GlobalFest moves to Spruce Meadows with Alberta's largest drone show
The fireworks festival adds 600 drones over the Spruce Meadows grounds, relocating from Elliston Park after attendance dropped 17 percent last year.
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GlobalFest is moving to Spruce Meadows this year and adding a major visual component: Alberta's largest drone show.
Six hundred drones will lift into the sky during the festival, "painting all kinds of images we can't do in fireworks, that will tell different stories," said GlobalFest Chief Operating Officer Ken Goosen. "They don't replace the fireworks — they augment what it is that we do."
The relocation from Elliston Park was necessary after the festival faced a "not stellar" year last year. Attendance dropped more than 17 percent — from 64,000 in 2024 to 53,000 in 2025. Several factors contributed: the festival's decision to showcase the U.S. on opening night amid talk of Canada becoming the "51st state"; a rainy July that sent many residents out of town in August; and rising cost of living pressures.
Spruce Meadows offers room to grow. The new venue will allow expanded cultural experiences through food, drink, and live performances. Free parking — a longstanding challenge at Elliston Park — will also ease access, offsetting slightly higher ticket prices.
"We needed to find a sustainable model to move Globalfest forward," Goosen said. "In those conversations, a new venue came forward with Spruce Meadows — a beautiful space, an amazing facility, and really set up to engage the public."
For Spruce Meadows, the partnership is major. "Being an attendee of GlobalFest in the past, and seeing the people that come out and all the smiles on everybody's faces — that's what we're all about here," said strategic advisor Devin Morrison.
The move positions GlobalFest not just for this year but for the next 25 years.