Festivals
Hardly any area of entertainment goes uncelebrated by a festival at some time of the year in Edmonton, the self-proclaimed "Festival City". There's almost always something good on. One of the best events - and one of the few to merit a special pilgrimage here - is the Edmonton Folk Music Festival (tel 429-1899), rated the best in North America by Rolling Stone : it's held at Gallagher Park (near the Muttart Conservatory) at the end of the first week in August. Also well regarded are the International Street Performers Festival (tel 425-5162), which attracts over 1000 street performers in early July; the International Jazz City Festival (tel 432-7166) at the end of June; and the increasingly popular August Fringe Festival , or Fringe Theatre Event (tel 448-9000), a ten-day theatrical jamboree that's turned into one of the largest festivals of its kind in North America. The more contrived and commercial Klondike Days (tel 471-7210 or 423-2822) is less compelling, a blowout that claims to be the continent's largest "outdoor entertainment" but has rather too obviously been cobbled together to steal some of Calgary's Stampede thunder. Held for ten days during July, this popular outing revolves around a re-creation of the 1890s gold-rush era, with plenty for kids, and a panoply of events: one of the best is "A Taste of Edmonton", where 40-odd local retaurants set up stalls and let you taste tidbits from their menus.
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