Over 34,000 Calgarians expected for Sled Island 2024

Calgary’s legendary music festival, Sled Island, is kicking off on Wednesday, and organizers say Calgarians are in for an exciting, diverse and entertaining lineup.

Every year, Sled Island sees tens of thousands of rock and indie fans disperse throughout the city to watch their favourite underground and up-and-coming artists hit the stage of various bars, clubs, churches and community centres.

This year is no different, according to the festival manager, Hemen Tor-Agbidye, who expects around 34,000 attendees.

The festival has added more venues to host family-friendly performances, in addition to the dozens of businesses that participate every year.

“We’ve added in a couple of new venues with the likes of BLOX, (Alcove) Centre for the Arts, for some all-ages programming, and we’ve got some great headliners coming that we’re really excited about,” he told CityNews.

“A lot of submission bands that we have, a lot of them are emerging acts.”

Along with the plethora of live music, there will also be comedy shows, art exhibits, conferences, and films.

He says the event isn’t just for fans as it also helps generate exposure for local artists as this year, 70 of the 200 performers are from Calgary.

And with everything from metal to hip hop to comedic performances on the lineup, Tor-Agbidye says there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

“Sled has always been a predominantly a rock, punk, indie rock festival, so lots of that this year as always but we got so many genres,” he said.

“We got hip-hop, pop, we’ve got electronic, experimental.”

Tor-Agbidye noted that including local talent is very important every year because it can really help up-and-coming artists get their name out — even past the Calgary music scene.

Other special events at this year’s festival include the Sled Island Drag Brunch, Punk Rock Bingo, Quiz Shoe, and the annual Wrap-Up Pig Roast.

Over twenty venues will have shows throughout the festival, which include Legion, Ship and Anchor, Pin-Bar, the Calgary Central Library, Palomino, Commonwealth downstairs and on the main floor, Dandy Tasting Room, Dickens, Eighty-Eight Brewing in the parking lot, Globe Cinema, King Eddy, Modern Love, and the Palace Theatre.

Tickets to the entire festival and individual shows can be found on the Sled Island website.