Festival Info

The Festival

Let the music take you to another place at the 31st annual Calgary Folk Music Festival. See over 68 artists from 14 countries on 7 stages July 22-25 at Prince's Island Park.

Surreal perfection: A village where indie singer-songwriters, roots and country veterans and blues masters rub sonic shoulders with global electronica divas, Latin rhythm masters, Ukrainian rock bands and Congolese hipsters. Where on-the-fly collaborations create once-in-a-lifetime magic. All in a verdant urban setting that grounds a laidback, loving, ecologically astute community-for-a-day. We've got cool wind power and a hot main stage, an interactive family area, an international craft market, global culinary delights, a record tent and tree-shaded beer garden.

Spread your tarps and blankets in front of mainstage daily for your evening viewing pleasure. Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday, soak in our evolving programming on 6 stages in the park, where musicians collaborate in unpredictable and exquisite songwriter-in-the-round and themed jam sessions. The Festival creates a dreamlike balance of urban and bucolic, friendly and far-out, superfly and earthy. From the godfathers and grandmothers, the kings and queens who helped create their musical genres, to the rebels, romantics and revolutionaries of the

current decade, it's Calgary's annual journey into the heart and soul of the roots and evolution of the music we like to call folk, with an edge.

Coming from out of town? Read our press kit about the festival and check out things to do in Calgary

Festival Location

Prince's Island Park is downtown, north of the Eau Claire Market footbridge. Click here for map.

Festival Times

Top 10 Festival Tips

• The festival is comprised of mainstage concerts and workshops/ sessions. The mainstage concerts take place in the evenings Thursday - Sunday. The workshops and other concerts take place on smaller stages throughout the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Most of the mainstage artists also participate in workshops.

• When you arrive, check the main field for space. Become a tarpie! Seating is on the grass in front of the mainstage. Those in first get the best spots. Bring a tarp (6 X 8 max size), a blanket and short beach chairs to sit on. People use it as their home base for the day; a place for their extra clothes, coolers, etc. and a spot to hook up with friends during the mainstage shows.

• There's a dancing and standing area near the front on both sides of the mainstage so that you can get close to your favourite artists. There are large video screens to view the mainstage from.

• Programming for the 6 workshops stages changes almost every hour, so audience members go from one stage to another, setting up in front of the stage as they go. Sessions on these stages bring musicians together in unpredictable and magical collaborations.

• Once you have a wrist band, you can come and go from the site.

• There's a variety of reasonably-priced, and delicious, international food on site for sale, but you're welcome to bring your own food (we reserve the right to search coolers to ensure there’s no glass or liquor inside). 

• Stay for the day. Alongside the great music there's a beer garden, a children's play area, a craft market, a record tent, and lots of beautiful sunshine to bask in.

• Bring a change of clothes (it's Calgary after all). During the course of a day temperatures can fluctuate by 10 or even 20 degrees from the hot mid-day sunshine to those mountain-chilled evening breezes. Back in 1993 it even rained.

• Car pool, bike or walk to the site. There’s lots of inexpensive parking around the Eau Claire district ($2 evenings and weekends at the Eau Claire Market). As the festival is downtown, it’s on bus routes. The Festival has secure bicycle parking on site in the ENMAX Bike Centre.

• Come back next year; all the new friends you'll make will be there too.

Still have some unanswered questions? Read our Frequently Asked Questions

Other site activities

Song contest champs, social activists, stuff kids love to do , sound igloos, people who are also library books, bouncy houses, parades of lanterns, slow food, more food, artist's goods, a flag of faces, theramins, all the sights, sounds and smells of the festival 

Future Festival Dates

• July 21-24, 2011

• July 26-29, 2012

• July 25-28, 2013

• July 24-27, 2014

• July 25-28, 2015