Edmonton Heritage Festival

The Servus Heritage Festival is a three-day festival honouring Alberta's cultural heritage and cultural diversity, which is held annually over the August long weekend in William Hawrelak Park in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. With the Servus Credit Union as title sponsor since 2007 it is currently known as the Servus Heritage Festival.

The Festival is organized annually by the Edmonton Heritage Festival Association since 1976. At that time eleven communities united with the intent to display their cultures by offering traditional cuisine, entertainment, interpretive materials, and crafts to visitors.

Today in 2015 at its 40th annual anniversary the festival includes more than 85 different cultures in over 60 pavilions, where people present their cultural roots and local and national communities. The tents feature food, entertainment, artwork and crafts, clothing, and teach visitors about various cultures with displays including photos, paraphernalia, and stories.

Scandinavian Pavilion

Scandinavian dancers

Bangladesh Pavilion

Mexican dancers

Ukrainian dancers

The family-friendly and alcohol-free event offers free admission to its visitors, and gives each pavilion the opportunity to offer independently a sampling of foods, entertainment, arts and crafts, and customs. Entertainment starts on half and full hours for the pavilions, which share stage time throughout the day. The organizers and patrons of the festival encourage visitors for donations to the local food bank.

The park area at William Hawrelak Park offers no public parking (except bicycles) during the festival, but is connected well to the City of Edmonton Transit through exclusive Park'n'Ride services. The park is open throughout the day between 5am-11pm. During the time of the festival visitors are asked to leave their dogs at home.

The Servus Heritage Festival draws a respectable attendance with an estimated 382,000 people in 2015, 360,000-380,000 people in 2014, and 380,000–410,000 people in 2013. It is organized on a budget of about $500,000 per event. The number of pavilions and represented cultures at the festival have been growing over the years, with new representations for Haiti, Rwanda, Lebanon, Morocco and South Sudan in 2015.

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Wikipedia