Summer heritage festival being planned for the Crowsnest Pass

By Al Beeber on April 24, 2021.

Herald file photo by Al Beeber Bellevue's main street is seen last summer.

Preliminary planning has started on a summer Crowsnest Pass heritage festival.
Organizers say the 16th annual Crowsnest Pass Doors Open and Heritage Festival will run from July 27 to Aug. 2
Committee chairman Fred Bradley said Friday this year marks the 100th anniversary of the historic Blairmore bandstand and organizers are hoping to mark events around that landmark and other well-known venues in the area.
With COVID-19 still presenting challenges, what form the festival takes remains to be seen.
Organizers are hoping to run virtual and live events during the festival with details to be finalized in coming months as the event nears.
This year’s theme is “Crowsnest Music: Turtle Mountain Toe Tapper, which is inspired by numerous events at the Blairmore bandstand over the decades.
The organizing committee, according to a press release, is “planning a series of recorded virtual concerts featuring local musicians, artists, comedians, dancers, poets, writers, and storytellers. If COVID restrictions are lifted, possible outdoor and indoor concerts featuring many of these artists may also be possible.”
Organizers are seeking input from groups and individuals for possible COVID-compliant events both indoors and outdoors which celebrate the Pass’s natural and cultural heritage.
Last year the festival paid homage to the 100th anniversary of an infamous Pass train robbery on Aug. 2, 1920. In that incident, three men got on a train in Lethbridge then robbed the conductor and other passengers near Coleman. Two were eventually killed in the Bellevue cafe after a shootout with police.
Planned activities this year include walking and driving tours, heritage hikes and of course, a focus on the area’s well-known attractions such as the Frank Slide Trail, Leitch Collieries, the Hillcrest Mine Disaster, Coleman National Historic Site and Crowsnest Community Trail.
People and groups interesting in hosting an event or performing in one of the concerts can contact Cathy Pisony, program co-ordinator at the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre at 403-562-7388 or by email at cathy.pisony@gov.ab.ca

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