And our stomachs are already begging us not to order this 1kg hamburger:

But, before all the excitement at Northlands really gets going, it begins with a parade.

Now, just like last year, we’re going to put out the call to you, the good readers of the edmontonian, to provide us with a photo (or video, we’re not picky) of some sweet, parade action.

We do this for two reasons: you do good work and Sally is banned from the parade due to that one year she wore a costume of fresh mini donuts, only to have the hot oil sear her skin, forcing her to run screaming, and fairly nude, frightening children and adults alike.

If, like last year, we don’t end up having any Capital Ex parade pictures to post, we can always depend on our buddy Ryan giving us a play-by-play of Shaw TV’s play-by-play.

Don’t forget, the parade is going to cause downtown traffic mayhem, Wednesday night,  Thursday morning, and Thursday afternoon.

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And, if you don’t want to work your way through all those links (but they’re worth it…) you can read Ryan’s 2009 parade review at his blog.

the edmontonian's own top chef!

Alright, maybe that headline’s a bit misleading. But our good friend and chief parade correspondant Ryan from GrandeFullBody (who is a heckuva chef) did win this contest, sponsored by NAIT, with this picture of one of his delicious creations. His prize? Cactus Club food concept architect (look, wikipedia says it, I just re-type it) Rob Feenie’s new cookbook

Nice work, you award-winning chef/photographer/blogger! When can we all come to your house for dinner?

*does not love

Well, I put out an open call for folks to cover the parade for me this morning, and I only had one taker – and that taker  – our friend Ryan from GrandeFullBody – was someone who, like me, isn’t a parade person.

At first, I thought this may be unfair of us – but then Jeff pointed out that every media organization in the City is going to do a positive story about the Capital Ex parade. And not everyone likes parades. So we need to represent.

Now before you head over and there and read his hilarious-yet-scathing parade review, let’s be clear: we’re not criticizing the thousands of people who lined the streets for today’s event. In fact, I am literally BEGGING any of you to send me a picture, or an email, or WHATEVER, just so we don’t develop a rep for being civic parade enemy number one. Or pretty soon it’ll be bye bye theedmontonian.com, hello paradehaters.com.

Good job, Ryan. I give you 20 out of 10.

This is my airport. (Alright, alright, I'll let it go...)

I’m out of Edmonton this week (on assignment?) so go easy on Sally, Edmonton. While she can certainly do everything by herself (don’t reinforce that though, I want a place to write) maybe this is a good time to send her a few photos, stories and story ideas. Again, not too much stuff, because I need to come back to a job.

It was great to see that, in even a small way, this website inspired our friend Ryan to muse about his Edmonton pride, the things he doesn’t quite like about the city and some ideas to make things better.

Something that struck me in Ryan’s writing (and in mentions from one or two people I’ve talked to about this website) is that I should point out the edmontonian is not a “booster” site. I don’t love this city through all faults. It’s got problems and I always fear it’s going to handcuff me to the bed and leave with my wallet and clothes.

I do see that Edmonton’s got some great attributes (and great people!) and we’ve already been talking about some of the fun events around town. We’re going to keep pointing you in the direction of cool places and interesting ideas. But when there’s something we think needs addressing, or fixing, we’re going to point that out too.

As Ryan’s blog highlights, you don’t have to be on one side or the other. You can like Edmonton but point out things that require changing.

The idea of the edmontonian is to show you all the neat things and interesting people of #yeg, but also talk about what could be better. It’s not about loving or hating outright. It’s about enjoying AND lamenting, while ultimately creating a larger discussion to make the “City of Champions” truly that. But I suppose mostly just metaphorically…since there aren’t a lot of banners being raised these days…

We find it so rewarding to be able to participate in the Edmonton debate – and we really want to hear from you guys as well.

Over at his blog, our friend Ryan is musing about being proud of ol’ #yeg, about shaming those who would sully our city,and about his thoughts on living here. And that got us to wondering: what do YOU think would help improve life in Edmonton?

Go check out what Ryan had to say, and then join the discussion. You can leave comments here or over at Ryan’s blog. Or maybe you want to write a post on your own blog about improving life in Edmonton – just leave us a link so we can check it out!

Let’s just get talking about how to live in this city and how to make it better.

Side note: we really seem to be all about Ryan today.