The Edmonton International Street Performers Festival wrapped up yesterday with a closing ceremony extravaganza in the centre of the square.
“Our closing show is an opportunity to say goodbye,” said Shelley Switzer, the festival’s artistic producer. “Both on the street to our audiences, who we really appreciate and have been so generous, and to each other. We can say a sweet goodbye to the festival.”
Switzer said about 230,000 people checked out the festival this year, up a little from last year’s estimate of 225,000. And considering all the rain that’s fallen over the past 10 days, Switzer said people just kept on coming.
“We’re thrilled, considering the fact that we dealt with a fair amount of changes in the weather,” she said. “There were times when you couldn’t see cement on the square.”
With Edmonton’s festival put to bed, Switzer will now move on to Grande Prairie to help make the northern Alberta community’s street performers festival a success.
