Spending The Weekend in Revelstoke for LUNA Art Festival
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Have you been to the annual LUNA Art Festival in Revelstoke? The music/art/light/positive energy festival that takes over their downtown? It’s so much fun. I attended it this September with our daughter and we took it all in. Friday is LUNA Sound, a multi-stage, multi-band night of music and good times that goes all night long (19+, requires tickets). Saturday is LUNA Festival, a free family oriented event which transforms their downtown into a playground of artwork, performances, light shows, crazy art and hands on experiences. Sunday is LUNA Studio, free open door demos from local businesses throughout the town, workshops, and discussions with the artists that took part in the festival. This annual event takes place in the town of Revelstoke tucked away in the Canadian Rockies, British Columbia, which is only 4.5 hours drive from Calgary.
We arrived by bus on Friday and stayed until Sunday, soaking up as much of Revelstoke as we could in such a short time. Beautiful little town, quite similar to Banff in a lot of ways, just without the massive crowds. Revelstoke has a very popular winter season with Revelstoke Mountain Resort and their ski hills/snowboarding/other winter sports. Did you know their summers are also really super nice? Lots of hiking trails, multiple places to go camping (including crown land camping!), boating and kayaking, fishing, everything you’d expect from a Canadian mountain town. Really loved my visit and can’t wait to go back.
Full disclosure as always: Tourism Revelstoke invited us to come to Revelstoke to check out their annual LUNA Art Festival, and of course we said yes! They covered the bus tickets and hotel in exchange for us telling people about the festival and just bringing some more attention to the town of Revelstoke in general. Neither of us had spent much time in Revelstoke other than maybe stopping at the gas station while driving through to the mountains, so this was a wonderful opportunity to fix that. Everything written here is 100% our own opinion. Thank you Tourism Revelstoke!
LUNA Art Festival Details
- https://lunafest.ca
- Location: Revelstoke, BC
- Instagram: @LunaArtFest
- Facebook: @LunaArtFest
- Twitter: @LunaArtFest
Note! LUNA Festival 2020 is happening on the weekend of September 25 – 27th.
LUNA Sound
- Friday September 27th 2019
LUNA Sound is basically a mini music festival unto itself, with 7 bands on 3 stages there was music all evening long. LUNA Sound took place both inside and outside of the Regent Hotel, with lots of lights and decorations, a beer garden, foods, and lots of cool people.
The Bands
- Snotty Nose Rez Kidz
- Delhi 2 Dublin
- Art d’Ecco
- Small Town Artillery
- Missy D
- Old Soul Rebel
- Blue Moon Marquee
I started off my night beside the fire on their back deck area, beside the outdoor stage. Once I finished my beers and warmed up, headed inside to checkout what was going on at the other stage.
^ This is Missyd 
LUNA Festival
- Saturday September 28th 2019
At around 6:00 PM people started to move into downtown Revelstoke, setting up over 30 different art installations and experiences for visitors to check out, for free. They were installed in back alleys, on the sides of buildings, hung from cranes or other things, inside businesses, everywhere! It was really quite fun because everything was pretty close and well planned out (see map below) so once you finish checking something out and turn around, there’s three more things to look at.
These LUNA Festival maps were available all over the place; they had people handing them out, with stickers too. Everything was clearly laid out and they had numerous volunteers walking around if anyone had questions.
Thankfully the weather was perfect! In Revelstoke it doesn’t seem to get as cold as in the lower regions of the mountains. Even though it was the end of September, it didn’t even feel cold! to me and the kiddo anyway. Maybe we’re just h4rdc0re.
As you can see, there was a lot to take in! Many different exhibits/stations, and lots I didn’t even get a chance to see in person. Lots of families at this event, it was great. I only wish I had more time to see it all (I had to head to bed a bit early, migraine.. fun).
I saw this guy doing this and …. I have nothing further to add.
LUNA Studio
- Sunday September 29th 2019
On day 3 of LUNA Festival was a chill open door event in a few places throughout the areas of Revelstoke not downtown, called LUNA Studio. There were several artsty workshops and also time set aside for Q&A with the artists whom were part of LUNA Festival, the night before.
We dropped by Big Eddy Glassworks for a demo and they were making pumpkins! It was really hot in there. It must be so miserable in the summer time. Respect!
We also visited the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre, which was having an art sale (and doing some workshops but we didn’t have time for that).
Fun fact: the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre used to be a jail at some point and they kept a few cells. Looks cozy.
Getting To Revelstoke From Calgary
To get to Revelstoke we took Rider Express, which is a coach bus company that offers service from Calgary to Vancouver, with many stops in between. Their buses have free wifi (it’s slow), 2x USB ports and electricity plugs behind each seat, and a bathroom at the back. Each seat reclines and our bus on the way back had drink holders behind each seat too. The pickup/drop off point in Calgary is Westbrook Mall, entrance 2, beside Smitty’s. I found it to be quite similar but slightly better than taking Greyhound.
Revelstoke Food And Drink
I really enjoyed everything I had while in Revelstoke, and I tried to visit as many places as I could. They have several places in and around their downtown where you can stop in for food and beers. There’s a couple breweries in Revelstoke and even a couple of distilleries too!
We did try to crash Mt. Begbie Brewery but they were closed. I had several of their beers around town and really liked them. I’ll try and visit again for sure. It’s not in the easiest place to get to.
The Village Idiot Bar & Grill
The atmosphere at Village Idiot is fun and ski themed, plus there’s flamingos on the walls. They have pizzas and burgers and traditional bar type food, which is Mario themed for some reason but it’s way cool. The selection of beer isn’t huge but they have a nice half dozen of local options to choose from. Their burgers are thick cut and loaded with bacon, see below.
If you’re driving through Revelstoke I’d recommend stopping and having food and drinks here.
Craft Bierhaus
A nice little beer place that happens to serve really good mac and cheese food! They have a great beer selection and most of them are a proper 20oz pour.
Old School Eatery
This old school house was converted into a restaurant on one side, and a distillery on the other. The distillery was closed so I wasn’t able to visit unfortunately. Next time!
Their food was really good, see below.
Big Bend Cafe
Big Bend Cafe does all day breakfast, and they really nailed it. The portion sizes are huge, prices are decent. If you like breakfast food, go here. Left very satisfied. They have a Big Bend Cafe in Golden, BC, too.
We had the Texas Chorizo burrito, and Big Bend Bowl (hashbrowns, cheese, egg, onions, mushrooms, etc)
Where I Stayed In Revelstoke
The Cube Boutique Hotel
It was more so a hostel than a hotel, but I’m not picky. Our room didn’t have a shower, they were located in the hallway. We had 2 beds in a room with an en-suite bathroom. There’s a large communal kitchen area in the middle of the building, which is also where they serve a free continental breakfast. There’s a waffle maker but other than that I didn’t find anything too exciting about it. I tried to visit a new place each day for breakfast. Cube Hotel had people coming/going often and everyone was quiet and respectful of the small space we all shared together. I would absolutely recommend staying here if you’re thinking about heading to Revelstoke. Cheap, no frills, a nice place to sleep. Each room has a TV and every channel I tried worked no probs!
This view was a very short walk away from my hotel. The scenery in/around Revelstoke is gorgeous everywhere.
The Pipe Mountain Coaster
Something I had to do before leaving Revelstoke was take their legendary mountain coaster for a spin! Over 1km of track going down the hill (you take the gondola up) zig-zagging and dropping and going in/out of trees and tubes and man – it was so much fun! These things should be a form of regular transportation people use somehow.
It was amazing and both myself + kiddo loved it. We only went down once but that was enough to fall in love with this thing. Here’s a video which shows it off better.
Conclusion
Before Tourism Revelstoke reached out, we had never even heard of the LUNA Art Festival. It was really fun (I brought kiddo with me, because family event) and we had a great time not only experiencing the festival but scoping out the town too. Check out their sweet dam! Check out the whole area around Lake Revelstoke if you can. Check out some more photos of the event, here, from Revelstoke Review (local media).
Lake Revelstoke looks like such a good place to go fishing. Next time for sure! Martha Creek Provincial Park has a campground.
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