The Edmonton Heritage Festival has announced the cancellation of its 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement came Friday morning, one day after Alberta’s chief medical officer of health announced the current public health orders restricting gatherings of more than 15 people will be in place through the summer. “We regret not being able to join together, as in the past, to participate in a collective celebration of cultural diversity, but we recognize the challenges we are all dealing with at this time; and large crowds are neither appropriate nor acceptable during the pandemic,” executive director Jim Gibbon said. [ Sign up for our Health IQ newsletter for the latest coronavirus updates ] The festival is a tradition over