It’s also one of those peaks of festivals that mark our summer. Here’s what I mean:

Heritage Festival (It is the Heritage Day weekend… Also, you can’t drive your car to Hawrelak for all of the fun.)

DRAW (drawing. obvs.)

Capital Ex (Woot!)

Taste of Edmonton (Deep fried deliciousness – alright, mostly deep fried.)

Food Day Canada, where restaurants create entirely Canadian-sourced meals (with Culina Mill Creek, Culina Muttart, Culina Highlands – now the Highlands Kitchen, D’Lish, The Marc, )

Yeah!

In sports…the Eskimos are home tonight to the Toronto Argonauts and the Capitals play host to the Lake County Fielders. The Fielders are having all kinds of off-field troubles this season.

On a more serious note, there will be a vigil for a Fort McMurray woman missing for the last year.

Wicked continues to play at the Jube.

Edmonton comedian Jon Mick records a live comedy album, at Wunderbar. You can not only enjoy a night of fine Edmonton comedy (and comedians) but listen for your laughter on his recording. And if you want you can help him pay for the album by throwing him a few bucks. Pretty solid night.

In music, it’s a pretty solid weekend. Sister Gray is playing New City Legion tonight with Cygents, The Frolics, and Very Dangerous Animals…Luke Doucet and the White Falcon is with Michael Rault, at the Starlite Room…Capital Ex has plenty of music, including Ace of Bass Sunday night…Taste of Edmonton also has lots of live music…

On Saturday, there are two great afternoon shows on Whyte Avenue, with Tyler Butler and F&M at the Black Dog for Hair of the Dog, and The Provincial Archive at The Empress with Montreal’s Charlotte Cornfield…

Saturday night…Toy Singers have a farewell show, with Old Uglians Jessica Jalbert, Liam Trimble, and Sugarglider at the Haven Social Club…across the city, The ARTery’s got the Beehive Bonanza Mini Market and Show, with Rocktimus Crime, Service:Fair, and Jom Comyn…

Sunday night sees a long weekend showcase at the Pawn Shop, with Matt Machete ready to blow things up…On the holiday Monday, Jeff Morris kicks off his tour at the Black Dog…

Now, to get this party started, let me present to you the new album from our pals The Fight. (The whole album is embedded here, just flip through the tracks. Oh, and buy it if you dig it.)

See you Tuesday!

p.s. Speaking of The Fight, Jom Comyn, Service:Fair, Jessica Jalbert, Liam Trimble, The Provincial Archive, Tyler Butler, and Sugarglider, this Sunday night is likely the last time you’ll be able to catch the edmontonian presents on ShawTV (channel 10 on Shaw cable), so tune in at 9pm and be able to tell your space-grandkids you saw it on an actual television set.

Tonight you’ve got a Christan Hansen & The Autistics all ages show at The ARTery with Paperplanes and Dragonboats, so that’ll be good. The Blame-Its, The Afterbeat, and Wildrose Orchestra, are at New City Legion…Over at Wunderbar you can hear Teen Daze with Oh No Yoko and Sugarglider…Craig Cardiff is at the Haven Social Club with David Blair and Erica Viegas… The Open Sky Music Festival isn’t until the end of August, but Souljah Fyah and Jeff Morris are getting things going this weekend

Saturday night is no less good, with The Weber Brothers, Chris Carmichael, and Lyra Brown at the Haven Social Club…Xplosionation, The Party Martyrs, and All The King’s Men, at Brixx… The Weekend Kids, Old Wives, and Freshman Years at Wunderbar…and The Consonance, Noisy Colours, whiskey wagon, all over at New City Legion.

Sunday (yeah, we’re still going on just music) there’s the Whyte Avenue Street Sale (which means the street will be closed to traffic between 105 and 103 Streets) and SOS Fest playing music on two stages all day long…Sunday night ends the weekend with a giant kick to the face of awesome with  The Joe and Doug Hoyer kicking off their national tour at Wunderbar, with Mikey Maybe.

Whew.

We also have a bunch of festivals and the such.

Down in Hawrelak Park you can catch two of Shakespeare’s finest plays during the Freewill Shakespeare Festival. Heading into the Indy we’ve got Race Week Edmonton (which lasts longer than a week). The Edmonton International Street Performers Festival is on at Churchill Square. The Edmonton & Northern Alberta Historic Festival also begins this weekend (which can get you into some cool old buildings).

For the dogs, and dog lovers, you can head up to 118 Avenue on Sunday for Avenue Goes to the Dogs, put on by the Eastwood Community League.

If all of that great Edmonton music and festivals isn’t enough…

Cirque du Soleil’s “Dralion” is at Rexall Place. There’s a Campus Community Garden Open House, Saturday 11-2, at the U of A’s campus community garden. The Edmonton Eskimos will fight, fight, fight on at home to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Oh, and if you’re not doing anything at about 9pm on Sunday you can watch the last episode of our ShawTV series, the edmontonian presents, on Shaw cable channel 10. (It’ll be on YoutTube, Livestream, and iTunes shortly after.)

Summer officially arrives in Edmonton next week, which probably explains why this weekend is so jammed with festivals.

Friday and Saturday there’s the Utopia Music Festival, which kicks off summer in Hawrelak Park.

On Saturday we’ve got Bikeology (in Beaver Hills House Park), and the whole month of June is actually Bike Month, Park(ed) is back on the streets, taking up parking spaces (on 102 Avenue), Rock The Square (at Churchill Square), Africa Connect (at the Edmonton Expo Centre), and the Hope Street Festival (105 Avenue and 100 Street). 107 Avenue also has Safe Streets and a Night Market on Saturday (afternoon and evening).

Improvaganza 2011 is just getting warmed up (and will even have social media improv on Monday). Opera Nuova’s Vocal Arts Festival and the Edmonton Pride Festival are both continuing too.

For you, young and engaged folks, tonight is Pecha Kucha 10: Designing Downtown (which you can watch through the Edmonton Journal’s livestream), and Next Gen’s back at it on Sunday with the DIYalogue. We’re happy to be one of the groups chatting about cultural start-ups and entrepreneurship.

On a more serious note, there’s a picnic in Giovanni Caboto Park to remember murder victim Nina Courtepatte, and others lost to violence.

Watch It!’s got a BOOMBUS on Whyte Avenue today (4-8pm) and it’ll be downtown, on Jasper Avenue, Saturday morning. Keep your eyes open for this rolling watch and street party.

Over at La Cite Francophone you can catch a production of Little Shop of Horrors.

In music…Radio for Help plays the Pawn Shop tonight…Joe Nolan has a CD release at the Haven Social Club…Sidney York plays Brixx Saturday night, with Kaley Bird…The Collective West and Jeff Morris are at The ARTery…Wunderbar’s got a Weird Canada and Scion show…And Zero Cool’s at DV8 with Down the Hatch…

You can always catch a movie, which is likely to be a summer blockbuster right now.

Farmer’s markets abound on the weekend, downtown, in Old Strathcona, St. Albert, and in Callingwood.

The Edmonton Capitals are hosting the Chico Outlaws down at Telus Field.

(Quick festival sidebar: Dreamspeakers is on downtown, and NextFest begins today.)

So, our old pals Mike and Arlen – from Highwire Films – are hosting the fundraiser tonight. The money they earn will help them shoot more videos and films this summer.

The evening will include a screening of the documentary “Strange Powers,” about Stephen Merritt and band The Magnetic Fields. The movie starts at 9:30. Popcorn will be available. (It’s a movie, after all.)

Then, Edmonton musicians (with some prominent and recognizable names in there) will perform covers of Magnetic Fields songs. And maybe other songs. I guess they’ll all see how the night goes.

Tickets are $10, and available through The ARTery’s website and YEG Live. Now, THAT’S a Thursday night in Edmonton.

This shall be a good weekend. As it is written so shall it come to pass.

Around the live music venues this weekend it’s going to be a good time. Tonight you’ve got audio audio/rocketry celebrating 5 years together with a 3rd album, and show at the Pawn Shop…90s brit-rockers rhodes are at Haven Social Club with Treelines, Warning to Avoid, and The Fight…over at the Wild Earth Bakery you can listen to Jenie Thai…The Old Wives and Kemo Treats are going to try and bust through the roof of New City (which would scare the hell out of everyone at Hudsons)…

Saturday begins with Doug Hoyer at the Black Dog for Hair of the Dog…Sister Gray is at Expressionz Cafe…The AwesomeHots have a new album, and they’ll release that at Wunderbar…at The ARTery Saturday you can catch Daniel Moir, with Scenic Route to Alaska…And FOREIGNER IS HERE!

Sunday’s got a great show at the Haven Social Club, with Romi Mayes playing with the with Give ‘em Hell Boys, Jake Ian, and The Haymakers.

For music that’s not in a club or bar, Ben Vereen is “Steppin’ Out” with the ESO, in Robbins Pops shows tonight and Saturday.

In theatre…The Citadel Theatre’s got Hunchback, a Catalyst Theatre production of the Victor Hugo novel…and at the actual Catalyst Theatre “Shatter,” about the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion, wraps its run…Dog is over at the Roxy Theatre…

While the headline of this post alludes to Little Red Riding Hood, that is in no way an endorsement of seeing the sexualized thriller in theatres about the same. Gregg can let you know what’s worth seeing.

On Sunday, Levar Burton will be here. Oh, he’s got a reason to be here. It’s the Edmonton Collectible Toy and Comic Show.

You can catch the playoff-bound Oil Kings and lottery selection-bound Oilers in Edmonton this weekend too.