What's Fun in Edmonton
August 8, 2022 8:02 PM Subscribe
So I grew up in Edmonton,, and I have friends/family still there. I go about twice a year for about a week. I don't drive (very very excited about the new LRT). I am going next week for about 15 days. I am dreading it.
I find it really, really lonely. Everything is spread out, there doesn't seem to be much to do, and I get just weary and lonely after a few days. Growing up in Edmonton was really difficult, as someone who was queer and disabled---and I think it's just a shitty teenage years repeating itself. I am an artist and a writer, love the movies, love big cities; but every time I am in Edmonton, I just end up in a shitty chain restaurant stranded in a strip mall i barely know, eating something I don't like. I want to remake good memories, so what's fun in Edmonton. (Also, I am not an outdoors person, I do not enjoy the out doors, and people keep recommending the river valley, I will not have a good time in the River Valley, it is out doors)
I find it really, really lonely. Everything is spread out, there doesn't seem to be much to do, and I get just weary and lonely after a few days. Growing up in Edmonton was really difficult, as someone who was queer and disabled---and I think it's just a shitty teenage years repeating itself. I am an artist and a writer, love the movies, love big cities; but every time I am in Edmonton, I just end up in a shitty chain restaurant stranded in a strip mall i barely know, eating something I don't like. I want to remake good memories, so what's fun in Edmonton. (Also, I am not an outdoors person, I do not enjoy the out doors, and people keep recommending the river valley, I will not have a good time in the River Valley, it is out doors)
The Fringe Festival starts next week.
posted by VirginiaPlain at 8:27 PM on August 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by VirginiaPlain at 8:27 PM on August 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
Just came in to recommend Fringe!!
posted by Juniper Toast at 10:40 PM on August 8, 2022
posted by Juniper Toast at 10:40 PM on August 8, 2022
I've only been in Edmonton a few times, but I've always liked it. Edmonton has its own sort of spirit, sort of a subculture, mostly centered around its architecture. Unlike many Canadian cities, which haven't quite accepted that they're in a cold climate, Edmonton has. The first time I was there someone took me to The Hub - for those who don't know, the student residence at the U of A - and I was blown away. I still think it's one of the most amazing and practical bits of architecture I've ever seen, and I don't know why other places haven't copied it.
There are other places like this, buildings which aren't designed to look good from the outside, but are meant to be good to be in. It's been a long time, but I remember thinking Edmonton Centre was done with a certain style that malls in those days didn't have. I don't know if it's still the same.
Edmonton also doesn't seem to have suffered from the boom and bust 'build it and sell it and tear it down' mentality that's torn the culture out of other western cities. It has small shops and interesting places that you couldn't put up in other places.
I wouldn't look for specific events to attend, just go out and see the smaller areas of the city and absorb the atmosphere. It's been a long time, but I liked it when I was there.
posted by AugustusCrunch at 11:23 PM on August 8, 2022
There are other places like this, buildings which aren't designed to look good from the outside, but are meant to be good to be in. It's been a long time, but I remember thinking Edmonton Centre was done with a certain style that malls in those days didn't have. I don't know if it's still the same.
Edmonton also doesn't seem to have suffered from the boom and bust 'build it and sell it and tear it down' mentality that's torn the culture out of other western cities. It has small shops and interesting places that you couldn't put up in other places.
I wouldn't look for specific events to attend, just go out and see the smaller areas of the city and absorb the atmosphere. It's been a long time, but I liked it when I was there.
posted by AugustusCrunch at 11:23 PM on August 8, 2022
Absolutely check out the Fringe! Lots of stuff going on by the Strathcona Market and the atmosphere is really great. I keep a calendar of free-ish neighbouhood events, if you're comfortable DMing your neighbourhood I may have more ideas. But the Art Gallery has some good programming upcoming, if you time your visit for what sparks your interest (I'm especially excited about the Comic and Zine Market on the 20th.)
There are (well, outdoor, but if that's not a dealbreaker) Garden Concerts at Christ Church in Oliver on Wednesday evenings.
I also like making a Destination of a tiny event in a random neighbourhood: like figuring out transit to Kind ice cream on 76 Ave.
I have really grown to love Edmonton these last few years I've lived here. DM me, if you'd like.
posted by unlapsing at 6:30 AM on August 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
There are (well, outdoor, but if that's not a dealbreaker) Garden Concerts at Christ Church in Oliver on Wednesday evenings.
I also like making a Destination of a tiny event in a random neighbourhood: like figuring out transit to Kind ice cream on 76 Ave.
I have really grown to love Edmonton these last few years I've lived here. DM me, if you'd like.
posted by unlapsing at 6:30 AM on August 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
Sorry, one more thought: does your visit correspond to the monthly Story Slam dates? They're super fun.
posted by unlapsing at 7:29 AM on August 9, 2022
posted by unlapsing at 7:29 AM on August 9, 2022
The World Juniors hockey runs through next week, I mention it because they've done a nice job around the Rogers Place and the Ice District. Tickets are in the $50-80 range and all seats are in the bowl, so it's a chance to check out the newest arena for 1/4 of what you might normally pay. It's making downtown more lively and walkabout, and check out the (free, outside) Neon Sign Museum while you walk through the area.
posted by furtive at 7:09 PM on August 9, 2022
posted by furtive at 7:09 PM on August 9, 2022
Could you organize a MeFi meetup?
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:38 PM on August 10, 2022
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:38 PM on August 10, 2022
If you want to spend a bit of time basking in queer community stuff, Glass Bookshop currently located in the Latitude 53 art gallery is a fantastic new place to visit.
posted by the fringe of the flame at 10:53 PM on August 10, 2022
posted by the fringe of the flame at 10:53 PM on August 10, 2022
Have you checked out the Art Gallery of Alberta or the Royal Alberta Museum downtown? The new downtown library is also impressive (yes, haters of Brutalist achitecture - I like it). There is an excessive amount of construction making it difficult to get around some parts of downtown these days but you could easily do those three places (and maybe lunch at The Hallway in City Hall who have some nice options on their new menu) without having to dodge any construction sites, just crossing Churchill Square a few times.
posted by Kurichina at 11:44 AM on August 12, 2022
posted by Kurichina at 11:44 AM on August 12, 2022
Response by poster: OP Here:
So I had a really good time,
I went to the Glass bookshop, which was amazing, Variant Editions,. which was excellent. I went to Otto for dinner with was very good, and Fox Burgers (though seriously, they need to figure out a more accessible patio solution) which was okay. and Kind ice cream whose gelato was first rate, and whose staff was way too friendly , and the super hipster ice cream joint on Whyte which good ice cream to hipness ratio was skewed. I didn't like Campio and I was very sad that it replaced the roof. I took the stick out of my ass and enjoyed Cactus Club on Jasper. Plus, plus Fleisch first rate!
Went to Love Pro Wrestling at the Rec Room, and it was the most fun, most diverse time--the rec room itself was not fun, but the wrestling show--the wrestlers and the audience---queer and fun and acessible and cultutrally all over the map, and just the best.
The show at the AGA right now is baller, esp. the Haitian painter Manuel Mathieu, it was a better curated exhibition than the one at the Power Plant. I also liked the new Stanley Milner. Maven and Grace Hardware, ARtworks, Gilded Rabbit--great curation.
Things that still existed and didn't mess up: The two wee book inns (though they know what they have more than they did when I Was 17), Audreys, Burger Baron, Commodore, the fight tower at the Airport, the CN building, the little wading pool outside of city hall, the feelings of ennui that exist around southgate mall orange julius.
. I went outside a little--Harwelek park's picnic shelters the most beautiful thing I saw in Edmonton, and I worry they will fuck them up.
I have been in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Hamilton, and Halifax in the last three or four years. Edmonton had the least visibly homeless people of any city that I had been to.
Holy Shit everyone is super hot.
So here is the difficult bits:
I went to the black owned market in Glass, and there were like four people there; I went to the zine fair, and there were like eight people there, and I went to a little pop up just off downtown, and there were like five exhibitors.
Whyte Ave didn't feel safe, it felt like it had been given over to street racers, and bros from Sherwood park, I felt like I was going to be hurt if I spent some serious time there. I don't think I could have worn a dress or a skirt in that moment.
The muslim fest at Churchill square was lovely (though why we be naming shit after Churchill), but the guy dressed up like a crusader sure killed that buzz.
I wonder what will shift when the new LRTs open, but it is still a city that depends on cars, I got rides from eight people, and I took cabs a dozen times--I would not be able to go where I was going if I didnt drive, depend on rides, and took cabs. In addition--Edmonton was more expensive than Toronto---the food was pricer, the transit fair, I think the cabs, even getting a coke at a corner store.
The city depends deeply on cookie cutter houses, industrial parks, ad tract housing---though the high and medium rises downtown or on the subway lines are fantastic, being driven through Tewilliger for example, is a deeply ehausting and kind of oppressive experience--it was worse going around South Edmonton Common. The parking lots in those spaces are actively hostile to pedestrians .
posted by PinkMoose at 1:02 AM on August 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
So I had a really good time,
I went to the Glass bookshop, which was amazing, Variant Editions,. which was excellent. I went to Otto for dinner with was very good, and Fox Burgers (though seriously, they need to figure out a more accessible patio solution) which was okay. and Kind ice cream whose gelato was first rate, and whose staff was way too friendly , and the super hipster ice cream joint on Whyte which good ice cream to hipness ratio was skewed. I didn't like Campio and I was very sad that it replaced the roof. I took the stick out of my ass and enjoyed Cactus Club on Jasper. Plus, plus Fleisch first rate!
Went to Love Pro Wrestling at the Rec Room, and it was the most fun, most diverse time--the rec room itself was not fun, but the wrestling show--the wrestlers and the audience---queer and fun and acessible and cultutrally all over the map, and just the best.
The show at the AGA right now is baller, esp. the Haitian painter Manuel Mathieu, it was a better curated exhibition than the one at the Power Plant. I also liked the new Stanley Milner. Maven and Grace Hardware, ARtworks, Gilded Rabbit--great curation.
Things that still existed and didn't mess up: The two wee book inns (though they know what they have more than they did when I Was 17), Audreys, Burger Baron, Commodore, the fight tower at the Airport, the CN building, the little wading pool outside of city hall, the feelings of ennui that exist around southgate mall orange julius.
. I went outside a little--Harwelek park's picnic shelters the most beautiful thing I saw in Edmonton, and I worry they will fuck them up.
I have been in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Hamilton, and Halifax in the last three or four years. Edmonton had the least visibly homeless people of any city that I had been to.
Holy Shit everyone is super hot.
So here is the difficult bits:
I went to the black owned market in Glass, and there were like four people there; I went to the zine fair, and there were like eight people there, and I went to a little pop up just off downtown, and there were like five exhibitors.
Whyte Ave didn't feel safe, it felt like it had been given over to street racers, and bros from Sherwood park, I felt like I was going to be hurt if I spent some serious time there. I don't think I could have worn a dress or a skirt in that moment.
The muslim fest at Churchill square was lovely (though why we be naming shit after Churchill), but the guy dressed up like a crusader sure killed that buzz.
I wonder what will shift when the new LRTs open, but it is still a city that depends on cars, I got rides from eight people, and I took cabs a dozen times--I would not be able to go where I was going if I didnt drive, depend on rides, and took cabs. In addition--Edmonton was more expensive than Toronto---the food was pricer, the transit fair, I think the cabs, even getting a coke at a corner store.
The city depends deeply on cookie cutter houses, industrial parks, ad tract housing---though the high and medium rises downtown or on the subway lines are fantastic, being driven through Tewilliger for example, is a deeply ehausting and kind of oppressive experience--it was worse going around South Edmonton Common. The parking lots in those spaces are actively hostile to pedestrians .
posted by PinkMoose at 1:02 AM on August 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
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Puzzles
Board games
Newspaper crosswords and jumbles
Asking older people about the past
Cooking
Alcohol
Sorting through old photos
Watching the tv and movies other people like (very different from the tv I like!)
Writing postcards to people
Shopping in quaint souvenir or antique shops
Watercolour?
posted by nouvelle-personne at 8:26 PM on August 8, 2022