Calgarians love any excuse to enjoy good food, sunshine, and a party atmosphere. Lucky for us, the spring and summer months are filled with delicious festivals and events, and the ones with a food focus are especially fun. Here’s a list of the indoor and outdoor festivals for foodies, mark your calendars!
The Grape Escape: March 20-21
Co-op gives you an annual excuse to spend all night drinking; offering a huge selection of wine, beer, and spirits from around the world. We’re talking hundreds of participating producers bringing in their products. Tickets are $65, and it includes 12 food tickets and 50 drink tickets. Each sample only needs one ticket, so it will be impossible not to find some new favourites during your tasting extravaganza. The event takes place in the BMO Centre, which means that it is easily accessible via Calgary Transit, and the event is 18+. Wine, food, a cheap ride home at the doorstep of the event centre… Perfection! Did I mention wine?
Your glasses won’t be this full, but you’ll be able to choose from hundreds of options!
Spring Food Truck Frenzy: Date TBA
For the past few years, YYC Food Trucks takes over the East Village in celebration of cold, snowy days being (mostly) behind us, and to spread excitement over summer food truck season. This April, YYCFT will bring you 15 “local and gourmet” trucks full of goodies, and entertainment will be provided as well. Who doesn’t enjoy eating easily-transported food in one of Calgary’s coolest up-and-coming neighbourhoods?
Sticky Ricky’s offers up Cajun food with a spicy side of whimsy.
Sun and Salsa Festival: July 19, 2015
This spicy festival takes place in Kensington every July. Kensington Road and 10th Street NW are closed down for the day, and businesses from the neighbourhood will offer up their best take on salsa. You purchase tortilla chips for $3/bag or $5/two bags (the proceeds go towards charity), and you taste-test your way through 40 different salsa recipes. Latin music flows through the street, local vendors and artisans sell their wares, and live entertainers will be performing throughout the day. The festival has free admission and is fun for the whole family, offering the Children’s Carnival zone for PG-fun. If you are looking for a place to avoid the kiddos, pubs and restaurants are open and ready to provide some AC and protection from the sun. And beer. So much beer.
Taste of Calgary: August 13-16, 2015
With the huge variety of incredible restaurants that Calgary offers, sometimes its hard to know which ones we should try. Well, the Taste of Calgary has you covered. Various restaurants from around the city come down to Eau Claire and offer samples of menu items (both food and drink), and you get to pick and choose where you want to spend your tickets ($1 each.) The tasters range from 2-5 tickets each, and you can sample food from a variety of ethnic cuisines, as well as a few Canadian favourites. Click here for last year’s menu, to give you an idea of what’s available during the festival. There are a ton of offerings, so come with an empty stomach and an open mind!
Honourable mention goes to:
The Calgary Stampede: July 3-12, 2015
The greatest outdoor show on earth never fails to impress (and terrify) carnival foodies. They up the ante every year, and while they haven’t released the list of new foods for 2015 yet, you can peruse what atrocities (sweet, sweet atrocities) that were released last year. If that scorpion pizza or crocodile sliders aren’t tantalizing your taste buds, images of deep-fried cookie dough or bacon-wrapped pork belly on a stick should do the trick!
My favourite mail of the year. This year’s booklet should be out in a few months.