The Summer Party Begins
We are one week away from actual, proper summer, but the fun is in full swing this weekend. There is so much fun that I am going to break it down into sections.
Festivals
Edmonton’s Pride Festival kicks off with the Pride Awards, and parties tonight, and the parade through downtown Edmonton tomorrow. The Pride Parade ends up at Churchill Square for the rest of the afternoon.
Festivals for the old – Creative Age – and young – NextFest – continue this weekend. NextFest’s got, among so many things, a great show at the Avenue Theatre tonight.
Opera Nuova’s Vocal Arts Festival continues until Jun 26. Talking ’bout singin’.
Saturday and Sunday, there are 4 plays in the Sprouts 2011 New Play Festival for Kids, from Concrete Theatre, at the Stanley A. Milner Library.
Bike Month continues, uh, all month, with a bike repair-a-thon this weekend.
Saturday on 104 Street is more than the farmers’ market, with the Al Fresco block party. Take that, cars!
Music
Tonight…Sharks, Mockingbird Wish Me Luck, The Fight, and Owls By Nature are all at the Pawn Shop.
Saturday night, Gurf Morlix plays the Haven Social Club in a tribute to Blaze Foley.
Did I mention NextFest’s great lineup?
Arts
It’s a Handmade Mafia weekend!
DEDfest’s got a screening of Dead Alive at Metro Cinema this evening.
Sports
The Edmonton Energy are playing basketball, the Edmonton Capitals are out on Telus Field, and FC Edmonton is kicking around Foote Field.
Miscellaneous
Movies are always a good time. We are in for a sci-fi summer.
Saturday is river valley day! This is the 14th year celebrating the Edmonton region’s glorious river valley and its parks. Edmonton’s event is at Rundle Park. There are pancakes.
There’s a Pre-TEDx party tonight at Suede Lounge, with the (sold out) event happening tomorrow. (You can watch a live webcast of the event tomorrow at the TEDx Edmonton site.
Mount Pleasant Cemetery is throwing its gates wide open to everyone on Saturday. This is as much about Edmonton’s history and land use (with 2 new cemetery plans in the works) as it is morbid curiousity.
You can take your car to an Edmonton CARSTAR location Saturday and have it washed for a good cause, as part of the national “Soaps It Up” fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis.
January 31 Edmonton Headlines
Think summer thoughts...
Since it’s so cold I want to start with a pleasant, summerish story. Imagine 104 Street becoming a patio on Saturday nights. Man, this sounds like a fantastic idea.
On Egypt…I’ve been trying to keep up with what’s happening. This story breaks it down pretty well, and sums up a push for jobs and democracy that seems to be taking over the Middle East and North Africa.
Your street should be plowed by the end of this week. No, really. And the mayor is sorry about how things have gone so far this winter.
The mayor is also asking councillors to consider not taking a pay increase. I’m actually OK with government officials and politicians getting regular pay increases tied to something like Alberta’s average weekly earnings. They could also tie it into inflation if they are a little worried about the provincial average being skewed by oil and energy salaries. Those due tend to increase how we appear to be doing.
In the rest of Edmonton… (more…)
I hope you like to party
Edmonton, get your party pants on because you’re going to need them this weekend.
We’ve got the Pride Parade Saturday, which helps kicks off Pride Week, and that is followed by an all-day party. Saturday also just so happens to be the second Al Fresco Block Party on 104 Street, with a used book sale too. That’s two parties on the same day!
And, I see, the Pride fun start tonight with a dance-a-thon.
There’s lots of good stuff for Bike Month. The Bikeology team is joining the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters for a 24-hour bike repair-a-thon. Bring in your bike, donate your old bikes, but make sure you run it through me so I can get Strathcona Centre points in the big Edmonton Community Challenge. Let me know if you have a bike in need of a tune-up or a new home. That runs Saturday and Sunday.
On Sunday there’s the Critical Lass ride around the southside of Edmonton. It ends with cupcakes. As all good bike rides should.
There’s still Nextfest to be had. As noted, this is your chance to see Edmonton’s next generation of artistic talent. For the kids, Sprouts is over at the Stanley A. Milner library this weekend.
Music? You want music? You got a great weekend of music ahead.
The Born Ruffians are playing tonight, ZZ Top and Wide Mouth Mason play the Jubilee, The Misfits rock the Starlite, An Horse and Hot Panda will blow apart Brixx tonight, The City Streets return home to Edmonton for a show Saturday, there’s a big 30th anniversary gala over at the University of Alberta’s Timms Centre and The Joe is having a crazy, big rap-fest Saturday night, with lots of artists, at The ARTery.
Saturday sees track and field athletes competing for cash money (and world rankings) at the 2010 Edmonton International Track Classic, over at Foote Field. Which is at the South Campus LRT stop.
And the National Portrait Gallery begins its run at Latitude 53. It’s not the “real” national gallery, since the federal government didn’t end up putting that anywhere.
The Edmonton Capitals play. Baseball. At Telus Field. You should go sometime.
Oh, and there’s this little soccer tournament going on. I think it’s called the World Cup?
You could also see a movie. I think this is the 80s weekend, with The Karate Kid and A-Team reborn!
And thanks for ShareEdmonton for reminding me about the Creative Age Festival (as Angela talked about earlier this week) and the ESO’s Landmarks Masters series, with Marc-Andre Hamelin playing Shostakovich.
Now get out there and party!
104 Street rocks my socks
Old buildings to the left of me, new ones to the right...
Sometimes, living near Whyte Avenue, I forget there are other pedestrian-friendly areas of the city that are totally sweet. It can happen in a city that so often reminds me that I shouldn’t venture more than 20 steps without something on four wheels carrying me around.
But 104 Street, between 100 and 104 Avenues, might be one of the best spots to enjoy a high-density, walkable urban area.
Thinking about it, I don’t know why the City of Edmonton doesn’t just make 104 Street pedestrian-only (say, the same blocks that are closed north-south during the market). Businesses and condos already have entrances in the back lanes, and people in the area have to adjust for Saturdays through the summer. I’d settle for pedestrian-only in daylight hours, but all week. (Points to e-mail my city councillors with, I guess.)
Great, fairly traded, coffee and yummy cookie.
Enjoying a fine latte at Credo Coffee, I had time to think about what this street is becoming. Of course, summer Saturdays, 104 Street is shut-down to traffic of the vehicular kind from Jasper to 103 Avenue for the City Market. You can’t get much more pedestrian-friendly.
The market’s not new, and while Sobey’s Urban Fresh has added a livability to the area, we’re now seeing a small business boom as work on new condos nears completion. The street is also retaining some of the older brick buildings, which is always great to see.
You’ve got one of my favourite stores, and one that speaks to a sustainable city; Carbon. It’s got plenty of stuff for around the home (and for every room) which makes it both a destination and a neighbourhood store.
You can't shop much more green than this.
There’s the Blue Plate Diner, always a great choice for local and delicious food. You’ve got tapas (Tzin), wine (deVine) and furniture and home decor at 29 Armstrong, all of which make the street a stop for those looking to shop.
Some of them cater to an evening out or a great brunch and other shops are for people living in the neighbourhood. There’s a tailor and hair dresser, which could be destination stores but mostly speak to living close by.
With an LRT stop right underneath Jasper and 104 it’s clearly an area that’s going to appeal to those looking to ditch the car a little more often, or completely.
104 Street might not qualify as a hidden gem but it’s worth a reminder to check out this strip, especially on a Saturday when closed to traffic. It’s nice to know that even in the city of cars we have places that cater to the walking public.
Could we go all pedestrian all the time?
