What's On in Edmonton: The Rest of September 2026
Three weekends left, and all of them are busy. What is on, where it is, and the two jobs worth booking before the snow.
September is the month Edmonton crams in everything it could not fit into August. Three weekends are left and each one is busy, so here is what is actually on, where it is, and what it costs you to find out. Each one has its own page with the detail: history, prices, parking and what a visit is actually like.
This weekend: 11 to 13 September
Purple City Festival takes over five downtown venues inside a two-block radius with more than 125 artists, 11 to 13 September. All ages, and the daytime programming is free.
Strathearn Art Walk fills Strathearn Drive with emerging and working artists, food trucks and live music, 11 to 13 September. Free, and in its fourteenth year.
Barrel Fest is Blind Enthusiasm’s one-day festival of barrel-aged beer and cider at Ritchie Park, 12 September, 1pm to 6pm. It has sold out for 2026, so this one is for the diary rather than the weekend.
The big one: 18 to 20 September
Three festivals land on the same weekend, in three different parts of the city. Pick early.
Edmonton Expo at the Edmonton EXPO Centre, 18 to 20 September. Comics, sci-fi, gaming, panels and artist alley, headed this year by John Cena. The three days are not interchangeable.
Kaleido Family Arts Festival returns to 118 Avenue between 90th and 95th for its 21st year, 18 to 20 September. Street performers, theatre, dance and galleries, all free.
Down by the River brings folk, country and indie to Louise McKinney Riverfront Park, 18 to 20 September, leaning hard on Canadian artists. Bring a blanket.
Closing out the month
Edmonton International Film Festival turns 40 this year and runs 24 September to 3 October. Every film in it is an Edmonton premiere.
Edmonton Comedy Festival, 24 to 27 September: thirteen shows across five rooms, from a theatre gala to a dinner show.
AsiaFest at Currents of Windermere, 25 to 27 September, 2pm to 11pm, with more than 120 vendors. Free, and four years ago it had ten stalls.
Oktoberfest at the Ice District is four nights at The Tent at Fan Park, not a continuous run: 25 and 26 September, then 2 and 3 October. Doors at 5pm, and every ticket includes a drink.
Murder on the Orient Express opens at the Citadel on 19 September and runs to 11 October.
The other thing September is for
The city is about six weeks from the first real snowfall, and September is when the trades still have room in the calendar. Two jobs in particular get harder to book every week you leave them.
Furnace and duct cleaning before the first cold snap, when every company in the city is on emergency calls instead.
A snow removal contract, which is cheaper and easier to arrange now than during the first storm.
Window cleaning, which stops being possible once it is too cold to work with water.
And the courses are still open. Weekday mornings are usually walk-on, and the public golf courses hold up well into October in a good year.
Before you go
Every date here was checked against the organisers on 10 September 2026, and one of them was worth checking: several local roundups have Oktoberfest running straight through from the 18th, while the Ice District’s own page lists four separate nights. Festivals move and sell out, so follow the link before you drive across the city.