Excerpt from Global News By Karen Bartko
For the second year in a row, Edmonton’s K-Days summer carnival and exhibition will not go ahead — despite Premier Jason Kenney announcing Alberta is “Open for Summer.”
“Following Premier Kenney’s announcement, we at Northlands took a hard look at whether we could deliver a high-quality event given limited timelines and resources,” a statement from Northlands released Tuesday said.
“Following discussions with the City of Edmonton and Explore Edmonton, Northlands has made the difficult decision that K-Days will not take place this summer.
The news on Tuesday came after repeated requests to Northlands on the fate of the summer fair, which is one of the organization’s two annual events.
It also hosts Farmfair International in November — the future of which is also not certain, though perhaps more optimistic given it is still six months away.
Last week, a Northlands spokesperson would only say they were excited to see Alberta getting back to normal and were working though what Alberta’s “Open for Summer” announcement would mean for K-Days.
While K-Days, the International Street Performers Festival and the Edmonton Folk Musical Festival have all announced they are not going ahead in 2021, other events are, including Taste of Edmonton and Heritage Festival.
“We also recognize that many other signature Edmonton festivals are working towards holding modified versions of their events this summer. By taking K-Days off the schedule, it creates more space for these wonderful festivals to start rebuilding,” the Northlands statement said.
Up until the news broke, the website for the event said it would take place July 23 to Aug. 1 at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
