For the past 23 years, the Calgary Chinatown Street Festival has wowed visitors with parades, dragon dances, vendors of all types, cultural performances, and, of course, food.

This year’s festival, set to run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug. 16, has aimed to be bigger, better, and more inclusive than ever before.

That bigger and better claim is no empty boast, with the 23rd annual festival inviting more partners, showing more performances, and adding new venues across Chinatown than in previous years.

Judy Eng-Hum, executive director of the Calgary Chinatown BIA, said that one of the new additions for 2025 was a family-friendly kid zone programmed by community partner Vivo.

“This year, we also have our big, giant chairs that were going to be unveiled earlier in the week. Then we’re going to actually program out there as well, so people can come and paint mini chairs and take one away home with them,” she said.

That activity is set to take place in Sein Lok Park, which she said would hopefully draw in visitors taking in the riverwalk pathway system, to check out all of the main activities on 3 Avenue in Chinatown.

Cuties Market, which has been programming a night market at Chinatown’s Dragon City Mall, will be bringing its vendors outside as part of the Calgary Chinatown Street Festival.

Eng-Hum said that families would also have a chance to take in traditional Chinese folk art, through making traditional figurines using flour and water.

All of that will be kicked off with a dragon dance, which will include lion dancers as well.

“For us, it’s about revitalizing Chinatown. Now with all of the neighbourhoods outside of the core, a lot of folks haven’t been down to Chinatown for a long time, and so this is a way for us to hopefully attract people that have never been to Chinatown, down to Chinatown and downtown to check out what’s there,” said Eng-Hum.

“It’s super important, because it’s one of our major summer events to bring people into the core. And we would really like to revitalize the area. We’ve got some new vendors coming to Chinatown as well, and we just want to attract more people down there just to see vitality in the streets of Chinatown.”

Another one of the cultural highlights for 2025 was a planned celebration of the recently released children’s book Found: A Tale of Chinese Immigrants, by Calgary teachers Jane Xu and Junyi Bu, and published by the MPC Foundation.

Both authors will be at the Chinatown BIA booth during the festival to meet with Calgarians and to share the story of early Chinese-Canadian settler Lee Duck.

“This year’s festival is not just a celebration—it’s a powerful reminder of the stories, art, and people that continue to shape our city,” said Grace Su, Board Chair for the Chinatown BIA.

“We’re thrilled to once again bring together Calgarians from all walks of life to experience the best of Chinatown.”

Admission to the festival is free, however, registration is required for the figurine-making activity. For more details, www.calgarychinatown.com/events/td-chinatown-street-festival.