I Heart Edmonton

The Fringe By Emil Tiedemann When the middle of August rolls around, some Edmontonians instinctively begin to panic. It means that summer is coming to a close, and the nippy seasons are just around the corner. Others look forward to mid-August all year round, because it means that their favourite season has arrived... Fringe season!  Unless you count K-Days, the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival is Edmonton’s most attended and sought-after festival of them all, and one of the oldest ones too, and that means something in a town rightfully known as “Festival City.”  There’s something about the Fringe that enlivens Edmonton, bringing out locals who appreciate authentic and often experimental live theatre at its best, incorporating all forms of performing arts, including music, dance, spoken word, comedy, improv, cabaret, burlesque, puppetry, poetry, circus, and even magic.  Some 120,000 tickets are sold for more than 200 shows and 1,600 performanc...

Servus Credit Union offers you a chance to "escape the bank" and learn about what sets them apart, at this year's Heritage Festival by emil tiedemann Escape rooms have been all the rage as of late, and for good reason. They're a fun and unique way to get up off the couch, put your mind to work, and cooperate with your friends in order to figure out a puzzle.  Edmonton has no shortage of these rooms popping up all over town, including this long weekend at the Servus Heritage Festival in Hawrelak Park. The member-owned, community-based Servus Credit Union has teamed up with the world's largest festival dedicated to the various cultures of the world to offer their crowds a chance to " escape the bank "! Imagine being trapped inside one of those vintage banks you see in the movies, being left to your own devices (and those of whomever you take along with you) to break out, metal bars blocking all your exits. " Once participants have ...

K-Days By Emil Tiedemann What was it when you were growing up that got you excited like that kid - my nephew - in the photo below? Was it opening presents on Christmas morning? Could it have been your birthday or Halloween, maybe? Perhaps it was standing in line for the latest iPhone! For me, it was Klondike Days .  K-Days 2017 will take place July 21 - 30 @ Northlands! It was the thundering carnival rides, the endless carts of colourful sodas and sugary treats, the shooting and tossing games at every turn, with prizes that always seemed easier to win than they actually were!  What more could a kid ask for, right?! And although the name has changed - a couple of times, actually - the excitement has not gone away. Kids, teens, adults, whole families look forward to those ten days at the end of July when K-Days takes over Northlands , and has been - for the most part - since 1879.  Who doesn't love "those little donuts"?! Back then, on October 13, ...

Edmonton Folk Music Festival By Emil Tiedemann The first time I ever made it down to Gallagher Park for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival , it rained! We sat near the very top of the hill and had to leave sooner than planned, because of our sore and wet asses. It kinda sucked, actually.  But, come rain or shine, there are thousands of Edmontonians who will sit through anything during the four-day event, one of the leading folk festivals on the planet. I had a bad run, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t at least enjoy the live music on stage, which is really what this festival is all about, and has been since Don Whalen (the inaugural artistic director) and Mitch Podolak first kicked it off in 1980.    Our seats at the Edmonton Folk Festival, shortly before it began to rain. :( And although it nearly all fell apart five or six seasons into the festival over financial woes, these days tickets sell out in a matter of hours. Some of the world’s greatest singers, son...

Street Performers Festival by emil tiedemann I N a town known as “Festival City,” it can be difficult for festivals to stand out from the rest, so you’d better bring it if you’ve got something new up your sleeve to introduce to the locals. Here in Edmonton, festivals come and go, never to be heard from again, while others - such as the Fringe and K-Days - have become staples of our summer splendor.  The free and family-friendly Edmonton International Street Performers Festival - the oldest of its kind in North America - happens to be one of those summer staples for a quarter of a million people every year.    Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton fills up every summer for the Street Performers Festival! Traditional street artists, roving character actors, dancers, puppeteers, comedians, acrobats, clowns, tightrope walkers, and even mimes congregate downtown on Churchill Square for ten days in July, swallowing swords, juggling chainsaws, or trying to escape f...

Edmonton's biggest and oldest summer festival is back with exciting new rides, foods, a nd live mus ic! by emil tiedemann S UMMERTIME in Edmonton just wouldn't be the same without K-Days . For 10 days and nights every July, visitors and locals alike congregate at Northlands for the sites, sounds, and tastes of what has become our longest tradition here in Edmonton (since 1879). If you're from Edmonton, you've been to K-Days! This Ferris Wheel is just one of the 53 rides at this year's K-Days (July 22-31)! I was in my single digits when I got my first taste of Klondike Days, way back in the '80s , a nd it was spectacular! The bells and alarms coming from the giant steel amusement rides, the smell of greasy goodies, and all those flashing lights glowing in the warm summer night. These are memories forever etched into my mind, memories that are conjured up this time of the year, without fail.  And although our family has changed a lot over those years...

This melting pot we call home will be on full display at the 40th annual Heritage Festival this August long weekend by emil tiedema nn E DMONTON is without a doubt a diverse city, a virtual smorgasbord of citizens and visitors from around the world, stretching over six continents and more than a hundred countries. Just look around your workplace, visit a shopping centre, or scour your friends list on Facebook, and you'll notice faces that represent all corners of the globe. One of the 85+ cultures that will be represented at the Heritage Fest! That's something that we should not only be proud of, but something that we need to continue to recognize and to celebrate. Diversity is what Canada is all about after all; it's what we were built on and how we flourished as a nation. It's also one of the many encouraging reasons why we stand out from most of the rest of the world. The Servus Heritage Festival ( August 1-3 ) in William Hawrelak Park is how Edmonto...

There's nothing better than K-Days to make you feel like a kid all over again! BY EMIL TIEDEMANN I  REMEMBER when I was just a kid and my parents would take my siblings and I to Klondike Days at Northlands. What more could a kid ask for than what was happening at the Midway?    There were lights and sounds everywhere, coming from rides that spun you around, turned you upside down, or made you wet your pants. There was every possible junk food we could think of all in one place, and an endless supply of things to see and do. It was the ultimate playground for us. As I got older K-Days , or Capital Ex as it became known, didn't hold that same charm as when I was a child, although that's not to say it didn't cater to folks who were now too old to be screaming for "MOM!" on the kiddie coaster. Now I was there for the live music, the beer gardens, and maybe to do a little people watching. But checking out the grounds was just not on my radar anymore. ...