The Afro Caribbean Festival will enliven much of Ross Street on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 17 and 18, while Alberta Open Farm Days throws out a welcome mat for visitors at various agricultural operations around Central Alberta.
As Fort Normandeau Days turns back the clock to 1885, Pioneer Days at Sunnybrook Farm will exhibit agriculture as it was done in the last century.
The celebratory weekend can actually kick-off on Friday, Aug. 16, with the Capstone Night Market providing live musical entertainment, as well as the chance to buy diverse food and home-made goods from 5 to 9:30 p.m. at Canada 150 Square. (There will be another Capstone Night Market on Aug. 30).
On Saturday and Sunday, the second-annual Afro Caribbean Festival will celebrate the rich cultural heritage of Red Deer Africa and Caribbean community. A line-up of singers, drummers, dancers and other free live entertainment will be featured — including a fashion show of traditional regalia. There will also be a flag parade, food vendors and sales booths, as well as some fun kids’ activities on Aug. 17 from noon to 11 p.m. and Aug. 18 from noon to 8 p.m. on the Ross Street Patio and along City Hall Park.
Alberta Open Farm Days is also running throughout the weekend, giving urban central Albertans a chance to experience rural life. Thirty-six area farms, breweries and museums will be opening to visitors during the 12th-annual event. The Alpaca is this year’s featured animal, highlighting Alberta’s fibre industry. Visitors can also interact with chickens, goats and other livestock, see where food is grown, and sample and buy some farm-fresh products.
Central Alberta participants include Dna Gardens, Majak Meadows Ranch, Gull Lake Honey, Steel Pony Farm, The Jungle Farm, Beck Farms and the Farm With The good Food/Holmehus Antiques. Blindman Brewing in Lacombe, the Trochu Museum, arboretum, and flower show and fair are among the non-farming participants. For more information, including directions to farms, please visit albertaopenfarmdays.ca/farms or openfarmdays.ca.
Also this Saturday and Sunday, Fort Normandeau Days will celebrate Red Deer’s three founding cultures, Indigenous people, Metis hunters and traders, and early European settlers. A bevy of activities, presented by the Waskasoo Environmental Education Society, will include bannock and ice cream-making, archery, tomahawk throwing, and old-time games. The Firestick Living History Society will demonstrate black powder weapons, and there will be live music and food trucks. The fun goes from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both days at the re-built fort site, just west of the city. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.
And Sunnybrook Farm, in Red Deer, is also throwing its season-ending bash, Pioneer Days, this weekend. Get set for an antique tractor pulls and a parade, bucket train rides for the kiddies, a cookie walk, pancake breakfasts, a cowboy church on Sunday morning and much more. The event runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is by donation.
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