This year’s edition of Heart of the City happened on May 31st and June 1st, a weekend earlier this year than the traditional first weekend of June. While the team of organizers of this year’s festival was small, we were mighty. The weather held for most of Saturday, though there were some moments when we thought we may have to shut down the main stage and open the flaps on our tents in a big windstorm. After consulting veteran sound tech Mike Tully, the show went on. 

We were able to bring two days of music, spoken word, visual arts, and workshops to our neighbours in Giovanni Caboto Park. Jacqueline Duttenhoffer and her mother Le Anne Whiting, Rachael Roberts, and I (Corine Demas) worked hard on the logistics and pre-festival organization. This year we hired Isaac Friesen to help us coordinate the logistics as the festival unfolded. He also ran the music stage. We heard around 20 musical acts at the main stage, including Stella Johnson, Bobbi Jo Star, and Funk Cove. Some notable emcees on the main stage were Margaret Smith (our Neighbourhood Resource Coordinator), Anne Stevenson (our City Councillor), and local comic Matt Chaney, who really stepped up and put in a lot of time helping us fill in unbooked time slots.  

The Beat Spoken Word Stage was coordinated by Dani Zyp this year. Dani programmed all of the poetry sessions including the popular word and music session where poets were invited to read to music. Dani helped scout musicians as well. We held a well-attended comedy show at 8 p.m. on May 31st. We were impressed with the turnout as the show happened in a windstorm. We heard family friendly comedy from Harshan Gill, Matt Chaney, Steven Darnel, Daniela Zenari, Erin MK Hall, Kamal Alaeddine, and Delbir Sehmby. We were particularly impressed with the comedy of newcomer Aldrick Dugarte. Kamal Alaeddine and his team (Katie Yoner and Ross Zimmermann) showed us what improv can be in a fun and interactive session at the Beat Stage. 

On Sunday, June 1st, we held our 6th annual Story Slam which was hosted by Kamal Alaeddine. The $300 prize was split by co-winners Leif Olefson Cormac and Delbir Sehmby.

We need to thank the organization 4B Harm Reduction who came to help us with harm reduction and community outreach. Their team was amazing and we hope that you seek them out to table at your next community event.

On Friday, May 30th we set up the park. We were so impressed with the number of people who showed up to help us, in particular Keith and Dylan. As they do every year, the folks at Zocalo brought us beautiful flowers to decorate the main stage. Breanna, a new volunteer, stepped up and took on many roles and filled in gaps. I want to give a big shout out to Nathan Hupka. He was integral in setting up the park on Friday. He showed up and stayed to help from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and stayed until the park was totally shut down on Sunday night. Our volunteers always show up to help us and we wish to give them many thanks. 

One volunteer we need to acknowledge spent the weekend helping us with set-up and tear-down - and who also played in several bands at the festival. This was Mike Siek’s last summer in Edmonton and the last time he will be able to volunteer for Heart of the City. We thank Mike for his tireless support and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. 

It is important to us to thank our sponsors which include Boyle McCauley News, Paper Birch Books, Listen Louder Productions, Island Spice Food Truck, Edmonton Folk Music Festival, artsvest, City of Edmonton, FreeArts, McCauley Community League, Boyle Street Community League, BGC Big Brothers Big Sisters (BGCBigs), Print Machine, Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN), Otipemisiwak Métis Government, I.A.M. Indigenous Artist Market Collective, 4B Harm Reduction Society, and the Edmonton Arts Council.

Corine Demas lives in McCauley where she is the President of the McCauley Community League and the Executive Director of the Heart of the City Festival.