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Until July 12, Edmonton\u2019s Churchill Square is transforming into an entertainment hub for street performers. (James Dunn, CityNews)<\/p>\nChurchill Square has transformed into an entertainment hub for the next ten days. The 42nd annual Edmonton International Street Performers Festival kicked off Friday.<\/p>\n
This year there\u2019s some relief with the sun shining and the rain clouds gone, for now.<\/p>\n
\u201d If you can\u2019t deal with the weather, you should not be a street performer. Bad weather, good weather, whatever, that goes with the territory,\u201d said Bob Palmer, who performed as \u201cFlying Bob\u201d for over 40 years.<\/p>\n
Liz Hobbs, Edmonton International Street Performers Festival, said, \u201cWe\u2019re so happy! All I\u2019ve been doing for the last week is checking the weather every 5 seconds. So this is beautiful, this is amazing. Summer! We have summer!\u201d<\/p>\n
Until July 12, Edmonton\u2019s Churchill Square is transforming into an entertainment hub for street performers. (James Dunn, CityNews)<\/p>\n
The festival features 38 artists from eight countries; 10 of them are coming here for the first time. While some, like Palmer, have been fascinating people for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs street performers, we have a mission. To reintroduce live performing to people. There wasn\u2019t any live performing for years with COVID, and a lot of kids grew up not experiencing that, and it\u2019s our job, our duty to revive and make people understand the impact of live performing,\u201d said Palmer.<\/p>\n
It is a free festival, so none of the performers take money directly from the festival. Instead, they get a bucket, and whatever they earn comes directly from the audience.<\/p>\n
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Until July 12, Edmonton\u2019s Churchill Square is transforming into an entertainment hub for street performers. (James Dunn, CityNews)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is their living; they\u2019re also struggling with the ridiculous grocery bills that we\u2019re all dealing with at the moment. If you can give, please do, and if everyone gives a little bit, then they\u2019re doing okay,\u201d said Hobbs.<\/p>\n
Palmer added, \u201cGive what you can afford, give what you feel the show is worth. And if you don\u2019t have any money, just come up and give your thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The street performers festival runs until July 12th.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tUntil July 12, Edmonton\u2019s Churchill Square is transforming into an entertainment hub for street performers. (James Dunn, CityNews) <\/p>\n
\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n
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