Without a doubt, Calgarians know and love GlobalFest’s annual international fireworks festival that pits nations to put on the most explosive show possible.

But for 2025, the real magic of GlobalFest is the efforts being undertaken to celebrate Calgary’s enormous cultural diversity.

During this year’s OneWorld Festival, which happens during the fireworks competition at Elliston Park, dozens of community and cultural groups will showcase what makes their group unique and special.

Wendy Wilson, GlobalFest’s Artistic and Cultural Director, said that this year there will be 21 different cultural pavilions to visit, and 30 cultural groups that will be performing on GlobalFest stages.

“We’ve got three brand new pavilions this year that have never been a part of our festival before: we’ve got Guinea, Tanzania, and Morocco,” Wilson said.

Those nations join the representation from nations both close and afar, from Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, to Azerbaijan, China, India, Mexico, Scotland, and Ukraine, among others.

This year, food is getting put on centre stage as well, with GlobalFest introducing a new passport program that encourages visitors to sample as many of the different cultural food vendors as possible.

That passport program joins the existing cultural pavilion passport from previous years, which allows guests who fill out the passport to be entered for draws after the festival ends.

“It’s a great way to learn about the different cultures because each question is related to each country or pavilion. So, you really get to discover each pavilion and their culture, learn a little bit,” said Anna Pham, Event Coordinator for GlobalFest.

Celebrating cultural diversity is a priority for GlobalFest

Wilson said the cultural offerings at GlobalFest were unique because so many different groups come together for a single event.

“We have recognized that in the city, many cultural groups have their own festivals or celebrations. But what’s unique about GlobalFest is we are offering an opportunity to all of these cultures to come together in one area,” Wilson said.

“Calgarians, guests of our festival have the opportunity to, instead of just going to one or two cultural festivals throughout the area, they can hit all of our cultural pavilions and really get a good taste of what and who is in Calgary.”

She said holding these events was important to celebrate cultural diversity within Calgary and give the public an opportunity to meet and learn about different organizations and associations that exist in the city.

That commitment has been ongoing in 2025, even outside of the main August festival.

“Anna and I have been working specifically this spring and summer on several different events that happened. We had an Asian Heritage Month Festival at South Centre Mall, all back in May and June. We spent 10 days at the Stampede featuring our culture pavilions and performances on inside the BMO building in the community square,” Wilson said.

She said that GlobalFest would also be part of the programming at the 2025 Dragon Boat Festival, a tipi transfer with Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, and more cultural events at South Centre Mall in the fall.

“We tend to get involved in any cultural opportunity that is available to celebrate the groups that we’re working with,” Wilson said.

At a time in Calgary and Canadian society when public opinion polls have turned against immigration, and political movements have disparaged efforts like diversity, equity, and inclusion, Wilson said GlobalFest has remained a non-political way for Calgarians to learn about other cultures.

“The one thing that we always go back to is we are not here to analyze political views or cultural views. We’re here to promote and celebrate the diversity and the more we can share with the public the beauty of these different cultures, the more education that we’re providing to them, the differences that they may perceive aren’t that major,” she said.

“We’re all quite similar when it comes down to it, so educating and giving people the opportunity to experience different cultures is so valuable in breaking down stereotypes.”

See More from LWC: catch the highlights of the 2023 GlobalFest fireworks display from Portugal

Attending the festival is valuable, yet many Calgarians haven’t yet

Pham said GlobalFest was hoping to have more Calgarians who have never visited consider visiting.

“There’s lots of local Calgarians who have never been to our festival, and I feel like it is always just fun being a tourist in your own city,” Pham said.

Wilson said the number of Calgarians who haven’t yet visited have been missing out on a valuable experience.

“Anna and I continue to hear from people how much they enjoy our festival, and how much they enjoy the opportunity to witness these different cultural groups and their performances,” she said.

“So that, just attending our festival is an opportunity in itself. And a great value for entertainment for local Calgarians and anyone visiting Calgary.”

GlobalFest’s 2025 pyromusical shows and OneWorld Festival kicks off on Aug. 14, and runs every second day until Aug. 23. For more details and tickets, see globalfest.ca.

GlobalFest Schedule

• Aug. 14: USA fireworks
• Aug. 16: Malaysia fireworks
• Aug. 19: Philippines fireworks, and Canadian citizenship ceremony
• Aug. 21: China fireworks
• Aug. 23: Canada finale from Archangel Fireworks