What You Can Expect At EmberFest

Published January 23, 2025

A Festival Like You’ve Never Seen Before

Credit Best Impressions

EmberFest, Golden’s winter festival, is a vibrant celebration of creativity, community, and connection. Known as the Snow King’s Masque Parade for nearly two decades, EmberFest is a newly energized and reimagined version of our favorite Masque Parade frolics and traditions, with creative twists that will surpass your expectations!

Expect a magical mix of creative expression featuring giant puppets, mesmerizing skits, and interactive art installations all centered around a magnificent bonfire in Spirit Square on February 15th, 2025. Workshops leading up to the festival invite participants to create lanterns, puppets, and performances, ensuring everyone can take part in the magic. These are held at the Civic Centre every weekend leading up to the festival (January 18 – February 9), drop in to the FREE creative sessions to create your costume and props!

What Else is New?

This year the festival is expanding to include live music. After the traditional fire circle frolics and follies and following an iconic firework display, 8 bands will take to the stage at various venues around downtown Golden. These shows will feature some of Canada’s finest, with a lineup of musicians who are both local and from out of town. And in Spirit Square the celebration will continue with a DJ set for all ages. Good tunes and groovy venues will carry you through the night!

Venue performances are 19+ and tickets are required for entry at local venues, purchase your tickets online (www.kickinghorseculture.ca/emberfest) and pick up your wristband at the Art Gallery of Golden during the weeks of February 1st-15th. Your wristband will get you into all of the venues throughout the night.

And that’s not all! 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. Stay tuned for this addition to their schedule.

EmberFest is community lead, which means a wonderful, dedicated group of volunteers invest in the power of creativity and community. You are invited to participate whether it means bringing an idea to life, helping facilitate programming, or running logistics on the day. Learn more at www.kickinghorseculture.ca/emberfest or contact pc@kickinghorseculture.ca to get involved.