Hallowe’en Events
We have nearly made it through ten months of 2010.
This weekend’s got the Edmonton Photographic Tradeshow.
In music…it’s a pretty decent weekend. The Rural Alberta Advantage is going to blow the roof off the Myer Horowitz through sheer force of awesome…our old (jazz) pal Jerrold Dubyk is at Jeffrey’s…The ARTery has outlaw harmonica player C.R. Avery with Low Flying Planes…over at the McDougall United Church it’s Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band…
And…
REBA!
The Eskimos and Oil Kings are losing in Edmonton this weekend.
It’s coming up to about that time of year, so you best get prepared with the Edmonton Ski and Snowboard Show.
It is exactly that time of year for events that include the word “scream” and “scare” and “pumpkin.”
There’s magic and mayhem mixed with the music at the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
Any Night is a psychologically spooky play.
And, of course, on Sunday you can go around to stranger’s houses and demand they give you candy. They have to give you candy. It’s the law.
Are we having fun yet?
For those of you that have tracked down the TV show “Party Down,” that headline is all sorts of funny.
For the rest of you, it certainly leads us to a list of events that could fill your fun quota for the weekend.
Dogapalooza. You couldn’t name an event much better. This is all things dog, at the Westlawn sports fields. It’s really everything you could think of, even a dog blood bank. There will also be plenty of businesses and services on site (like our friends from Tailz) so you can get all the information you need to be the best dog owner in the world.
The Kaleido Family Arts Festival is celebrating five years on the ave (the 118 Ave). This is an all-weekend explosion of arts, with every type of art represented. Should be no need to ask if you’re having fun yet.
The Marketplace at Callingwood has Cornfest and Family Fun Day. Saturday.
There’s free yoga at the The Yoga Loft (10309 82 Avenue) Saturday and Sunday.
The Die-Nasty Soap-A-Thon is this weekend. The non-stop improvising begins tonight at 7pm and runs until Sunday at 9pm.
Corn Maze. There’s the corn maze.
Sally already told you about the CD release and show with The Provincial Archive at the Roxy Theatre. This is a band you need to start liking now, before they’re huge.
The ARTery has a neat new idea. They’re holding Friday Fundraising Happy Hours from 4-7 PM. Finally, your end-of-the-week drinking can help a good cause. In September it’s Room to Read.
Donations also get free popcorn!
The Bohemia Cafe is hosting a bandapalooza of sorts, Saturday. They’ve got Jason Myatt, Nick Watt, Micelli, The Party Martyrs, The Mystery Ponies, Brash Tax, and Animal Men of the Northwest. Whew.
Paul James is at the Blue Chair Cafe tonight. He’s a little more electric tomorrow at the Bonnie Doon Hall. Sally keeps thinking he’s Colin James’ brother or something.
It’s been Canadian Country Music Week in Edmonton this week. The big finale is at Rexall Place, Sunday.
Starlite Room has Capital City Burlesque Friday night.
There’s a Handmade Mafia, Saturday at the Orange Hall.
Oh, one more thing, the YWCA is holding its first “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” next Tuesday. That’s when men are going to walk around Churchill Square in high heel shoes. There’s still time to donate and be a part of this event, which is all about helping victims of domestic violence. Can you believe this is still such a problem in 2010?
Enjoy it
Last weekend I got rocked by Edmonton bands N.N. (pictured), The Mystery Ponies, and touchitandyouwillsayow. The first two are playing again this Sunday, at Brixx, with a couple of local rappers.
We hinted, in today’s symphony post, and movie previews, that summer is ending. So we might as well enjoy the unofficial end of summer with a long weekend full of good times.
It will be even better if the weather cooperates.
As mentioned, this weekend heralds new movies, and is the annual Symphony Under the Sky at Hawrelak Park.
There are more movies, on the square, with How to Train Your Dragon tonight and Toy Story 3 tomorrow night.
There’s more music festival, Saturday, with Sonic Boom back at Northlands.
Also at Northlands, all weekend, is the WPCA Dodge World Chuckwagon Championships.
One event I hadn’t heard of, before checking ShareEdmonton, is the Raas Garba Festival, which looks to be colourful, and features events with people from Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, and Vancouver. The festival is a celebration of the culture of people from the west Indian province of Gujurat.
Almost ABBA is at the Century Casino. Bobby Curtola is playing the Arden Theatre, in St. Alberta.
Alright, now back to young, hip kid stuff. (With some help from YEGLive.ca.)
Like Cam Penner, playing the Blue Chair Cafe tonight.
This weekend is also the Beaumont Blue Fest. That will see bands such as Jimmy and the Sleepers, Boogie Patrol, Gordie Johnson (from Big Sugar) and Amos Garrett bring down the party, rock things out, and and spill their souls, just southeast of Edmonton.
There’s even more great blues music all week at Blues on Whyte, with Winnipeg’s Big Dave McLean.
Bluebird North is showcasing songwriters this long weekend too.
You could always get lost.
Don’t forget:
The LRT will not be going beyond Churchill Station. That starts Friday night and continues through all of Monday.
You probably don’t have to work Monday.
Boo!
With Hallowe’en a scant few days away, let’s break down and run down all the spooky Edmonton activities for you boils and ghouls.
(This is also a good time to discuss whether you think Hallowe’en should have an apostrophe.)
I’m actually surprised (shocked? scared?) by the amount of events and happenings in my neck of the woods. First example: ghost tours of Old Strathcona. It also appears to be the Dead Centre of Town. The TransAlta Arts Barns are showing The Bone House, and on Hallowe’en night there’s the Fringe Fright Night.
The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra has Halloween: The Concert and Spooktacular!
The Art Gallery of Alberta will be haunted on October 31.
Even the Edmonton Opera is going to a dark place.
There’s always a haunted house or two.
Radio stations The Bear, Sonic 102.9 and The Bounce all have costume-heavy parties.
A number of Edmonton Public Library branches are doing family-friendly stuff.
West Edmonton Mall is even getting into the spooky spirit. (It also hosts the events for The Bounce and Sonic.)
And the Edmonton Corn Maze has become the Farm of Fear.
If I missed anything, or you are just looking for something else, you’ll want to hit up dEdmonton. They’re pretty much the centre of all things Hallowe’en+Edmonton.
Oh, and there’s always dressing up in a costume and going around asking for candy on Saturday. If you’re into that kind of thing.
GO LONG!
My attempt at mixing our pending long weekend and football catch phrases aside, we do have a three-day weekend ahead of us. That means lots of stuff to do in the city we call Edmonton.
We wrote about it this morning, but it’s worth mentioning again; the Sobey’s Symphony Under the Sky happens Friday, Saturday, Sunday AND Monday. Every day has different concerts. That’s a lot of symphony! (Follow all the action on Twitter if you’re not going to be in Hawrelak Park.)
Did you miss the big Blues Festival in Hawrelak? Well, blues fans, you are in luck. The Beaumont Blues Festival is on this weekend. I had no idea Edmonton was such a hotbed of blues before coming here.
Our Weird Canada friends are presenting The Wicked Awesomes!’s LP release party at Bonnie Doon Bowling Lanes. They sell it best: “Music and bowling.”
He will be 18 ’til he dies, questioning if he’s ever really loved a woman. Bryan Adams plays Telus Field TONIGHT.
The Shaw Conference Centre is hosting the Metropolis Electronic Music Festival. Not usually my scene, but I recognize MSTRKRFT as a big deal.
British rock-blues group Band of Skulls plays Brixx Saturday night. Could be a good time indeed.
Speaking of music, radio station Sonic 102.9 and The Union present SONiC Boom; a modern rock festival up at Northlands with such guests as Franz Ferdinand, Metric, Billy Talent and Edmonton’s own The Wet Secrets. Get your rock on.
The Citadel Theatre begins its season this weekend. Its first show is The Drowsey Chaperone.
The Labour Day long weekend also means summer is coming to a close. Have you tried to get lost in the Corn Maze yet? For the long weekend, you can save $1 off the admission price with a donation for the Edmonton Food Bank.
“It just depends how long you’re lost.”
If you get lost, I hear there's a Tim Hortons in the Tim Hortons part of the maze.
I noticed, today, that corn on the cob is starting to play a significant role in the weekly grocery flyers. Mostly, that just made me think about eating delicious, buttery, salty, corn. But then I noticed the Edmonton Corn Maze is on Twitter.
And they’re open.
Co-owner Dan Horneman says they try to tie the design of the maze into something happening in the Edmonton area. Hence we see the Roar of the Rings theme.
Dan says it “takes about an hour to two hours to get through.” But don’t worry, there are people inside the maze to help steer you in the right direction.
It takes more than an hour or two for the maze to be built though. Horneman says planning of the design starts when the corn is planted. Then, once the corn is harvested, the routes can be cut through the maze.
Don’t be discouraged if you venture into the maze and can’t seem to find daylight. “Everybody gets lost,” Dan says. “It just depends how long you’re lost.”
While weather can affect “not just growing the corn, but also attendance,” he thinks they’ll see their average 10,000 people get lost in the corn this summer and fall. School and church groups usually start heading out in September.
Even though it means the weather will soon (but not too soon!) turn cooler, isn’t it nice to have something fun to talk about? Now, get lost.
