Photo Credit: Grande Prairie International Street Performers Facebook page.

By Shane Clausing

Street Performers going virtual

Grande Prairie International Street Performers Festival returns online for 20th anniversary

Jul 2, 2020 | 1:25 PM

The Grande Prairie International Street Performers Festival will be back for its 20^th anniversary from July 17-22, and this year it is taking place online.

The popular downtown festival usually brings upwards of 18,000 to 25,000 people over six days to watch the street performers, but because of COVID-19 restrictions the festival was forced to move online.

Wayne Ayling, the co-chair of the Grande Prairie International Street Performers Festival says that without the normal crowds, holding the festival outdoors this year was not realistic.

“It’s not that it’s too big of a risk, it’s just not enough. We get between 18,000 to 25,000 people coming to our festival which is over six days in four different locations. We just couldn’t do the festival on the scale that it has grown to, that’s why we are online.”

This year’s festival will have 25 different performers from around the world, performing their acts online to an online audience. All of the performances will be pre-recorded to ensure those at home can get the best viewing experience possible.

“We are running it as if it was a live festival and traditionally over the years, we’ve developed a one third, one third, one third concept,” explained Ayling. “One third is from Alberta, one third from Canada and one third internationally.”

One thing that is a big part about the street performing industry is that a lot of the performers rely on tips to continue to operate. Ayling mentioned that despite the fact that there are no crowds, those watching online will not need to tip the street performers. He also wants this festival to be accessible for everyone.

“Our philosophy is it’s our 20^th anniversary and we want this to be available to anyone regardless of budget, so it is free. We are not asking for any contributions whatsoever, we are very thankful that we’ve got great support from our sponsors and all three orders of government are providing funds, so we are able to offer this as our gift back to the people who’ve supported us for the last 20 years.”

A full schedule of when the performances will take place will be announced on July 15. Updates will continue to be provided on the Grande Prairie International Street Performers Festival’s Facebook page.