Edmonton Grey Cup festival almost double size of 2010’s
Organizers of Edmonton’s 2018 Grey Cup festivities are hoping an expanded festival area — including an eight-storey snow slide and zipline — will bring out more revellers than when the city last hosted the CFL’s premier event.
Commonwealth Stadium will host the 106th Grey Cup on Nov. 25. The organizing committee Friday announced details about attractions and events in the week leading up to the football game at a news conference at the Shaw Conference Centre.
“Back in (the) 2010 Grey Cup we were in Churchill Square — that was our festival site,” said Duane Vienneau, executive director of the 2018 Grey Cup Festival. “This year we’re moving to Jasper Avenue; we’re basically taking over from 99 Street to 96 Street ... that’s about double the size of where we were in (2010).”
New attractions include a 243-metre zipline running from an eight-storey launch tower near the Shaw Conference Centred own to Louise McKinney Park in the river valley. The tower will also include a tube slide with a synthetic ice product in the event there is no snow.
“It’s going to be tubing all the way down Jasper Avenue,” Vienneau said. “It’ll be very, very, very cool ... We’re creating this sort of activity-based festival which is very unique and new.”
The festival will also feature beer gardens, a mini-football field, a 20,000-square-foot tent structure for family-friendly events, and a “street ski” down Grierson Hill Road billed as “a mountain ski experience” in Edmonton’s river valley.
Edmonton has hosted just four Grey Cups in the event’s 105-year history. The Eskimos have won 14 Grey Cups, but never at home.
Coun. Michael Walters said Jasper Avenue will be closed from 96 Street to 99 Street to host the event. He said the 2010 Grey Cup generated around $80 million in
It’s going to be tubing all the way down Jasper Avenue... It’ll be very, very, very cool.
economic activity in Edmonton.
Vienneau expected 30,000 to 40,000 out-of-town visitors, with around 500,000 on-site spectators in total. Tickets go on sale June 1 and range between $99 to more than $325. He said the goal is to make the event accessible both to the “diehard football fan base,” as well as more casual fans.
“We just wanted to make it the best,” he said. “We want to celebrate what Grey Cup is, we want to show off what Edmonton can achieve, and we want Edmontonians to be proud of what Edmonton is putting forward.”