Red Deer will come alive with the arts during Alberta Culture Days, from Friday to Sunday.
Free concerts, visual art and theatre displays, dancing and meet-the-author events are coming this weekend — starting on Friday with a free concert by Red Deer’s Justine Vandergrift, who will play from 1-3 p.m. at The Hub on Ross Street.
All day Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Central Alberta Refugee Effort will celebrate painting, photography, singing, dancing, drumming and poetry at 5000 Gaetz Ave.
And that evening, from 6 p.m., Central Alberta Theatre will present free entertainment, including music and previews of its season at CATena at the Memorial Centre. You can also take a tour and see the new facility renovations. Refreshments and a licensed concession are available.
On Saturday, children’s entertainer Fred Penner will perform a free 3 p.m. show at the Memorial Centre (rush seats, doors open at 1 p.m.) Next door at Festival Hall, there will be dance performances, a pop-up visual art gallery, art demonstrations, kids’ art, and a cultural showcase.
More Saturday activities will happen at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery and Heritage Square. Norwegian cooking and crafts displays can be seen at the Laft Hus Open House from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and there will be a Leaves of Peace drop-in art-making project at the museum from 1-4 p.m. You can also take a “behind the scenes tour” of the museum’s collections.
Downtown Red Deer is also offering a plethora of Saturday activities, including a musical pancake breakfast on the Ross Street Patio from 10 a.m. to noon, and an original Aladdin pantomime play running from 1 p.m. and again from 3:30 p.m. at The Hub, starring local actors Curtis Labelle and Jason Steele.
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. jars of beads will be sold from The Hub to benefit suicide prevention.
And from 11 a.m. to noon, author/illustrator Ruth Ohi will present an energetic, interactive performance for all ages at Red Deer’s downtown public library.
On Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., a Garlic City Market Festival will be held by ReThink Red Deer with tasty treats offered at the Piper Creek Gardens, just south of the Red Deer landfill, off 40 Ave.
And from 2-4 p.m. at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery, Metis author Doris Jeanne MacKinnon will speak on her book, Metis Pioneers: Marie Rose Delorme and Isabella Clark Hardisty.
The theme of this year’s Alberta Culture Days is “create, participate and share.”
Other communities will be running their own events. The Central Alberta Film Festival Society will be screening a free series of locally made flicks from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday at Lacombe’s Memorial Centre.
For more information, please visit reddeer.ca/AlbertaCultureDays.
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