Heart of the City’s first ever Indigenous fashion show, clothing drive, and community dinner took place on December 12th. The event was held at Parkdale Cromdale Community League and organized by Heart of the City’s board and Heather Bouchier, a local Indigenous fashion designer. The event was a huge success and completely sold out!

The show featured Heather Bouchier Design and Rhonda Johnson of Acahkos design. We were so pleased to have Erin Meetoos of Erin’s Regalia do her first fashion show with us. Indigenous photographer Curtis Cameron took beautiful shots of the show. Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse was our emcee, and we were honoured to have the City of Edmonton’s Indigenous Artist-in-Residence, Creeasian as our DJ.

The music was rocking, the models were stunning in modern Indigenous designs – and then there was the food! We had a lovely meal of venison stew, vegan stew, bannock, and dessert bannock with bananas and blueberry compote provided by Nék̓em, an organization that also distributed the clothing we collected to houseless community members.

We were joined by City Councillor Ashley Salvador as well as Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and his wife. Mayor Sohi spoke about building an inclusive community, an Edmonton for everyone.

We were also entertained by Inuit comic Cindy Rivers who had the audience in stitches.

The show was a huge success and we want to thank all those involved including the models who walked our catwalk with grace and flair.

Check out our website heartcityfest.com for more pictures of the event and upcoming opportunities to volunteer with Heart of the City.

Corine Demas serves as volunteer President and Spoken Word Director of the Heart of the City Festival Society of Edmonton. Corine is passionate about poetry, storytelling, and her city, Edmonton. She lives in McCauley.