Back to Winter, Back to Fun
Looks like a pretty good weekend ahead, Edmonton.
The weather’s pretty much returning to normal, but it should still be great for Freezing Man and Winter Light’s Illuminations. Freezing Man is a day of electronic and alternative music, while Illuminations is all about turning Churchill Square into what winter is all about, with entertainment, skating, and free hot chocolate. And a snowball fight.
The Edmonton Rush host Calgary for their home opener at Rexall Place. Go Rush!
The Edmonton Oil Kings are also home this weekend.
In music…Gorgon Horde is at Wunderbar… There’s a wine tasting auction featuring the ESO…CKUA presents Leeroy Stagger…the Sonic Band of the Month is Feast or Famine, and they’re at the Pawn Shop…Jordan Norman has a CD release at the Haven, with Christian Hansen (and no Autistics)…Ann Vriend is at the museum…yes, the actual museum.
Global Game Jam Edmonton is going to be all about putting together a video game (or working on a game) this weekend.
Tonight is Hip Hop on the Wall, a fundraiser for Hip Hop in the Park.
This weekend is the 1st birthday of the new Art Gallery of Alberta. Happy Birthday, you crazy, beautiful building.
And, on Sunday, watch for LRT delays north of Churchill (again).
Bring on May!
This is going to be one hell of a weekend, Edmonton.
Just you wait until you see all the goodness I have found. There’s so much stuff happening this weekend, and so much fun stuff, that if you go back to work on Monday and don’t have an awesome story to tell, well… I don’t know… it would mean you didn’t partake in any of the following amazingness.
Should be a good fantastic show over at the Starlite Room tonight, with Said the Whale opening for Plants and Animals. If you haven’t got tickets you’re out of luck, since it’s sold out.
Since it’s the end of the month that means Sonic 102.9 will be rolling out their Band of the Month (BOTM) at the Pawn Shop. April’s BOTM is the Michael James Band. Sticking with the Pawn Shop, tomorrow night is The Besnard Lakes.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast starts its run at the Citadel, Saturday. I wish Linda Hamilton was playing Belle.
Saturday is Free Comic Book Day. So hit up any of the number of comic shops in Edmonton for fun and shenanigans. And free stuff, obviously.
And now, as always, we see what ShareEdmonton has to say about this thing we’ve been calling a weekend. Or, “weekend,” I don’t know, the j may be silent.
You have all kinds of chances to get your arts and crafts on. The Butterdome Spring Craft Sale is happening at, well, the Butterdome. And this weekend is also the Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair. You know they’re for different audiences because one of them highlights arts in their name.
The Royal Bison after-party is going to be kickin’, brought to you by our friends at Weird Canada, and Sled Island and Mammoth Cave, over at The ARTery. The first 99 people with advanced tickets are also landing themselves a sweet 7″. That means vinyl. Then, the Wyrd crew heads out on the road.
Chefs in the City sounds like a cross between Iron Chef and those competition shows on the Food Network where chefs have just a few hours to create something crazy and amazing. Yum.
Edmonton Youth Week starts Saturday. One event that caught my eye was the Grafitti Wall.
You can also give back to your community this weekend (Don’t groan, it’snice to do such things.) because Capital City Clean Up is back and the River Valley is the first big target. I’m actually considering getting out of bed early on Sunday for this.
Thanks, ShareEdmonton. Now back to me…
Could these two be those kids that are always playing on Whyte in the summer, over by Fat Franks and at the Farmerss Market?!?!?!?!
p.s. Don’t forget to see how the Rush do against the Roughnecks. It’s NLL playoffs!
Get some weekend
Hello there, Edmonton.
Yes, it’s the weekend. You’ve earned a little rest and relaxation.
You know, there’s going to be some mighty fine football on television if you just want to watch that.
Oh, you’d like something a little more? How about this then…
The Royal Bison Craft Fair takes over your life Saturday and Sunday. And David Berry and Josh Holinaty will be selling chapter 1 of their serialized graphic novel too.
Don’t forget to get your pre-craft fair party on.
Oh, and if that’s not enough to keep you from handing over your Christmas present money to giant corporations (who are welcome to advertise here, a lot) there’s a fair trade fair as well.
If you’ve got some non-perishable foods just sitting around your house, how about dragging that stuff down to a Save-On Foods location Saturday and helping the ETS “Stuff-a-Bus,” for the Edmonton Food Bank. Money is good too.
You can always check out the Festival of Trees. That’s a good time.
The Hidden Cameras and Gentleman Reg are playing the Avenue Theatre, Friday.
There’s a “Save Alberta Hospital” concert Saturday, at the Edmonton Events Centre.
It’s Band of the Month time at the Pawn Shop. Thanks, Sonic!
And The Artery has a couple of cool shows. There’s blues tonight with Bombchan’s CD release and Kinnie Starr Saturday.
Bombchan is also playing the 2nd anniversary party of The Empress Ale House next Tuesday.
Plus, New City has You say party! We say die!, with Christian Hansen & The Autistics and Little Girls.
And ZZ Top is playing the Jube Saturday night to top off a weekend of great music.
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.
