Servus Heritage Festival 2017

One of the summer highlights here in Edmonton is the Service Heritage Festival at the William Hawrelak Park. It is an annual gathering of over 90 countries participating in a three-day event to celebrate Canada’s multiculturalism.  All these different cultural groups come together creating a festival of music, traditional foods, gift items and displaying cultural history. There are over 70 pavilions and 25 stages throughout the park.

Hundreds of volunteers and a surplus of sponsors make this event possible. It really is a reflection of the city pulling together its resources to make a festival of unity.  The event is not for profit, it is free to the public and the proceeds go towards the Edmonton Food Bank. The Edmonton transit system is in full gear making it possible to smoothly shuttle thousands of people in and out of the park. The Edmonton police force also participates to make sure that traffic flows smoothly in and around the park. Because of the well-organized structure of the event, people are free to relax and enjoy themselves in a non-chaotic environment.

Another feature to the event is that all food must be purchased by using tickets that are purchased on site. It is one dollar per ticket and tickets are sold in sheets of twenty. All unused tickets can be donated to the Edmonton Food Bank.

At each food pavilion, food items are according to how many tickets are needed for each item or plate. This system keeps life easy. The difficult thing is where to start with so many types of food to chose from. The Peru pavilion had chocolate covered bananas, empanadas de queso, corn on the cob and even punch made from corn. They actually had a lot more than that, but just to name a few. There were lots of different kinds of kabobs to be found; Croatia, Congo, Arab Heritage, Lebanon, Iran, Liberia, Rwanda, Serbia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Uganda. It is interesting to see how so many countries create something that is similar yet different because of the variety of herbs and spices that they use. Greece had their overwhelmingly yummy baklava. France brought on the Crepes. And Romania brought out the Scovergi which is also known as elephant ears. And for those looking for french fries, you just had to follow the long line up to the Netherlands and order the Patat met Mayonnaise which is french fries with mayo. There was so much food and drinks to chose from.

Entertainment is a big part of the Heritage Festival. And entertainment means different things for different cultures. Some dances are focused on being synchronized with the music and follow an exact choreography while others are full of passion and leave room for being spontaneous. There were also performances that demonstrated skills and discipline such as the Chinese martial arts. Some of the venues involved bringing people from the audience to become part of the act, for instance as the Germans did with theirs by having men perform one of their traditional dances. There really was quite the variety to come by and unfortunately, only a few can be show cased here.

Known for their passion, and love for colour, these Columbian women are so much fun to watch. Wearing traditional dresses that create a flair, they know how to liven up the party.

Venezuela is a sister country to Columbia and are also fun loving performers who share the passionate feeling of storytelling through dance and their armours energy. Again we find the Spanish and African influence in the traditional dresses. The music is upbeat and lively.

The Uganda group kept it much simpler in design and just got out there and had a great time. They had a welcoming vibe for their audience to come on up and join them. As they danced to the rhythm they laughed, flirted and let loose. These people know how to party.

This young man, Noah Green, is seven years old and becoming quite well known here in Alberta. Not only is he absolutely adorable, but also very talented. He is a First Nations drummer and singer. His grandmother Carol Powder is his teacher and elder for an all woman drum group. You can find out more about their drumming group on Face book @ Chubby Cree

Sharing the First Nations stage were musicians Curt Young and Jared Sowan. Both are established performers who have won awards and gained much respect for the message they bring to the youth. For their last performance Young and Sowan were joined by a few little ladies from the audience to help out with the percussions and also a young man named Lakoda who was the hoop dancer. 

These Nicaragua beauties changed it up a bit with having less of a traditional feel and letting go with a modern and sexy Reggaeton style of dance. Lots of fun and a great work out. For those interested in this type of dance you can inquire about lessons at Desert Rose Dance Studio.

There really was so much to see this year with all the performances and displays of cultural significance. The Chinese Pavillion had a few really nice add ons for people to interact with. There was the fortune telling sticks. By taking the box filled with sticks, a person then shakes the box at an angle until one of the sticks falls out. The stick has a number on it which corresponds to the paper that has the response or foretelling upon it.


Another fun thing to do was the magic water bowl. By rubbing the handles of the bowl, a person could increase the vibration level of the water making it shoot up spurts of water. 

And a festival would not be complete without having characters that the children could embrace. Well, actually it seemed more of the older child's within were embracing these characters. The Traditional Chinese Warrior accompanied by Sun Wukong ~ The Monkey King.

The Japanese Pavillion also brought out a few much-loved characters from the classic film Spirited Away. The little girl character is called Chihiro and the one with the mask is the spirit No Face.

As much fun as it is to be immersed into a festival of thousands of people, it is also nice to be able to find a quiet corner to just sit and relax in the shade. And that is why Hawrlak Park is the perfect location to host the annual Heritage Festival. The festival is spread out over the park and yet the pond creates room to separate the festivities from the peace and quiet amongst the aquatic life. While sitting quietly beside the pond watching the ducks and other birds, the sounds from the crowd become distant and tranquil. It's a nice place to have an afternoon break or to take a peaceful moment to end the day before heading home.

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