Chinook Blast: New mid-winter festival set to light up Calgary
The festival will feature outdoor art, light installations, ice sculptures, firepits, walking tours and more — an ideal reminder that winter can be more about celebration than hibernation
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A new mid-winter festival opens in Calgary on Thursday, intent on lifting spirits and heating up the city scene.
Called Chinook Blast, the festival will feature outdoor art, light installations, ice sculptures, firepits, walking tours and more — an ideal reminder that winter can be more about celebration than hibernation.
“A group of dedicated civic organizations and volunteers have been working tirelessly within the changing health guidelines to create a safe walk-through winter space in the downtown core,” says Jeff Hessel, senior vice-president of marketing at Tourism Calgary.
The festival — which is free, family-friendly and requires no reservations — provides a great way for Calgarians to celebrate winter outside safely and support a variety of local businesses and festival partners. It runs over weekends for the next three weeks, from 3 to 9 p.m.
A central feature of Chinook Blast is The Hub, a walk-through light and art display in and around the downtown core. Dazzling light installations and art displays will be found along the walkways of Stephen Avenue, Barclay Mall, Municipal Plaza, Olympic Plaza, East Village and Fort Calgary.
About 30 partners and businesses, including presenting sponsor Shaw, are participating in the festival. The group includes a variety of Calgary neighbourhoods that will also be lighting up their communities with pop-up displays and artwork. Chinatown celebrates Year of the Ox with life-size ice sculptures; an installation called Fort Chinook will call Victoria Park home in the Hotel Arts parking lot; Crescent Heights will light up 10 art benches in its grassroots small-works arts festival called Crescent Moon Festival; and Kensington has launched a #KensingtonLove project, which includes some eye-popping compostable balloon displays.
A number of health and safety protocols will be in place at Chinook Blast installations, including mandatory mask rules and physical distancing requirements. Attendees are asked to visit only with household members or their small cohorts.
As Mayor Naheed Nenshi noted when the festival was first unveiled last year, this will be a “shot in the arm” for the city’s arts and hospitality industries.
Due to the pandemic, this inaugural version of Chinook Blast is a bit scaled back from original plans. In future years, plans are for the event to grow with concerts, performances and other offerings scheduled across the city. Pillars of support for Chinook Blast will come from events already scheduled to occur at this time of year, such as One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo, Glow Winter Light Festival and Block Heater.
“This year’s Chinook Blast is a taste of what organizers hope will come from this initiative in future years,” said Hessel.
Chinook Blast Mid-winter Festival Highlights
• Check out The Hub, which runs from Fort Calgary and East Village, west to Municipal Plaza and Olympic Plaza, and then down along Stephen Avenue (8th Avenue S.W.) and Barclay Mall (3rd Street S.W.) Myriad light and art displays can be found along The Hub; a map can be found at chinookblast.ca/the-hub.
• A few highlights of The Hub include the multi-coloured visual symphony called Sonic Illumination in the 100 West block of Stephen Avenue; a giant Cat’s Cradle installation; a 22-foot-high Star-Quarium delivering 3D content through 560,000 video pixels and lighting (near the Peace Bridge); The Door, offering augmented reality visuals that change when the door is opened (at the Edison Building plaza, 150 – 9th Ave. S.W.); Project Projekt, a projected art exhibition on the exterior of the Glenbow; and stilt dance performances from Three Left Feet.
• There are dozens of Instagram-worthy spots to stop throughout The Hub. You can also check out the Snap Foto Club — a selfie studio with 30-plus backdrops, props and lights (200, 118 – 8th Ave. S.W.)
• Aiksiisopoo — a Blackfoot winter camp — will be set up at Fort Calgary, where knowledge keeper Kent Ayoungman and others will share Blackfoot stories and traditions.
• With temperatures projected to get milder by the weekend, the festival is also encouraging people to check out the new cross-country ski loop at Fort Calgary and the Hygge Hut in East Village.
• Look up, way up, at the Calgary Tower. Winning designs from a contest — in which participants can create a light show for the tower — will be featured Feb. 15 to Feb. 27.
• A floral pop-up installation will be set up at the Central Calgary Library selfie booth, while Municipal Plaza is transformed into Laser Plaza.
• When to go? The festival operates from 3 to 9 p.m. around three weekends: 1.) Saturday, Feb. 13 to Sun., Feb. 14; 2.) Friday, Feb. 19 to Sunday, Feb. 21; and, 3.) Friday, Feb. 26 to Sunday, Feb. 28.
More info is at chinookblast.ca.
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