New events added to Heart of Our City list for 2019
Eight new events are being added to next year’s Heart of Our City downtown attractions.
And two of them are first-time celebrations, adding to the colour and diversity of public events held in downtown Lethbridge.
The Heart of Our City-backed events will cover more than 100 days next year, according to the city’s urban revitalization manager. Andrew Malcolm says the 24 events receiving 2019 grants — totalling more than $130,500 — will bring people downtown 12 months of the year.
A “Hootenany Outdoor Children’s Play,” one of the new additions, will offer short, family-oriented plays during July in Galt Gardens. Fostering creativity and imagination, they’ll be staged twice daily, three days a week, starting July 9.
And a one-day block party, hosted by businesses along 6 Street South will see music, children’s activities and a beer garden open June 29 as a “Best of the Best” celebration. The first-time event will also include a series of sidewalk sales.
Six ongoing events already drawing people downtown will be receiving Heart of the City grants for the first time, Malcolm says.
A Festival of Lights and Dance celebration will be held in October, Lethbridge Bikefest will be held around the end of spring, and a downtown portion of the Jane’s Walk will take place May 3-5.
At the downtown Farmers’ Markets, cartoonist Eric Dyck will be capturing the scene on Wednesdays through July and August. A “Shelter Me!” event will be held in Galt Gardens. And the city’s Sweetgrass Youth Alliance powwow club will teach traditional powwow practices to young people from all backgrounds, and then present a public celebration during Indigenous Awareness Week in June.
Officials say organizers who applied for 2019 grants will receive from $650 to $10,000 to backstop their events through the year. “We’re pleased and proud to provide financial help on behalf of the City of Lethbridge to a really great array of events that will help achieve city council’s goal of enhancing the vibrancy of our downtown,” says Heart of Our City committee chair Dawn Leite.
More than 50,000 people were attracted to downtown events last year, officials report.
Major events receiving continued support include Jazz in the Park in early June, Lethbridge PrideFest June 14-22, Shakespeare in the Park through July and August, the Wide Skies Music and Arts Festival at the end of July, CariBridge Festival on Aug. 3 and the Lethbridge Electronic Music Festival on Aug 17.
Later in the year, the Word on the Street Festival, Lethbridge Arts Days and the Bright Lights Festival will continue with grant support.
Also receiving ongoing support are the Pretty, Witty & Gay Festival, the Centric MusicFest and the “First Friday” concerts presented monthly at Casa.