Calgary Sled Island Music Festival 2013

Calgary Sled Island Music Festival 2013

One of Calgary’s most exciting annual festivals is almost here! Are you ready to have some fun at the Sled Island Music Festival 2013?

[caption id="attachment_18101" align="aligncenter" width="511"] Photo courtesy of sledisland.com[/caption]

Voted as one of the top 10 music festivals in Canada by CBC Radio, the Sled Island Music Festival is one Calgary event you won’t want to miss!

On Wednesday, June 19th the festival begins, going day and night for 4 full days until the following Saturday, June 22nd.

What is the Sled Island Music Festival?

Just like the Calgary Lilac Festival, the Sled Island Music Festival is a celebration of the arts, showcasing some of the best up and coming artists, bands, comedians and filmmakers in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and a select few from around the globe.

More than 250 live band performances, artwork showings, stand up comedy and film events will flood more than 30 Calgary venues including…

• Olympic Plaza
• Flames Central
• The Hi-Fi Club
• #1 Legion
• Republik
• National Music Centre
• The Palomino
• Golden Age Club
• The Ironwood
• Broken City
• Commonwealth
• Dicken’s
• The Vertigo Theatre
• And many more!

How to Participate

There are a number of payment options for festival goers, including…

• Festival Discovery Plus Pass - $349 – full access to all festival events with priority access. This is the pass to have if you are concerned about capacity restrictions that might hinder you from seeing a show!

• Festival Discovery Pass - $199 – full access to all festival events.

• All Ages Pass – $50 – you probably guessed already, these passes give full access to all ages’ events including the main outdoor stage at Olympic Plaza and countless more.

• Film Pass - $30 – get full access to all film events on from June 18th to the 25th. Films are all age events with a few exceptions including after parties and the closing gala.

• Advance ticket passes - from $15 to $30 each.

• Walk up tickets are also available for those looking to catch some of the action at the last minute!

It’s important to keep in mind that unless you have a VIP pass (Festival Discovery Plus Pass), show entrance is subject to capacity restrictions.

In other words, show up early if you really want to see a band no matter what kind of pass you have!

3 Things I Love about the Sled Island Music Festival

1 – This isn’t a one day only event.

Festival buffs who have made other commitments long before they knew a favourite band was playing on the same day, have more important responsibilities such as children or work, or perhaps find themselves out of town, have the opportunity to catch some parts of the Sled Island Music Festival 2013 because it is a multi-day event. Awesome!

2 – Massive variety in genres and venues.

While the Olympic Plaza is one of the best venues featured at the Festival, there might be others that you have been to already and didn’t particularly enjoy for some odd reason, so the choice is yours.

It’s disappointing when you find out that a band you want to see is performing at one of these places. It can take the “umph” out of your excitement, but with a wide range of venues and bands, there will likely be another event on you can go and see instead!

Besides a wide range of venues, the genres are just as diverse providing a little bit of something for all festival goers!

3 – Supporting Canadian talent

The Sled Island Music Festival 2013 will be showcasing approximately 100 bands from Alberta and around 230 bands (of the 250 plus) from Canada.

What better way is there to support home grown Canadian talent than to show up, cheer them on and have a little bit of fun while you’re at it?

Here we go!

So what are you waiting for? Buy your tickets today at www.sledisland.com and don’t miss out on one of the best annual festivals there is in Calgary!

What’s your favourite band or activity at the Sled Island Music Festival? Please leave us a comment below and share with us your experiences. We would love to hear them!

Looking for more things to do in Calgary? Why not experience some of the best Calgary activities and do what the locals do!