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For the primary time in 4 years, Calgary Expo’s Parade of Wonders returned to Stephen Avenue on Friday morning boasting hundreds of elaborately costumed followers marching via the downtown core.
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The sunshine and blue skies got here as a aid to organizers and members alike, notably after final 12 months’s freak snowstorm cancelled the parade on the eleventh hour after it was set to run after a three-year absence because of the pandemic.
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Organizers didn’t have official numbers, however Andrew Moyes, vice-president of Fan Expo HQ, mentioned the mixture of official parade members and observers lining the streets was within the hundreds.
The parade started at 10:30 a.m. with a highschool band blasting a cheerful model of Neil Diamond’s Candy Caroline and ending with suitably epic opening ceremony at Olympic Plaza, which noticed Calgary Expo celebs similar to Terminator 2 star Robert Patrick, The Youngsters within the Corridor Dave Foley, Scott Thompson and Mark McKinney, Star Trek: Picard star Todd Stashwick, Calgary Expo mainstay and unique Hulk Lou Ferrigno and What We Do within the Shadows star Harvey Guillen had been all white-hatted by mayor Jyoti Gondek, who was elaborately dressed like Edward Scissorhands for the proceedings.
Whereas the Calgary Expo technically opened its doorways on Thursday evening at Stampede Park, the Olympic Plaza ceremony was the official kick-off and got here full with fireworks and streamers. Whereas Fan Expo HQ runs 16 fan conventions all through North American all year long, Calgary is the one metropolis that will get a parade.
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“I want we may do one in each metropolis,” mentioned Moyes. “It’s a tremendous approach to convey fandom to the town. We’re clearly away from the Stampede grounds, so seeing these costume characters come via the artery of the town is de facto, actually cool. All of it culminates in Olympic Park, which turns into an enormous celebration the place we’re white-hatting celebrities and doing all kinds of stuff. You possibly can see the vitality raise.”
Extra to return . . .
