Everything about Edmonton totally explained
Edmonton is the capital of the
Canadian province of
Alberta. The city is located on the
North Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province, an area with some of the most fertile farmland on the prairies. It is the second largest city in Alberta after
Calgary, with a population of 1,034,945 (2008), and is the hub of
Canada's sixth largest
census metropolitan area, with a metropolitan population of 1,076,103 (2006), making it the northernmost North American city with a metropolitan population over one million.
At, the City of Edmonton covers an area larger than
Chicago,
Philadelphia,
Toronto or
Montreal. Edmonton has one of the lowest
population densities in North America, about 9.4% that of
New York City. A resident of Edmonton is known as an
Edmontonian.
Edmonton serves as the northern anchor of the
Calgary-Edmonton Corridor (one of four regions that together comprise 50% of Canada's population) and is a staging point for large-scale
oil sands projects occurring in northern Alberta and large-scale
diamond mining operations in the
Northwest Territories.
Edmonton is Canada's second most populous provincial capital (after
Toronto) and is a cultural, government and educational centre. It plays host to a year round slate of world-class festivals, earning it the title of "The Festival City". It is home to North America's largest mall,
West Edmonton Mall, and
Canada's largest historic park (Fort Edmonton Park). In 2004, Edmonton celebrated the centennial of its incorporation as a city.
History
Settlement and exploration
The first inhabitants gathered in the area which is now Edmonton around 3,000 BC and perhaps as early as 10,000 BC, when an ice-free corridor opened up as the last
ice age ended and timber, water and wildlife became available in the region.
In
1754,
Anthony Henday, an explorer working for the
Hudson's Bay Company, may have been the first European to enter the Edmonton area. His expeditions across the
Canadian Prairies were mainly to seek contact with the aboriginal population for the purpose of establishing fur trade, as competition was fierce between the
Hudson's Bay Company and the
North West Company. By
1795,
Fort Edmonton was established as a major trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company. It was named after
Edmonton, London, the home town, of the HBC deputy governor Sir James Winter Lake. In the late
nineteenth century, the highly fertile soils surrounding Edmonton helped attract settlers, further establishing Edmonton as a major regional commercial and agricultural centre. Edmonton was also a stopping point for people hoping to cash in on the
Klondike Gold Rush in
1897, although the majority of people doing so chose to take a steamship north to the Yukon from Vancouver.
Incorporated as a city in
1905 with a population of 8,350, Edmonton became the capital of Alberta a year later on
September 1,
1905.
The war years
During the early 1910s, Edmonton grew very rapidly due to rising speculation in real estate prices. In 1912, Edmonton
amalgamated with the
city of Strathcona south of the North Saskatchewan River. As a result, the city extended south of the river.
Just prior to
World War I, the real estate boom ended suddenly, causing the city's population to decline sharply from over 72,500 in 1914 to under 54,000 only two years later. Many of the new workers moving to the city are young men..
Geography and location
Edmonton is located near the geographical centre of the province at an elevation of 668 metres (2,192 ft). The terrain in and around Edmonton is generally flat to gently rolling, with ravines and deep river valleys, such as the North Saskatchewan River valley. Despite the
Canadian Rockies lying as close to Edmonton as roughly 220 kilometres to the southwest (only a few hours' drive away), the city is too distant for any of its peaks to be seen from even its tallest buildings.
The
North Saskatchewan River bisects the city and originates at the
Columbia Icefield in
Jasper National Park. It empties, via the
Saskatchewan River,
Lake Winnipeg, and the
Nelson River, into
Hudson Bay. It runs from the southwest to the northeast and is fed by numerous creeks throughout the city, such as Mill Creek and Whitemud Creek. This creates numerous ravines, many of which have been incorporated into the urban parkland. Edmonton is situated at the boundary between
prairie to the south and
boreal forest to the north, in a transitional area known as
aspen parkland. However, the aspen parkland in and around Edmonton has long since been heavily altered by farming and other human activities, such as oil and natural gas exploration.
Parkland and environment
Edmonton's river valley constitutes the longest stretch of connected urban parkland in
North America, and Edmonton has the highest per capita area of parkland of any Canadian city. The river valley is 22 times larger than New York City's Central Park. The public river valley parks provide a unique urban escape area with park styles ranging from fully serviced urban parks to campsite-like facilities with few amenities. This main 'Ribbon of Green' is supplemented by numerous neighbourhood parks located throughout the city, to give a total of 111 square kilometres (27,400 acres) of parkland. Within the 7,400 hectare (18,000 acre), 25 kilometre (15.5 mi) long river valley park system there are eleven lakes, fourteen ravines, and twenty-two major parks. Most of the city has excellent bike and walking trail connections. These trails are also part of the 235km
Waskahegan walking trail.
Edmonton's streets and parklands are also home to one of the largest remaining concentrations of healthy
American Elm trees in the world, unaffected by
Dutch Elm disease, which has wiped out vast numbers of such trees in Eastern North America.
Jack Pine,
Lodgepole Pine,
White Spruce,
White Birch,
Aspen,
Green Ash,
Basswood, various
poplars and
willows, and
Manitoba Maple are also abundant;
Bur Oak is increasingly popular. Introduced tree species include
Blue Spruce,
Norway Maple,
Red Oak,
Sugar Maple,
Common Horse-chestnut,
McIntosh Apple, and
Evans Cherry. Three walnut species --
Butternut,
Manchurian Walnut and
Black Walnut -- have survived in Edmonton.
Several golf courses, both public and private, are also located in the river valley. The long summer daylight hours of this northern city provide for extended play well into the evening. Golf courses and the park system become a winter recreation area during this season. Cross-country skiing and skating are popular during the long winter. Four downhill ski slopes are located in the river valley as well, two within the city and two immediately outside.
The City of Edmonton has named five parks in its River Valley Parks System in honour of each of "
The Famous Five".
Neighbourhoods
Edmonton has numerous distinct neighbourhoods.
The
downtown core consists of the Commercial Core, Arts District, Rice Howard Way Pedestrian Mall, MacKay Avenue, Jasper-West, Warehouse District and Government Precinct (a.k.a. Grandin neighbourhood).
Radiating from the core are many inner city neighbourhoods such as Oliver,
Glenora, Westmount,
Queen Mary Park, Inglewood, Central McDougall,
Boyle Street,
McCauley,
Alberta Avenue and
Norwood on the north side of the river, while Windsor Park, Garneau,
Strathcona,
Bonnie Doon, and Strathearn line the south side of the river. Several communities survived attempts by the municipal governments of the 1970s to rid the valley proper of all residents: these are
Riverdale,
Rossdale, Walterdale, and
Cloverdale.
As with any city of its size, the inner communities give way to a collection of suburbs, generally classified as being outside the inner ring road and in extreme cases, outside of
Anthony Henday Drive. One of the most well known communities within Anthony Henday Drive is
Mill Woods, which is home to approximately 100,000 residents. Often, it's incorrectly referred to as "Millwoods" due to a typographical mistake on street signs, dating back to the neighbourhood's inception. If Mill Woods were a separate municipality, it would be Alberta's third largest city after
Calgary and Edmonton.
Other communities within the boundaries of the Anthony Henday on the south side of Edmonton include Riverbend, (situated between the North Saskatchewan River and Whitemud Creek), Aspen Gardens, Westbrook Estates, Royal Gardens, Sweet Grass, Blue Quill, Blue Quill Estates, Greenfield, Lansdowne and Grandview Estates, with their main transportation hub as Southgate Transit Centre. Surrounding the new Century Park development are communities such as Yellowbird and Twin Brooks. Several new neighbourhoods are currently in formative stages in the South and Southwest, such as MacEwan, Terwillegar, Southbrook, and Rutherford.
Several
transit-oriented developments (TOD) have begun to appear along the LRT line at Clareview with future developments planned at Belvedere (part of the Old Town Fort Road Redevelopment Project). Another TOD called Century Park is already under construction at the site of what was once Heritage Mall (currently under demolition) at the southern end of the future South LRT line. Century Park will eventually house up to 5,000 residents.
Climate
Edmonton has a northern
continental climate with extreme seasonal temperatures, although the city has milder winters than either
Regina or
Winnipeg, which are both located at a more southerly latitude. It has mild summers and chilly winters, with the average daily temperatures ranging from -11.7°
C (10.9°
F) in January to 17°C (62°F) in July. Annually, temperatures exceed 30°C (86°F) on an average of three days [butcan occur often anytime from late May and early September] and fall below −20°C (−4°F) on an average of twenty-eight days. The highest temperature recorded in Edmonton was 34.5°C (94.1°F) on
August 5,
1998.. 2006 was a particularly warm year for Edmonton, as temperatures reached 29°C (84.2°F) or higher more than twenty times during the year, from as early as Mid-May and again in early September. Typically, summer lasts from late June until late August, and the humidity is seldom uncomfortably high. Winter lasts from November to March and varies greatly in length and severity. Spring and autumn are both short and highly variable.
Edmonton has a fairly dry climate. On average, Edmonton receives 476 mm (18.78 in) of precipitation and 123.5 cm (48.6 in) of snowfall per annum. The Edmonton Economic Development Corporation estimated that as of January 2005 the total value of major projects under construction in northern Alberta was $81.5 billion, with $18.2 billion occurring within Greater Edmonton.
Edmonton traditionally has been a hub for Albertan petrochemical industries, earning it the nickname "Oil Capital of Canada" in the
1940s. Supply and service industries drive the energy extraction engine while research develops new technologies and supports expanded value-added processing of Alberta's massive oil, gas and oil sands reserves. These are reported to be the second largest in the world after Saudi Arabia.
Despite the apparent focus on oil and gas, Edmonton's economy is now the second most diverse in Canada. Major industrial sectors include a strong technology sector anchored by major employers such as
IBM,
Telus,
Intuit Canada,
Canadian Western Bank,
BioWare,
Matrikon,
General Electric and
Stantec. The associated biotech sector, with companies such as CV Technologies, has recently seen employment growth of 37%.
Much of the growth in technology sectors is due to Edmonton's reputation as one of Canada’s premiere research and education centres . Research initiatives are anchored by educational institutions such as the University of Alberta as well as government initiatives underway at the Alberta Research Council and Edmonton Research Park. Recently the National Institute for Nanotechnology was constructed on the University of Alberta campus.
During the 1970's and 1980's, Edmonton started to become a major financial centre with both regional offices of Canada's major banks and locally based institutions opening. However, the turmoil of the late 1980s economy radically changed the situation. Locally based operations such as
Principal Trust and
Canadian Commercial Bank would fail and regional offices were moved to Calgary. The 1990s saw a solidification of the economy and now Edmonton is home of
Canadian Western Bank, the only publicly traded Schedule I chartered bank headquarters west of
Toronto. Other major financial centres include
ATB Financial,
Servus Credit Union (formerly Capital City Savings),
TD Canada Trust,
Manulife.
Edmonton has been the birth place of several companies which have grown to international stature such as PCL Construction, and
Stantec Inc.. The local retail market has also seen the creation of many successful store concepts such as
The Brick, Katz Group, AutoCanada,
Boston Pizza, Pizza 73, Liquor Stores, Liquor Barn, Planet Organic, Empire Design, Running Room, Booster Juice, Earl's, Fountain Tire and XS Cargo.
The geographical location of Edmonton has made it an ideal spot for distribution and logistics. CN Rail's North American operational facility is located in the city as well as a major intermodal facility that handles all incoming freight from the port of
Prince Rupert in British Columbia.
Edmonton was judged to have the “best economic potential” of any North American city by the
Financial Times publication,
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) magazine. In a 2007 study,
FDI placed Edmonton immediately ahead of Mississauga, Charlotte, Tijuana, and Calgary among cities with populations between 500,000 and 2 million. Edmonton's economic potential, expanding infrastructure, human resources, cost effectiveness and high standard of living place it in the No. 4 spot on FDI’s
list of top-10 North American large cities. The survey also named Edmonton in the top-five large North American cities for business development and investment promotion. Edmonton is known for its exceptional environmental stewardship, strong life-science sector, and burgeoning high-tech industry economy.
Demographics
Visible minorities (External Link ) |
Population |
Percent |
| Total visible minorities |
165,465 |
22.9 |
Chinese |
45,305 |
6.3 |
South Asian |
38,225 |
5.3 |
Black |
19,020 |
3.1 |
Filipino |
18,245 |
2.5 |
Arab |
11,205 |
1.6 |
Southeast Asian |
10,635 |
1.5 |
Latin American |
8,650 |
1.2 |
Multiple visible minorities |
4,940 |
0.7 |
Korean |
3,440 |
0.5 |
West Asian |
2,690 |
0.4 |
Japanese |
1,845 |
0.3 |
Other visible minority |
1,255 |
0.2 |
|
| Religion |
Population |
Percent |
| Protestant |
204,770 |
31.2% |
Catholic |
193,110 |
29.4% |
No religion |
160,150 |
24.4% |
Other Christian |
25,815 |
3.9% |
Islam |
18,790 |
2.9% |
Christian Orthodox |
17,275 |
2.6% |
Buddhist |
13,640 |
2.1% |
Sikh |
9,235 |
1.4% |
Hindu |
7,525 |
1.1% |
Other |
2,345 |
0.3% |
|
According to the
mid-2006 census, there were 730,372 residents within the city of Edmonton proper, compared to 3,290,350 for all of Alberta. The total population of the CMA (
Census Metropolitan Area) was 1,034,945.
In the five years between 2001 and 2006, the population of the city of Edmonton proper grew by 9.6%, compared with an increase of 10.4% for Edmonton CMA, and 10.6% for
Alberta as a whole. The population density of the city of Edmonton proper averaged 1,067.2 people per square kilometre (2,764/sq mi), compared with an average of 5.1 people per square kilometre (13.2/sq mi), for
Alberta altogether.
In mid-2001, 11.7% of Edmonton's population were of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with 13.2% in Canada. The median age is 35.3 years of age compared to 37.6 years of age for all of Canada. Also, according to the 2001 census, 50.5% of the population within the city of Edmonton proper is female, while 49.5% is male. Children under five accounted for approximately 5.8% of the resident population of Edmonton. This compares with 6.2% in Alberta, and almost 5.6% for Canada overall.
In 2006, people of
European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Edmonton, mostly of
English,
Scottish,
German,
Irish,
Ukrainian and
French origins.
(External Link) According to the 2006 census, the city of Edmonton was 71.8%
White and 5.3%
Aboriginal, while
Visible Minorities accounted for 22.9% of the population.
(External Link)
Infrastructure
Transportation
Edmonton is a major transportation gateway to northern Alberta and northern Canada. There are two airports serving the city, Edmonton City Centre Airport and Edmonton International Airport, of which the latter is the largest. The Edmonton International Airport has passengers flying to destinations in the United States, Europe, Mexico, and the Caribbean, along with charters to Japan. The Edmonton City Centre Airport is a general aviation facility since air services consolidation in 1995 and the only airport located within the city limits. It is home to a variety of aviation companies with key markets in Northern Alberta. Interurban passenger rail service is operated by VIA Rail to Jasper National Park, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia. Edmonton serves as a major transportation hub for Canadian National Railway, whose North American operations management centre is located at their Edmonton offices.
With direct air distances from Edmonton to places such as New Delhi in Asia and London in Europe being shorter than to other main airports in Western North America, Edmonton Airports is working to establish a major container shipping hub called Port Alberta.
A largely gridded street system forms most of Edmonton's street and road network. The address system is mostly numbered, with streets running south to north and avenues running east to west. In built-up areas built since the 1950s, local streets and major roadways generally don't conform to the grid system. Major roadways include Yellowhead Trail and Whitemud Drive, and the city is connected to other communities elsewhere in Alberta, B.C., and Saskatchewan via the Yellowhead Highway to the west and east, and the Queen Elizabeth II Highway to the south.
The Edmonton Transit System is the city's main public transit agency, operating a light rail transit (LRT) line as well as a large fleet of buses and trolley buses. Scheduled LRT began on April 23, 1978, with five extensions of the single line completed since. The original Edmonton line is considered to be the first "modern" light rail line in North America (for example built from scratch, rather than being an upgrade of an old system). It introduced the use of German-designed rolling stock that subsequently became the standard light rail vehicle of the United States. The Edmonton "proof of payment" fare collection system adopted in 1980—modelled after European ticket systems—became the North American transit industry's preferred approach for subsequent light rail projects. Currently the City of Edmonton is working on the South LRT Extension, which will see trains travelling to Century Park, located at 23 Avenue and 111 Street by the end of 2009, while making an additional stop at Southgate Centre. To facilitate this change, ETS is constructing a new transit centre on 111 Street across from Southgate.
There is an extensive multi-use trail system for bicycles and pedestrians throughout the city; however, most of this is within the river valley parkland system.
Waste disposal
The Edmonton Composting Facility, the largest stainless steel building in North America. The facility is the largest of its type in the world.
In the next few years, the city anticipates it'll divert more than 80% of the city's household waste from entering the landfills. Among the innovative uses for the city's waste includes a Christmas tree recycling program. The trees are collected each January and put through a wood chipper. This material is used to insulate the fields of developing compost. In addition, the wood chips absorb much of the odour produced by the compost, by providing a biological element onto which the odours can attach themselves.
Together, the Waste Management Centre and Wastewater Treatment plant are known as the Edmonton Waste Management Centre of Excellence. Research partners include the University of Alberta, Alberta Research Council, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, and Olds College.
Electricity and water distribution systems
Edmonton's first power company established itself in 1891 and installed street lights along the city's main avenue, Jasper Avenue. The power company was bought by the Town of Edmonton in 1902 and remains under municipal ownership today as EPCOR. Also in charge of water treatment, in 2002, EPCOR installed the world's largest ultraviolet (UV) water treatment or Ultraviolet disinfection system at its E.L. Smith Water Treatment Plant.
Health care
There are four main hospitals serving Edmonton: The University of Alberta Hospital, The Royal Alexandra Hospital, The Misercordia Hospital and The Grey Nuns Hospital. Other area hospitals include the Sturgeon Community Hospital in St. Albert, the Leduc Community Hospital in Leduc, the Westview Health Centre in Stony Plain, and the Fort Saskatchewan Health Centre in Fort Saskatchewan. Dedicated psychiatric care is also provided at the Alberta Hospital. All hospitals are under the administration of the Capital Health Authority although the Misercordia and the Grey Nuns are run separately by the Caritas Health Group.
Education
Post-secondary
The
University of Alberta (known colloquially as the "U of A", and affectionately as the "U of Eh"), whose main campus is situated on the south side of Edmonton's river valley, is a board-governed, public institution with annual revenue of one billion dollars. 35,000 students are served in more than 200 undergraduate programs and 170 graduate programs. Main campus consists of more than ninety buildings on 890,000 square metres (220 acres) of land, with buildings dating back to the university's establishment in
1908. It is also home to Canada's second largest research library which ranks first in volumes per student with over 10 million (in 2005) and subscriptions to 13,000 full-text electronic journals and 500 electronic databases.
Other universities within the borders of Edmonton include
Athabasca University,
Concordia University College of Alberta, the
King's University College, Taylor University College and Seminary, and the Edmonton campus of the
University of Lethbridge.
Other Edmonton post-secondary institutions include
Grant MacEwan College, which enrolls 40,791 students in programs offering career diplomas, university transfers and bachelor degrees the
Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), with 48,500 students enrolled in 190 technical, vocational and apprenticeship programs and NorQuest College, with 11,300 students, specializing in short courses in skills and academic upgrading.
Edmonton is also home to
Antarctic Institute of Canada.
K-12
Edmonton has three publicly funded school boards (districts), who provide kindergarten and grades one through twelve. The vast majority of students attend schools in the two large English language boards:
Edmonton Public Schools and the separate
Edmonton Catholic School District. Also, since 1994, the
francophone minority community has had their own school board based in Edmonton, the North-Central Francophone School Authority, which includes surrounding communities. Most recently the city has seen a small number of public
charter schools open, independent of any board. All three school boards and public charter schools are funded through provincial grants and
property taxes.
Some private schools exist as well. Included are the Edmonton Academy and Tempo School. The Edmonton Society for Christian Education used to be a private school, however they became part of
Edmonton Public Schools.
Both the Edmonton Public Schools and the Edmonton Catholic School District provide support and resources for those wishing to
home school their children.
City life
Nightlife
There are several key concentrations of nightlife in the city of Edmonton. The most popular is the
Whyte Avenue (82nd Avenue) strip, concentrated between 109 Street and 99 Street. It has the highest concentration of heritage buildings in Edmonton. Once the heart of the town of Strathcona (annexed by Edmonton on
February 1,
1912), it fell into disrepair during the middle of the twentieth century. Beginning in the 1970s, a concentrated effort to revive the area through the establishment of a Business Revitalization Zone has produced an area rich with restored historical buildings and pleasant streetscapes. Its proximity to the University of Alberta has led to a high concentration of establishments ranging from restaurants and pubs to trendy clubs while hosting a wide variety of shops during the day. This area also contains two independent movie theatres: the Garneau and Princess theatres, as well as several live theatre, music and comedy venues.
Downtown Edmonton has undergone a continual process of renewal and unprecedented growth since the mid 1990s. Many buildings were demolished during the oil boom starting in the 1960s and continuing into the 1980s to make way for office towers. As such, there have always been numerous pub-type establishments such as
The Rose and Crown, Sherlock Holmes' and
Elephant & Castle as well as many hotel lounges and restaurants. The past decade, has seen a strong resurgence in more mainstream venues. Edmonton also has a high demand for pub crawl tours in the city. Various clubs such as the
New City Suburbs, "OilCity Roadhouse", "The Bank", and
Halo are also to be found along Edmonton's main street, Jasper Avenue. The Edmonton City Centre mall also houses an
Empire Theatres movie theatre, featuring ten screens. The non-profit
Metro Cinema shows a variety of alternative or otherwise unreleased films every week.
West Edmonton Mall holds several after hour establishments in addition to its many stores and attractions. Bourbon Street has numerous eating establishments and clubs and casinos can also be found within the complex. Scotiabank Theatre (formerly known as SilverCity), at the west end of the mall, is a theater which features twelve screens and an
IMAX.
Recently, there has been a little injection of city night life on Wayne Gretzky, where the current
Rexall Plc is, with such clubs like "Diesel" ultra.
Culture
Many events are anchored in the downtown Arts District, centred around the newly renovated
Churchill Square (named in honour of Sir Winston Churchill).
- The Francis Winspear Centre for Music was opened in 1997 after years of planning and fundraising. Described as one of the most acoustically perfect concert halls in Canada, it's home to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and hosts a wide variety of shows every year. It seats 1,932 patrons and houses the $3 million Davis Concert Organ, the largest concert organ in Canada. An interesting aspect of the hall's design is its separation into acoustically separate areas each of which are insulated from each other through acoustical barriers built into the structure. Patrons and artists can see these in the form of double-door "sound locks".
- Across 102nd Avenue is the Citadel Theatre, so named after the Salvation Army Citadel in which Joe Shoctor first started the Citadel Theatre company in 1965. It is now one of the largest theatre complexes in Canada with five halls each specializing in different kinds of productions. For instance, the Maclab Theatre features a thrust stage surrounded by a U-shaped seating arrangement, while the Shoctor Theatre is a traditional stage setup.
- On the University of Alberta grounds is the 2534-seat Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, which recently reopened after being out of commission for a year during heavy renovations carried out as part of the province's centennial celebrations. Both it and its southern twin in Calgary were constructed in 1955 for the province's silver jubilee and have played host to many concerts, musicals, and ballets. The Edmonton Opera uses the Jubilee as its base of operations. On the front of the building is a quote from Suetonius' Life of Augustus: "He found a city built of brick—left it built of marble."
- Old Strathcona is home to the Theatre District, which holds the Transalta Arts Barns (headquarters of the Edmonton International Fringe Festival), The Walterdale Playhouse, Catalyst Theatre, and the Varscona Theatre (base of operations for several theatre companies, including Teatro la Quindicina, Shadow Theatre, Rapid Fire Theatre, Die-Nasty, and Oh Susanna!). Edmonton was named cultural capital of Canada in 2007.
Museums and galleries
There are also over seventy museums in Edmonton of ranging sizes. The largest is the
Royal Alberta Museum (formerly the Provincial Museum of Alberta until renamed by
Queen Elizabeth II during her 2005 visit) which houses over 10 million objects in its collection. The museum showcases the culture and practices of the diverse aboriginal tribes of the region. The main building, located on the river valley west of downtown in Glenora, was opened in
1967 and is now in the early stages of large-scale redevelopment.
The
Telus World of Science is located in the
Woodcroft district. It opened in 1984 but has been expanded several times since then. It contains 5 permanent galleries, plus 1 for temporary exhibits, an
IMAX theatre, a
planetarium, an
observatory and an
amateur radio station.
The
Alberta Aviation Museum is at the City Centre Airport, in a hangar that was built for the
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Its collection includes both civilian and military aircraft, of which the largest are a
Boeing 737 and two
CF-101 Voodoos. Every summer it holds a small
airshow, featuring modern
fighter aircraft that fly in from
Maple Flag for the event.
The
Alberta Railway Museum is located in the extreme north end of the city. It contains a variety of
locomotives and
railroad cars from different periods, and includes a working
steam locomotive. Since most of its exhibits are outdoors, it's only open between
Victoria Day and
Labour Day.
The
Art Gallery of Alberta was the city's largest single gallery. Housed in an inconspicuous production of 1970s architecture, the AGA collection had over 5,000 pieces of art. The Art Gallery was demolished in July 2007, for construction of a new facility designed by Randall Stout estimated to cost over $88 million dollars. The amount that Edmonton City Council has donated towards the construction was met with some controversy. Independent galleries can be found throughout the city, especially along the 124th Street corridor.
The University of Alberta operates its own internal Museums and Collections service.
Festivals
Edmonton plays host to several large
festivals each year, hence its local nickname as "The Festival City". Downtown Edmonton and Churchill Square host numerous festivals each summer.
The Works Art & Design Festival, which takes place from late June to early July, showcases Canadian and international art and design from well-know, award-winning artists, as well as emerging and student artists. The
Edmonton International Street Performer's Festival takes place in mid-July and showcases street performance artists from around the world.
Edmonton's main summer festival is
Capital Ex (formerly Klondike Days). Klondike Days (or K-Days) was originally an annual fair and exhibition which eventually adopted a
gold rush theme. In early 2006, it was decided that the festival would be renamed "The Capital City Exhibition" ("Capital Ex"). Activities include
chuckwagon races, carnival rides and fairways, music, trade shows and daily fireworks. Since
1960, the Sourdough Raft Races have also been a popular event. Later in November, Edmonton plays host to the
Canadian Finals Rodeo and Farmfair. This is a significant event in Canada's rodeo circuit and second only to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in prestige.
The
Edmonton International Fringe Festival, which takes place in mid-August, is the largest Fringe Theatre Festival in North America, and second only to the
Edinburgh Fringe festival in the world. In August, Edmonton is also host to the
Edmonton Folk Music Festival, one of the most successful and popular
folk music festivals in North America. Another major summer festival is the
Edmonton Heritage Festival which is an ethnocultural festival that takes place in Hawrelak Park on the
Heritage Day long weekend.
Many other festivals occur such as the
River City Shakespeare Festival, the
Boat Festival, Whyte Avenue Art Walk, and the
Edmonton International Film Festival.
Shopping
Edmonton is home to several shopping malls, including
West Edmonton Mall, which was the world's largest mall, and is now North America's largest. Other malls include Bonnie Doone Shopping Centre,
Edmonton City Centre(Formerly
Eaton Centre),
Westmount Centre, Southgate Centre (currently undergoing renovations), Kingsway, Northgate, Abbotsfield Mall, and Londonderry Centre Mall.
Edmonton also has many
big-box shopping centres and
power-centres. Some of the major ones include:
South Edmonton Common,
Terra Losa Shopping Centre,
Southpark Centre,
The Meadows,
NorthTown. As well,
Windermere will be a new shopping centre to be built in 2008.
Although there are many suburban outlets in Edmonton, there are many urban shopping areas.
Whyte Avenue is argueablely the greatest with many urban retailers. Whyte Avenue is on the south side and is near the
University. It is the centre of the former
Strathcona town.
Another urban centre is 124 Street/High Street which is an emerging shopping district, it holds such retailers as Ginger, Dwell Modern, Light Form, Matahari, and McEtherans. In the downtown core, there are a few shopping areas such as 104 Street (4th st.), which is a very urban-style shopping area/district. It holds certain urban trendy shops and restaurants like:
Sobeys: Ready to Serve, 29 Armstrong, Eye Group, Blue Plate, Tzin, Ric's, as well as many galleries. Also, downtown there's area's like The
Arts District,
Edmonton City Centre, and Jasper Avenue that are great for shopping.
For farmer's markets, there are nice farmer's markets in Edmonton, some very trendy. There is the Strathcona Farmers Market around Whyte Avenue, The Callingwood Farmer Market at the Martketplace at Callingwood, and City Market which is an urban farmer's market on 104 Street downtown.
Sports and recreation
Edmonton has a proud heritage of very successful sports teams including the
Edmonton Grads,
Edmonton Eskimos,
Edmonton Trappers,
Edmonton Oil Kings, and
Edmonton Oilers. The primary professional sports facilities are the
Commonwealth Stadium,
Telus Field and
Rexall Place.
Numerous minor-league teams in the City include the
Edmonton Cracker-Cats, the city's thirteenth baseball franchise since 1884. Local
rugby players compete in the
Rugby Canada Super League with the
Edmonton Gold. Also, the city hosts the
Edmonton Rush national lacrosse team, which plays out of
Rexall Place
In addition to the minor-league teams, Edmonton also has very successful University-level sports teams including the U of A
Golden Bears, the U of A
Pandas,
NAIT Ooks, and
Grant MacEwan Griffins.
Edmonton hosted the
1978 Commonwealth Games, the
1983 World University Games (
Universiade), the
2001 World Championships in Athletics, and the
2005 World Master Games. In 2006, it played host to the Women's Rugby World Cup. In the summer of 2007, Edmonton hosted the Under 20 Fifa World Cup which is the third largest sporting event in the world as well as the
CN Canadian Womens Open.
Edmonton has a circuit on the
Indy Racing League known as the
Grand Prix of Edmonton; However this event has yet to have an announced date for the 2008 season. In addition,
Castrol Raceway brings
sprint cars and a national
IHRA event to their facility next to
Edmonton International Airport.
Media
Edmonton has six broadcast television stations shown on basic cable TV. The
cable television providers in Edmonton are
Telus and
Shaw Cable. Previously, network programming from the United States was received on cable via affiliates from
Spokane, Washington, but local viewers now have more choice given the advances with cable television that are now being offered as digital or HD (high definition) service. Broadcasts from both eastern and western locations in the United States can be viewed. At least seventeen FM and eight AM radio stations are based in Edmonton.
FM Stations include: 88.5—University of Alberta, 90.1—CBC (French), 90.9—CBC Radio 2, 91.7—"The Bounce", 92.5—"Joe FM", 93.9—CBC Radio 1, 94.9—CKUA, 96.3—"Big Earl", 97.3—"K Rock", 99.3—"Magic 99", 100.3—"The Bear", 101.1, 101.7—CKER, 102.9—"Sonic", 103.9—"Cisn Country", 104.9—"Easy Rock", 105.9—"ShineFM".
Edmonton has two large-circulation daily newspapers,
The Edmonton Journal and
The Edmonton Sun. There is also a number of smaller papers, which focus on different themes, such as the
See Magazine and
Vue Weekly, which focus on Edmonton's independent arts scene, and two independent free newspapers,
The Metro and
24.
Metropolitan area
Edmonton is at the centre of a metropolitan area that includes twenty-five independent municipalities either adjacent to Edmonton's city limits or within several kilometres of it. Larger communities include
Sherwood Park (part of the
Specialized Municipality of Strathcona County),
St. Albert, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain,
Fort Saskatchewan,
Leduc,
Nisku (major industrial area in Leduc County), and the towns of
Beaumont,
Devon and
Morinville. This large scale fragmentation has played a role in the development of the Edmonton region. Although several attempts have been made by the City of Edmonton to annex surrounding municipalities, no
amalgamation has of yet been approved by the provincial government since Edmonton absorbed the town of
Beverly in 1961.
Notable people
Tommy Banks, jazz musician, Canadian Senator
Chris Benoit, Professional Wrestler (WWE, WCW, ECW, New Japan)
John Bucyk, NHL hockey player
Terry Chen, film actor
Rae Dawn Chong, film actor
Tommy Chong, film actor and comedian
Bernard Ebbers, WorldCom co-founder
Nathan Fillion, film actor
Michael J. Fox, film actor
Robert Goulet, film actor
Randy Gregg, NHL hockey player
Jill Hennessy, film actor
Arthur Hiller, film director
Kelly Hrudey, NHL commentator
Jarome Iginla, NHL hockey player
W.P. Kinsella, film author
Marshall McLuhan, philosopher
Mark Messier, NHL hockey player
Leslie Nielsen, film actor
Robert Young Pelton, author
Dion Phaneuf, NHL hockey player
Doug Pruden, athlete
John "Red" Pollard, jockey
Catherine Mary Stewart, film actor
Ryan Stock, T.V. Circus stunt man
Max Ward, aviator
Kenneth Welsh, film actor
Greg Zeschuk, co-founder, BioWare Corp.
Ray Muzyka, co-founder, BioWare Corp.
Military
Edmonton is home to 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG), the Regular Force army brigade group of Land Force Western Area of the Canadian Army. Units in 1 CMBG include Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians), 1 Combat Engineer Regiment, two of the three regular force battalions of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and various headquarters, service and support elements. Although not part of 1 CMBG, 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron and 1 Field Ambulance are co-located with the brigade group. All of these units are located at Lancaster Park, immediately north of the city. From 1943 it was a major air force base (External Link). In 1996 the aviation units were transferred to CFB Cold Lake.
The Canadian Airborne Training Centre had been located in the city in the 1980s. The move of 1CMBG and component units from Calgary occurred in 1996 in what was described as a "cost-saving" measure. The brigade had existed in Calgary since the 1950s, and Lord Strathcona's Horse had traditionally been a Calgary garrison unit dating back before the First World War.
Edmonton also has a large army reserve element from 41 Canadian Brigade Group (41 CBG) including the The Loyal Edmonton Regiment (4th Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry), 8 Field Engineer Regiment, and HQ Squadron, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, and B Squadron of The South Alberta Light Horse, one of Alberta's oldest army reserve units. Despite being far from Canada's coasts, Edmonton is also the home of HMCS Nonsuch, a Naval Reserve division.
There are numerous cadet corps of the different elements (Sea, Army and Air Force) within Edmonton as well.
The Edmonton Garrison is currently located in the north end of Edmonton, in an area known as Lancaster Park
Religion
Edmonton holds the following religious offices:
The archbishop responsible for Roman Catholic institutions in central Alberta between the Saskatchewan and British Columbia borders.
The archbishop responsible for Ukrainian Catholic Church in Alberta.
The archbishop responsible for Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada in all of Western Canada.
The bishop responsible for Eastern Rite Orthodox Churches in North America.
The bishop responsible for Anglican institutions in central Alberta between the Saskatchewan and British Columbia borders.
The first mosque established in North America, the Al-Rashid Mosque founded by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, is situated in Edmonton.
Edmonton also hosts a Maronite Catholic church, on 76th avenue/98th street with services in English (on Saturdays) and Arabic (on Sundays).
Another sign of the Lebanese community's visibility is the existence of a Druze Community Centre on the North side of the city.
The Edmonton Alberta Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was dedicated on Dec 11, 1999.
The Hindu Community in Edmonton is served by the Hindu Society of Alberta (North Indian Temple) and Maha Gahapathy Society of Alberta (South Indian Temple).
Sister cities
Edmonton is an official sister city of several cities worldwide:
Hull, Quebec (now a part of Gatineau, Quebec) (1967)
Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China (1985)
Nashville, Tennessee, United States (1990)
Wonju, Gangwon Province, South Korea (1998)Further Information
Get more info on 'Edmonton'.
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