Ice District plaza one of the places to be on Canada Day

As we saw during those exciting playoffs, the Ice District plaza has finally become the open-air destination long promised, with much in store Canada Day on Friday — especially for anyone looking to find live music.

Food, beverages, roving characters (I'm sensing the bemuscled Hunter), axe throwing, patio games and a body paint artist all join in the fun starting at 3 p.m., culminating in Edmonton pop band Stereos taking the stage at 9:15 p.m. for a free show, with plenty of time to get over to the top edge of the river valley to watch the fireworks at 11 p.m., if that's your jam.

This is, of course, not the only show in town.

Shumka will be performing two pieces on the legislature grounds' Diversity Stage between 1 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. as part of the nation's birthday party. The first number up is Echoes of Hopak, a signature dance that has closed thousands of their shows through the years, then it's My Yeh, an emotional tribute to the courage of Ukrainians currently under siege in their homeland.

Andrea House will also be singing O Canada on the legislature steps at noon and between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., and fresh from North Country Fair, The Brasstastics will be roving the grounds. The day starts with the pancake breakfast at 7 a.m., and it's all free.

Celebrating Canada Day and The Commercial Hotel's 110th anniversary, Day 2 of Blues on Whyte's three-day block party features bands inside and out of the venue, starting with Amie Weymes and the Atta Boys at 1:30 p.m., then Chrome at 7:30 p.m., followed by Honeymoon Suite at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $49.95, get them at bluesonwhyte.com.

Over at Temple Ballroom (11133 156 St.), the Canada Day Extravaganza features house DJ Cazztek and live-drumming Saskatchewan DJ Rumpus, who should keep the floor bouncing into the night with that Shambhala vibe, starting at 8:30 p.m.

Local DJ'S Tianna J, High Sobriety and YELRIHS open, and there will be dance performances by female-run art collective Dollhaus. Tickets for the event start at $35 at showpass.com.

One more show worth your attention, the mighty Arlo Maverick and Politic Live play at Festival Place on Friday, tickets running $29.25 at ticketmaster.ca.

One of our great Edmonton hiphop acts, Maverick, is topical, and the band's mix of soul, reggae and jazz will have you dancing at the general admission show.

The venue's at 100 Festival Way, Sherwood Park, and the show ends with plenty of time for the 11 p.m. fireworks launched from Broadmore Lake Park, where there will be scavenger hunts, canoeing and food for sale all day starting at 9 a.m. Also, Tim and the Glory Boys are playing a free concert at 9:45 p.m.

See you out there!

ART

Thru 6/30: Good Ol' Lawn Fun (Lowlands)

7/1-31: Gwendolyn Turner, Annalisa Hartfeul-richards (Metro)

Thru 7/9: Craft and Science (Alberta Craft Council)

Thru 7/9: Gavin Lynch, Julian Forrest (Peter Robertson)

Thru 7/16: Glenn Gear: Aninnik (Anirniq) (Ociciwan)

Thru 7/23: Alex Linfield; Morgan Melenka (SNAP)

Thru 8/1: Sidney Kelsie; Water-wise, River Breath (AGA)

Thru 8/13: Brad Necyk, Gary James Joynes: And All of Everything (Art Gallery of St. Albert)

Thru 8/29: Manuel Matieu; Curtis Talwst Santiago (AGA)

Thru 10/2: Comic Sans; Alana Bartol and Bryce Krynski (AGA)

Thru 11/13: Tiffany Shaw: Edmonton River Valley (AGA)

Thru 12/31: Animal Architects (AGA)

Thru 24/12/31: Damian Moppett (AGA)

COMEDY

6/30-7/3: Brent Ayton (Comic Strip)

7/1-2: Matt Ray, Leif Oleson Cormack (Comedy Factory)

7/6: Ryan Belleville (Grindstone)

FESTIVALS

Thru 6/30: Edmonton Pride Month (citywide)

6/30-7/2: The Block Party (Blues on Whyte)

Thru 7/3: Edmonton International Jazz Festival (various venues)

7/6-10: Grindstone Comedy Festival (Grindstone)

Thru 7/10: Freewill Shakespeare Festival (Hawrelak Park)

Thru 7/16: Opera Nuova (various locations)

EXHIBITIONS

Thru 9/2: Imagine Monet (Edmonton Expo Centre)

Thru 9/25: Apollo: When We Went to the Moon (Telus World of Science)

MUSIC

6/30: Mark Farina (The Bower)

6/30: Arlo Maverick (Ice District)

6/30: No Problem, Sister Suzie (9910)

6/30: Sean Davis Newton, Laundry Week (Aviary)

6/30: Amanda Tosoff Words Project (Yardbird)

6/30: Too Many Zooz, Good Information (Starlite)

7/1: Good Nature (9910)

7/1: Jocelyn Gould (Yardbird)

7/1: Arlo Maverick w/ Politic Live (Festival Place)

7/1: Stereos (Ice District)

7/2: Lina Allemano Four (Yardbird)

7/2: Deadwolff, Rebel Priest (Temple)

7/2: Heavyweights Brass Band (Snow Valley Ski Hill)

7/2: Sullivan King (Union)

7/2: Joe Nolan (Felice)

7/3: Any Milne and Unison (Yardbird)

7/3: Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton (St. Andrews)

7/4: Weird Al Yankovic (Winspear)

7/5: Shawn Mendes (Rogers)

7/6: Farhad Khosravi, St. Arnaud (Festival Place)

7/6: JP Saxe (Midway)

THEATRE

Thru 7/1: Smoke (Co*lab) Thru 7/10: Hamilton (Jubilee)