I Heart Edmonton

By Emil Tiedemann ★★★★☆ 'Once' plays at the Walterdale Theatre from July 8-18 , 2026. When I first watched John Carney 's romantic musical drama Once in 2007, I fell fast in love with it, particularly its emotional soundtrack of yearning and heartache. It's a simple and unassuming love story set in Dublin, where an unnamed busker and vacuum repairman ( Glen Hansard ) has his life turned upside down when a young Czech mother and pianist – also unnamed ( Markéta Irglová ) – encourages him to chase his dreams as a singer and songwriter. They fall for one another but their exes complicate matters, as does the fact that she has a young daughter who takes priority over everything else in her life.  The film was made for just $150,000 and became a worldwide phenomenon, grossing over $23 million at the box office, earning an Academy Award for the staggeringly beautiful ballad "Falling Slowly," and inspiring a Tony-winning musical that debuted on Broadway in 2012. If ...

Whyte Avenue By Emil Tiedemann If you’re from outta town, it’s a place most Edmontonians will insist you check out before the end of your visit. And they’d be doing you a favour, because Whyte Avenue is “the place to be” if what you’re looking for is good food and drinks, antiques and boutiques, or just some place where you can get your dance on!    Stunning Whyte Avenue (82nd Ave.). Photo by Chan Rin. Throw in some high profile annual events such as the Edmonton Pride Parade , Ice on Whyte , Art Walk , and the iconic Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival , and you’ll understand why Whyte is a must when you’re new to town.  “The neighbourhood is lively and vibrant and there really is something for everyone,” said Sydney McNeill , office manager for the Old Strathcona Business Association . “Whether I’m seeking out a quick coffee, fresh ingredients for a home-cooked meal, some live local music accompanied by an obscure beer, an addition to my wardrob...

The Shopping By Emil Tiedemann When its Christmastime in Edmonton, there’s no shortage of options when it comes to where to get your holiday shopping done. All year round, there’s an abundance of places offering up everything from the international brand name fashions to trinkets hand-made by local artisans.  Edmonton is home to more than a dozen shopping centres, including North America’s largest, West Edmonton Mall . On the opposite side of the city is South Edmonton Common , the largest retail power centre in the country, with more than 150 shops & services spread over 320 acres.  For those into relics and antiques, check out the two-storey Old Strathcona Antique Mall near Whyte Avenue. Other folks prefer to hit up some of the smaller centres to spend their hard-earned dollars, like Kingsway , Southgate , Londonderry , City Centre , Northgate , or Mill Woods Town Centre , home to all the famous brands we’ve come to love or hate.  For Edmontonians ...

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...

The What/ "In celebration of Frank & Oak 's fifth anniversary, the Montreal-based brand is bringing its community together in local Canadian markets. We wanted to invite you to the brand's upcoming Edmonton fête. Please join us next week in a perfect prelude to the long weekend, where we'll toast to this innovative and always-fashionable Canadian brand." This casual get-together will include drinks, gifts, and the ultimate Canadian comfort food, poutine! The When/   Tuesday, July 18 (6 - 11PM) The Where/   The Black Dog Freehouse (10425 Whyte Avenue) The How Much/   Free! 

Old Strathcona Farmers' Market By Emil Tiedemann “We make it! We bake it! We grow it! We sell it!” That’s a philosophy that the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market has been committed to since it first began selling local foods and crafts out of a parking lot on the corner of 103 Street and 83 Avenue.  There were only about a dozen vendors that first year, in ‘83, offering up locally-grown produce and baked goods, and hand-made crafts from local artisans. Three years in, the market remained just a block off Whyte Avenue, but took the show indoors, moving across the street into the “Old Bus Barns” along Gateway Boulevard.  More than three decades later, there are about 300 rotating vendors - chosen through a strict jury process - that fill up nearly 190 stalls every Saturday from 7AM to 2:30 in the afternoon, and 10,000 weekly visitors make it the largest farmers’ market in the city.  Although the market is year round, it is at its peak during the summer month...

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

Edmonton smashes its previous attendance record for Pride, as the annual Parade returns to Old Strathcona after more than two decades By Emil Tiedemann T HE last time the Edmonton Pride Parade marched down Whyte Avenue, Basic Instinct was steaming up the box office, Billy Ray Cyrus had an "Achy Breaky Heart," and Roseanne was the most-watched show on TV. That was 1992.  Edmonton became the 3rd Canadian city to 'install' rainbow crosswalks! This is 23 years later, and the Parade has proudly returned home to Old Strathcona . And the neighbourhood ha s embraced the rainbow effect, the streets shining brighter than ever before!  Rainbow crosswalks and banners, chalked up sidewalks, decorated storefronts, and Pride-themed food & drink specials criss-cross the world-famous Avenue , all in support of Edmonton's visible and ever-growing LGBTQ+ community.  This was the first time the Canadian military marched in #yegpride! There were plenty of ...

El Cortez Tequila Bar & Kitchen brings a lil' Mexico, a lil' Cali, and a lil' Bukowski to Edmonton! BY EMIL TIEDEMANN T HERE'S a bright red neon sign on one of the rustic brick walls of Old Strathcona's El Cortez Tequila Bar & Kitchen that reads, "Find what you love and let it kill you." It's a quote from the late German-born, L.A.-based poet Charles Bukowski , who Time magazine once called "the laureate of American lowlife."   El Cortez Tequila Bar & Kitchen is located in Old Strathcona, just off Whyte & Gateway Blvd. His words of drudgery and toil have influenced countless writers and artists since, including El Cortez co-owner Melanie Swerdan , who may not take those words literally, but certainly retains the sort of passion Bukowski was alluding to. That passion is evident on every wall, in every corner, and within every aspect of El Cortez, perhaps the most unique bar in all of Edmonton, and certainly the cit...

Imagine an Edmonton where tramways take you across the North Saskatchewan, a giant Ferris wheel defines a new Whyte Avenue, and where homelessness is a thing of the past. With the right visionaries behind the helm, these things and much more could be a reality someday! By Emil Tiedemann I T'S been more than four years since the last time I saw my cousin, Amy. She had just turned 30 then, so we and about a half dozen of her friends spent the whole weekend drinking far too many hazy shots of tequila and Jagermeister at an endless thread of Vancouver nightclubs. But now she was on my turf, and those nights of overindulging in overpriced Cuevo and Bacardi were behind us. Well, sort of. It wasn't even noon yet when I picked Amy up from the Edmonton International Airport . She had barely changed at all from when I shared a carpet with her during one of our drunken swoons back in B.C. "Neither have you," she lied. Amy was "starving," and even though o...