Live chickens will march past St. Albert Place during this year’s Rainmaker Festival parade in what could be a historic first.
The 2025 Rainmaker Festival is this May 23-25, with thousands expected to head to Rodeo Drive to take in the festival’s midway, concerts, and rodeo.
Kicking things off May 24 is the Rainmaker Parade. Organized by the Kinsmen Club of St. Albert, the parade celebrates St. Albert’s birthday and the Rainmaker Festival, and has been known to feature marching bands, tiny trucks, giant inflatable bowling pins, and a flame-spewing hot-air balloon burner.
Parade chairperson Dave MacGillivray said about 99 groups are entered into this year’s parade as of May 16 and he expected to have just over 100 by the May 19 deadline.
“It’s going to be a fairly spectacular parade to view,” he predicted, and should last about two hours.
MacGillivray said this year’s parade will once again follow the reversed route it followed last year because of the temporary relocation of the St. Albert Centre bus exchange. Parade organizers noticed having the parade start at the St. Albert Curling Club instead of Muir Dr. avoided traffic jams on McKenny Ave., so they decided to keep the reversed route.
Parade participants will muster up along Sir Winston Churchill Ave. south of the curling club prior to 8:30 a.m. on May 24. At 9:30 a.m., the parade will set out from the curling club and proceed along Sir Winston Churchill Ave., St. Anne St., Perron St., Mission Ave., and Mill Drive before stopping at the parish on St. Vital Ave. The parade will start with the Rainmaker Parade banner-bearers and end with a fire truck.
MacGillivray said all streets along the parade route plus the southbound side of Sir Winston Churchill from the curling club to Levasseur Rd. will be closed from about 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. for this event.
Chickens and horses
MacGillivray said this year’s parade will feature live music from about a dozen marching bands, including the Edmonton Police Service and RCMP pipes and drum groups. Also scheduled to participate are dancers, drummers, and a wagon from Enoch Cree Nation; riders from the Strathcona Mounted Troop; and vintage military vehicles courtesy Ron Hodgson GMC.
New to the parade this year will be a delegation of chickens. MacGillivray said this was the first time he had seen someone enter a non-horse farm animal into the parade since he started volunteering with it in the 1990s. The Gazette was unable to determine if parades prior to then featured live farm animals.
Sturgeon County resident Monique Webb, who teaches an urban hen course for the City of St. Albert, said she organized this delegation to promote backyard hens.
“The roots of the Rainmaker Rodeo were always rooted in agriculture,” she said, and this display aims to bring that farm sense back.
Webb said the delegation will consist of about six or eight local students carrying one hen each, using a specially designed carrier bag, much as a rich socialite might tote a dog in a purse. The delegation will also include a display of chicken cages.
Webb said backyard hens are a great way for city residents to bond with neighbours and raise their own food.
“The kids are excited to show off and share their chickens.”
MacGillivray said St. Albert Coun. Shelley Biermanski and CTVNews celebrities Josh Classen and Conner Hogg will be at St. Albert Place to judge the parade, grading each entry on enthusiasm, effort, and novelty. Top scorers could win hundreds of dollars in prizes.
Visit rainmakerevents.ca/Rainmaker-Festival/Rainmaker-Parade for parade details.
