Local Entertainment

The 33rd annual Edmonton International Fringe Festival is out in full force with a vivid cast of characters. Just skim the surface of the parade and you'll see living statues, hippies, medieval tavern wenches, zombies, fortune tellers, magicians, jugglers and acrobats.

One local animator’s show business aspirations are becoming realized, now that he has been signed up to a prominent animation network. Riley Beach has just joined forces with the Channel Frederator Network.

Once a struggling newbie trying to get its foot in the door and keep an audience base, St. Albert Theatre Troupe is entering a new era of growth and maturity.

Humungous. Unpredictable. Eclectic. Zany. These are just a few adjectives that describe the explosion of theatre at the 33rd edition of the Edmonton International Fringe Festival now running until Aug. 24.

The Klondike brings to mind images of scruffy miners loaded with gold panning equipment stampeding up the Chilkoot Pass to stake a claim. Contrary to popular myth, it was not solely male-dominated territory.

A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier.

For 32 years the St. Albert and District Garden Club has hosted its Summer Splendour garden and produce show, but Gertrude Zwierink never entered the contest until 2013.

There's the thumping of a drum, a blur of colour and muted moccasins hit the earth as First Nation dancers thrill thousands of tourists. This is the excitement of powwow dancing as seen through the eyes of First Nations and MĂ©tis culture.

The movie that won the hearts and minds – as well as the Best Canadian Feature prize – at last year’s Edmonton International Film Festival is finally getting a wider release in theatres.

The machinery is in place to crank out the 33rd annual Edmonton Fringe Festival. All that's needed is for the curtain to rise tomorrow for an expected explosion of zany acts.