I Heart Edmonton

Curious Edmontonians have noticed these chalk hashtags throughout Whyte and the downtown, but what do they mean?! by emil tiedemann W HAT does it all mean?! There are some mysterious #WhYEG tags showing up on the sidewalks and walkways of Edmonton's downtown and Whyte Avenue areas that have inquisitive locals wondering what they're all about.  #WhYEG @ Alberta Legislature Grounds They are red and white chalk installations that have all of a sudden shown up around Whyte Avenue between 102nd and 105th Street, as well as various locations downtown, including Churchill Square, the 104th Street Promenade, and the Legislature Grounds.  #WhYEG @ Churchill Square Although I am out of the loop as to #why they are filling the streets of #yeg, I promise to get to the bottom of what they mean! Stay tuned, and in the meantime check out some of the photos I snapped featuring the hashtag!  #WhYEG @ Whyte Avenue

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers gets it right when it comes to how a burger was meant to look and taste! by emil tiedemann W E see ads for fast-food burger joints all the time, promoting their newest slabs of microwaved cheeseburgers slapped together before they even have a chance to ask you if you want fries with that. Get down to Red Robin Gourmet Burgers before November 1st to try their new Oktoberfest-inspired UberBurger! We get our germ-infused trays and go to sit down at one of the ketchup-encrusted tables, and tear open the greasy packaging only to realize that these things look nothing whatsoever like the cheeseburgers you see in the ads, the ones that got you there in the first place. Isn't that false advertising, and isn't that wrong? Yes and yes! That's far from the experience you'll have at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers , which recently introduced a brand new Oktoberfest-inspired menu highlighted by the mouth-watering UberBurger! That's a half-pound

900-tonne machines synchronized to instrumental music will take over Edmonton's night skies for inaugural Nuit Blanche by emil tiedemann " I NITIALLY, when people hear about dancing cranes, they are thinking that it's a joke," Hamilton artist Brandon Vic kerd told reporters at a recent media tour of his art installation " Dance of the Cranes Presented by Ice District ," which will be one of the highlights of the upcoming Nuit Blanche event this Saturday ( Sept. 26 ).  The 'Dance of the Cranes Presented by Ice District' goes 11PM to midnight on Saturday, September 26th at the Ice District construction site. "But when they actually experience the event it creates this huge communal [encounter] where people come together and share this esthetic experience, and it's usually very well received." Picture four synchronized cranes stretched out into the night skies, "dancing" to instrumental music streaming from boomin

Art fanatics, foodies, families and night owls alike are all encouraged to ignore their bedtimes to take in one of the coolest nights in Edmonton! by emil tiedemann R EMEMBER when you were a kid and staying up all night was the greatest thing in the world! Let's be real, it's still exciting even now for some reason, but most of us are more than happy to crawl into bed as the credits of Fallon or Kimmel scroll across our TV screens. The weekends are another thing altogether though, an excuse for us to stay up past our bedtimes and try to invite some excitement into our workaday lives. Well, the mother of excuses is almost upon us, so stock up on Red Bull and mark your calendars! Nuit Blanche , a mesmerizing contemporary art celebration, will take over our downtown core for the first time on Saturday, September 26th from seven in the evening until four in the morning! And there will be something for everyone, so bring the whole family, and come as early or stay as lat

Jubilations invites you aboard the Titanic II with the cast of one of TV's most beloved series by emil tiedemann I 'LL admit, despite Jubilations Dinner Theatre 's flawless track record of quality performances over the years, I was not exactly sure what I was getting into when I went to check out their latest production, Modern Family Vacation . Randy Apostle & Bob Cunningham's 'Modern Family Vacation' runs at Jubilations (in West Ed) until October 25th! Although I didn't really know what to expect, what I did  know is that you can't really go wrong with a show at Jubilations, no matter what the subject. Modern Family Vacation was no exception. To say that the actors were right on mark with mimicking the characters in the famous television series would be an understatement! It's almost as though you stepped onto the set of the Emmy-winning Modern Family , except that Jubilations' version has the familiar personalities on vacatio

Tofield storyteller G.C. McRae takes us back to our childhoods with his collection of contemporary fairy tales by paula e. kirman M ANY people of a certain generation (and beyond) grew up with the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen . Contemporary storyteller G.C. McRae is following in the footsteps of these classic authors. G.C. McRae's 'Seven Tales' Simply titled Seven Tales , McRae took over 20 years to complete this collection of his own original fairy tales. Each story is substantial both in plot and characters, with many surprise twists. Each has its own balance of darkness and humour, with humour tending to win out, as well as endings that are hard to see coming. At the same time, these are good, old-fashioned fairy tales with princes and princesses, kings and queens, giants, frogs, and other figures that people acquainted with the genre will recognize. McRae, who lives on a farm just east of Edmonton, says he is most pr

Braden Gates' "Perfect Shade of Blue" (2015) by emil tiedemann F ORT Saskatchewan singer-songwriter Braden Gates has been reasonably compared to a young Loudon Wainwright ; a storyteller with a voice far beyond his years, and blessed with a songwriting capacity that is sure to get him far in the Canadian folk music industry. Braden Gates has been described as a "born raconteur." In early 2013 he released his debut album Break It to Me Gently , produced by Miles Wilkinson , who has worked with everyone from Bonnie Raitt  & Emmylou Harris  to Willie Nelson & Dolly Parton . Wilkinson returned to the helm for Gates' sophomore effort, 2014's Ferris Wheel . Earlier this year, at the 4th annual Edmonton Music Awards , Gates was named Male Artist of the Year, and his "Life's a Picture" won for Roots/Folk Recording of the Year. Gates - who also plays the guitar, fiddle and harmonica - recently released a video for his new s