3.5* An annual…read morefireworks competition here in Calgary that takes place at Elliston park. where different countries put on a fireworks show choreographed to music. On the grounds there are cultural tents, and food tents showcasing each country. I was happy to find Guarana at the Brazil food tent and my new discovery is a bag of dingdong from the Philippines tent! haha. Away from the food tents there are snack stands that sell mini donuts, corn dogs, lemonade, popcorn, ice cream, etc... $15 for admission at the door but there are also intervals for pre-sale tickets starting from $7.50 and the close to the date, the closer to $15 it gets (check their website)! Bring your lawn chairs, bug spray, and blanket and set up a place for yourself on the grass. They allow you to bring your own water, food, & snacks. On the grounds, water is $3 / bottle, and the food ranges in price from $4+, avg being $10 / plate. I usually go with my friend and her family. We walk around the grounds, eat some dinner/snacks, and just chill and wait for the fireworks show. Basically we spend a whole evening from 6pm until maybe 1030/11 ish. The show is usually around 30-40 mins long and begins when it gets dark (between 9-10pm). Yeah it's in the sketchier side of town but there are cops everywhere who stop traffic for pedestrians, and close the roads after the show for people to walk back to their cars. We usually park in the surrounding neighborhood and walk. It started off small potatoes and it keeps growing! :)

The festival itself is ver good and several events and activities for children but the shuttle bus…read moreservice is the worst I have ever used. Tonight August 15, 2019, we needed to wait around 90 minutes until one bus was able to take me to the Marks warehouse parking lot with my wife and two small kids, some other families and senior couples needed to wait even more. No organization at all and only one lady from the staff was trying to provide support without success. Again the festival is great, but do not even try to use the authorized festivals Parking lots. Respectfully Daniel Hernandez

3 years ago we went to Taste of Calgary. It was great fun for whole family. Different venders to…read moretry different cuisines and drinks. It was jam packed and took us long time to find parking. It's better to uber ride or take public transport. Long waits and lines to try the samples after paying with tickets. Plus venders are not consistent with sample size. They give plate full to some and just few bites to few. We were disappointed with the quantity they gave us for bang bang cauliflower as that batch finished, so we just got left overs, they could have told us to wait to give us full quantity. Overall a good experience. Have not been there from 3 years now, hopefully they have started managing it well.

The reason for 3/5 because majority of the food we tried were about 2/5 rating in taste and…read morequality. They were not very good for the price customers had to pay for. The portions were small and the food were not always fresh. The experience wise is 5/5. It was fun. The event was well organized. The tickets boots are easy to navigate. There were plenty of place to sit or stand while trying the food. There were outhouse washroom provided. Overall, it's a fun event to visit if you are Okay with compromising the quality and flavors of a lot of the food there.

Spruce Meadows has an amazing amount of tree lights up around their entrance and parking areas and…read moreAl around - it's quite a festive sight to see! We were quite amazed by the sheer amount of lights and trees decorated it's an overwhelming display! The markets are of course a joy and fun to check out and of course check out the various food vendors and grab a warm drink! Happy Hollidays!

This Christmas Market is Rated Forth must see in the World!…read moreFirst time coming here since the pandemic started. We arrived at 9:45 am right when the gates open. The pavilions open at 10 am. Was busy from the time it opened and even more people coming through the gates! Five builds filled with vendors and animals for the kids!! Equi-Plex, Candy Cane Lane, Winter Wonderland, Riding Hall, Horizons Pavilion, with plenty outside food venues. Prepay tickets online is the best! The pay booth has a very long line. Plenty of parking and sites to see!

I've been a cuff attendee for some years now. I really enjoy the opportunity to see films that will…read moreprobably never be picked up for wide release and likely I'd never get to see otherwise. Sometimes there is good reason these films don't make a regular circuit and other times it's largely an issue of censorship or that they aren't "hollywood enough" or didn't have the right connections in the biz. Considering hollywood and censorship produce such swill as Crossroads and Glitter.. it's not exactly a recipe for fine movie making so there is room for this type of event. I get quite excited when I see movies from CUFF eventually make it a bit more mainstream (festival showings are important for indie films that do go wide release) I saw God Hates America on Netflix and Tucker & Dale vs Evil actually made a few "top of" lists on rotten tomatoes a few years ago. Reviewing the movies doesn't make a lot of sense because you're already out of luck there but I'll speak a but general to give you an idea of what CUFF is about even though it will never be exactly the same again. I saw 5 this year - 1 was visually stunning, it took a lot of risk but ultimately left me saying WTF?! I ended up on the internet looking for interpretation because I felt like I was missing something (I still think it is a bit of WTF though). Another was lower budget but like some very bloody effects which combined to hysterical and gross at the same time. Another was an anthology of shorts and many of them had me in stitches watching how different filmmakers interpreted death (I'm very macabre by the way). Another was a documentary about drugs and did actually affect some of my views on the subject positively as I never really FULLY understood the war on drugs and how harmful it's been. My favorite of the festival "sightseers" was like a rom com written for macabre old me... I really hope that out gets out into the world a bit more because it's well done! A good thing about the fest is that it's licensed - woot! The bad is we sat by a group of 7 who were just wasted and misbehaving all movie - ugh! (Sorry to the staff - I believe one of them peed in the corner - jerks) The bad was the venue (the globe).... my back and hips (not as young as they once were) took 3 days to recover after the 9 or so hours I was seated there. I suggest watching the website and twitter account around Feb/March when the listing for next year start to roll out. Most come with a trailer and a general run down. You may find reviews out there from other fests (rotten tomatoes or imdb) Not all movies are my thing but I usually find a couple gems right up my alley and I'm fairly confident there are some up yours if you don't consider yourself a 100% hollywood sellout that requires $45 mill budget movies.

My favourite film festival in Calgary. Can always count on CUFF to bring in films that break from…read moreconvention. The films feel more like full events than just screening films.

This is a great way to try ALL the new breweries in Alberta. Samples of beer range from $2-3…read moredollars. Tickets to get in are $20. I won my tickets via Yelp. My husband bought $30 worth of tokens and we sampled enough to make me tipsy. If I had to pay for my entry tickets, the night would have cost us $70. Not bad if you really like beer and you want to see what's new. The experience was cool. There were at least two large rooms of breweries and restaurants and it was crowded. Most notable of the food options include Cluck and Cleaver, Spolumbos, and Raw Bar. There were plenty of places to stand or sit and sip your beer and nibble on your food. My pick of breweries: Freehold Brewing Co, Caravel, Ol Beautiful, and Six Corners. We were quite impressed with Ol' Beautiful's Okami-Kasu beer. We'll have to make a point to stop by their brewery in Inglewood.

What a great event. I was amazed at how many Alberta based craft breweries I had not hear of that…read morewere there. Albeit this was an international beer festival there were plenty of local eateries and brewers on site. I had never been to one before, and was able to attend thanks to Yelp! There were some pretty cool tent/stations set up. The prices were a bit on the high side, considering it costs about $2-$4 bucks for a mouthful of beer (maybe I have a big mouth). The atmosphere was fun and it was packed. It's great that you can experience and indulge in so many options in one room. We had a blast!

Great festival combining science and art for Children and adults alike going on this weekend.read more

So fun, Amanda V. And I really enjoyed this art and science show mash up. Thousands of people and…read morehundreds of things to see. music, fire, light shows, sculptures! Just a really good time .

This was a fun little festival over the Family Day long weekend. It was spread out around a few…read moredifferent plazas and parks downtown from Olympic Plaza to 5th St SW. Each stop was an art installation of various size and purpose all themed around light. The event was completely free too with a couple of the installations located indoors so you could warm up if needed. The fun part of this was that many of the installations were interactive. At Olympic Plaza there were giant shards that you could spin. At The Bow you put your face into a lit up ring and when you smiled a large happy face lit up on the wall. At another location there was a screen inside a door playing a video of a landscape. When you closed the door and opened it again, a different landscape was seen through the door.

A million dogs,a million strollers and 4 million people at this one day fest…read more... It was an overcast, drizzly day but that did not keep the people from coming out to seemingly Calgary's first Spring fest. This was great to see. The roads were closed appropriately and the main attractions (live performers) were still in the main stream but off on the side streets aways. Regardless, my first time at this festival grades a bit low as we absolutely had to walk on the sidewalks to get anywhere, not in the street. No flow on the street at all. This means there was no way I could see who all the vendors were there or take part in much by way of looking or purchasing as the lines were just too long. Tons of food trucks though if you have the patience! But, it is what it is in this great, big city and I am sure there were many out of towners here as well taking part. Great for Calgary's already booming economy! Wear comfy shoes as you will be walking a lot esp. if you drive downtown as parking is scarce close by. We walked 11 blocks back to our car. Not a day to try a new restaurant on 4th Street either as they are all packed! Free admission.

It was a fun event. Very rich in culture- colorful and very exciting to explore. Lots of food…read morestalls and food trucks. Lots of varieties of booths- from selling merchendise to meditation classes, to animal care, etc. I love the bands playing too in different sections with different song genres. I could walk around all day browsing. Though I hope it lasts more than a day.

We've been to a couple of these Marda Gras Festivals over the years and they are always super busy,…read morefun for the kids and an enjoyable outing for the entire family. We've been to and love New Orleans and so this festival holds a special place in our heart No issues with parking, even though it was a couple blocks away. Mayor Nenshi was on hand meeting and greeting the line up of people who wanted to see him. A handful of food trucks were on hand including Fiasco Gelato and we were excited to finally visit them. Fun Mardis Gras themed crafts for the kids. Face painting and bouncy houses are always a hit. A fun way to spend a couple of hours, chatting with people, trying new things, learning about the neighbourhood and supporting the Marda Loop Community.

Today I attended the marda gras festival. Nothing great to say about that. Lilac,sun and salsa and…read morelatin festivals were a way better than this. Not much crowd too. Even there were very less businesses. There was nothing much to pass time or enjoy either. There were two music band stages and were nt good too. It was just not worth going over a weekend after waiting for 20 mins for transit and walking to the marda loop. If there is no other work and idle then we could think of this festival :P .