Now in its fifth year, the Kaleido Family Arts Festival, running from Sept. 10 to 12 has become a staple of the vibrant visual and performing arts enclave on 118 Avenue.
Organizers have programmed live blues performances, a roots acoustic coffee house, a no-tie gala art show, a one-man show on the homeless and a lantern parade. And that’s only Friday night.
Saturday and Sunday are crammed with a free pancake breakfast, a central stage with non-stop entertainment, art workshops, a grand piano back alley stage, performances in the park, theatre for the masses, choirs, circus arts, puppetry, world drumming, a rooftop choir and a poetry slam with a $500 prize. And that just skims the surface.
If the weather co-operates, Arts on the Ave president and festival founder Christy Morin expects anywhere from 10,000 to 12,000 people to attend.
“The real beauty of this festival is that it’s an eclectic artistic expression, all different disciplines fused in different ways. It opens the mind and plays with it to see how much can be experienced,” says Morin.
She started the festival five years ago after discovering a high number of artistic individuals living in the community. In a bid to help revitalize the sagging 118 Avenue area, she created the Arts Alive Festival, later renamed Kaleido.
From its initial start of 300 bodies, the festival has spiked exponentially to 6,000 visitors last year. “Seeing an old historic neighbourhood left to decay come back to life can really move the human spirit.”
There are several new activities this year, one of which is the Aurora Lantern Parade kicking off the festival on Friday at 10 p.m. Artists from across the Edmonton area have created more than 100 lanterns that will be carried down 118 Avenue from the Nina Haggerty Arts Centre. “Hand drummers and dancers will line both sides of the street as the illuminated lanterns pass, and it is only fitting that we begin the festival with the ignition of light.”
Another new addition is Don’s Grande Piano Alley tucked behind 91 Street and 118 Avenue. “My vision was to have a gritty back alley stage juxtaposed with the black and white dress of classic ESO musicians.”
Don Vaugois of Don’s Piano Warehouse happened to be a close friend of Morin’s grandfather. He loaned a grand piano while Morin rallied to find finely tuned musicians such as St. Albert music teacher Ina Dykstra and the WindRose Trio to showcase their talent.
St. Albert resident Lori Mohacsy reprises her role in the Fringe production The Missadventurous Perils of Pauline at the Old Cycle Building while Kate Ryan, a St. Albert Children’s Theatre alumna, once again brings to life Kaybridge Puppets.
A complete 32-page program is available online at www.artsontheave.org.
