I Heart Edmonton

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...

Heritage Festival (The Melting Pot) By Emil Tiedemann Standing in the line-up outside of On the Rocks in downtown Edmonton one winter night, my buddy and I started up a conversation with the guy in front of us. He seemed to be shivering slightly more than the rest of us in line, and as it turns out, it was because he was new to Edmonton from the tiny African island nation of Mauritius, which does not get to see winters quite like ours.  I had never met anyone from Mauritius before, or at least that I knew of. Later that night, my buddy and I cabbed it home, as the driver told us about his old life in his home country of India, far different from the life he leads now, he said. When we got back to my buddy’s place, he told me about this girl Kristy, from Slovenia, who was coming to stay with him as a “couch surfer.”  All night, we were exposed to the glaring diversity that our hometown has embraced with open arms. At our workplaces, inside our classrooms, and on th...

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...

Looking for that next lost weekend?! Northern Lands invites you to taste some of the finest wines, craft beers and foods from across Canada! BY EMIL TIEDEMANN W hen you think about wine regions you think about France, Italy, Spain, or perhaps California, right? Northern Lands is Friday, March 27 & Saturday, March 28 at the Shaw! Most people most likely do, but most true enthusiasts know better. Plenty of vino fanatics are aware that there are plenty of regions around the world that produce world class wine, including right here in climate-crazy Canada! Over the last few decades, Canadian wine has transformed from a mere curiosity into what some would classify a healthy addiction! Us Canucks no longer have to scour the European or South American aisles of our local wine shops! Nope, now we can grab a bottle (or six) of wine produced anywhere from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia, and plenty of spots in between! And to celebrate our ever-expandin...

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. ...

Black, white, brown, yellow and red Edmonton unite for a 3-day celebration of what makes us exceptional BY EMIL TIEDEMANN What: Cultural music/food/crafts festival When: Saturday, July 31-Monday, August 2, 2010 Where: William Hawrelak Park (9930 Groat Road) I T was 1974 and there was no denying the growing diversity roaming the streets of the cities and towns of Alberta. Of Edmonton. This clear observation lent then Minister of Culture, Dr. Horst A. Schmidt , an idea to toast to this colourful shift. Schmidt had the first Monday in August declared an annual holiday that would both celebrate and recognize our province's varied cultural heritages. Civic Holiday , they called it. But, to be honest, most of us spend the extra day off roasting wieners, ATVing, or getting stoned in somebody's basement or garage. For those who wanna actually pay respect to the true meaning behind Civic Holiday, there's the Edmonton Heritage Festival (a.k.a. "Heritage Days"), now in i...

Let's face it, we love to eat! That's why Edmonton's best food fest is expected to do just fine in the midst of Capital Ex and the Indy BY EMIL TIEDEMANN T HIS is officially Edmonton's busiest weekend, as a trio of major events are vying for your attention...and cash! Thousands will choose Capital Ex at the Northlands grounds, and thousands of others will opt for the Indy at the City Centre Airport, in the Kingsway area. But for something a little less... quiet ....you can try A Taste of Edmonton , at Sir Winston Churchill Square . And Edmonton tastes pretty damn good! From Friday, July 23 (11AM) to Sunday, August 1 (11PM) the 26th annual food fair will descend on Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton, where more than 40 vicinal eateries will offer up samples of their best dishes and desserts. There'll be 17 choices brand new to the 10-day festival, including an Orange Tangerine Sherbet Sandwich from the Blue Willow Restaurant , Calabrese Potatoes with Chipotle ...

Old Strathcona plays host again, this time to the 15th annual celebration & exhibition of our visual artists BY EMIL TIEDEMANN T HE other weekend (July 9-11) we saw the exuberance of musical talent our city and neighbouring towns have harvested, all converged on Whyte Avenue in Old Strathcona for the very first SOS Fest . Last weekend ( July 16-18 ) it was a visionary affair, but the talent was just as evident. More than 230 canvas sculptors exhibited their paintings and sketches as part of the 15th annual Whyte Avenue Art Walk , a non-juried "outdoor studio and gallery" meant to expose our brightest visual talents, and extend to them the opportunity to raise their profiles and build client lists. Mission accomplished. The event was born out of a communal desire to bring local art to the masses, to allow us not-so-talented beings to chit-chat and mingle with other art enthusiasts and supporters, as well as the actual artists themselves. And what better setting than the h...

Cadence Weapon, The Joe amongst the praised wordsmiths who'll light up this year's POfest BY EMIL TIEDEMANN O UR city is entering its festival season and there's no shortage of things to do during the spring and summer months. We hear a lot about the Fringe , Street Performers , A Taste of Edmonton , and the world-class Folk Fest , but we have to keep our ears to the ground when it comes to one of the dozens of neglected events that share this season. One of those lesser known affairs is the fifth annual Edmonton Poetry Festival (EPF), which kicks off tomorrow (Monday, April 19), right in the middle of National Poetry Month . This year's theme is " Found in Translation ." Every year the EPF (est. 2006) sets out to celebrate and promote the capital region's eclectic and ever-growing poetry scene. There will be dozens of local and national poets who will take part in the 7-day fest, including Ian Ferrier , Joe Gurba (a.k.a. "The Joe"), Lorri Niel...

The 11-day ice carving event is nice for kids, but not exactly my cup of tea BY EMIL TIEDEMANN E DMONTON'S premier winter festival is in full swing, even though the weather hasn't been fully co-operating with organizers of the 11-day (Jan. 14-24) Ice on Whyte Festival . You see, this is an ice carving gathering, which means the whole shebang is vulnerable to the temperature. So far though, there hasn't been any sculpture casualties (* knock on wood *--had any been around!). It would be a shame if there was though, because these frozen pieces of "hand"-carved art, illustriously shaped by chainsaw-wielding craftmen/women from around the world, are stunning to see in person, to say the least. It was hoodie weather when I headed down to the Old Strathcona area to check out the 7th annual Ice on Whyte, situated on a fenced-in block at 85th Avenue & 104th Street. It set me back just a toonie to get through the entrance and into the arena, of sorts. The lane of ice ...

The living dead and psychologically-challenged make for one hell of a good time at the country's best fest of its kind BY EMIL TIEDEMANN D O you enjoy watching decapitations in slow motion? How about reanimated corpses snacking on fresh " BRAINS "? Perhaps you're into gory torture scenes that test your gag reflexes? If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, then you're either demented like myself or you'd be a shoe-in for Canada's premier horror film festival, DEDfest , which runs through until this evening (Sunday, Oct. 18). Friday night was Day 2 (of 4) of DEDfest, which is the reincarnation of last year's Deadmonton Film Festival , a gathering of horror movie fans that went "on hiatus" when co-founder Matt Acosta decided to pursue filmmaking on a more full-time basis. The news left me balling on my bedroom floor, screaming "Why?! Why?!" at the top of my smoke-cloaked lungs, clenching my reddened fists at the Lord...