Folk fest a success, despite soggy setback says organizer

While organizers worried about smoke from wildfires, it was wet weather that posed a challenge for the 2023 Edmonton Folk Music Festival.

"We got more rain in an hour than I ever remember," said Terry Wickham, the festival's producer. "We certainly had more standing water on site than I've ever seen. We had pools of water all over the place that we had to pump out."

The festival sold 14,000 tickets each day. The weekend sold out, and just 247 tickets remaining unsold from Thursday. 

It takes around $1 million to build the festival grounds each year, and Wickham said he's grateful for quick action from the City of Edmonton and volunteers who worked to pump out water and put down sand to get the festival grounds ready for opening day.

"The dedication of our site volunteers, it's not a surprise to me, but it's the first time that it's had to be called into really high pressure when we got hit on Wednesday night," he added.

New this year was a sensory room hosted by Autism Edmonton, where people could take some time away from the noise and crowds.

Wickham said the festival aims to be as accessible as possible and has been a leader in accessibility in past years. However, using sand on the grounds did create some challenges.

"This is a difficult site for people with mobility issues," he added. "So, we want to minimize them wherever we can. And sand is not a good way to do it.

"We kind of knew that, but [we couldn't] hold the festival without it - so we've been kind of trying to make that a little better as the weekend goes.

"But if that happens again I want us to be ready at day one for people that have mobility problems."

Wickham said there will be an audit of the accessibility on site at the festival, with recommendations made as to how it can be improved in the future.

Despite the setbacks, Wickham said the festival was a success.

"A lot of people are saying I wish all the festival's would come here and learn how to do a festival," he said. "John Prine, Breandi Carlile and Mary Chapin Carpenter have called us their favorite festival, so that's pretty nice. That's nice to hear."

PARKING

Each year parking restrictions are put in place in communities neighbouring Gallagher Park, and the City of Edmonton said 161 traffic tickets were issued in Cloverdale, Strathearn and Bonnie Doon during this year's festival.

In addition, 19 warnings were given and the city received 32 parking complaints.