Top 10 Festival Tips

Every summer in Calgary something amazing happens at Prince’s Island Park. For one weekend each year the serene park, nestled just north of the city’s bustling downtown metropolis, transforms into a vibrant community of musicians, artists, food vendors, volunteers and thousands of eager fans under the collective entity of the Calgary Folk Music Festival.

-Derek Neumeier, Where Magazine

1. 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 Saturday and Sunday. Most of the mainstage artists also participate in workshops.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

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

6. 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). 

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

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

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