Global carnival

The former Finning International property looks like an industrial wasteland that, save for the picturesque mountain backdrop, could easily have served as the set for Escape From New York. Crabgrass juts through cracked concrete slabs, warehouses sit with peeling paint, and old trucks and one broken-down city bus jam a parking lot. But use your imagination and you can start to visualize a giant global arts event that will soon turn the neglected East Side landscape into a multimedia carnival. From Wednesday to next Sunday (June 21 to 25), Earth: The World Urban Festival brings the site now called the Great Northern Way Campus alive with dozens of stage and street performances from 20 countries, huge visual-art installations, and more.