9 Mouthwatering Edmonton Food Festivals You Can't Miss this Summer

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LAST UPDATED: June 26th, 2019

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Known as ‘The Festival City, Edmonton is the perfect destination for a summer adventure full of of foodie festivals. Having lived here for over 20 years, I’ve attended some pretty killer food festivals, including a few that have become yearly family traditions. While this list isn’t necessarily a complete list of every Edmonton food festival, it includes the ones that are tried and true along with a few I haven’t attended before but am seriously looking forward to. Make sure to add these Edmonton festivals to your calendar this summer!

Table of Contents

9 Edmonton Food Festivals I Can’t Wait to Attend this Summer

The Mac & Cheese Festival

When: July 5 – 7, 2019
Where: Borden Park, Edmonton
Price: Free Admission, paid food & drink items. Optional: VIP entrance $10-60

Having travelled across the country a couple months ago from Edmonton, Alberta to Kitchener, Ontario JUST to attend a Mac & Cheese festival, this one is DEFINITELY at the top of my summer festival must-do list. There isn’t really a ton of info in terms of vendors attending, but any festival that features Mac & Cheese in all its glory is right by me. Held in 5 different cities around Canada, this festival says it is the biggest Mac & Cheese festival in all of North America and is celebrating its fifth year of cheesiness! Me and my Instagram will see you there!

Savour

When: July 7, 2019, 4 – 8pm
Where: Strathcona County Community Centre- Agora, 401 Festival Lane, Sherwood Park
Price: Free admission, food tickets are $1 each

This combination food & arts festival shows off local Strathcona County restaurants, food trucks and artists at the community center. Savour the local flavours of Strathcona County, as per the name of the event. While I have’t attended this one in past years, I already have my tickets bought for this year and I can’t wait to check it out!

The one evening event features musical performances, entertainment, artistic displays and an artisan showcase all designed to share the local flavours of the county.

Read More: Plan the perfect summer road trip with this guide

Edmonton Ribfest

When: July 12 – 14, 2019, 11am-10pm daily (closes at 7pm Sunday)
Where: Borden Park
Price: Free admission, ribs from $8-25, including a family feast for $50

A good ribfest is such an iconic summer food festival, so it’s a good thing Edmonton has several! This one, dubbed ‘The Big Sticky’ by the creators, looks to be an awesome event. With professional grillers serving up an assortment of finger-licking ribs, chicken and pulled pork, there is no way you’ll walk away hungry!

Borden Park is a new favourite Edmonton food festival location and it’s a great choice for Edmonton festivals. The abundance of green space combined with plenty of parking make this setting much more suitable for a food festival than some of the others I’ve attended. There’s also plenty of space for the kids zone, craft market and beer gardens that are part of this Ribfest.

Note: This RibFest is also being held July 19-21 in Leduc and August 2-5 in Strathcona County!

A Taste of Edmonton

When: July 18 – 28, 2019: 11am to 11pm daily (July 28 closes at 8pm)
Where: The Capital Plaza, 108 St & 99 Ave
Price: Free Admission, Food tickets are $1.60-$1.80 each, depending on how many you buy (pre-buy for a discount!). Most dishes are 2-6 tickets each.

The Taste of Edmonton food festival is the largest outdoor food festival in Canada, welcoming over 350,000 people over 12 days. And it’s been a family favourite for nearly 20 years! Entering it’s 35th year, A Taste of Edmonton showcases dozens of local restaurants and food trucks and their most popular dishes. Servings are quite small which is the perfect way to sample several different dishes from multiple vendors. Some family favorites include steak bites from the Canadian Brewhouse, ginger beef from Panda Hut Express, spicy dry chicken from Lingnan Restaurant, donair tacos from O2’s and cannolis from The Italian Bakery.

Pro foodie tip: Go with a couple friends and pool your tickets! Most dishes allow for 1-4 small servings so you can maximize how many places you can get a taste of.

K-Days

When: July 19 – 28, 2019, noon to midnight daily
Where: Northlands Grounds
Price: $15 gate admission (under 6 free), food dishes are around $10

If you’re looking for all kinds of weird and unusual foods, look no further that Edmonton’s biggest summer festival! This annual event has undergone a few name changes and branding shifts over the last few years, but its heart has stayed the same. Home to some seriously awesome rides, a huge vendor tradeshow, countless food trucks and multiple stages of entertainment, this Edmonton food festival can’t be missed. Buy a days admission or opt for a week-long pass so you can get your fill until next year.

No matter what you’re craving you’ll find it at K-Days. From cricket pizza to taco perogies, deep fried oreos to foot-long hotdogs you’ll find it all and more! Bring a friend (or 3) because the portion sizes here are large and you’ll want to try more than one dish.

St Albert Rotary Club Ribfest

When: August 2-5, 2019: 11am – 10pm daily
Where: Lions Park – 21 Sir Winston Churchill Ave, St Albert
Price: Free admission, food from $10-25

Another promising Ribfest this summer is held in St Albert. Though there isn’t much information published yet in terms of number of BBQ vendors, I’m pretty confident this is going to be a fun food festival in Edmonton. You really can’t go wrong with BBQ!

Edmonton Heritage Festival

When: August 3-5, 2019: 10am – 9pm daily (August 5 closes at 8pm)
Where: Hawrelak Park
Price: Free Admission, food tickets are $1.25 each and dishes range from 1-6 tickets

Another annual family event for us is the Edmonton Heritage Festival, held at Hawrelak Park each year. This massive Edmonton food festival showcases food, entertainment and art from over 100 different countries and cultures making it the world’s largest multicultural celebration. Definitely plan to make a day of it because just walking end to end will take you an hour or more, never mind stopping to check out all the amazing booths and food menus!

Parking at the Valley Zoo then walking to and from the park has always served us well here, and helped us to walk off all the amazing foods we eat throughout the day. If a nice river valley walk isn’t your thing, you can look into the various park and rides offered throughout the city.

2019 Culinary Cookout

When: August 9, 2019 4pm – 9pm
Where: Cardiff Park
Price: Free admission, food available for purchase

This Edmonton food festival is one I haven’t heard of before, but given my history as a chef I’m quite excited for it. I can’t find too much information online which makes it all that much more intriguing to add to this list. The reviews I have seen make this food festival one I really want to attend, so I’ll keep watch for more information and update as I find it!

The Mashing

When: September 20, 2019 3pm – 10pm; September 21, 2019 2pm – 10pm
Where: Edmonton Re/Max Field
Price: Admission $20-50, sampling extra (Tickets are currently 2 for 1 for a limited time!)

While not exclusively a food festival, The Mashing offers a cool blend of local breweries & distilleries with farm fresh, locally produced foods. And if there’s one thing that hooks me in faster than a food festival, it’s a food festival with alcohol! There’s just something about walking around, checking out food trucks with a local beer in my hand that just screams summer to me. And since this festival happens at the tail end of summer, I can hold on to the feeling just a little longer!

Named after a part of the brewing, distilling and cider making process, The Mashing aims to bring together the best of all things local. From thirst-quenching beverages to local artists and entertainers, this annual event seeks to honour all the amazing things that bring a community together, and I can’t wait to check it out.

Read More: Pack the essentials for any trip!

How to make the most of an Edmonton food festival

Buy your tickets ahead – Whether you are buying admission tickets or food tickets buying ahead can sometimes score you a discount. If nothing else, it at least makes it easier to get into the food festival and start eating all the food!

Bring cash – While some vendors take cards and you will probably see ATMs on site, having cash on hand eliminates the need to look around for one and possibly wait in line.

Carry an umbrella – Helpful for warding off both sun and rain, an umbrella is a super easy item to toss in your bag ‘just in case’. Keep in mind though that you will likely be in close quarters with many, many people, and umbrellas can be lethal (and annoying) to others. Be mindful that you don’t poke anyone with yours!

Bring takeout containers or ziploc bags – There’s no sense in letting tickets go to waste once you’re full for the day! Bring a few containers so you can take some of your favourite dishes home with you. One of our favourites to take home are cannolis from the Taste of Edmonton festival.

Wear good shoes – Along with all the eating you’ll obviously be doing, you’ll almost definitely be doing quite a bit of walking!

Bring bottled water – Of course you can find drinks at all of these food festivals but they’re often expensive. Bring along a water bottle or 2 so that you can save your tickets and money for food.

Watch the weather – Nothing ruins the perfect festival day than pouring rain or crazy wind! Keep an eye on the forecasts when planning your trip to an Edmonton festival.

Arrive hungry – This is probably an obvious one, but it’s also the most important!

Pace yourself – With so many amazing dishes to try, the last thing you want to do is feel full half an hour in. Take some time to enjoy the entertainment if there is any or wander around checking out the menus in between orders.

Bring a friend – The best way to try as much as possible is to bring a friend and tag team the food festival! With 2 (or more) of you nibbling on each dish you’ll be able to taste many more options before getting full.

Check out the menu ahead of time – No great event happens without a plan! Hit the ground running with an idea of what booths you want to hit and what dishes you want to try. This is particularly helpful for food festivals like the Taste of Edmonton and Heritage Days where there are SO many vendors that you’ll fill up in minutes if you eat the first few delicious items you see.

Are you attending any of these Edmonton food festivals this summer?

Do you know of any others I need to add to my schedule??

Comment below!!

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