Despite being Calgary’s winter city festival, the weather on Friday evening for Chinook Blast’s kick off was anything but—much to the benefit of the 4th annual iteration of the festival.

Hundreds gathered at Olympic Plaza and City Hall to take in all-new art pieces, free music, Indigenous market, and more over the weekend.

For some long-time partners and many of the visitors, the launch was the most successful in the festival’s history, representing the increased maturity of Chinook Blast as a venue for arts, culture, and entertainment during the winter.

Ian Rice, an artist with True North Absurdities (TNA), said it was an honour to be back at Olympic Plaza for another year as part of the festival. Rice has been showcasing his work at Chinook Blast for the past three years.

“We’re so blessed to have support like this in Calgary and to have events like this to come out to, and to have a city that just eats it up, like this,” Rice said.

Dozens of visitors to Olympic Plaza on Friday lined up to press the buttons on their Super Mario-inspired work called Trippity Twitchit, which has gigantic piranha plants like those in the game series spewing fireballs 20 feet into the air.

Rice said that he was thankful for the continued interest of visitors in the artworks that True North Absurdities brings each year.

“It is really gratifying to have this showing, to have people appreciating it, and just seeing the looks on their faces due to something that we packed up and brought,” he said.

“Honestly, we hope to keep it going because this kind of perpetuates our efforts, and we feel like there is kind of a symbiosis there in that we help keep Chinook Blast interesting and appealing to everybody. So, the more we can do, and the better we can do, and the more this supports us, the more we’re just going to turn around and sink what we can into [Chinook Blast].”

Festival supports artists and Calgarians wanting to connect with the arts

In 2021, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Rice told LWC at the time the concern for artists like himself was to have the support of the arts community to help artists survive through the economic downtown.

Chinook Blast, he said, provided financial support through booking displays like his and also served to create community connections between artists.

This year, he said that people visiting the festival were far more relaxed and that the atmosphere had grown into what artists like himself had hoped it would become.

“It’s just such a nice thing to see everybody just out of that shell that existed. We’re lucky to be surrounded by other artists like Paul [Magnuson] across the road with B!G Art, and then we see the other people around here. We’re just so lucky to be a part of it,” Rice said.

One of the more interactive events outside of the main Chinook Blast offerings at Olympic Plaza and City Hall, was at Pixel Park in the Beltline.

Recess Calgary, founded by Tyson Bankert, ran a community cardboard fort-building event at the park on Sunday.

He said that the goal of Recess Calgary was to promote the idea that people can have fun and do things outside at any time.

“Chinook Blast is trying to convey that you can connect with people outside, you can play, you can be creative outside, and doesn’t necessarily have to be something that’s inside. I also like the idea that so many of our public spaces can be activated, and that’s what Chinook Blast is really trying to create,” Bankert said.

He said that sometimes people forget, especially adults, that they can play and exercise, and that can also be fun and whimsical instead of productivity-oriented—and that a weekend event of building a cardboard fort was a great way to remind people of that fact.

Some of that weekend of play also included events from Sports Calgary and sporting associations, like learning to play para-hockey and ski jump.

Everything coming together

Jeff Hessel, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Tourism Calgary, said that seeing everything finally come together for the opening weekend for Chinook Blast was his favourite time of year.

“We’ve seen people coming out, and just what a great feeling. It makes you really proud to be part of the city,” Hessel said.

He said that they really couldn’t have asked for a better start than Friday, with warm weather that drew hundreds to outdoor Chinook Blast opening events.

“Obviously, we’re going to see cold weather during these three weeks at some point in time, but it’s really great for opening weekend to have this, just to get people familiar with it, and that are telling their friends and family about it,” Hessel said.

“It also kind of proves the whole idea behind Chinook Blast and how chinooks play such a big role in enjoying this festival in the winter.”

Speaking to the experience of people like Rice, Hessel said that one of the things that the festival has learned year-over-year was the difference that it was making to engaging the art community and providing opportunities for artists to showcase their work.

“We have artists that were with us the very first year, that were just getting started making displays and putting things together. Since then, they have grown an entire inventory of displays and lighting that not only are they using at Chinook Blast, but they’re using it at events around town throughout the rest of the year,” Hessel said.

“Some people are even touring their stuff around the province, and even in other places outside of the province. So it almost appears as if people have made businesses based upon the work that they’re doing with Chinook Blast, and that’s just absolutely so gratifying to know.”

Hessel said that Calgarians who still haven’t made the trip downtown for the festival would be missing out on something wonderful if they didn’t.

“It is much more exciting to come down here than watching TV or being in your house… people should be out. This is a wonderful thing to do when you’re hanging out with your family, or you want to do something with your friends,” he said.

“What a great thing just to come out, walk around, go and see the sights. There’s so many different things to do from night markets, to concerts, to light displays, to all kinds of things people need to check out.”