Capital Ex kicks off July 17, and is promising fun-lovers more, more, more in 2008.
Headlining the granddaddy Ed fest are hard rockers Collective Soul, Corner Gas funnyman Brent Butt, multiple Juno award-winner Sam Roberts, and whirlwind R&B sensation Jully Black, to name a few.
The exhibition, which has been running in one form or another for nearly 140 years, will kick off in true celebratory fashion with the Capital Ex parade on July 17, beginning at 10 a.m. The parade will wind down Jasper Avenue for two-and-a-half hours, and will be led by Canadian curling legend Kevin Martin and his two-time Brier-winning team.
“I’ve come every year since I was little,” Martin said yesterday afternoon from the Capital Ex media blitz. “We’d come from the farm about two hours away, which is always a major trip. I just loved it, and now to be the parade marshal, I’m really looking forward to it.”
The festival contributes $60,000,000 annually to the local economy, and saw 772,692 visitors last year.
This year, festival organizers are proud to present an acrobatics and contortionism show, Barney the Dinosaur, extreme sports, the world’s largest butterfly and 50,000 of his friends, and an explosive Mentos and Pepsi show.
And what trip to Capital Ex wouldn’t be complete without the rides and midway games?
“You can call it whatever you want to call it, some do call it by the old Klondike Days name,” said Laura Gadowski, Capital Ex volunteer director. “But it’s really about what we offer, whether you go and shop or you ride until food won’t stay in your stomach anymore.”
