Culture Days coming to Caledon this weekend with dozens of events

Nearly 100 events happening during weeks-long celebration of arts and culture

By ZACHARY ROMAN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Caledon is celebrating arts and culture like never before this fall. 

From September 20 to October 13, the Town of Caledon will host nearly 100 events for Culture Days. 

Culture Days is a celebration of arts, culture and heritage that takes place in communities across Canada each year. It engages communities with free and pay-what-you-can activities like studio tours, performances, festivals, workshops, classes and more. 

Giuliana Giancotta, a Project Manager in the Town of Caledon's recreation and culture department, says the Town has gone all in to mark Culture Days.

“This year, we've gone full throttle and are doing so much… we want Caledon to be a destination,” she said. “We have almost 95 registered opportunities for people to check out arts and culture across Caledon.”

The Town of Caledon has three flagship events for culture days this year. 

The first is “Caledon Studio Tours” which goes from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on September 21 and 22. 

With 18 stops and 26 participating artists, the self-guided tour will give participants unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to artist studios across Caledon. The tour is being held for the first time this year, and at 11 a.m. on September 21, there will be an opening reception for it at the Alton Mill Arts Centre. 

“There's a lot of artists in Caledon with beautiful studios on their property,” said Giancotta. “The artists will invite you into their homes and studios to see up close and personal how they work, how they create.”

The second flagship event is the Caledon Creative Arts Festival, which runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on September 28 at the Caledon East Community Complex. 

The festival is now in its third year and will feature artist workshops, arts activities for kids, a vendor market and live music. Some of the workshops being held include watercolour painting and braiding Indigenous bracelets. Live music acts set to perform include The Rolling Coyotes Band, Irie Vibes, and The Matthew Richard Jazz Duo.

Giancotta said the festival has grown from something small into a big event that's highly-anticipated.

The third flagship event of Culture Days in Caledon is Caledon CultureFest, which runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on October 5 at the Humber River Centre in Bolton.

Being held for the first time, the festival is a celebration of the many unique cultures that make up the Town of Caledon. 

There will be an African dance performance, Ukrainian egg making, and a chance to learn about Caledon's Scottish history, to name a few things going on at the event.

“It's a chance to celebrate and learn about all the different cultures within Caledon,” said Giancotta.

The Town of Caledon is turning 50 this year, and that's playing a role in this year's Culture Days celebrations. On September 20, the Town will unveil a new 50th anniversary community mural by artist Nikita Mistry and raise the Culture Days flag at Town Hall.

To take a closer look at the massive amount of events planned for Culture Days, Caledon residents can check out the following link: caledon.ca/culturedays

The Town's website has a schedule of all the events planned.

“We've tried to reach all different areas of people's interests throughout all of our programming… all of it with the intention to celebrate and recognize how unbelievably fortunate Caledon is to be home to so many artists,” said Giancotta.