Thread by @peterhemminger

Choose Yer Own fest was one of my favourite #yycarts events ever. A hand-made festival where any event goes. Cardboard robot fight? Breakfast with your grandma? Full re-enactment of the movie Labyrinth? You want it, you make it happen.
chooseyerown.wordpress.com

Speaking of magical Calgary events, @wreckcityYYC. The first Wreck City was one of the most amazing #yycarts events I've seen. It was packed with families, folks who I never see at installations, exploring this ode to soon-to-be-gone homes. Gentrification, growth & creativity.

My view of this stuff is heavily biased. I work in the arts. I live in a building with multiple governor general's award-winning artists. I am lucky to see a different side of Calgary than most folks. And I'm leaving out a lot of favourites just so this doesn't drag on even more.

But we have a history of amazing art and culture. We have a present of it, too. And I'm sure we'll have a future of it. I haven't even mentioned some of my favourite artists, festivals, community builders and more. There are too many to mention.

We're not lucky to have it. We have it because folks have busted their asses building it and losing it and rebuilding it and supporting it and making things happen year after year. But we absolutely don't talk about it enough. Let's fix that.

And above all don't be like me and accidentally build up events in other places and forget about the ones here just because they have a mystique that we don't, necessarily. That's part of Calgary's magic—people just make things happen.

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