Edmonton is in the heart of festival season, where every weekend, there’s at least one or more events to take part in. That’s translating into some big dollars for the local economy, and the money isn’t necessarily coming from out-of-towners.
Edmonton Tourism said when it comes to their regional market – including northern Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan – festivals are its anchor to draw in visitors.
“Uniquely, what we’ve seen is a lot of local traffic sticking around,” Renée Williams, Edmonton Tourism’s director of communication and distribution, said Wednesday.
WATCH: Edmonton festivals thriving despite economic downturn
Williams said a lot of that has to do with the slowdown in the economy, so the organization is promoting local events to residents of the Capital Region.
“A lot of people with families (and) young kids are staying in Edmonton and experiencing some of the festivals that are here in their backyard every year, but they may not have participated in before,” she said.
“People staying here means restaurants are busy, stores are selling their merchandise, festivals are well attended,” Williams added. “People are really sinking that money right back into the local economy.”
Those staycations are translating into big numbers for festivals.
READ MORE: K-Days and Heritage Festival celebrate big turnout, successes in 2016
K-Days saw an attendance increase of 2.3 per cent over 2015. Organizers said 803,087 people went through the turnstiles in 2016.
The Servus Heritage Festival is also celebrating its attendance numbers. Executive director Jim Gibbon said he is “ecstatic about the attendance at Monday’s Servus Heritage Festival.”
On the third day, the festival saw about 135,000 guests – the third-highest, single-day attendance in its history. An estimated 300,000 people headed down to Hawrelak Park.
Other festivals still to come this summer are hoping Edmontonians stick around for their events as well.
The Edmonton Fringe Festival sold a record 122,000 tickets in 2015 and organizers are hoping for an even bigger turnout this year.
“This event is our community’s event,” Edmonton Fringe Festival artistic director Murray Utas said.
Foe performers, volunteers and audiences, the Fringe is an Edmonton staple. As it celebrates its 35th anniversary this year, Utas said he has watched the festival grow over decades, whether he was performing and directing or in his current role as artistic director.
READ MORE: Edmonton’s International Fringe Festival reveals 2016 lineup
When the festival first started in Edmonton, it featured just five venues and 25 shows. This year, the festival is expecting to have 45 venues and 213 shows.
Utas credits that growth to support from Edmontonians.
“We’re a city that likes hockey. We like our Oilers. We like our brand new rink. But we also like art. The balance here is so blue-collar and beautiful.”
“It’s the biggest, it’s got the most to offer and the most to offer from the community,” Calgarian Jamie Northan, who is performing in an action/improv show called Kill Hard, said
“I say this with reservation as a Calgarian, but Edmonton is the best,” Northan hesitantly told Global News.
For more information on the Edmonton International Fringe Festival and other festivals still to come in Edmonton, check out the Global Edmonton festival page.
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