The annual Culture and Harvest Festival is back with new exciting events to entertain all ages.
In addition to horse-drawn carriage rides, pancake breakfasts, open museum tours, a community farmers market and more, this year will also feature an outdoor concert at Cranna Lake, events at the Flying Cross Ranch and a special historical designation event at the Lacombe Blacksmith Shop.
The event kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 24th and carries through to Sept. 27th.
“Friday night we’ve got a huge event happening out at Cranna Lake. The day starts with the farmers’ market, with a few activities throughout the day but at night is when we will have our great big community event. We’re going to have a community market and some activities, and live musical performances,” said Marie Péron of Lacombe Regional Tourism.
“Our opening act will be Natalia Wells, and our main performers are The Klamdaggers out of Red Deer. They’re quite popular in the area. It should be a lot of fun for the festival. I don’t believe that they’ve played in Lacombe, so that should be something different for everyone to enjoy. That concert will be capped off with the big firework show.”
The Talk Derby to Me mystery dinner theatre event will occur out at Flying Cross Ranch, located just outside of Lacombe on Milton Road. This event is $80, which includes a full dinner and an evening performance hosted by ZAP! Theatre Company.
As well, for the first time the Sisters of Soul concert event hosted by Burman University will be held in association with the Culture and Harvest Festival. It will occur at the Lacombe Memorial Centre this year to allow for more community participation.
"Most of the events for the festival are free, unless they are specifically mentioned as ticketed. Almost everything on the calendar is a free, public event,” Péron said.
“In addition to the new events, we’ve also got the popular events that people expect now as part of the festival – one of those being the horse drawn wagon rides. We’ll be doing those all weekend long. This year, those will be going downtown so people can do a historical tour of the downtown area on a horse-drawn wagon.”
On Sept. 25th a special ceremony will be held at the Lacombe Blacksmith Shop when the facility will receive its official historical designation through the City of Lacombe. Péron said the event should be very fun, and will be followed by a community barbecue. The event is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
As well, the Children’s County Fair is a great place for families with young children to have some fun. It takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. at the LMC on Saturday.
Péron said, “I think it’s wonderful that we have a community event that ties into a larger celebration all across Alberta with Alberta Culture Days.”
Most events are free unless specifically noted.
kmendonsa@lacombeexpress.com