PARADE OF PARASOLS
Members of Edmonton’s Chinese community make their way down Jasper Avenue during the K-Days parade Friday. Thousands attended the popular K-Days kickoff.
Eager and energetic crowds flooded the streets for Edmonton’s K-Days parade Friday despite a wet start to the morning.
More than 100 entries of colourful floats, performers and dignitaries marched down Jasper Avenue — just as the sun sneaked out after a morning rainfall — to launch the festival.
Canadian Olympic figure skater Kaetlyn Osmond was the lead marshal in her first K-Days parade.
“K-Days for me is great memories,” she said ahead of the ride down Jasper Avenue.
“Every year there’s a group of us at the rink that after skating ... we always take off straight from the rink to go to K-Days.”
The three-time Olympic medallist — with her hardware in hand — said she is usually training at the rink during the parade and has never been able to make it.
“Normally I’m training at this hour, so today I decided to skip training,” she said. “To be a part of it this year is something special.”
To make up for her missed time on the ice, Osmond said she is headed back to the rink right after the parade, but plans to head to the fairgrounds later this afternoon to check out the rides, her favourite part of the festival.
“Anything that will give me a good adrenalin rush, drops fast or flips me upside down,” the figure skater said of her favourite rides.
Attendees of all ages lined the sidewalks to take in the parade, some for the first time and many back to experience the excitement again.
A group of 28 youth wearing bright yellow pinnies were captivated by the parade on the corner of 108 Street and Jasper Avenue. They are part of Community Options Edmonton Northwest Out of School Care and insisted they attend the parade, no matter the weather.
“The children plan our summer for us,” program director Andre Davis said. “This is in the top three of the list of what they want to do every single year.”
On the other hand, it was the first time at the parade for Sheila Hird and her 22-month-old son James who was having a snooze, wiped out from the morning excitement.
“He didn’t make it,” said Hird, adding that when James was awake he really enjoyed seeing all of the horses and mascots making their way down the street.
Even with the inclement morning weather, Hird said they were prepared for it and were checking out the parade no matter what, but were thankful that it cleared into sunshine just as the parade kicked off.
The annual parade launched the 10-day festival at Northlands which opened Friday at noon.
The weekend rodeo kicks off Friday evening, this year moving inside the Expo Centre from the Coliseum. It is a ticketed event separate from gate admission.
K-Days runs until July 29.