I Heart Edmonton

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...

It's essentially my everlasting love for Edmonton all wrapped up in 280 pages! by emil tiedemann H OW do I love thee? Let me count the ways.  If you've followed this blog over the years then you know just how much I heart my hometown Edmonton. It's no secret, I mean it's right there in the title! If you ask me how much I heart Edmonton, I would spread my arms apart like I'm hugging a giant tree and say, " THIS MUCH! "  Best Christmas gift ever!!! It's not that I don't ever get a tad tired of our winter by the time March rolls around (or January, depending on the year), or that I don't get frustrated from time to time with the road construction, but I prefer to focus my attention on all of the many positive things I've come to love about Edmonton.  In fact, when I actually sat down and thought about all the ways I love thee, my head literally exploded with reasons! Okay, not literally , but you get what I'm getting at. T...

Do you think you can eat, dri nk, shop, and play local for 30 days? Join the chall enge! by emil tiedemann I T'S tough out there for a lot of folks r ight now, as the economy s hows no signs of recover y for at least the near future. That means that many of us are searching for th at best possible deal on everything from groc eries to oil cha nges.  Pick a day, any day, and start your own 30 DAY #BUYYEG CHALLENGE! That means that many Edmontonians will likely turn to the online sources or bi g b ox retailers such as Wal m art or Superstore for what ever it is they might need, or pull i nto one of the many shopping malls for th at on e-stop-shop conveni ence. You can't exactly hold that aga inst someone, especially in times like these.  However, there are also plenty o f folks like myself, who were not (yet) directly a ffected by the low oil prices and falling loonie ; p eo ple who may be able to spend an extra few bucks on groc eries and oil changes . Do...