A variety of street performers put on a show in downtown Red Deer all weekend long.
The CentreFest Street Performer Festival returned after a two-year absence and teamed up with the Meet the Street Festival for a weekend of celebrating the arts.
This was the second Meet the Street Festival, where Red Deerians are encouraged to explore the downtown core and the 12 new murals that have been painted by artists throughout the summer.
“I love that we could partner with Meet the Street and celebrate visual art and performance art together. I think the combination is just stunning,” said Chelsea Bates, CentreFest board chair.
“To get people to come down to see the murals that have been done and how the community’s preserved the ones that had been created last year, I think is really uplifting.”
CentreFest, which began Friday evening and wrapped up Sunday, took place in three main locations: Ross Street from 49 Avenue to Gaetz Avenue, City Hall Park and the parking lot across from City Hall Park.
The CentreFest team works “all year long” to put this event together, said Bates.
“It’s really exciting to be back. We were so disappointed the last couple of years. I feel the excitement, I feel the community’s excitement,” she said.
The City of Red Deer was the primary grant-funder for CentreFest and was crucial to the festival, said Bates, adding this year’s event was run on a smaller budget than in previous years.
“Flying Bob” Palmer, CentreFest artistic director, said the majority of the street performers at CentreFest haven’t been performing much since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Even if there are a few hiccups with the festival restarting after two years, the performers are super understanding and happy to be able to perform at festivals again,” he said.
There was a variety of performers at the event, including a juggler, comedian, magician, fire eater and sword swallower, and acrobatic acts.
“I’ve been a street performer for over 30 years and I’ve travelled all over the world doing street shows … so I know these people. I’ve met them around the world – we’re a subculture,” he said.
“We try to bring performers from all over the world. This year, we’re mostly (from) Canada and North America just because of COVID. If COVID had a resurgence and they closed the border, all of the international performers wouldn’t have been able to get in, so we leaned heavily on Canadian performers.”
There’s something special about stumbling across a street performance when you didn’t expect it, Palmer added.
“The performer gathers the audience themselves, creates the show, creates the venue, does the costuming, tells the jokes, works out the material,” said Palmer.
“The heart of street performing is audience participation. If you’re using somebody who’s never seen the show before, everybody knows that this is happening for the first time. It’s the spontaneity, freshness and realness that are the true attraction to street performing.”
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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