It’s puffed chests with puffed pastries for Calgary’s growing food scene, as Taste of Calgary celebrated more than a quarter century this year.

August 1 marked the first day of this year’s festival, which is set to run to Aug. 5 in Lot 6 at 311 – 8 Street SW—the now not-so-new home for the festival.

“We’re in our third year at lot six. We’ve just opened our gates, and so far it’s been really busy. Lots of people are coming for lunch today, which we’re really happy about,” said Jennifer Rempel, event producer for Taste of Calgary.

This year’s event featured 76 vendors, a third of which are new additions.

“There’s lots of great food for everybody of all sorts. So, if you’re vegan or vegetarian, or a meat lover, or want to come try weird and wonderful food there’s really something for everyone,” said Rempel.

She said that Taste of Calgary was projecting between 20,000 to 25,000 visitors a day, and approximately 125,000 for the entire event.

“The majority of the vendors are local operators, mom and pop shops and small businesses but we’ve got everything. Blowers and Grafton here and Canadian Brewhouse, down to even some food trucks that don’t get out very often,” Rempel said.

Ol’ Beautiful Brewing Co also made an appearance as one of the festival vendors, following a tragic fire that destroyed their taproom in June.

“We reached out the minute after the fire happened and invited them here to participate. They took us up on it, and we’d love everybody to come and support them as much as possible here today,” said Rempel.

This year’s Taste was the second year in a row for Happy Fish Truck, who were featured in the Calgary Stampede food lineup for their dish the cowboyaki.

“We get to meet so many people, and so many people get to learn about our food. We’re proud of our products,” said Ying Yan Situ, an employee at Happy Fish Truck.

In 2023, Happy Fish Truck sold out of food completely, and Situ said they were hoping for the same outcome this year.

Taste of Calgary is free to attend, but tickets are required to try food or beverage items. Each item costs between $2 and $7.

“You can buy your taste tickets on site. They’re dollar for dollar, and then you just come around and spend them at all the vendors. Come hungry or come multiple times,” said Rempel.

For more details, and for the full lineup of vendors, see tasteofcalgary.com.

Photos from the 2024 Taste of Calgary