VideoWinnipeg Street Festival animates the downtown

Edmonton Street was buzzing today over the noon hour with live entertainment, artists, food and local merchants.

It's all part of the annual Edmonton Street Festival.Tricia-Lynn Morgan of Downtown BIZ says the idea is to bring people to the heart of downtown, to animate the street and fill it up with music and lots and lots of people.

500 people joined in on the fun. Performers included bellydancer Zenobia and the musical duo He Said She Said.

One of the most original artists at the festival was Pat Bruderer. She practices a very old Aboriginal tradition. "Birch bark biting is one of the oldest traditional art forms," she explains. "It was done all across Canada at one time." It's done by folding and biting a layer of birch with your teeth.

"This tradition was done to record our stories, our ceremonies, our bead work patterns and also for competition and creative minds."

Bruderer is concerned that it might become a lost art, so she was happy to share it and demonstrate it with visitors at the festival.

The Edmonton Street Festival is a lead-up Edmonton Street will come alive again next Wednesday,  August 29, between Portage and Graham, from 11:30 to 1:30 with Au Set Bellydance Emporium and Suzanne Mariani providing the entertainment. It's all a lead-up to Many Fest, a three-day festival that will take place in September.