The Sled Island Music & Arts Festival, Calgary’s premier gathering of independent musicians and fans since 2007, often generates levels of anticipation and merriment usually reserved for a childhood Christmas.
Many get up early every year just to be among the first to see announcements of guest curators and lineups, and put more thought into band wishlists for passholder surveys than any North Pole letter.
In recent years, Sled Island-branded events have expanded beyond the main midsummer extravaganza. In the past few months, the Sled team has promoted individual shows, co-presented a Halloween cover band showcase with CJSW at the #1 Legion, and held a festival fundraiser at Dickens Pub, headlined by Afro-pop artist MAUVEY.
This January, the Sled team will be putting on its largest off-season event: the second annual Bob-Sled, a one-venue mini-festival taking place over four nights at the Palomino. Costing less than $100 for a weekend pass, it’s a chance for Sledders to get their fix several months before the main event, at a time of year usually bereft of festivals.
“There is obviously a marketing benefit to having our name out there throughout the year,” said Sled Island executive director Maud Salvi in an email. “But year-round events are also a great way to cultivate our relationship with our audience … Someone might feel intimidated by the June festival because they don’t know the bands or there’s just too much going on, but they might want to go out for Halloween and dance to songs they already know. In the process, though, they might fall in love with the Legion and find out about local bands they like, and be more inclined to look into what else we’re doing.”
Presented alongside ‘88 Brewing Co., Bob-Sled can be seen as an appetizer platter before the main course in June. This year’s edition features New York City garage rockers Dirty Fences and Portland psych veterans The Shivas, both Sled-calibre touring acts that wouldn’t be out of place at the main festival (and the latter did play Sled Island back in 2014). For the FOMO-afflicted Sledder, there’s a second chance to see acts from previous years: on the docket are wacky New Brunswick post-punks Motherhood and Polaris nominees Ribbon Skirt, both of whom played the 2025 festival in venues that reach capacity notoriously quickly.
“On a smaller scale, Bob-Sled keeps the Sled energy through immersive, back-to-back programming while fostering community and connection,” said outgoing festival manager Hemen Tor-Agbidye.
Year-round shows are also opportunities to raise funds for the main event. Although it has sponsors and charges for tickets like any other festival, the organization running Sled Island is also a registered charity, making its finances less reliant on corporate sponsorship and more in the hands of local music lovers. “Community-driven fundraising demonstrates the genuine enthusiasm people have for the festival and highlights the value they see in the experiences it creates,” said Tor-Agbidye.
“As the costs of producing music festivals keep rising,” said Salvi, “fundraising is becoming more and more important to the sustainability of non-profit organizations. Sponsorship is an important piece of our revenue, but as businesses’ budgets get slimmer and the competition greater, it’s not enough anymore, so we don’t have a choice but to fundraise.”
This means Sled Island can now select sponsors that better align with its values. “The landscape for sponsors has shifted in a big way from when I joined the board … to where we are now, with far more modest, local and meaningful sponsors on that really see our work together as a partnership,” said Sled Island board member Arif Ansari.
Given the smaller scale of year-round Sled events and the lack of need to venue-hop, there’s little perceived risk of making the festival less memorable by spreading its unique characteristics over the whole year. “All of our year-round events serve different purposes,” said Salvi. “As such, they’re going to look and feel different in some ways from the June festival … At the end of the day, what makes a Sled event more than just another indie show is the community that we have and continue to cultivate around it, and the intention and care we put into it.”
Besides, who wants to venue hop in the January cold, anyway? May as well park at the Palomino.
Bob-Sled goes down from January 21 to 24 at the Palomino Smokehouse.
January 21
PACKS, Sour Widows, Mossy Dole and Victrix
Vibes: Hazy pop and lo-fi earworms, a perfect soundtrack for texting your crush.
January 22
Dirty Fences, The Shivas, Amy Nelson, and more
Vibes: Riffy rock ‘n roll and blue-sy meltdowns, as refreshing as cold garage beers.
January 23
FAZE, Hedonist, Milkmaid, and LUST
Vibes: Hardcore punk and metal that gets the fists bumping … and a trombone? Bring earplugs.
January 24
Ribbon Skirt, Motherhood, Cassia Hardy, and Stucco.
Vibes: Angular post-punk confessionals, and probably the best-dressed crowd of the weekend.
