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OneWorld Festival
In the early years the GlobalFest cultural pavilions featured cultural pavilions throughout Calgary. The pavilions often include ethnic food, displays and entertainment. In 2007 the pavilions were grouped together for the first time at Penbrooke Meadows Community Association's land. In 2008 an area of Elliston Park was opened up to the organizers and the natural progression was to move the cultural pavilions to Elliston Park and set up the OneWorld Village. The cultural organizations also have the opportunity to present their nations' foods in their own food kiosks, located adjacent to the OneWorld Village. Now GlobalFest patrons can enjoy the OneWorld Festival in conjunction with the International Fireworks Competition in the same evening. 2009 will see 20 pavilions set up in the OneWorld Village area.
Cultural pavilions spread throughout the city include venues with themes from Africa, Hispanic America, Middle East, Caribbean, Francophone, India, Italy, Mexico, Scotland, Ukraine and Vietnam.
The small scale GlobalFest Film Festival is included, with movies centered on cultural diversity. These movies are sourced from local producers throughout the world. Screenings take place at the John Dutton Theatre and at the Calgary Public Library.
International Fireworks Competition
The International Fireworks Competition is held at Elliston Park in southeast Calgary. Each night of the competition a different nation's team is presented. Teams are invited by the organizers. Pyrotechnic displays take place over Elliston Park and are synchronized to music; competitors can employ fireworks that bounce off the water. The sky is truly the limit.
A competitor is limited to win two years in a row, afterwards the country has to take at least a year break. After sitting out a year, the competitor can return to competition. This is done to provide other competitore an opportunity to win the competition.
Before a national team competes with a fireworks display, live multi-cultural performances are held at the OneWorld Centennial Stage.
Over the years several countries have entered this explosive competition: Canada, USA, Mexico, India, South Africa, Germany, Portugal, and Japan.
Previous Champions:
The 2009 competition will feature the following countries:
- Canada on August 17, 2009
- Mexico on August 19, 2009
- Spain on August 21, 2009
- China on August 23, 2009
- GlobalFest Finale on August 25, 2009
History
The roots of the festival started in 1994, when the newly established Calgary Fireworks Festival Society started looking for a safe firework launch site1. It took until 2001 to discover Elliston Park and it's lake. At the same time, the International Avenue Arts and Culture Centre was making plans for a multicultural festival in Forest Lawn. The two non-profit societies presented plans for a joint festival at Calgary's International Avenue Business Revitalisation Zone (a city department), and the festival took off in 2003, with an audience of almost 100,000, including city residents and tourists.
The site chosen for the fireworks display, Elliston Lake, is the second largest lake in Calgary (after Glenmore Reservoir), and was created close to a landfill site in 19782. Owned by the city of Calgary since 1960, the area has been used for agriculture for ten more years, and 1994 saw the opening of the Elliston park. Over the years the park has been expanded by reclaiming land from the nearby landfill, bringing the total area to over 410 hectares, making it the city's second largest park (after Nose Hill), increasing the appeal of East Calgary.
See also
References
- ^ a b GlobalFest - About GlobalFest
- ^ FFWD article - GlobalFest may prove to be a boon for east Calgary’s Elliston Park
External links
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