Chasing Summer Music Festival 2021

By alantvuong on March 15, 2022

Chasing Summer Music Festival has been cancelled in 2020 and was initially also cancelled for 2021 due to the pandemic. When events started happening again late spring and summer, organizers quickly brought this popular festival 4 weeks later than it’s usual dates and renamed it Chasing Summer: Family Reunion. This was in reference to finally being able to reunite with close friends at the music festival.

promo poster

Chasing Summer: Family Reunion occurred on Friday August 27 and Saturday August 28 for 2021 and changed venues to Shaw Millennium Park from Max Bell Festival Grounds where it has been since 2016 (read about my 2019 experience). I am guessing the venue change happened since organizers figured attendance will be smaller due to uncertainty about the pandemic. This year’s headliners include: Zeds Dead, Kaskade, Adventure Club, DJ Diesel and more.

Getting There

Shaw Millennium Park is located right on the West edge of Calgary’s downtown which made it really easy for me to get to, since I live on the other side of downtown. There is the option of riding the C-Train FREE from City Hall station to the Downtown WEST station, since rides within the downtown area are all FREE.

at a friend’s hotel nearby hiding from the big rain before entering the festival

I could easily speed really fast to Shaw Millennium Park and not bother with the busy crowds of the C-Train and that’s what I chose to do when going to the festival. I even met up with friends on the first day at their nearby hotel since it was raining. Going home both nights, my friends and I used the C-Train since it was cooler and slightly raining late at night.

Good To Know

Exactly the same as previous years, Chasing Summer Music Festival does not allow re-entry which meant people had to bring everything with them that they needed for the day. I brought my medications in their blister packs, a water bottle to refill at the water stations, and of course a jacket or hoodie for when it cools down during the nights.

Accessibility

Shaw Millennium Park has a mixture of grass and cement sidewalk

Shaw Millennium Park had better accessibility than Max Bell Festival Grounds. This year when heading to the entrance, there wasn’t a long steep hill to wheel down to get in. It was mostly flat and had a combination of grass and cement. With Shaw Millennium Park being a smaller venue, it was easier to explore the whole grounds despite the crowds.

easy to get around in my powerchair

I ate dinner both days before heading to the festival so I didn’t having to bother with the food trucks and booths. Even though it was easy to get around the venue to buy food, drinks or merchandise, I did not want to bother with line ups. The only time I really wandered around was to get to the free water refill stations.

one of the food trucks and free water refill stations

Stages

raised accessible viewing platform for the main stage: The Family Room Stage

There are only 2 stages for this year’s edition: The Family Room Stage and The Bassment Stage. The main artists and headliners all performed on the main stage at the Family Room Stage and was the only stage to have a raised viewing platform for wheelchair guests. This was also where one the wheelchair accessible porta potties were located.

general area for the main stage

The Bassment Stage is located right by the basketball courts. The floor was all cement at the courts so it was quite easy to manoeuvre around this area. With this stage being smaller and having lesser known artists, it was not as crowded or busy as the main stage. I did not have any issues getting to the front closer to the stage.

the Bassment Stage

Final Thoughts

It was great to have Chasing Summer back this year even though it was later and smaller than previous years. Having it at Shaw Millennium Park this year made it closer for me to get to and was happy it wasn’t as crowded as previous years. With things getting closer to normal, it will be interesting to see if the 2022 edition will change back to a bigger venue. I will be there in 2022 for my 8th straight visit to this fun festival.