The Fringiest Events
Of course it’s the Fringe!
The 29th annual Edmonton International Fringe Festival is all the arts pages will be talking about for the next week. There’s also lots of stuff happening around Old Strathcona that doesn’t take place in a theatre or on a stage. This is the big one, Edmonton.
Morgan had a good point, don’t just try to see the 5-star shows. Ask people what’s good, what’s interesting, what they think you might like. You can always poke around Twitter, and try #yegfringe, for just such questions and inquiries.
Hawrelak Park is busy again this weekend, with the Celtic Festival. BluesFest is next weekend (in Hawrelak Park)…so get warmed up at Rusty Reed’s with Dave Babcock and the Night Keepers
EastwoodFest is Saturday, in the Eastwood neighbourhood. (118 Avenue, 85-87 Streets.)
Churchill Square, which the City has been trying to fill with more events and happenings, in between festivals, has the Latin Festival this weekend. Cha-cha-cha.
There’s Tomoto Fare too. That’s about tomatoes.
West of the city, it’s the Stony Plain Cowboy Gathering Society get-together. You can expect cowboy art, culture, poetry, and music.
Lots of new movies are out this weekend, like Eat, Pray, Love and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Gregg’s got your lowdown.
In music…N.N. plays an EP release show at the Starlite Room tonight, with Van Gohost and I.E.D. Sunday night at the Starlite Room it’s Fran Healy from Travis.
Falklands are at Wunderbar Friday night.
The Black Dog has some Hair of the Dog Saturday afternoon.
Over at Lyve on Whyte, Friday is Soul Train (with Crowded City Skyline and Hot Hand Phenomenon), Saturday it’s Rocky Mountain Rebel Music (with Brash Tax and The Party Martyrs).
Eddie Shorts has The Frolics Friday and Gaye Delorme Saturday.
Cirque du Soleil is in Edmonton, with Alegria.
In sports…The Prairie Football Conference (PFC) kicks off this weekend. 
Edmonton’s got two teams in that league. The Edmonton Wildcats are coming off a season in which they were western champs, and fell in the Canadian junior football championship. The Edmonton Huskies stunk it up last year, winning no games, and are looking for redemption in 2010. Those games are Saturday and Sunday, at Clarke Park.
From ShareEdmonton: FC Edmonton is hosting the Spokane Spiders (that means we could see Edmonton on all the Spokane affiliates! I hope Ana Cabrera talks about Edmonton.)
Whew!
Go for the Intergold
We’ve tried to keep up with the Prairie Football Conference (PFC) as best we can this season. The one thing to know is that Edmonton has one good team and one bad one. The Huskies didn’t win once. The Edmonton Wildcats, however, are the prairie champions.
This weekend the Wildcats take on the Ontario champs, the Ottawa Sooners. The winner of this “Intergold Cup” game will take on the winner of the B.C. Football Conference for the national title.
The ‘cats have won 3 national championships, and were last playing for the big win in 2006. It’s been a lot longer since they brought home the Canadian title though. That last one came in 1983, against the Ottawa Sooners. (Could that be a good sign of at least an Intergold win?)
The Wildcats went 6-2 in the regular season, outscoring opponents 324-163 (though, they just shellacked the Huskies). In the playoffs they beat the Calgary Colts here in Edmonton, then went Saskatoon to beat the Hilltops for the Prairie title.
They’ve got some of the best receivers in the country, and the PFC rookie of the year, Jerit Lambert, is one of them.
Ottawa’s got a solid defense, allowing the second-fewest points in the nation, and will be tougher to put points up against, so it could be quite the battle on the field.
Your 2009 Edmonton Wildcats.
Huck it, chuck it, football!
Those poor, poor, Huskies.
They didn’t win a game all season. Thankfully, for Edmonton, the Wildcats did alright and will be in the Prairie Football Conference (PFC) playoffs.
The Huskies even had a chance to win their one game of the season at home, against their Edmonton rivals. Instead, the Huskies got thumped (again) 46-7. There’s always next year.
While the Huskies will be waiting for next summer after losing all eight games, the Wildcats take second place in the PFC with a record of six wins and two losses. They’ll be hosting a battle of Alberta this coming weekend (Sunday, October 11) as the Calgary Colts come up the highway for a semi-final showdown.
The other playoff game sees a battle of Saskatchewan with the Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder squaring off. Regina was the top team in the league, going 7-1 for 14 points.
After that it’s the league championship (October 18), and the Prairie winner then heads to the national junior football playoffs.
Get out to Clarke Park this weekend and cheer on your Edmonton Wildcats!
Edmonton’s First October Weekend
Weekends are a time for good friends, good times and good cupcakes.
You smell that? That’s the weekend. And dead leaves. But mostly weekend.
Yes, fall arrived to remind us that we are but playthings in Mother Nature’s world. Enjoy the crisp mornings though, since they shall soon turn to frigid beginnings of days that are much too short.
And we can all rejoice, since this weekend is full of awesome.
Apologies for the random order of events. But, hey, it’s Friday and spending an extra minute trudging through possible fun options is way better than work.
Way better.
Let’s start with an event that will likely not be something you can do on a whim (stretching is not always enough, practice helps) the CIBC Run for the Cure, Sunday. Sounds like it will be a chilly start to the race. Cheering squads: bring some mitts.
The Handmade Mafia is back at it, Saturday. Let’s go buy mitts together.
For the outdoorsy among you, Mountain Equipment Co-op is doing a gear swap, Sunday. Bring your old stuff (or stuff from the activity that broke your leg and you hate now) and get some new stuff.
Pure Speculation 2009, is all weekend at the Shaw Conference Centre and Happy Harbour on 124th Street. Science Fiction, comics, fun.
The latest Homeless Connect is Sunday. This is where services and help are provided to the homeless. Things like haircuts too. Seems like a practical idea when I mention haircuts, doesn’t it?
The Edmonton Wildcats take on the Edmonton Huskies in the Prairie Football Conference regular season ender, at Clarke Park. Saturday. 7pm.
Speaking of sports, the University of Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas have another busy weekend.
Oh, and a little thing called the NHL is underway. And fantasy hockey.
The Anarchist Bookfair runs Saturday and Sunday. Which seems very orderly.
Friday night is Pecha Kucha 5. The “chit chat” goes Old School.
Some friends of the website are playing at Wunderbar on Whyte. Come check out Van Funk & the Lebarons, and say Hi.
Also Saturday night, in the party column, CJSR is having its Fundrive wrap party at The Artery. Do it. The catering is going to be excellent.
Kenny Rogers is playing at the River Cree Casino, Sunday. Kenny F’n Rogers.
Saturday, momstown.ca is doing mom and tots stuff at Bonnie Doon.
West Edmonton Mall has roller derby and a dive-in movie. Let’s just hope the kid at the top of the water slide doesn’t hold things up while engrossed in the film. But roller derby down a water slide, that’s something to see. (It’s actually going to be in Phase 4.)
Oh, and something I’ll likely be dragged to, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D. For two weeks only!
Are you ready for (some) football?
Edmonton Eskimos aside, there’s other football going on.
Seriously.
On Friday, the University of Alberta Golden Bears beat Simon Fraser Clan 28-16. Not bad against the top offence in the Canadian University football. It’s also not a bad way to get win #1 on the season. Saskatchewan comes to town this Friday.
(While we’re talking about the U of A, here’s how all the Bears and Pandas did this weekend.)
There was also some Prairie Football going on at Clarke Park. (My inability to read a schedule means this wasn’t a one month league…)
You know when sports guys say a game was over before it began? (Usually meaning one team is nowhere near as good as the other.) That really was the case between the Edmonton Wildcats and Edmonton Huskies.
We could sit around and pick this game apart, but I’m simply going to say the Wildcats won 72-0. I think that sums things up.
The loss leave the Huskies in last place in the Prairie Football Conference. They’re starting to give me that Detroit Lions feeling…
Both Edmonton teams are on the road this week. The Huskies look for their first win against Saskatoon, the best team in the league (*gulp*), while the Wildcats roll their momentum into Regina. The two Edmonton teams will then finish the season facing each other at Clarke Park, October 3.
High-scoring side notes from the PFC: Scoring 35 points in the first quarter has been done three times in Canadian Junior Football history…This is the second-best shutout for the ‘Cats, since they won a 2003 game 79-0…83-0 is the largest margin of victory in Canadian Junior Football…
Huck it, Chuck it, Football!
Hey sports fans, the Edmonton Examiner has your Junior Football Preview. 
The Wildcats kick their season off at Clarke Park, Saturday night at 7 p.m. against the Calgary Colts (full season schedule here), while the Huskies start off Sunday at 1 p.m. (full season schedule here).
Also, the Wildcats need somebody to man their merch booth at home games; it pays about 40$ per 3-hour game. If you’re interested, more details available here.
