Street performers festival scaling back to six days in 2018

Popular event moves to Gazebo Park, paving the way for LRT construction

The Edmonton International Street Performers Festival closed out a successful 10-day run Sunday, but with an announcement that next year’s festival will be force to scale back.

All festivals in Churchill Square must move next year to accommodate LRT construction. The street performers festival will move to Gazebo Park just off Whyte Avenue, running for six days instead of 10 because of conflicts with other events on site.

The festival brings in street performers from across Canada and beyond. Those performers, who get paid by donation, will have to cover their flights with fewer shows. But Edmontonians will just have to “be as generous as they can be” for those six days, said artistic director Shelley Switzer Sunday.

“We’re going to bring in some fantastic performers,” said Switzer. “We’ll have a strong media and marketing campaign ... If everyone show up, we’re going to be great.”

Switzer made the announcement in a Facebook Live video, after a storm threat forced organizers to cancel the final Troupe to Jour show. The 10-day festival attracted an estimated 225,000 viewers this year, 40 performers and 225 volunteers. It included Troupe du Jour shows with multiple performers every night — “a best of the best,” said Switzer.

A grand finale was held for the first time in City Hall Saturday night, where roughly 800 to 900 people packed the hall, filling the stairs under the pyramid.

Switzer said they’ve been working on plans to move to a new venue for three years now and have had good support from city officials and council. Next year’s festival runs from July 10 to 15.

ED KAISER Busker Rob Williams of Kamikaze Fireflies scoops up Mitch Gray, a volunteer from the audience, to get on his shoulders to perform a fire juggling routine with colleague Casey Martin during the Street Performers Festival at Churchill Square last week.