Major events · Canada
Directing a $1.75M festival
for 145,000+ people.
Directed end-to-end production for a 24-event festival attracting 145,000+ attendees. Full stewardship of a $1.75M operational budget with 100% permit compliance, coordinating 9 staff, 40-45 contractors and 230 volunteers alongside city officials, emergency services and finance committees.
Calgary Pride
145,000+
Attendees
24
Events across 2 days
$1.75M
Budget stewardship
230
Volunteers commanded
Context
Calgary Pride returning to full-scale operations in a post-pandemic city. Board mandate: deliver the largest festival since 2019 without compromising safety, community trust or fiscal discipline.
Starting situation
Skeleton core team, dormant supplier relationships, a partial permit map and an event schedule that had grown organically since 2022. No single production plan connected the 24 events in the calendar.
Scale & constraints
$1.75M operating budget. 24-event schedule across two peak days plus wraparound programming. 9 core staff, 40–45 contractors, 230 volunteers. Full permit and health-and-safety compliance non-negotiable across parade, park takeover and licensed venues.
Actions & systems
Built a single production plan and event-day RACI. Multi-stage technical layouts, licensed footprints, vendor and sponsor maps, radio comms plan and incident-response playbook. Weekly cross-functional stand-ups with police, ambulance, city permits, finance and advocacy groups.
Measured result
145,000+ attendees across the festival. Zero permit failures. 100% health-and-safety compliance. $1.75M budget delivered within tolerance. Community goodwill re-anchored after a difficult stretch.
Attribution & evidence
Festival results published in Calgary Pride's 2024 annual report. Permit sign-offs held by City of Calgary. References available on request from the Calgary Pride Executive Director and the H&S consultancy engaged for the parade route.
Sustainability
Left behind a repeatable production template, a supplier register, a volunteer manual and a documented event-day RACI — so the next festival lead could pick up the operating rhythm on day one.
Related service
This is the operating pattern behind the Event Operating System Build engagement — production plan, permits, RACI and incident-response playbook wired into a single, transferable system.
See the Event OS BuildThe best moment isn't opening night — it's the Monday after, when the team has slept, the receipts reconcile, and the community says 'do it again next year'.
Next step
Planning a large-scale, high-stakes event?
Delivery, diplomacy, dignity — at festival scale.