Who actually puts these events on?

What We Do

The Good Life Institute runs five signature events in Vermilion every year. Cars, food, art, racing, fine drinks, all of it built around bringing the town together and giving visitors a reason to come.

We are a non-profit based in Vermilion, Alberta. The events are funded by local sponsors, run by volunteers, and built for the people who live here.

How We Think About It

Three things shape every event we put on.

Local First

Vermilion businesses, Vermilion talent, Vermilion food. The town has plenty to show off and our events give it a stage.

Open to Everyone

Most of what we do is free or low cost. Kids, families, visitors, longtime locals. Show up and you belong here.

Worth the Drive

People come in from across central Alberta for these events. That is the whole point. Put Vermilion on the map.

How We Got Here

The Good Life Institute started with a simple idea. Vermilion deserves the kind of events that pull a town together and bring people in from out of town. So we built them.

Five events run each year. Race of Vermilion in March. Taste of Vermilion in June. Art in the Park and the Show & Shine in September. SAVOR in November. Each one is its own thing. None of them happen without local sponsors and a long list of volunteers.

That is really it. There is no big corporate machine behind this. Just people who want Vermilion to be a place worth living in and worth visiting.

"Vermilion has The Good Life Institute that really works to promote their community and I think that is an awesome unique thing that I continue to follow and others should too."

Barb Sojquist, Small Communities Champion & Former Mayor of the Village of Edgerton
2022 Alberta Municipalities Conference

That quote came out of the 2022 Alberta Municipalities Conference. It still tracks. If you want to be part of what we do, the easiest ways in are sponsoring, volunteering, or just showing up.