Red Deer Reality Rant #68 - Downtown Fest Fun
Hello fellow Red Deerians! It’s a super hot and muggy Monday but I’m back with another post. I had a great and busy weekend, today’s rant is focused on the events that I attended in downtown Red Deer this past weekend, so it’s more of a review than a rant.
On Saturday and Sunday it was the Afro-Caribbean festival in downtown Red Deer on Ross Street by city hall park. It was a great time with vendors and authentic food as well as a number of performances and music. It was a hot day yesterday, kudos to the performers for putting on a great show while being in costume on such a toasty day.
The turnout seemed pretty good, being that a lot of events are under attended these days. This is the first year of the festival, I hope that they will consider it successful enough to have another one next year. I have said it before and I will say it again, Red Deer needs more Arts and Culture.
At the same time as the Afro-Caribbean festival on Sunday, Central Alberta Pride was hosting Pride in the Park a few blocks away behind the Recreation Centre. I moseyed on over there just in time to catch Trashed Ambulance on stage. The event had a queer gardens and I was also just in time for last call, and a nice drink as the Ambo started to play.
As a fan of Trashed Ambulance I would say that they delivered their usual rad performance, it seemed shorter than their usual set though. But it was a nice and toasty day and I had stayed in the sun too long, I can imagine that it was broiling up on the stage too. The usual Ambo fans were there, and if you missed it, they are playing this Sunday at Area 31 here in Red Deer.
The author of Duck Light, Gillian Corsiatto was there at Pride in the Park, in a very sunny area beside the stage. I stopped to say hello. I already have at least five copies of her book because, ahem, I was the illustrator for it. It’s a story about two lesbian ducks and their adventures with some other cute characters. There will be a second book, of which I will do illustrations for.
There were also many other cool vendors there. I purchased a mystery magic ball, the contents of which are foreign to me but I will let you know if I figure it out. That’s all I have for today. Until next week, stay happy, stay cool, and as always stay brutal!
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