storm sewer, irrigation and water systems and upgrading power, gas and telecommunications. It is also expanding water service to provide fire coverage at several places of the park.
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Hawrelak Park is temporarily closed between 2023-2025 for rehabilitation in Edmonton's river valley. Credit: City of Edmonton
The main pavilion structure and plaza are getting updates to to finishes, fixtures, skate flooring, commercial kitchen, mechanical and electrical systems and adding gender-neutral washrooms.
The Heritage Amphitheatre will also see several changes: new outdoor seating and finishes as well as lighting, structural, mechanical and electrical upgrades, along with adding family/gender-neutral washrooms and more storage. The green room and back of house access will also be reconfigured.
In the park's open spaces, the playground and paddle boat dock will be replaced. The city is adding more lighting, bicycle parking and more shared-use paths connecting amenities, and repaving all roads.
The city said it will also dredge the sediment from the bottom of the lake.
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