This weekend the Kimberley City Bakery will be hosting their third annual Medieval Festival at the Large Coronation Park Ball Diamond next to Centennial Hall.
Bakery owners Eric and Michelle Forbes say that the inspiration behind the Medieval Festival was creating a free, family-friendly event that everyone can enjoy.
“When you have more than one kid, the costs add up pretty quickly,” said Michelle. “I’m from a family of five kids, so I know first hand what it’s like not to be able to go see stuff because there’s too many kids, and it costs a lot. I wanted to make something that everybody could afford to go to.”
The Festival is the largest free Medieval Festival in Western Canada, with 10,000 people attending each year. Visitors from all over Canada and the United States flock to Kimberley for the weekend to take part in the historically accurate and entertaining festivities.
When asked what inspired the Medieval concept, Michelle replied, “I grew up reading Shakespeare and watching Shakespeare plays. I’m from Calgary, so we had Shakespeare in the Park. I always thought it was really interesting.”
“We had a Medieval wedding [as well],” said Eric. “It also ties into the Bavarian theme; Medieval and Bavarian kind of work together, not against, so we’re trying to use the backdrop that we have to put on a festival, without having to change the backdrop.”
This year, for the first time, the bakery will be closed on Saturday and they will be moving their storefront alongside the rest of the vendors at Coronation Park.
There will be Medieval baked goods, a local meadery, vendors, viking village, viking fight reenactments, archery, NCCF fighting area, puppeteering, slack line sword fighting and more.
The festivities begin on Saturday morning at 10a.m. and continue until 5p.m. On Sunday morning at 9a.m. there will be a Medieval Mass at the churches located next to the Platzl, with the festival gearing up at 10a.m. and ending at 4p.m.
Since the festival is free for all ages, the Kimberley City Bakery welcomes donations at the event. Michelle and Eric say they are grateful and would like to thank their sponsors and partners for their continued support.