Folk Fest, Inglewood Sunfest draw thousands despite heat and smoke Saturday

Thousands showed up to Calgary's 47th Folk Music Festival and Inglewood Sunfest on Saturday, with neither intense heat nor lingering wildfire smoke enough to keep the city indoors.

Temperatures hit 30°C, and the city remained under a yellow smoke advisory as of Saturday. The Air Quality Health Index sat at 4—the low end of the moderate-risk category—with forecasts showing it could stay in the advisory through Sunday night. But conditions had improved enough from Friday's thicker smoke that many felt the weekend was salvageable.

"It could be raining and it's not, so this is perfect weather," said Sara Tkachuk of local pop-folk duo The Crickettes after performing on Folk Fest's free Horizon Heating Stage.

Both festivals took practical steps to keep attendees safe. Folk Fest installed PurpleAir sensors around Prince's Island Park to track air quality in real time and set up cooling stations throughout the grounds. In June, the festival released the Western Canadian Outdoor Music Festivals Guide to Wildfire Smoke in collaboration with Alberta Capital Airshed and the Government of Canada—a toolkit to help outdoor events prepare for increasingly common smoke events with measures like water stations and cleaner-air spaces.

A few kilometres away, Inglewood Sunfest drew thousands to 9th Avenue S.E. with more than 200 vendors, food trucks, buskers and local businesses lining the historic main street. Event producer Jennifer Renpel, involved with the festival for more than 15 years, said all Inglewood businesses allow people to fill water bottles inside, ensuring everyone stays hydrated in the heat.

"Everyone's doing pretty good, they're staying hydrated and the smoke has eased since yesterday, so we're really happy about that," Renpel said. "Everyone here's having a good time."