Things to Do in Edmonton in July 2026: 100+ Family Events

Updated July 16, 2026

Peak summer, peak Edmonton. Street performers on the square, free movies in the park, a lake an hour east running a program every week, and enough free drop-in programming that you could fill the entire month without opening your wallet. July is the month the city stops making you work for it.

Below you'll find 100+ family events, festivals, free activities and outdoor everything — the full month in one place.

Planning weekend by weekend instead? Our things to do in Edmonton this weekend guide updates every week, and the full Edmonton family events calendar has every date we're tracking.

Sorting out the rest of the break? Start with our summer fun guide.

July Festivals

Edmonton International Street Performers Festival — Churchill Square fills with jugglers, acrobats, magicians and buskers from around the world. Free to watch, and the hat-passing at the end is the only cost. Best with kids in the late afternoon before the crowds thicken.

Taste of Edmonton — Dozens of local restaurants serving small plates on the square. Buy tickets, share everything, and let the kids pick something they've never heard of. Free to enter; you pay per dish.

K-Days — Midway rides, the grandstand, agriculture displays and nightly fireworks at the EXPO Centre. The single biggest family event of the Edmonton summer. Look for discount admission days and ride-all-day passes rather than paying at the gate.

Whyte Avenue Art Walk — Old Strathcona's sidewalks turn into an open-air gallery with hundreds of artists working live. Free, walkable, and easy to do in an hour.

Freewill Shakespeare Festival — Outdoor Shakespeare in Hawrelak Park, running into July. Bring a blanket and low expectations about staying for the whole thing.

Found Festival — Short performances staged in alleys, stairwells and parkades around Old Strathcona. Strange in the best way.

View all Family-friendly Festivals

Indoor Things to Do with Kids

For the smoky days, the rainy days, and the ones where it's just too hot.

  • FREE Pop into the Art Buffet | Wednesdays

  • FREE LEGO FIFA Make & Take | July 4

  • FREE Bat Day at Wild Birds Unlimited | July 4

  • FREE Drop-in Beaded Bracelet Making at Michaels | July 5

  • FREE Home Depot Kids Workshop: Build a Go Kart | July 11

  • FREE Fire Station Open House | July 11

  • FREE National Ice Cream Day Craft at Michaels | July 19

  • FREE Edmonton Fire Station Open House | July 25

Find the best indoor things to do in Edmonton in the Edmonton Indoor Fun Guide, and browse everything free citywide on our free things to do in Edmonton page.

Outdoor Events in Edmonton in July

  • FREE Wild Things Canada Day Walk at Miquelon Lake | July 1

  • FREE Peek in a Pond at Miquelon Lake | July 3

  • FREE Downtown Playdate | July 4

  • FREE Bugology 101 at Miquelon Lake | July 4

  • FREE Learn about the Snakes of Alberta | July 8

  • FREE Nature Investigators at Miquelon Lake | July 9

  • FREE Alberta Free Fishing Weekend | July 11

  • FREE Try-it Skateboarding Session | July 13

  • FREE Community Pond Party in Clarkdale | July 16

  • FREE Fired Up Friday | July 17

  • FREE Chalk It Up Festival | July 18

  • FREE Sylvan Lake Jaws on the Lake Outdoor Movie Double Feature | July 18

  • FREE Corgi Derby Mile | July 18

  • FREE Try-it Skateboarding Session | July 20

  • FREE Family Nature Nights: Urban Birds | July 22

  • FREE Community Pond Party in Regency | July 28

  • FREE Family Nature Night: Crawling Critters | July 29

  • FREE Movies at the Mile Outdoor Movie Night | July 29

  • FREE Drop-in Skateboarding | July 30

Every one of these lands on our events calendar with times and locations as they're confirmed.

Things to Do for Teens in Edmonton

The hardest age to plan for, and the easiest to forget about. These are free or cheap, mostly drop-in, and none of them require a parent standing nearby.

  • Take a Teen Bookbinding Class | Hands-on, low-pressure, and they leave with something they made.

  • Learn to Solder | A real skill, taught properly, usually through library makerspace programming.

  • Get an Introduction to Video Making | Shooting, editing and sound, on provided equipment.

  • Make Personalized Notebooks | Short session, immediate result. Good for a teen who won't commit to a full class.

  • Join a Video Game Tournament | Free, social, and the easiest yes you'll get all summer.

  • Teen Book Club (with Pizza) | The pizza is doing the heavy lifting here and that's fine.

  • Join a Trivia Night | Two running this month.

Most of these run through Edmonton Public Library branches and rec centres. For registered programs and classes that run past the summer, see our lessons and programs page.

Free Things to Do with Kids in Edmonton

Check out one of the Free Drop-in Sports Events

This month, kids can learn how to skateboard, learn about and connect with the earth during free weekly drop-in gardening sessions at Alberta Avenue Community Garden or Strathcona County Museum — or even take a free field hockey session to develop skills on the field. These no-cost events are a great way to add skill development to your summer adventures. Grab your skateboard (and your helmet) for one of the three free drop-in skateboarding events with local experts. In addition to the free drop-in sports programming, you can pop into one of the thirty local Edmonton parks offering free sports equipment rental through the summer months — most of them sit right beside a playground, so check our playgrounds guide before you pick one.

Free Edmonton Outdoor Movies

June's erratic weather caused the rescheduling of multiple outdoor movie events, so July is stacked as those get slotted back in. Start the month strong with Canada Day outdoor movies finished with fireworks, and continue through the month at the planned community screenings. Find the full schedule in the Edmonton Outdoor Movie Guide.

Drop-in Solar Observing

Learning something new this summer? Add a visit to the Department of Physics Astronomical Observatory to your summer plans and visit the University of Alberta Observatory Thursdays, 12pm to 1pm — visitors can drop in anytime during that hour. No tickets required. Admission is free. Plus, there are some cool collections to discover while you're there. Drop-in days are available until August 27, 2026.

Join a Summer Reading Club

Skip the summer slide this year with a fun way to engage the kids and encourage them to read through the summer. There are four Edmonton summer reading clubs where kids can play a larger-than-life board game, or track their reading to win some epic prizes just in time for back to school. We've already started and smashed eight books this summer with the encouragement of an early-start summer reading club.

Visit Miquelon Lake

This summer, there are programs happening every single week at Miquelon Lake. Kids can peek in a pond, take a walk to learn more about food that can be foraged from the local woodlands, and even learn about the snakes in Alberta at one of the hour-long sessions. It's about an hour east of the city, which makes it one of the better cheap day trips in our summer fun guide.

Indigo Kids Free Summer Play Days

  • Saturday, July 4 | Summer Reading Launch Party

  • Saturday, July 11 | Build Friendships & Bracelets

  • Saturday, July 18 | Pokémon Trading

  • Saturday, July 25 | Creative Club

Get Free Admission to Royal Alberta Museum

As part of the Canada Strong Pass program, kids get free admission all summer long to museums and National Parks across Canada. Visit the Royal Alberta Museum this summer and get free admission for your children. This is an epic place to play during a rainy day in Edmonton, or a great place to spend a day indoors when it's too smoky to play outside. The children's gallery will entertain younger children for hours, while the older kids wander through the museum engaging in their summer programming.

Become a Garden Explorer at Strathcona County Museum & Archives

Garden Explorers is a brand new program for children aged four and older (and their adults) at Strathcona County Museum and Archives. Drop by from 10:30–11:00am for a gardening experience, every Friday in July. Children will have the opportunity to earn pins, and even take home small plants.

Catch an Edmonton Green Shack Show

Edmonton Green Shack Shows bring concerts, performances and arts experiences to Edmonton parks and playgrounds through the summer. Two shows a day, five days a week, and endless opportunities to experience the arts for free this summer in Edmonton. Choose from morning or afternoon shows — or take a tip from our expert editors and plan a park, concert and performance crawl. In addition to the Green Shack Shows, there's programming daily at multiple parks around the city, with morning and afternoon sessions.

Free Family Nature Nights

Free Family Nature Nights are a free way to learn about the local, natural ecosystem from expert presenters and volunteers. These evenings are all about simple outdoor fun. Think guided nature walks, hands-on activities for kids, wildlife spotting, campfire stories, and a chance to slow down for a few hours while learning about the local ecosystem from experts.

  • July 22, 2026 | Urban Birds at Whitemud Park

  • July 29, 2026 | Crawling Critters at Gold Bar Park