Festive occasion at Nikka Yuko garden
After 50 years of tranquility and beauty, it’s time to make a little noise!
Our city’s authentic Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden is the focus of Canada 150 celebrations in Lethbridge this week, and everyone is invited to enjoy a Bon Odori dance at the garden at 6 p.m. today.
Sponsored by the Buddhist Temple of Southern Alberta, it will be a festive occasion with traditional Japanese dress, food, music, taiko entertainment and dancing.
As part of the “Experience the Friendship” event, all who attend will be invited to join the circle of dancers and fully participate in any or all of the dances. No experience required!
Organizers explain Bon Odori is a Japanese Buddhist folk dance performed outdoors in a circle around a drum, on a raised platform decorated with lanterns. It’s a dance of joy, “a time to remember and honour all those who have passed on, to appreciate all that they have done for us, and to recognize the continuation of their influence upon our lives.”
Dancers will open the Bon Odori with “Wonderful Canada,” depicting the melding of the cultures of Canada and Japan. Admission to the garden is free all day.
No-charge admission is also offered today at the Galt Museum, Fort Whoop-Up and the Southern Alberta Art Gallery. And at Galt Gardens, there’s a no-charge “Community Culture Craze” lineup of entertainment running from 10 a.m to 4 p.m.
It’s saluting Canada’s 150th, along with our 50 years as a “twin city” partner with the Montreal suburb of Saint-Laurent.
Face painting, balloon “animals,” a bouncy castle and an art tent are among attractions aimed at the younger crowd. Visitors will be served by food trucks as well — but for a beer garden, they’d have to head down to the Lethbridge International Air Show. With this month’s sweltering temperatures, beverage sponsor Coulee Brew should do well!
Next weekend, Fort Macleod will play host once again to the South Country Fair. It’s the 31st edition of our outdoor music festival, which organizers describe as an “oldworld, outdoor, camping-style summer folk music/arts festival.”
South Country is “culturally curious and inclusive,” they say, “fiercely Canadian in spirit.
“But we also enjoy presenting international artists sporadically, simply because music sets its own boundaries. The mission of South Country Fair has always been to expand cultural horizons in southern Alberta.”
An extensive entertainers’ lineup for the July 21-23 event — along the advance tickets — is available online at www.southcountryfair.com
And next Friday in Lethbridge there’s a celebration of Colombian Independence Day, marking the South American nation’s independence from Spain. The family-friendly event, opening at 6:30 p.m. in the Multicultural Centre, will include music, live entertainment — and of course, food!
The menu will include Colombian empanadas, tamales, plantain baskets and arepa with toppings, a vegetable and beet salad and pineapple coleslaw. And then you can sample brevas con arequipe (figs with dulce de leche) and enjoy sugar cane lemonade or Colombian coffee.
Tickets for the feast — $20 for adults, $13 for children, free for under 5 — will be available at the door.
And here’s something new! The first Wide Skies Music and Arts Festival will be held downtown on July 26 and 27.
It’s sponsored by the Geomatic Attic, and organizer
Mike Spencer says it “aims to bring a diverse range of worldclass musicians to a unique urban environment. The festival vision is one of accessibility for everyone.”
And it “encourages visitors to embrace the idea of a ‘small footprint’ in exchange for a big ‘wow’ factor!”
A free outdoor event, July 26 (5 to 11 p.m.) on 11 Street S. beside Southminster United Church will feature music along with a hand-made art market, food trucks and a beer garden. (In the event of rain, the music would move inside the church.)
Inside the church, a ticketrequired concert will be presented on Thursday, July 27. Watch for details here next week, or check the website: www.wideskiesmusicfest.org
Putting an emphasis on environmental sustainability, the organizers are encouraging use of public transit and cycling to the event, along with on-site recycling and composting programs to manage waste. Door prize tickets will be provided to everyone who takes transit, bicycle or walks to the festival. *** So congratulations to Mike and his associates for organizing a new venture — and also to Katie Stutheit, named Lethbridge College’s representative for the Canadawide White Cashmere Collection 2017 competition. She’s one of 11 who created “original couture” made from bathroom tissue, no less!
Her dress, based on Ontario’s iconic trillium flower, was selected as one of 16 designs from across Canada that will be shown on the runway during an exclusive event at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto on Sept. 28. ** * If you’re looking for a getaway destination on Sunday, July 23, the university’s Coutts Centre for Western Canadian Heritage, near Nanton, will present its annual one-day arts festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
U of L musicians will start the day’s entertainment.