Recap: Truck Stop

By Mack D. Male · October 8, 2011 at 4:37pm

On Thursday we held the first ever Truck Stop – a smaller, lunchtime version of What the Truck?! inspired by the food truck pods of Portland. The colder weather is coming and that means most of Edmonton’s food trucks will be closed until next year, so we wanted to try to extract the most out of our fall season as possible. Five trucks parked on 102A Avenue in front of City Hall to serve lunch from 11am until 2pm: Bo Thai, Drift, Eva Sweet, Fat Franks, and Smokehouse BBQ.

Considering it was a cold day, we were quite pleased with the turnout! Lots of people even took advantage of the seating available – next time we’ll try to get the heat lamps and bonfires going! Churchill Square is a gigantic venue so we were happy to be located on the avenue instead, though the square itself did get busier after noon, with the final zumba class of the year. And of course there was a lot of foot traffic, with people walking to and from their offices.

Photo by Brittney

The vendors all did quite well, though Smokehouse BBQ seemed to be the most popular. Normally located in Nisku, they received a warm welcome from Edmontonians, selling more during the three hours of Truck Stop than they would have over four days in their usual spot! Their food was tasty – we had the three rib mac and cheese and the bacon bomb sandwich.

The line-up at Smokehouse BBQ

Bacon bomb and three rib mac & cheese

We don’t have any more What the Truck?! events planned for 2011, but we are going to be doing some planning for next year in conjunction with the vendors. Clearly the demand is strong! Thanks to everyone who came out to Truck Stop for lunch. Thanks also to the City and the vendors for helping us make it happen on such short notice. We’re looking forward to future food truck extravaganzas!

You can read Sharon’s recap here and you can see the rest of my photos here. Brittney’s photoset is here!

Winter Light 2011: Illuminations featuring Circus Orange

By Mack D. Male · January 29, 2011 at 10:53pm

It was cold outside tonight, but Churchill Square was still full of people for Winter Light’s Illuminations. This year the event featured Yukigassen, a Japanese snow battle sport, roving performers, the Illuminations Choir, and the Edmonton premiere of Circus Orange, a Toronto-based pyrotechnic circus troupe. They performed TRICYCLE, “a dramatic fusion of live music, clown, circus, dance, aerial performance, mechanics, pyrotechnics and fire arts.” It was amazing.

Perfect night for a stroll in Churchill Square!

Warming up by the fire.

I love the way City Hall looks at night, all lit up.

The tricycle in front of the Art Gallery of Alberta.

She got everyone’s attention then led the crowd to the tricycle.

The large crowd followed the tricycle throughout the square. It was great!

The fire looked awfully close to the trees! You can see a video of it here.

A few kids were scared of these guys!

Circus Orange takes flight!

Don’t you love seeing the square full of people?

They took the front wheel of the tricycle off and put the acrobat inside!

Then it lit up!

And there were fireworks!

You can see the rest of my photos here.

Tonight’s event did a lot of things right, in my opinion. They finally spent some of the large Winter Light budget – I can’t imagine that Circus Orange was cheap! It was a fantastic show that looked expensive, with lots of lights, fire, props, and a crane. It was worth it. Another thing I loved was that they used the entire square. The tricycle started at the Art Gallery and the large crowd followed it to Three Bananas and back through the square toward City Hall, with different stops along the way. The storytelling aspect was great too, with the scary stilt guys and the clown who never spoke in English. Lots of fun for everyone!

The temperature doesn’t matter. You know what people do when it’s cold? They dance to keep warm. It adds to the experience! And tonight, the people who stayed until the end were rewarded, with a big finale that even featured fireworks. For a few minutes, I forgot that I was cold!

Kudos to Winter Light for a great event. Let’s have more of this please!

Edmonton’s Hot to Huddle 2010 Grey Cup Festival Kick-off!

By Mack D. Male · November 24, 2010 at 8:27pm

Tonight the 2010 Grey Cup Festival officially started here in Edmonton with a big kick-off party outside City Hall. Hundreds of people braved the cold to see the Grey Cup in person, to experience the flashmob and fireworks, and to get a first look at Huddle Town.

Purolator delivered the “special guest” that everyone was hoping to see.

There were fans of all teams on hand to celebrate!

With the Zipline in the background, everyone listened for the official kick-off of the festivities.

After the dignitaries had spoken, there was a big flashmob on the CN field (I suppose no one saw it coming, but the large group of people lined up on the field, with security preventing others from joining in, made it clear that something was up…not to mention the volunteer for the flashmob page on the website).

Fireworks quickly followed the entertaining dance number!

The trophy was so close you could almost touch it.

The end of the kick-off program meant the official opening of Huddle Town, the giant heated tent in Churchill Square.

Meanwhile, a Peewee football game was played on the CN field.

Here’s an overhead shot of City Hall and Huddle Town.

The festival is now officially underway!

You can see upcoming events at the official site (when it works) or at ShareEdmonton (and subscribe to the iCal here). You can see the rest of my photos from the evening here.

Ready, set, huddle!

Sneak Peek at the new Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton

By Mack D. Male · January 25, 2010 at 7:48pm

Nearly thirty people from Edmonton’s very active social media community attended the blogger sneak peek today at the new Art Gallery of Alberta in downtown Edmonton. Armed with smartphones, video cameras, audio recorders, and lots of digital cameras, we toured the new building with Sarah Hoyles, the AGA’s Media Relations and Communications Coordinator, and Gilles Hebert, the AGA’s Executive Director.

The very striking building is situated at #2 Sir Winston Churchill Square, on the northeast corner between City Hall and Chancery Hall/Century Place. I think it is just as beautiful on the inside as it is distinct on the outside. Everyone is in for a real treat when it officially opens to the public on January 31!

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to visit the building with Torch Reporter Chris Wheeler, so I thought I’d start this post with some of the under-construction shots I took at the time:

And here’s one of AGA Board Chair Allan Scott, who has been working to make the new AGA a reality for more than ten years:

On to today’s tour! We met in the foyer, right underneath the borealis.

Here’s a shot of our guides, describing the borealis above:

Our first stop, after the coat check, was Zinc, the Art Gallery of Alberta’s new restaurant. Still under active construction, we got a very quick glimpse at what dining in Churchill Square might be like. As Sharon remarked, standing in Zinc is reminiscent of standing inside Cactus Club Bentall 5 in downtown Vancouver.

Here’s Chris and Sharon, representing Edmonton’s food bloggers:

Next we ascended the grand staircase to the third level, which provided us with a fantastic eye-level view of the borealis, as well as the opportunity to step outside onto the City of Edmonton Terrace.

We slowly made our way back downstairs, pausing on the second level to learn more about the way the new building is meant to capture snow. It’s explained in this video, which also provides a sneak peek at Storm Room, an interactive ten-minute exhibit featuring water, among other things:

Passing by the front entrance, we next visited the basement level, which features a number of education spaces (the rooms are named after colors, such as orange and yellow), theatre space, the AGA sales office, and the LRT entrance.

A lot of thought went into the design of the new AGA, something that architect Randall Stout illustrated very well during his talk back in September. It’s a building that you have to visit multiple times – it looks different depending on the season, weather, and time of day. It’s a fantastic addition to Edmonton’s downtown, and to the city as a whole.

Thanks to everyone who made it out to the tour today! You can see the rest of my photos here.

Here are some of the other posts from today’s tour (I’ll update as more appear):

Proud to be an Edmontonian: Art Gallery of Alberta at daveberta.ca
Art Gallery of Alberta at eatingisthehardpart.com
AGA Sneak Peek from @lealea
Art Gallery of Alberta – Sneak Peek at momentsindigital.com
Blogger’s Tour of the Alberta Gallery of Art from @livingsanctuary
Art Gallery of Alberta from @sirthinks
The new Art Gallery of Alberta at marisasano.ca
Inside the Art Gallery of Alberta at alexabboud.wordpress.com
AGA from @evolvingblue
Art Gallery of Alberta – Q&A session and Photos from @alainsaffel
Video tour of the AGA from @zoomjer
Art Gallery of Alberta – sneak peek at alainsaffel.com
A blogger’s tour of the AGA from @britl
Art’s deeper meaning at communityintelligence.ca
A Gem for the Core: the Art Gallery of Alberta at onlyhereforthefood.ca
Back to Square 2: Art Gallery of Alberta Sneak Peek at korymathewson.com
Today the AGA, tomorrow the other news stuff at theedmontonian.com
Art Gallery of Alberta Social Media Tour at adamsnider.com
Peeking Behind the Curtains of the AGA at iheartedmonton.com

Edmonton Winter Light 2009

By Mack D. Male · January 8, 2009 at 11:12pm

Today marks the start of Winter Light 2009, a new festival designed to “usher in the winter season” and “enjoy Edmonton’s winter spirit.” The opening ceremonies were held tonight in Churchill Square and City Hall. It couldn’t have happened on a day more representative of winter than today – temperatures were around –22 C (and –32 C with the wind chill) and we received a fresh dump of snow during the day!

Sharon and I made our way to Churchill Square at about 7:45pm and found it mostly empty except for the volunteers. Despite having a number of warming tents and fire/heat displays, most people were inside City Hall enjoying the free food (provided by NAIT) and the entertainment of Le Fuzz and others.

We wandered around the square for a bit and eventually found the information tent where they were offering free hot chocolate to anyone who brought their own cup. Great way to be a little more environmentally responsible! The hot chocolate tasted great and allowed us to stay outside a little more before heading indoors.

Sharon was excited to see what culinary delights NAIT was offering so we headed straight for the tables of food. Unfortunately the good feeling we had by bringing our own mug for hot chocolate disappeared when we found the disposable plates and spoons being used for the food! Ah well – everything was very tasty!

We spent some time enjoying the performances, and managed to catch the official “welcome” to Winter Light with one of the organizers and Councillor Ben Henderson (Councillor Kim Krushell was also in attendance):

Next up for Winter Light is Deep Freeze on 118th Avenue, which takes place this weekend on January 10th and 11th. Activities include outdoor curling, free hay rides, snowshoeing, snow sculpting workshops, and of course, free food! On January 15th the sixth annual Ice on Whyte festival gets underway.

Although there were far more people out for the much colder New Year’s Eve than there were tonight, I wouldn’t call the festival’s success into question just yet. The main events are what will really draw people in, and tonight was basically just free marketing for those events.

I’m excited to see how the next 10 weeks unfold – I’d say Winter Light 2009 is off to a fairly good start. You can see my photos from this evening at Flickr, and some video at YouTube.

UPDATE: Sharon posted her thoughts and a bit more about the food at her blog.

Edmonton Notes for 11/15/2008 – Holiday Light Up! Edition

By Mack D. Male · November 15, 2008 at 7:09pm

Earlier this evening, Sharon and I went to check out the Christmas on the Square Holiday Light Up! event. Mayor Mandel and Santa were on hand to help light up the largest Christmas tree we’ve ever had in Edmonton – 83 feet tall, with over 8000 energy efficient lights on it! BrightNights was also launched, and there were choirs, free wagon rides, and a tented version of the 104th Street City Market. Great weather today meant that Churchill Square was absolutely packed!

You can see more photos and video here. The neat thing about the fireworks is that they were timed to the music!

Here are some Edmonton-related things I found interesting this week:

At Techvibes, I wrote about a new competition for local entrepreneurs being run by NAIT. I also profiled local firm Nirix Technology.
Sharon and some other local food bloggers were featured in the Bistro section of the Edmonton Journal this week! Congrats to all!
Check it out – Edmonton Oilers fans invaded Conan O’Brien’s show this week!
Nearly 600 people attended the public hearing at City Hall on Wednesday to share their thoughts on the long-term vision for Edmonton.
Edmonton ranked 18th in the country according to the second annual national ranking of environmentally friendly transportation.
Speaking of transportation, Google Maps added support for Edmonton Transit routes and scheduling this week! Very cool.
Maybe our city isn’t immune from the economic turndown after all – commercial printing company Grafikom shut down this week, putting 67 employees in Edmonton out of work.
Despite a strong start today against Montreal, the Eskimos lost. Is this the end for Maciocia?
The Edmonton Public Library launched a mini-site for Fine-Free Day, taking place on November 29th. Return your overdue items that day and you won’t pay a thing!
We had our first real snowfall of the season on Tuesday. It has since melted.