Depending on where you live, the national holiday marking Canada Day as a country will be filled with parades, concerts, fun competitions and exploding fireworks.
Here in St. Albert, the city has planned a casual, kick-back family day with free, all-day entertainment, outdoor movies and the nighttime splendour of fireworks.
“The big difference this year is the location. We’ve usually put our focus in the downtown. But with the Farmers’ Market on Saturday, we’ll be at Servus Place. We saw this as an opportunity for change, and if the weather doesn’t cooperate, we can go inside,” said Kristen Schopper, event supervisor for the City of St. Albert’s Recreation and Parks.
All-day festivities begin Saturday morning at Servus Place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The day offers live mainstage outdoor performances, roving artists both indoors and outdoors, face painting, inflatables, a scavenger hunt, glitter tattoos and free public skating.
Kathleen Bell, the city’s community cultural coordinator, programmed the outdoor mainstage starting with the infectious sound of The Borch Brothers at 10 a.m.
“They’re Alberta boys with an East Coast music vibe. But the music also has a bit of jazz, Ukrainian and Celtic. They’re very eclectic and they play accordion, piano, fiddle and guitar,” said Bell.
Roughly at 10:40 a.m., Cyra, 16, a popular St. Albert high school student mounts the stage.
“She loves to sing R&B. She sings beautiful covers of R&B oldies and hits, and she’s very bubbly on stage.”
Métis artist Kaeley Jade follows at 11:15 a.m.
“She’s a beautiful singer-songwriter with an indie folk, modern pop vibe.”
At 12 noon, there is a formal ceremony and reading by the city’s Poet Laureate Lauren Seal.
“She’ll be reading a community poem. Several months ago, she put out a prompt: How do you create joy in the community? She gathered feedback over the last couple of months and wrote a beautiful poem from the prompts. I can’t wait to hear it. She’s called it To Create Joy by the people of St. Albert and edited by Lauren Seal.”
Once the formalities are over, Mariachi Borealis recreates Latin music's trumpet-guitar melodies at 12:45 p.m. Immediately following is Haitian born poet Medgine Mathurin who introduces a mix of poetry from different places and cultures.
Bad Mojo, a St. Albert band that competed in 2022 Amplify Battle of the Bands, returns to the stage strutting its mix of rock and funk covers at 1:35 p.m. followed by Colin Matty, a merchant poet who writes poetry on the spot.
The duo, Strangers and Friends, also known as Maya Hill and Jake Coyes, make an appearance at 2:50 p.m.
“Jake is an incredible guitarist and Maya has a bluesy, indie folk-rock voice.”
Angie Caroline, also from Amplify, will sing a set of her original indie-pop material at 3 p.m. while Fireside Duo closes the entertainment at 3:30 p.m. Andrea Shipka and Tayt Tweten belt out a cocktail of crowd pleasers from Bruce Springsteen and R&B to the latest pop hits.”
Roving artists will roam the complex throughout the day. They include the Great Balanzo's circus act, Ron Pearson’s magic show and Acorn Thief stilt walkers. The biggest splash will most likely be Puppet Stuff Canada with its undersea roving experience. It includes a giant blue octopus that requires three puppeteers to manipulate it.
“I wanted to program diversity, and this just speaks to the depth of talent in our community,” said Bell.
Limited parking is on site. There is a free Park & Ride running 9:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Nakî Transit Centre and St. Albert Transit Centre. Visitors are requested to bring a non-perishable food donation for the St. Albert Food Bank.
The adventure continues at Millennium Park with two free, drive-in style showings of The Super Mario Bros. Movie at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Fresh Air Cinema Services will provide a three-story high inflatable movie screen with LED lights that can be viewed during daylight hours.
“The screen is on a flatbed truck and we’ve used it on the Plaza. It works really well,” Schopper said.
Parking will be available downtown and food trucks will offer light refreshments and snacks.
A dazzling fireworks display lights up the night sky at 11 p.m. from Meadowview Ball Diamonds. The ball diamonds will be closed to the public, however, great spots to view the display include Red Willow Trails near the Children’s Bridge, Lions Park and Millennium Park.
Schopper concluded by saying, “ I just hope people have a good time and see what the community has to offer in a variety of locations. Last year was the first year we had in-person celebrations since COVID. We estimated 10,000 people came by and it was nice to see them. There was a flow in and out throughout the day. Come out and enjoy the activities. Just show up and come when it works for you.”
