Today’s event selection is not really one you could accomplish (in its entirety) in one evening, or even one full day.
You may remember me talking about the Edmonton Community Challenge (put on by the Next Gen committee and Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues) back in June.
Our scrappy little team from Strathcona Centre placed a respectable fifth, notable due to our handful of active members. While we were darn proud to have collected the most food for the Edmonton Food Bank in the sculpture challenge (King Edward School gets a lot of the credit) I think it’s safe to say the core of our team had the most fun in the city-wide photo scavenger hunt.
By checking Flickr, I would say the other top teams also had a blast with this.
We had to run all over Edmonton, taking photos of ourselves in front of historically significant buildings, on bridges, shopping in all of the Business Revitalization Zones (BRZ), spending time in our favourite parks and local haunts, high-fiving councillors, and hitting up each branch of the Edmonton Public Library.
I learned that Edmonton has WAY more bridges than one could get to in a day, or even a week. Especially if you start counting footbridges. The libraries are spread out, and it took many hours to get to all of them (the EPL Go at the University of Alberta is also the cutest little library).
Somehow we completed every task on the photo scavenger hunt, even getting to the whale at West Edmonton Mall before it was removed for the opening of Victoria’s Secret. (There may be an item or two you can’t do right now.)
Living in one of the city’s oldest, most vibrant, neighbourhoods sure helped too. Strathcona has plenty of historically recognized buildings, it’s a BRZ right now, has any type of business needed for the photo challenge, a library branch, giant trees, and plenty of people to start a parade.
Prior to this challenge, I had never been to a bottle depot. I feel more like an Edmontonian now.
So today I offer you a chance to explore Edmonton like you probably haven’t before. Take a scan through the scavenger hunt from the Edmonton Community Challenge and choose a few items to track down, or try, before the summer is out.
I bet, just like I discovered how historically significant my work neighbourhood is, you find out a few things about Edmonton you didn’t know.
(It’s a lot of fun to see how many U of A bunnies you can get into one picture. Those suckers are fast.)
Let me know if you do any of these, or have photos of them already. You can always toss them into our Flickr pool too.
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Keep in mind you should play safe and not break any laws. Also “team” is you.
Here’s what you could do:
1. Random tasks:
A picture…
In the mouth of the whale at West Edmonton Mall
Riding the high level street car
Shopping at the 104th street market
In the Legislature wading pool
Doing an interpretive dance on the steps of city hall.
Doing your favorite summer sport around Edmonton
A picture of your team on the patio of the Hotel McDonald
A picture with a team member and as many U of A campus bunnies as you can fit in one photo
A picture of your team creating and burying a time capsule
A picture of your team visiting the CKUA studio
A picture of as many of your team as possible cycling in the river valley
A photo of your team members posing as statues outside of Rexall Place
A photo of your team hiding inside the whale in West Edmonton mall
A picture on the patio of the new Art Gallery of Alberta
A picture of your team shopping in each Business Revitalization Zone.
A picture of your team doing sunrise yoga with your team in Ezio Farone Park
2. Souvenirs
A ticket stub from Rapidfire Theatresports
A ticket stub from the Telus World of Science
A picture at Fort Edmonton Park
A ticket stub from the Princess theatre
A ticket stub from Telus Field
A ticket stub from the Garneau Theatre
A picture on an ETS bus with a transfer
A picture outside of as many of the Edmonton Historical Council buildings as possible
How many CDs are in the CKUA library?
How many books are in the EPL Library?
A betting stub from the horse races
A piece of Oilers paraphernalia
A receipt from “The Carrot”
A receipt from checking out a library book from EPL
3. In your own Neighbourhood
A picture…
In front of your Community League meeting place
In your favorite park
Hugging your tallest tree
Outside your local coffee shop
Where you walk your dog
Where you like to shop in your neighbourhood
A picture of your team having a picnic in your local park
A picture of your local school
A picture of a unique or distinguishing feature about your neighbourhood
A picture of your team going on a walking parade down the street in your neighbourhood
4. Citywide
A picture in front of all EPL libraries
A picture of your team on each of the bridges
A picture of your team on all of the LRT Platforms
A picture of your team high-fiving each of the Edmonton City Councillors
A picture of your team dressed up to play hockey or golf with the Oilers
5. Good Deeds:
A picture of your team helping fix a neighbourhood bike
A picture of your team planting a tree in a local yard
A picture of your team donating old clothes to the YESS/Salvation Army
A picture of your team volunteering at your community league
Do you know your neighbours? On all sides? A picture of your team having tea with your neighbours
A picture of your team chalking up your sidewalk
A picture of your team painting a mural
A picture of your team helping a senior
Thanks for playing it forward!
I’m also really glad you left our legal disclaimer “Don’t be stupid! Don’t do anything illegal!”
http://www.efcl.org is also hosting hundreds of amazing ideas for community league day. I hope that the readers are starting to plan their block parties!