CentreFest, combined with Meet the Street, bringing world class street performers to Red Deer

‘Flyin’ Bob’ Palmer, the festival’s artistic director and a past performer himself, says it’s a thrill to bring CentreFest back.

“Street performing is not something that’s present all the time in Red Deer, but it really does fill a niche area of the arts and entertainment scene,” says Palmer. “The folks we bring in are fully professional artists from around the world who’ve chosen the street as their stage. They bring all the aspects of a theatre performance to the street, from the costuming, the development of their show, gathering the audience, and passing the hat around at the end. They are responsible for 100 per cent of the experience.”

This year’s lineup is an eclectic one, and includes a five-time Guinness World Record holder in Victor Rubilar, a juggling master from Barcelona.

The lineup also includes Trochu’s own Spandy Andy, and Lacombe’s Heart of a Child balloon artist, plus a caricature artist, stiltwalkers, magicians, a vaudevillian, London, England’s The Quinn Beasley Show, a Vancouver comedian, a hula hoop circus, and much more.

“Performers are raring to go and can’t wait to perform their shows for appreciative audiences. They’re really hoping that those audiences, who haven’t been to many festivals in a few years, will bring the same energy,” Palmer says.

“Performing on the street isn’t something they have to do because they can’t do anything else. They’ve chosen to be there in addition to every other possible type of stage out there.”

This year, CentreFest is combining with a much newer Red Deer tradition called Meet the Street, which invites citizens down to view a wide array of newly painted permanent murals throughout the downtown.

Palmer calls the combo event a perfect recipe to get people back exploring their downtown and seeing what it has to offer.

In addition to the performers and the murals, there will be food trucks and other vendors throughout the downtown.

All events are free, though CentreFest attendees are asked to consider bringing money to give to performers. CentreFest is also continuing its search for a title sponsor.

More about the various Meet the Street artists can be viewed here.

A map of all Meet the Street murals is below…

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

CentreFest, combined with Meet the Street, bringing world class street performers to Red Deer

What's Trending