Global Fest lights the night sky with the Cosmic Connections firework show

By Hannah Caparino, September 3 2024—

Calgary’s annual GlobalFest includes a variety of food, vendors and activities to introduce visitors to a wide range of countries and cultures. The festival has a total of over 50 food vendors and cultural pavilions combined to entertain newcomers or returning visitors.

The food vendors that were in attendance included some Calgary staples like The Dumpling Hero, but had included a variety of options to reflect the many communities present at the festival. Food trucks like Empanada Queen and food booths like Mia’s Lechon, a booth that specifically made Filipino cuisine, had attracted lines where people could try food like the Cheese and Chorizo empanada or Adobo.

Alongside the many cultural foods offered in the festival, many people participated in the “Passport Pursuit” activity where winners would receive a set of airfare tickets that is provided by Air Canada. Participants would explore the festival grounds and cultural pavilions to gain clues to answer questions to get closer to the first-place prize. The primary benefit of the activity is allowing everyone to absorb all cultural aspects of the different countries, while simultaneously discovering how Canada is made up of multiple communities which have their own values and traditions.

The main show of the evening was the firework show, focusing on the theme of Cosmic Connections by designer Zach Taminosiah. The firework show included songs by popular groups like Coldplay and Queen, while also featuring highly thematic songs like “Rewrite the Stars.” The fireworks themselves would burst on beat with the songs, creating a multisensory experience that engaged all the senses. The show had ended on the song, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Exit Eded, with many of the fireworks flying and exploding in succession. Overall, the show had aimed to encapsulate the many feelings that are associated with the topic of connection and express it through light and music. Using bold colours like red, blue, green and pink to reflect the highs and lows of how connection affects an individual, there were many fireworks ranging in size to better represent the lyrics and emotion of the songs.

For more information about Global Fest, click here.