Grey Cup festivities start to ramp up

Tickets still available for Sunday’s game as parade, live music on tap for fans

Calgarians looking to head to Edmonton for the Grey Cup are still in luck.

As of Thursday afternoon, just over a thousand tickets, ranging from $154 to as much as $375, were still available for Sunday’s 4 p.m. kickoff.

Meanwhile, the Grey Cup’s street festival is gearing up.

The Calgary Grey Cup Committee praised the festive spirit in Edmonton.

“It’s a good spirit,” said Sandy Dubyk, spokesman for the group.

Dubyk expects things to pick up once the weekend arrives.

The forecast looks to be favourable for the weekend leading up to Sunday’s game, as Environment Canada anticipates sunny skies and highs of -5 C on Friday and Saturday, while it will warm slightly for game day at -1 C.

The committee will host two Grey Cup Stampede Breakfasts, where they, along with Calgary councillors George Chahal and Jeff Davison, will serve 5,000 pancakes and 4,000 sausages.

The breakfasts will be held at Telus Park between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday, and 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday.

THE PLACE TO BE

Alberta’s Culture and Tourism Minister Ricardo Miranda helped open the Alberta House on Jasper Avenue in Edmonton on Thursday.

The province says the house will “highlight Alberta sports, arts and culture at the Grey Cup’s four-day street festival in downtown Edmonton.”

“Alberta House is in the middle of Canada’s largest tailgate party. This is a great place for friends and family to come together, warm up and check out Alberta’s amazing talent,” said Miranda.

Alberta House will be open from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. both Thursday and Friday, and 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Saturday.

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT

This year, the Grey Cup Festival has an iPhone app that allows attendees to easily access information throughout the four-day celebrations. Users can chat with other fans on social media, purchase merchandise and find practical information including maps, directions to events, weather conditions and stadium information.

It can be found on either the Apple Store or the Google Play store.

PARADE

There will be a CN Grey Cup parade Saturday between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. starting at Jasper Avenue and 108th Street, turning left at Jasper Avenue and 101st Street, before ending at 103rd Street and 103rd Avenue. It will feature hundreds of participants, including floats, marching bands, mascots and cheer teams.

LIVE MUSIC

Live music will be played throughout Saturday at the Nissan Titan Street Festival on Jasper Avenue from 99th Street to 96th Street. At noon, Whale & the Wolf will play, followed by Kirby Sewell at 1:30 p.m. Live at 3 p.m. will be Andrew Hyatt followed by Calgary’s own The Static Shift at 4:30 p.m. Tebey plays at 6 p.m. and Tim Hicks caps off the day of music at 7:45 p.m.

To top it off, a Saturday night concert series will see Canadian classic rock icons Loverboy, Trooper and Kim Mitchell play at the Shaw Conference Centre. Tickets are still on sale and cost $75.