Edmonton Summer Summary | Why Edmonton is Canada's Festival City

Thinking about moving to Edmonton? Wondering why so many people say summer is the best time to live here? This episode is your ultimate guide to everything that makes Edmonton one of Canada's most exciting cities during festival season.

In this week's episode of Real Estate in Edmonton – Where We Talk Real Estate and Real Life, Devin and Tracie take you beyond the housing market and into the heart of what makes Edmonton such an incredible place to call home.

From the long-awaited reopening of Hawrelak Park to world-famous festivals, incredible food, outdoor concerts, comedy, theatre, art, culture and family events, we explore why Edmontonians pack an entire year's worth of fun into just eight short weeks every summer.

Along the way, we share personal stories, debate which weird K-Days food we'd actually eat (deep-fried butter Oreos, anyone?), talk about our favourite festivals, and explain why Edmonton's incredible community events are one of the reasons people choose to live—and stay—here.

This episode also pays tribute to Brian Paisley, whose vision helped launch the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival in 1982. Brian's passion transformed Edmonton into the home of North America's oldest and largest Fringe Festival and helped cement our city's reputation as Festival City. His legacy continues to inspire artists and audiences from around the world.

In this episode:

• Why Edmonton is proudly known as Festival City
• Hawrelak Park's exciting reopening after its revitalization
• Edmonton International Street Performers Festival
• Whyte Avenue Art Walk
• Rockin' Thunder
• Freewill Shakespeare Festival
• Taste of Edmonton
• K-Days and this year's outrageous midway foods
• Great Outdoors Comedy Festival
• Edmonton Jerk Festival
• Edmonton Reggae Festival
• Edmonton Heritage Festival
• Cariwest Caribbean Arts Festival
• Edmonton Folk Music Festival
• Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival
• Dragon Boat Festival
• Edmonton Pride Festival
• Summer real estate trends and why buying or selling during festival season can actually work to your advantage

Whether you're buying your first home, investing in Edmonton real estate, relocating to Alberta, or simply looking for the best things to do this summer, this episode has something for everyone.

What's your favourite Edmonton summer tradition?

Are you Team K-Days? Do you never miss the Fringe? Is Heritage Festival your annual tradition? Or is there another hidden gem we should feature on a future episode?

Leave us a comment—we'd love to hear what makes summer in Edmonton special to you.

Subscribe for weekly episodes covering Edmonton real estate, neighbourhoods, local events, investing, community stories, and everything that makes life in Edmonton extraordinary.

Real Estate in Edmonton — where we talk real estate and real life.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Once July hits, Edmonton completely transforms. As soon as the kids are out of school for the summer, we squeeze in an entire year's worth of fun in just eight weeks before they have to go back to school.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Too short.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Edmonton is always ready to entertain with outdoor swimming pools, though, parks, trails, exhibits, and the biggest summer festivals and events are yet to come. Some exciting new things happening around the city as well. We've got all that for you today. So this is the Edmonton Summer Summary for you.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

That's right. And if you're thinking of buying, selling, or investing in Edmonton, or just want to know more about the city, you've come to the right place. Welcome to Real Estate in Edmonton, where we talk real estate and real life.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

This is Real Estate in Edmonton, helping you navigate buying, selling, investing, and living in Edmonton, hosted by Realtor Devin Gray and professional broadcaster Tracy Gray.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

And this week, what's new in Edmonton? What's a happening? It includes a very exciting announcement that Horlac Park opened up just a little while ago, just in time for the festivals to come along because a lot of our big festivals take place there. And the park was closed down for a few years. So that's a big deal in Edmonton. It's right along the river, absolutely gorgeous, perfect venue for a festival. It was dearly missed.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

That's right. One of the, if not the largest park in Edmonton, always packed on a nice hot summer day. And it'll be nice to uh have that place open again.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

And they did a major revitalization. Uh so it's reopened the walking trails, bike paths, picnic areas, and there's a new restaurant in there too.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

I didn't know that. Oh, so check it out.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Great idea. Well, happy Canada Day. We just celebrated Canada Day.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

A little bit past, but yes, happy Canada.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Last week. It was it was so last week. Uh it's never last week with Canada Day. We didn't get out to the fireworks this year, though. Just as we were packing up the family to head out to go catch the fireworks, a big thunder clap right over top of our house. We hauled everything back inside and uh decided to stay home for the fireworks this year. But Edmonton is famous for its Canada Day fireworks. They happen in quite a few areas in and around Edmonton.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

And now Street Performers is starting up, and this is definitely one of my favorite festivals because you can literally be walking around enjoying a bite to eat, maybe a lemonade or ice cream, and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, there's someone literally performing right here. And then all of a sudden there's a circle of people around you, and then all of a sudden everyone's applauding and cheering, and you're seeing one of the best performances of your life. And it all just happens with street performers 10 full days in downtown Edmonton, and it's such a fun place to go to.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

It is, and another fun place to go is the White Avenue or 82nd Avenue area, also known as Old Strathcona. And uh coming up this summer is the White Avenue Art Walk. It's a four-kilometer open air gallery where over 400 local artists will set up their wares uh to sell and create art live. So definitely somebody to check out, along with uh the White Avenue area in general. It's just a fun place to be on a nice hot sunny day.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Yeah, and White Avenue's in Old Strathcona, and we have a podcast episode that we talk about um great things about Old Strathcona. And this is one of those events that we were talking about, but you can watch that full podcast if uh you go back and pull up that episode. There you go. Also, Rockin' Thunder. We've taken the family there before, and it's so fun. This all of these events that we're talking about are ones that happen yearly. And uh, why we're talking about festivals in Edmonton is because we do talk about real estate, but then we also talk about real life. And this is part of the real life that makes Edmonton a great city to live in and also uh keeps real estate values up too, because people want to live here. That's right. But uh Rocking Thunder is definitely one of them. Lots of fun for the whole family. Uh, some great artists always come. This year it's Three Days Grace. Creed is going to be here, so that's very exciting too. It's going to be exclusive.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yes, and another festival is the Free Will Shakespeare Festival, classic uh theatrical plays performed outdoors. So that's something to check out as well.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

And taste of Edmonton, it's exactly what it sounds like. Western Canada's largest food festival allows visitors to sample over 170 dishes from 50 plus local restaurants alongside live free concerts that are happening. Uh, we actually are very familiar with one of the food trucks that's going in it, Pebra and Co. If you happen to make your way down there, they do the most amazing empanadas, but they had to make 10,000 of them to go into the Taste of Edmonton because that's how many people go through the area.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

And that takes place in uh Winston Churchill Square downtown, right in front of the city hall. And uh quite a few events actually happen down there. The Street Performers Festival, the works. Uh, there's always something going on down there. But this is definitely a highlight and definitely something worth checking out. Uh, also uh running at the exact same time at Taste of Edmonton is K-Days, formerly known as Klondike Days, Edmonton's largest 10-day exhibition taking place at uh the former, well, I guess still the Northlands exhibition grounds, just on the north side of the river. They were former and then they became the exhibition grounds. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Technically, yeah. For K-Days. We had a changing of the name for a few years, but it came back.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

So K-Days running uh towards the third week of July, and uh basically rides and foods and all sorts of they've got concerts that take place during that to that time as well. And one of the things it's well known for is the weird and wacky foods that they bring in.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

So weird.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Last year it was uh pickles based, and this year's highlights include uh donut poutine, area 51 taco burgers, and deep fried butter Oreos. They seem to every year they seem to want to deep fry something, and this year it's Oreos, although I think that's been around for a while. I I've heard of that before.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Yeah, which one would you try of those ones from this year?

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Uh if you had to pick one, probably the Oreos, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Yes, yeah. Although, because I know you're not a big pickle fan, I love pickles. So last year's theme was amazing, but there was even stuff I wasn't brave enough to try. They had uh pickle-flavored mini donuts.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Yeah, I think that's a bridge too far.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

And I was worried because I love pickles so much, but I thought, okay, if I try that and it's terrible, it may turn me off of pickles forever, which I don't want. Yeah, but what could be even worse is if I try it and I like it, I'd be craving it all the time, and there's nowhere else that you can get dill pickle donuts. So, you know, I didn't want to be strapped with that either. I do have to mention this though, because you're mentioning the Oreos. And last year they had a deep fried pickle Oreo. So they took an Oreo cookie, put a slice of pickle in it, battered it deep fried and had a dill pickle Oreo cookie.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

And there's no talk of it this year. So I guess we know how well that went over.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

Yeah, well, and then also I know that's one that you would never try.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

No.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

That's the exception to the rule when it comes to Oreo cookies.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Yeah, that's right. Um, and again, as we mentioned, live concerts. Um, obviously, uh, with this being a big eggs, egg area, uh, there's also some agricultural showcases. And every night there's usually uh fireworks display.

SPEAKER_02 7:19

I threw you off with pickle talk.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

You did. Yeah, yeah. I'm still recovering.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

I don't know if don't donut poutine is any better, but I guess we'll find out.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

What's next, Tracy?

SPEAKER_02 7:30

The Great Outdoors Comedy Festival cannot be forgotten. This is another favorite of ours, premium outdoor comedy series featuring world-renowned stand-up comedians performing in the heart of the Edmonton River Valley. Um, they started it out with one night before, and now they've branched it out to All Weekend. And we've seen big names like Kevin Hart, Bill Burr, we've seen um some amazing comedians there, and it's right on the river valley. So it's like the most beautiful venue, your outdoors and um premium, best comedians that you can find.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Oh, yeah, yeah, these are all A-list, A-list comedians.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

When I said premium, it was sounding like I was talking about a show horse or something. They are comedians. Let's let's be honest. A-listers. A-list. None of them would say that they're show horses, but yeah, so you can catch some of the best comedy in the world, and it's at the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Another festival to keep an eye out for is the Edmonton Jerk Festival. It's an annual celebration of authentic uh Jamaican uh jerk spices, Afro-Caribbean music, and some family barbecues. So that's also uh a big fun event for families.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

I love that. Like what other city would have a festival actually called the Jerk Festival? You could say to someone, hey, you're missing your festival if they're being a jerk. Love jerk chicken, though. That's more the jerk that you'll be getting there. Edmonton Reggae Festival is another one that's really vibrant. It's got grassroots music. It's a celebration where they've got reggae art, Caribbean community culture, music, and it all unites underneath the summer sun. And uh, and that's another great one. It's always uh, well, I'm wearing an outfit to kind of celebrate the colors that they do. The the whole thing is so flamboyant.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

One of the big ones is uh the Edmonton Heritage Festival, always taking place over the August long weekend. That was one of the ones that was displaced while Horlac Park was closed down. Hadn't quite heard yet whether or not it's moving back. I would imagine it is. That's a huge um event with over 85 cultures showcased, traditional uh global food, crafts, performances. Definitely a must-see uh if you are coming to Edmonton in the summertime for a visit, is the Heritage Fest.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Perry West Caribbean Arts Festival. That's a vibrant three-day downtown party. I think I've used vibrant a lot. It seems like our festival theme.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Well, that's a good word to describe this one, especially the parade. Got to check the parade out.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Absolutely. Uh, and then heritage or it's got the Caribbean Heritage with a Friday costume extravaganza, island food massive Saturday street parade. So another one where they work on their costumes all year long, and this is really worth checking out.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

And that's the uh weekend after the August long weekend. Uh also after the August long weekend is the Edmonton Folk Music Festival that's down in the River Valley. Uh, world-renowned four-day music gathering. Uh, it's in Gallagher Park in the River Valley. Uh, lots of famous artists and always a great time. I know that uh if somebody hasn't been to the folk fest um and you happen to mention that, that somebody is a big folk person, they are just shocked, like, oh my gosh, you haven't seen the folk fest. At least come down, enjoy the Thursday or the Friday. Lots of people uh taking it in for the whole four days. That's uh definitely a must attend, is the folk fest.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

It's more like a lifestyle than an event, right? You you just when you get in there, you're fully a part of it. And they also use candlelight to light up the hillside too. So it's really pretty when you drive by as well. All right, Edmonton International Fringe Theater Festival cannot be left out. I love the fringe festival. I was just there for the media launch last week when they announced the theme for this year, uh, which is let's see, what is my oh yeah, unforgettable. Horrible. He was worrying that I forgot what it was called for real. But yeah, so it's unforgettable fringe, is what the theme is this year, and they are ready to kick off. They've got a whole bunch of uh new features that they're bringing to the fringe as well to just keep it, it's it's always constantly growing and becoming bigger and um always more exciting. It's North America's oldest and largest theater event for fringing. It hosts hundreds of independent indoor plays. There's buskers out on the street and lots of outdoor events, including beer gardens, once again in Old Strathcona.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

We just heard the gentleman who started it uh passed away.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Yeah, that was really sad news. Yeah. Um, a very, very nice person. Um, he was kind of everybody's friend, just uh very easygoing. And uh so that's that's too bad, but they are carrying the event on in his honor.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Of course. Uh Edmonton Dragon Festival and Boat Races takes place every year on the river valley. Uh, starts off at uh Louise McKinney Riverfront Park. And um uh that's also a fun event to check out as well.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Yeah, and talk about carrying things on after a tragedy. A few weeks ago, we had so much rain, it actually um moved the dock right off right off the side of the riverbank. And the dock and all the boats that were tethered to it went right down the North Saskatchewan River. But they've rounded most of them back up again, and they're still carrying on with the festival. So that's fantastic news because that's the way Edmonton is. The show must go on. Right. Yeah or Edmonton Dragon Boat races must go on. And the Edmonton Pride Festival, a vibrant late summer celebration of identity, culture, featuring live music, rainbow parades, and more. That's another great event to take part in. It really lights up Edmonton.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

It really does make Edmonton a special place. It's uh why we call it the festival city because there is so many things going on in the summertime. Uh, it's really actually why a lot of people that live here don't actually leave Edmonton in the summertime. They'll take their vacations in the wintertime when it's colder and uh there's still a lot going on in the wintertime here, but not as much. A lot of people love to be in the Edmonton area uh because we also haven't even talked about uh the Edmonton Riverhawks, uh the Edmonton Elks. There's just so many things going on in Edmonton over this uh lovely time of year uh when we get some beautiful weather, the days are long and there's just so much to do, and it really is why Edmonton is such a great place to live. Uh, just super quick in regards to summer real estate, um, we do get into a little bit of the summer doldrums right now. Um there are less listings because people would really rather be enjoying the summertime, and there's also can be less buyers out there because again, on a nice date, would somebody rather be on an Earl's patio or in a park or on a golf course or maybe at the lake instead of shopping for real estate? It still happens. And if you really do need to list or buy, um, it can be a good time to look at uh doing that because the people that are out are quite serious in regards to making a transaction in real estate. And if you want to buy or sell, please reach out and uh we'll have a chat and see how we can help you out.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

And if uh Devin's taking you around in the car, he's famous for his snack baskets that go along with him too. So not only can you go looking for houses in nice weather, but then also you can enjoy a nice little snack basket full of our favorite goodies. There you go. While you're looking at homes, it's a win-win for everybody. Gotcha. All right. Uh, whether you're buying your first home, looking for an investment property, or just wondering what's happening in the Edmonton market, Devin can help you out and keep you informed as we do this podcast every week.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

That's right. Uh that's it for uh this week's edition of Real Estate in Edmonton, where we talk about real estate in real life. Have a great week, and we'll talk to you next time.