Spectrum returns to Kin Coulee with new flair

By Collin Gallant on May 31, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

Organizers are promising a bit of spectacle as Spectrum returns to Kin Coulee park this year.

The annual sunshine festival gets underway Friday afternoon centred at the bandshell in the city park, with a big-top show on tap.

Travelling show Dr. Von Houligan’s Carnival of Calamities will be staged hourly for all-ages crowds in the relatively spacious area.

That’s on top of 22 traditional vendors, food trucks, kiddie play area, other musical entertainment and for the first time in a city park, a beer gardens.

“We have an entirely new board this year, so our discussions early on were what we wanted to do with Spectrum,” said Kevin McGimpsey, chair of the volunteer board of the annual festival. “Everyone was in favour of changing it up a little bit, bringing in different stuff and trying to grow it from what it’s been.

“Taking it down to Kin Coulee was logical because there’s so much space down there.

The event is back in the park for the first time since 2005, and McGimpsey says the change of scenery, to a natural setting in what’s been a very hot late spring, will add a different dimension to the show.

Cooler temperatures are expected from the near-30 C heat of recent weeks. The forecast is for a high of 20 C and sun on Saturday.

The space will also allow for different offerings.

“Dr. Von Houligan’s are bring a 100-foot by 75-foot tent — you don’t just put that on a city street,” said McGimpsey. “It’s a full-size circus tent.”

The event runs from 4-10 p.m. on Friday evening, then from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, with a movie in the park “The Greatest Showman” concluding the event that night, starting at 9:30 p.m.

The carnival program runs every 90 minutes, treating show-goers to a variety of “old days of circus” entertainment, such as juggling, firebreathing, stilt-walking, stunts and illusions from the Edmonton-based performance group.

Cobbs Adventure Park will set up climbing walls, bouncy castles, rope courses and a variety of activities for younger Hatters.

Main stage acts include the Magic of Trevor Moore, local musicians Taking August, the Nitty Gritty Dirk Band, rapper Tokey and others.

Among 22 vendors will be the Medicine Hat Public Library, though the annual book sale, which coincided with the event when it was downtown, will he held at the main branch on June 1 and 2.

The new location has some history with the event.

The 10th annual event was moved to the park in 1999, where it was held until 2008.

The festival returned downtown for a number of years, before migrating to North Railway Street in 2014 amid a promise to rotate the location around the city, possibly to other business blocks.

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