Exciting changes are coming to our beloved winter festival! Formerly known as the Snow King’s MasqueParade, which has been a winter tradition in Golden for nearly 2 decades, Kicking Horse Culture (KHC) is thrilled to announce the new name: EmberFest.
After 18 years as the Snow King’s MasqueParade, the festival has been reimagined to embrace themes of warmth, rejuvenation, and creativity. It reflects a focus on community and the spark of inspiration that brings Golden together in the heart of winter. On February 15th, gather in Spirit Square and join the festivities to celebrate community, creativity, and the beauty of winter in our mountain town.
The festivities hearken back to a time when neighbours joined together to make their own entertainment and bring meaning to their lives through celebration. Now manifesting as a vibrant community arts festival, EmberFest centres around a magnificent bonfire—a gathering point where all ages come together to share skits inspired by themes of community, creativity and rejuvenation.
This is a grassroots, volunteer-led event showcasing a wide range of hands-on artistic activities. Over a period of weeks, professional and community-based artists work in collaboration with folks in the community – both young and old and everyone in between – to create a large-scale outdoor ‘pageant’ performed with more than 1,000 folks in Golden’s Spirit Square.
This year the festival is expanding to include live music. Following an iconic fireworks display, eight bands will take to the stage at various venues around downtown Golden. Tickets are required for entry to live music performances at local venues, purchase them online (kickinghorseculture.ca/emberfest) and pick up your wristbands from February 1-15, 2025 at the Art Gallery of Golden.
And that’s not all that’s new! This year, KHC is partnering with community organizations to bring more joy and creative spirit to your experience at the festival. Kicking Horse Mountain Resort has generously expanded their shuttle times to allow more visitors and locals living on the mountain to participate. Keep an eye out for their schedule on their shuttle website (goldenshuttle.ca/kickinghorse-golden-shuttle).
In the weeks leading up to EmberFest, KHC will be hosting a variety of free art workshops, called the PlayHouse, every Saturday and Sunday starting on January 18th from 1-8 pm.
These will be at the Civic Centre and include lantern making, giant puppet building, and theatre performance creation. In addition to the drop-in weekend creative sessions, there will be free workshops facilitated by local artists.
These workshops are a fantastic way for everyone to contribute their creativity and be part of the festival magic. Registration is encouraged!
Mark your calendar for these FREE workshops and events leading up to the festival:
• Jan 18 – Feb 9: Playhouse Drop-In (Every Weekend)
• Jan 25: After Dark – Adult Circus
• Jan 25: Circus Day with Jocelyn & Sarah
• Feb 1: EmberFest Old Time Jam
• Feb 9: EmberFest Chorus – Singing with Community
Stay tuned through KHC’s Facebook and Instagram, or check out kickinghorseculture.ca/emberfest.
