Edmonton is known for its festivals, and this year, it’s also known for its extreme weather. It’s leaving event organizers on edge, while they wait to see what Mother Nature has in store.
“We are definitely already sensing that excitement,” said Megan Benoit, digital manager with Big Valley Jamboree, where the stage and chairs will soon be filled for another weekend of country music.
“Even in these last couple of days leading up to the show, the ticket numbers are really great. We do see a lot of walkups at this show too. So we’re expecting some good numbers.”
The festival takes place July 30 to August 2 in Camrose, about an hour southeast of Edmonton.
This year’s headliners are Old Dominion, Riley Green and Keith Urban.
BVJ is no stranger to extreme weather impacting the country music event. Back in 2024, Urban was also scheduled to perform, but due to intense storms, he was unable to take the stage. In 2009, a storm led to a stage collapse that killed 35-year-old Donna Moore.
From all those experiences, the festival says organizers have learned a lot.
“We’re in the business of outdoor events, so Mother Nature is always on our mind. We work with a meteorologist right here on site 24/7 to make sure that we’re aware of any potential storms and following all of those cells,” said Benoit.
While BVJ is still waiting to see how the weather turns out, some festivals have already experienced Mother Nature’s wrath firsthand.
Taste of Edmonton in downtown Edmonton was impacted on two evenings over the course of the 11-day festival from Thursday, July 16 to Sunday, July 26.
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“On our opening Saturday and then obviously the closing Saturday, we had two pretty sizable storms in the city,” said festival organizer Donovan Vienneau.
The storm on Saturday, July 18 blew in on a busy festival weekend: in addition to Taste of Edmonton, it was the opening weekend of KDays, the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival was going on in Kinsmen Park and the two-day Neon Skies pop music festival was taking place outdoors beside Rogers Place in the Ice District.
“I had an EPS officer reach out to me and said, ‘Hey listen, we are evacuating the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival — what is your plan?’”
Vienneau said Taste activated its emergency response plan and got people off the festival grounds at Churchill Square that night, as well as on the following Saturday when an even fiercer storm blew thought.
In his seven years of running Taste of Edmonton, Vienneau said this year is the first time they’ve had to evacuate.
“Lots of great lessons learned in our first evacuation, which made the second Saturday feel a little bit easier,” Vienneau said. “Making the judgment call, it really wasn’t a difficult one, because when you’re dealing with the lives of 8,000 or 20,000, or 100,000 the Edmontonians — we want to make sure that everybody is safe.”
While the weather was less-than-ideal, Vienneau said attendance was actually up this year. That wasn’t the case a few weeks earlier, when The Works Art & Design Festival was drowned out during a lengthy rainfall event.
Meanwhile, fairgoers at the KDays midway this year were met with intense weather on a few of the nights, which led to the cancellation of two of music headliners.
“Many of the folks were able to move indoors and shelter in place until the storm passed, so I think we’re well equipped,” said Arlindo Gomes with KDays.
Gomes says, luckily, this was the first year KDays bought rain insurance.
“Looking at cancellation and weather insurance, I think, is going to be more and more important for event producers going forward — just with recent experience, it’s going to be wise for us to consider those,” he said.
“We’re definitely going to be looking at a more comprehensive view of insurance, as it relates to what we’re exposed to in respect to weather.”
Other festivals weren’t so lucky.
Extreme weather forced the Beaumont Music Festival to cancel its second day. That, coupled with other financial issues, means its future is in question.
“At this point, it’s very likely that another multi-day outdoor music festival is probably not in the cards for next year,” said Jeremy Kornel with the Beaumont Music Festival.
At BVJ, they’re hoping there are no storms, but aren’t leaving anything to chance.
“We’ve got teams behind the scenes. We’re always prepared.”
BVJ is also encouraging anyone attending the festival to sign up for their text updates, check their website and social media for the latest information on the storms.
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