{"id":170563,"date":"2026-08-17T02:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T02:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/170563\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T02:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T02:58:09","slug":"what-makes-edmonton-folk-fest-so-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/170563\/","title":{"rendered":"What makes Edmonton Folk Fest so great?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since 1980, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival<\/a> has brought music lovers together on the slope of Gallagher Hill. Now a storied Edmonton tradition, the festival brings in roughly 100,000<\/a> people over the course of its long weekend. Not a native Edmontonian myself, last week I attended the festival for the first time. <\/p>\n

I knew the event was well-loved, but I had no idea to what degree. Not only was every single person there delighted to be so, there was an unmistakeable feeling of community enveloping the festival. It felt as though the entire hill had been sprinkled with a mutual feeling of kindness and compassion. I was so taken by the atmosphere, I decided to speak to some of the festival-goers about their experiences. The primary question I asked was: what makes Folk Fest so great?<\/p>\n

\"\"Leah Hennig<\/a> Al has been coming to Folk Fest for six years. <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s so nice,\u201d said Al, a festival attendee of six years. \u201cEveryone\u2019s so outgoing,\u201d he continued, \u201cthe atmosphere just shows what, really, Edmonton is.\u201d <\/p>\n

Al comes from a background in house music and EDM, so for him, Folk Fest is a \u201cnice change.\u201d He enjoys the calm, welcoming energy, saying that coming to the festival \u201cchanged [his] whole life.\u201d Folk Fest brings opportunities to open oneself up and experience different things.<\/p>\n

Al mentioned that his favourite memory of the festival was from last year, when he got to hear his favourite song, \u201cDirty Love<\/a>\u201d by Mount Joy, live. During the song, it started raining, and even though Al \u201chate[s] the rain,\u201d he was right there with everyone, dancing and taking in the music.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really family-friendly and I love it,\u201d Izabella says <\/p>\n

Edmonton Folk Fest is often a family affair. I saw scores of children running around the grounds, many eagerly trying to glean dirty plates from adults in an attempt to make a buck at the dish-return station. I spoke to Izabella, a University of Alberta alum and mother of 10-year-old Charles, about her experience at the festival. Izabella has been attending Folk Fest for 11 years, and bringing Charles with her for the last three.<\/p>\n

Izabella was sold the very first year she came, when her future husband brought her to see Tracy Chapman<\/a> perform. \u201cIt brought me to tears, how amazing of a performance it was,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was transformational \u2026 we\u2019ve been \u2026 big fan[s] ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Izabella expressed that \u201cthe power of community\u201d is her favourite thing about the festival. \u201cAll the people that come to Folk Fest have a very similar mindset and we all want to help one another,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really family-friendly and I love it.\u201d <\/p>\n

When asked about his favourite part of the festival, Charles echoed his mother, telling me that \u201cthe best thing about Folk Fest is definitely spending time with family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think \u2026 in life, you have to be prepared for a lot of things, and I don\u2019t think you have to be that prepared for Folk Fest,\u201d volunteer Madelaine says <\/p>\n

Izabella also pointed to the volunteers as a big part of the event\u2019s impact. Every year, Folk Fest has roughly 2,600<\/a> volunteers who assist in set-up, hospitality, patron services, and so much more. I spoke to a volunteer, Madelaine, to get her perspective on the event. <\/p>\n

Folk Fest has been a part of Madelaine\u2019s life for as long as she can remember. \u201cI have been coming to Folk Fest since birth, and I\u2019ve only missed a few years since,\u201d she said. She\u2019s been volunteering since she was 12, the youngest a volunteer can be.<\/p>\n

Growing up around the festival, Madelaine spoke of how her experiences there have shaped her as a person. She recounted one of her fondest memories, from when she was around 14 and saw Michael Franti<\/a> perform. \u201cI grew up listening to his CD,\u201d she said, despite the fact that her mom \u201cis not a fan of Michael Franti.\u201d So when it came time for him to perform, Madelaine\u2019s mom left her to get the car, leaving her alone to enjoy his music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to hear all of these songs that I\u2019ve \u2026 grown up hearing in my kitchen, and I got to do it alone,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like it was kind of \u2026 a representation of \u2026 gaining independence and learning to just enjoy things by yourself \u2026 even if the people around you have different feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about her favourite part of the festival, Madelaine said \u201cI think \u2026 in life, you have to be prepared for a lot of things, and I don\u2019t think you have to be that prepared for Folk Fest.\u201d The beauty of the event, to her, lies in its inherent casualness and relaxed environment. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to set expectations,\u201d she stated, \u201cyou will always have a good time, and walk away with like, at least, five new artists that you\u2019re going to listen to for the rest of the summer.\u201d And, she emphasized, \u201cif you\u2019re \u2026 ill-prepared, someone will help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on my field research, I\u2019ve determined that there are a number of things that make Edmonton Folk Fest great, but the number one reason that stands out is obvious: community. You will not find an event that is more loving, welcoming, and community-oriented than Folk Fest in Edmonton. See you on the hill next year! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since 1980, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival has brought music lovers together on the slope of Gallagher Hill.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[34173,2454,54545,52,29183,27674,54546,54547,54548,19228,54549,19230,19231,9481,18470],"class_list":["post-170563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-anna-rudge","tag-arts-and-culture","tag-dirty-love","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-folk-fest","tag-edmonton-folk-music-festival","tag-gallagher-hill","tag-michael-franti","tag-mount-joy","tag-the-gateway","tag-tracy-chapman","tag-u-of-a","tag-ualberta","tag-university-of-alberta","tag-yeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}