Calgary’s largest and longest-running cosplay parade, the Calgary Expo Parade of Wonders, has a new route for 2025 due to the closure of Olympic Plaza.
The parade, which has typically gone down Stephen Avenue to the aforementioned plaza for the past decade, has instead been replaced with a route that takes parade goers through Victoria Park along 13 Avenue SW at Haultain Park right to the doorsteps of the BMO Centre where the Calgary Expo is set to be held.
Every year thousands of participants have dressed up in everything from pop-culture to anime cosplay, alongside celebrity guests.
The Parade of Wonders has been the only Fan Expo event held in North America with a parade, said Andrew Moyes, Fan Expo HQ Vice President.
“The POW! Parade of Wonders sets Calgary Expo apart from every other comic-con in North America—our only show with a parade made by the fans for the fans, and supported by the whole city,” Moyes said in a prepared media release on Wednesday.
“We’re delighted to be in Victoria Park and the Culture + Entertainment District, and overjoyed to feel the enthusiasm these two incredible organizations have to welcome our fans. It’s all part of Calgary Expo’s bigger and better 2025, and we can’t wait.”
Moyes said that he thanked the Downtown Calgary Association for their support through the past decade for the parade, and for their support for helping make the parade a mainstay.
But with the closure of Olympic Plaza, he said that Victoria Park became the perfect launching pad for the 2025 parade.
“The opportunity to end the parade literally on steps of CALGARY EXPO has always been a dream scenario, and we’re so excited about the developments in the Culture + Entertainment District that have allowed that to happen,” Moyes said.
Among those have been the completion of the extender from Stampede Park on to 17 Avenue SW, and the completion of Flours Ladue Parade next to the BMO Centre—which was opened with its own Stampede parade in Oct. of 2024.
The Parade of Wonders kicks off at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 25.
