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Wuthering Frights and summer nights at the fringe: Long weekend activities in Calgary

Wuthering Frights and summer nights at the fringe: Long weekend activities in Calgary

CTV News3 days ago
Taste of Calgary 2024 will be held Aug. 1 to 5. (Facebook/Taste of Calgary)
The long weekend has arrived and there are plenty of local events happening in Calgary.
Calgary Fringe Festival
The Calgary Fringe Festival kicks off Friday evening and runs until Saturday August 9th. The open access theatre festival brings together emerging and established artists alike to tell their stories on stage.
'(It's) a chance to kind of kick back, relax, have fun, Might be some kind of campfire stories that we may be telling,' said Fringe Festival executive director Michelle Gallant.
In total there are 20 shows, all under an hour long with tickets costing $20. There are three mainstage venues: Festival Hall, Lantern Community Church, and the Inglewood Hub,
'There is also some pay-what-you-want options for any patrons on a tight budget,' said Gallant. 'One of the great things that I love about the festival is that it's supporting the emerging indie artists -- and 100 per cent of the ticket price goes right back to the artists.'
Gallant expects 4,500-5,000 people to attend the nine-day event.
Taste of Calgary
Thursday, Taste of Calgary kicked off at LOT 6, 311 Eighth St. S.W. downtown. It runs until Monday.
'Taste of Calgary is a celebration of food and it's for all the foodies out there,' said event producer Jennifer Rempel.
There are over 90 restaurants, food trucks, brewers and distillers people can choose from.
'There is everything from Nigerian, African, Caribbean, Korean food, all sorts of really international cuisines,' said Rempel.
The event also features live music, as Rempel expects between 10,000 – 15,000 people each day.
Road Safety
RCMP are reminding people to be extra cautious on the road heading into the long weekend. In a media release, it offered some long weekend tips:
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She was quick with a quip but Amey Cushman's positive outlook always inspired her family
She was quick with a quip but Amey Cushman's positive outlook always inspired her family

Globe and Mail

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She was quick with a quip but Amey Cushman's positive outlook always inspired her family

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Obsessed with Labubus? Why you may want to rethink this unboxing trend
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Meet Cambridge's newest stoney faced sensation: Hespeler Jack 5 minutes ago Duration 3:27 A new resident is turning heads in a Cambridge, Ont., neighbourhood. Hespeler Jack stands out for a number of reasons. He's got a quirky fashion sense, a growing fan base and, obviously, a set of rock hard abs. The grey stone statue of a boy stands only about two feet tall or 60 cm. He's located in the Hespeler neighbourhood, at the corner of Adam Street and Rife Avenue. The little figure mysteriously appeared on a traffic island one day. Since then, neighbours like Jennifer Beattie have been jazzing him up with new outfits. "He just looked cold sitting over there, just concrete on a plain median. So I put a little bandana on him," she said, recalling the first time she saw Hespeler Jack in her neighbourhood. "The next day I saw him sitting there and I thought, 'Oh no, he needs some sunglasses,' so I put the sunflower sunglasses on him and that seemed to be the beginning of it." Beattie says she's seen numerous people cross over to the traffic island just to make a donation to Hespeler Jack's growing wardrobe or take a family picture with him. Her husband, Kent Beattie, says he thinks Hespeler Jack first appeared the night of the Hespeler Village Music Festival around July 6. "It's just a small town at heart still. Hespeler is still a small town and [Hespeler Jack] brings everyone together," he said, adding that sometimes the statue gets 10 visitors an hour. A local celebrity with his own Google Maps page Tim Hughes just moved in to the neighbourhood of Hespeler a few months before Hespeler Jack moved in right next to him. Despite Jack's stone-cold expression, Hughes has managed to maintain a pretty good relationship with his new neighbour. "He's pleasant and doesn't have anything bad to say about anybody. Always dresses nicely and really brings a sense of vibrancy to the community ... lacking a little bit in the footwear department, so maybe [I will add] some flippers or something like that," Hughes said. "It adds to the overall community presence and and just the vibrancy and friendliness of the neighbourhood." Ashley Lansink is the director of marketing at Explore Waterloo Region, an online resource that helps highlight exciting things happening all across the region. She says she was excited to feature the stone figure on their social media pages. "When we first came across Hespeler Jack, we knew it was a really fun story that was quirky and felt like Waterloo region," she said. "Seeing that Hespeler Jack is now a destination on Google Maps and people are writing reviews of their experience with him just shows the impact he's having is going beyond the neighborhood of Hespeler. We've been having a lot of fun with it and we know that residents and visitors to Waterloo region are really enjoying him as well."

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