By Sarah Rae

International performers coming to N.B. for street festival

Jul 26, 2016 | 5:00 PM

Artists from all over the world are coming to perform in the city’s streets this weekend.

The North Battleford International Street Performers Festival begins Friday, but the city got a little taste of what’s to come this weekend on Tuesday, July 26. A barbecue in Central Park gave residents a sneak peek of some of the acts at the third annual festival.

“The beauty of this festival is that there is no ticket required; anybody can come,” programming partner Shelley Switzer said. “If you have 20 minutes and you want to have a good time and a great smile this is your festival, because it is that democratic art form where you decide the value at the end of the show.”

Performers have their accommodation paid for, but make their living off the money the audience pays after the show. Switzer said even if people can’t afford to pay, the performers appreciate audience members just saying thank you.

The festival will feature focus circle shows, where the performer is in the middle of the street and the audience forms around them, and roving entertainment, where artists roam around the festival performing for anybody who might not be engaged in a circle show.

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Harvey Anderson is one of the festival’s rovers. He has several characters for the festival, including Mr. Happy, who hands out stickers to anybody smiling, and Art, who wears all white and lets people draw on him.

Anderson said while big festivals often cater mostly to adults, the roving performers are mainly there for kids.

“I just love entertaining kids, I think they have the greatest minds,” he said. “It’s pretty special when you see their faces light up and their eyes are sparkling.”

The festival is Friday, July 29 to Sunday, July 31 on the streets of downtown North Battleford.

Sarah Rae is battlefordsNOW’s court and crime reporter. She can be reached at Sarah.Rae@jpbg.ca or tweet her @sarahjeanrae.