Mobile app on tap for Folkfest 2016
Cultural traditions will keep pace with technology at Saskatoon’s Folkfest this year, thanks to a new mobile app.
“Each pavilion will have a beacon, and once you’ve downloaded the app it will feed information to your smartphone,” Folkfest president Lisa Bagonluri said during a news conference Wednesday.
“It will tell you what’s happening in that pavilion — the menu, the entertainment schedule — so you won’t have to go looking for that information. You’ll have it right at your fingertips.”
The app, called Ximity, will use low-energy Bluetooth beacons, which are designed to provide realtime information to visitors once they get within a certain proximity of each venue.
“We can only get so much information in the passports, so that’s why the app is a fantastic addition,” board member Christine Ruys said.
The app is available on Apple’s App Store and is compatible with iOS devices, said a spokesperson for Ximity App Inc., the app’s maker.
Other new additions to this year’s Folkfest include Peruvian and Sudanese pavilions. The Vietnamese pavilion is set to return to the festival, which runs Aug. 18-20.
The Brazilian, Chinese, Francophone, Hungarian, Jewish, and Irish pavilions will not operate this year, Ruys said.