A free family arts festival takes over six blocks of 118 Avenue, a drone show spells Harry Potter across the sky above the racetrack, and Saturday is Community League Day in every neighbourhood in the city. The first proper fall weekend, and most of the best things on this list cost nothing.
Saturday is the busiest day by a distance — Community League Day, Gallery Walk, Chinatown After Dark and the Mosquers gala all land on it — so if you only get out once, make it the 19th.
Fifteen things worth doing in Edmonton, with times, addresses and what each one costs.
Kaleido Family Arts Festival
Festival
The headline of the weekend and it is free. Kaleido is in its 21st year and it closes 118 Avenue from 90th to 95th Street for three days of street performers, dance, visual art, workshops and food, run out of the Alberta Avenue arts district. There is no ticket and no gate — you walk on. Go Saturday afternoon if you have kids with you, Friday evening if you do not. Parking on the avenue itself is gone by mid-afternoon; park south on 92nd or 93rd Street and walk up.
When: Friday, September 18 to Sunday, September 20
Where: 118 Avenue between 90 Street and 95 Street NW
Cost: Free
Edmonton Comics and Entertainment Expo
https://www.instagram.com/EdmontonExpoOfficial/
Convention
The city's biggest comic and entertainment convention runs all three days at the Expo Centre — celebrity guests, artist alley, gaming, cosplay, and a show floor big enough to eat an entire afternoon. Single-day passes are the sensible buy unless you are chasing autographs. Saturday is the peak day and the peak lineup; Friday and Sunday are noticeably easier to move around in.
When: Friday, September 18 to Sunday, September 20
Where: Edmonton Expo Centre, 7515 118 Avenue NW
Cost: Single-day and weekend passes, see site
DroneArt Show: Harry Potter
Family
Two nights only. Hundreds of drones fly a choreographed open-air show over the Exhibition Lands racetrack, and it is the first time this particular one has come to Edmonton. It starts at 8:30 p.m. and it is outdoors in the third week of September, so dress for 8 degrees and falling. Bring a blanket. Little kids will be cold and delighted in that order.
When: Friday, September 18 and Saturday, September 19, 8:30 p.m.
Where: East Gate, Exhibition Lands Racetrack, 7515 118 Avenue NW
Cost: Ticketed, roughly $43 and up
Community League Day
Community
The single most Edmonton thing on this list. On one Saturday every September, community leagues across the city throw open their halls and rinks at the same time — pancake breakfasts, bouncy castles, free swims, corn roasts, block parties. It is all free and it is happening within walking distance of wherever you live. Check your own league first rather than driving across town for someone else's.
When: Saturday, September 19
Where: Community league halls citywide
Cost: Free
Chinatown After Dark
Market
A night market on 98 Street with food stalls, seating, vendors and programming after sundown, running Saturday evenings into October. It is free to walk into and it is the most alive Chinatown has felt in a while. Eat there rather than eating first — the whole point is the stalls.
When: Saturday, September 19, evening
Where: 10640 98 Street NW
Cost: Free
Edmonton Gallery Walk: Fall Edition
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1367365205593082&set=pb.100069588452411.-2207520000
Culture
Six independent galleries on and around 124 Street open their doors for a free, self-guided weekend of Canadian art. No ticket, no tour, no obligation to buy anything. Start at the north end and work down; the whole route is walkable in an afternoon and 124 Street has somewhere to stop for coffee roughly every forty metres.
When: Saturday, September 19 and Sunday, September 20
Where: Galleries along 124 Street NW
Cost: Free
Edmonton Terry Fox Run
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1392848492988829&set=pb.100067910732521.-2207520000
Community
Sunday morning in Kinsmen Park, no entry fee, no minimum pledge, and you can walk it. The route runs along the river valley, which in the third week of September is the best it looks all year. Register online ahead or just show up and sign in. Strollers and dogs are fine.
When: Sunday, September 20, morning
Where: Kinsmen Park, 9100 Walterdale Hill NW
Cost: Free, donations welcome
Edmonton Oil Kings home opener
Sports
Junior hockey is back and the first home game of the season is against the Calgary Hitmen, which is the right opponent for an opener. Tickets start around $23, it is at Rogers Place, and it is a genuinely cheap way to take a family to a professional-feeling game. Sunday evening, so the kids still get to bed.
When: Sunday, September 20
Where: Rogers Place, 10220 104 Avenue NW
Cost: From about $23.50
Mosquers Film Festival
Film
Now in its 18th year, the Mosquers is a showcase of short films by Muslim filmmakers, and it is one of the longest-running festivals of its kind anywhere. The gala screening is at the Winspear on Saturday night, which is a serious room for a festival that started as a student project. Tickets go before the door.
When: Saturday, September 19, gala screening
Where: Winspear Centre, 4 Sir Winston Churchill Square NW
Cost: About $35 to $60
O-day'min Daze
Culture
Two free days of Indigenous programming downtown, close enough to the core that you can pair it with Chinatown After Dark on the Saturday evening without moving your car. Free, outdoors, and family-friendly.
When: Saturday, September 19 and Sunday, September 20
Where: O-day'min area, 10150 107 Street NW
Cost: Free
Fall Harvest at the Muttart Conservatory
Family
The feature pyramid flips to its autumn show this weekend and stays that way until the middle of November. Pumpkins, gourds, grasses, the whole harvest palette, under glass and at 20 degrees regardless of what the weather does outside. It is the correct rainy-Sunday plan and it is the cheapest indoor attraction in the city at under $15 for an adult.
When: Opens Saturday, September 19, runs to November 15
Where: Muttart Conservatory, 9626 96A Street NW
Cost: $7.75 to $14.95
Fall-o-Ween at Prairie Gardens
Family
Opening weekend of the big pumpkin-patch season at Prairie Gardens in Bon Accord, about 45 minutes north. Corn maze, wagon rides, the pumpkin field, and the not-yet-scary version of the Halloween programming. Go on the opening weekend rather than in October if you want to be able to park and move.
When: From Saturday, September 19, runs to September 27 and beyond
Where: Prairie Gardens, 56311 Lily Lake Road, Bon Accord
Cost: $15 to $69 depending on the pass
Callingwood Fall Carnival
Family
A free west-end fall carnival in the Callingwood parking lot — entertainment, activities, vendors, the usual good-natured suburban chaos. Costs nothing to turn up, which makes it an easy add-on if you are already out west on the Saturday.
When: Saturday, September 19
Where: The Marketplace at Callingwood, 6655 178 Street NW
Cost: Free
Murder on the Orient Express at the Citadel
Theatre
The Citadel opens its season with the Agatha Christie, which runs to October 11 — so this is the weekend to get the good seats before word of mouth does its work. Ken Ludwig's adaptation is the funny one rather than the grim one, and it is about as accessible as theatre gets if you are trying to get somebody into the habit.
When: From Saturday, September 19, running to October 11
Where: The Citadel Theatre, 9828 101A Avenue NW
Cost: From about $40
Alberta Ballet: Giselle
Arts
Alberta Ballet opens its season at the Jubilee with Giselle, the Romantic-era classic and the one every company measures itself against. Two nights only in Edmonton. If you have never been to a ballet, this is the standard entry point for a reason — the story is legible without a programme.
When: Friday, September 18 and Saturday, September 19
Where: Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, 11455 87 Avenue NW
Cost: From about $73
Before you go
Saturday is stacked, Friday and Sunday are not. Community League Day, Gallery Walk, Chinatown After Dark, the Mosquers gala and Callingwood all fall on the 19th. Spread your weekend out if you can.
118 Avenue will be closed at Kaleido. The festival closes the avenue from 90 to 95 Street all three days. If 118 is your normal route across the north side, go around on 111 or 127.
Dress for actual fall. The drone show is outdoors at 8:30 p.m. and the overnight lows are into single digits now. Every outdoor thing on this list is colder than it looks on the listing page.
Editor's Pick: Kaleido on the Saturday afternoon, then Chinatown After Dark in the evening. Both free, both a ten-minute drive apart, and together they are the best argument anyone has made lately for the north side.
Know an event we missed? Tag us @culturealberta or email hello@culturealberta.com.
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