Busy weekend coming up for city residents
No need to remind our readers it’s Street Wheelers weekend in Lethbridge. For a closer look at the vintage and modified cars that cruised the streets on Friday, there’s the ever-popular Show and Shine event Sunday in Galt Gardens,
But if you think this is a busy weekend in Lethbridge, just look at next weekend’s listings!
Next Friday and Saturday, a royal visitor will join southern Albertans in celebrating the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden’s 50th anniversary. The event will start Friday morning at 9 a.m. with an official tour, streamed in closed-circuit video to visitors outside. On-stage presentations and ceremonies will follow at 10.
Then at noon, everyone will be invited in free for a 90-minute visit. A second free admission period has been set for 4 to 6 p.m.
Friday’s festivities will end with Amanda Marshall’s concert, 8:30 p.m. at the Enmax.
On Saturday, the garden will open — free admission — from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Events will begin with a pancake breakfast from 8 to 10 a.m., hosted by the Lethbridge Bulls ball team.
The Lethbridge Sports Council will offer sports and craft demonstrations onsite from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. And at 6 p.m., the Buddhist Temple of Southern Alberta will present a summer dance festival, “Bon Odori ’17,” along with the sounds of taiko drumming. And an Asian market will run from noon to 5 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday.
For the convenience of residents and visitors, the Canada 150 organization has arranged free transit service Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., shuttling people from the Enmax parking lot to Nikka Yuko as well as the Galt Museum and over to Galt Gardens. Service will be every 20 minutes.
Lethbridge Transit will also be providing easy access to the Lethbridge International Air Show, also running next Friday to Sunday. Again, spectators are invited to park free and catch a bus from the Enmax.
The air show’s live entertainment is above ground, of course. But back on terra firma, there’s still another event competing for southern Albertans’ attention on July 15. Set in Galt Gardens, it’s called “Community Culture Craze” and it’s aimed at celebrating this city’s twin-city relationship with Saint-Laurent, a suburb of Montreal. Like Nikka Yuko, there’s a 50-year history tracing back to Canada’s centennial year.
The no-charge celebration is scheduled to open at 10 a.m. with a Blackfoot prayer by elder Francis
First Charger, to be followed by Cree artist and
hoop dancer Maria Livingstone.
Performers will also include drummers from the Lethbridge Community Taiko Association, the Lethbridge Firefighters Pipes and Drums, the Shaela Miller Band, the Junkman’s Choir, and
members of the Lethbridge Buskers Association.
Other attractions will include an “art tent” with programming by Casa, and a “comic tent” presented by Kapow Comics.
Still in the park, the Southern Alberta Art Gallery will offer free admission all day, and so will Fort Whoop-Up and the Galt Museum.
The Galt Museum has also scheduled a timely presentation tomorrow, starting at 1 p.m. It’s an interactive installation of headlines, articles and images showing how Japanese Canadians were portrayed over the last century.
Taken from the pages of the Lethbridge Herald and a Raymond weekly paper, it illustrates how news stories and public opinion were shaped by what was happening locally, nationally and internationally.
The University of Lethbridge student research team that created the presentation sees it as “a barometer of our social, cultural and moral attitudes” in those times. The event will also include talks by Carly
Adams (U of L) and Darren Aoki from Plymouth University (England), as well as a special address by Tosh Kanashiro, a member of the Japanese Garden 1967 Committee.
The no-charge event will conclude with a sake tasting hosted by Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden.
Looking for a little more Canadian entertainment for our 150th — and a cool place to retreat from the heat?
The downtown library continues its series of free, Wednesday evening films with three more selections in the Theatre Gallery this month. On July 12, it’s director Atom Egoyan’s feature, “The Sweet Hereafter.” Saran Polley and Ian Holm star in a drama based on a tragic school bus accident in British Columbia.
On July 19, it’s “Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner,” directed by Inuit film maker Zacharius Kunuk and based on an ancient Inuit legend. Then on July 26, the award-winning “Brooklyn” tells the story of a young Irish woman who immigrated to 1950s New York. It’s an unusual co-production linking Canada, England and Ireland.
Showtime is 7 p.m., but the July 19 film will start at 6:30 p.m.
A little more light-hearted, Wednesday films at the Crossings Branch this month will include
Emma Roberts in “The Art of Getting By” on July 12, “Love and Basketball” on July 19 and “The Way Way Back” on July 26. Each will start at 7 p.m.
And a reminder that this year’s edition of the Centric Festival will close tonight with no less than eight of this year’s performers — vocalists and instrumentalists — on hand for an evening of chamber music by Brahms.
Last-minute tickets may be available at Casa before concert time there at 7:30 p.m.