2012

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

There’s no time like election time during which to make an arena-related announcement. The City and the Katz Group announced on Friday that PCL Construction has been selected as “the preferred company to manage construction of the proposed downtown arena.”
On Wednesday the City announced Food in the City, a conference taking place on May 25 and 26. It’s “a key step in the development of a city-wide food and agriculture strategy” and is listed as one the possible public involvement opportunities for the project. Anyone is welcome to participate, assuming you have $175 to spend. That’s completely wrong, as Liane wrote. I had the opportunity to ask the two City officials behind the event about this on Friday, and they told me that the conference is not a public involvement event (which obviously is not true). Just one more thing to add to the list of public involvement failures.
For the third straight year, the Edmonton Oilers have landed the 1st overall pick in the NHL entry draft. Assuming they don’t trade it, the Oilers will be just the second franchise to make three consecutive number one picks.
The City of Edmonton has become the first major municipal government in Canada to use Gmail and other Google apps. The new system will be phased in over the next two years. Here is Google’s post about the decision. I think the most incredible part of the news is this: “Currently, about 3,000 employees who work throughout the City and not in an office setting do not have email accounts.”
About $200,000 was raised in the latest DONATE A RIDE campaign, which meant that more than 91,000 ETS tickets were distributed to Edmontonians in need.
Edmonton is finally going to be doing something with all of that sunshine we get! NAIT and the City are starting a solar energy research project.
Some sad news for the Valley Zoo. Nauticus, a 21-year-old South American sea lion, passed away on Friday. The average life span of a South American sea lion is 16 to 20 years.
The City is looking to redevelop the area around the Stadium LRT Station. The $39 million plan would feature a new pedestrian and cyclist friendly street across the LRT tracks.
Do you think Sean Horcoff is overpaid? You’re not alone. “I’ve always been a guy who whatever my role is, whatever is wanted out of me, I’m going to play it to the best of my ability,” said the 33-year-old centre. “The unfortunate thing is that it just doesn’t add up to what I’m being paid to do.”
Former Edmonton police chief Robert Lunney was back in the city recently to promote his new self-published book, Parting Shots: My Passion for Policing.
Possibly my favorite story of the week: Councillor Tony Caterina was working late on Wednesday when a fire broke out in the City Hall kitchen. Caterina pulled the fire alarm and used an extinguisher to put the fire out.
Wondering what Wildrose leader Danielle Smith thinks about Edmonton? “I luvvvv Edmonton!”
For the latest election news, check out daveberta.ca.
It’s nice to be included in this list: Nadine is working on The Edmonton Do-Gooder Project.

Awesome panoramic of Edmonton Clinic North!

Here are some upcoming events to note:

EEDC’s Annual Luncheon is taking place on Tuesday at the Shaw Conference Centre.
On Tuesday evening, CANDI{DATE} is taking place at The Common. It’ll be a great opportunity to meet some of the candidates running in the election!
The City is hosting an “idea gathering workshop” on Wednesday evening regarding Queen Elizabeth Park.
At the Citadel that evening, TEDxEdmonton’s second installment in the Salon Series will be taking place. Speakers will be addressing the theme of “Rethinking Human Engagement”.
National Meetings Industry Day is Thursday with the celebration taking place first thing in the morning. I’m very happy to have been nominated for the NMID Influence Award!
If you’re free at lunch on Thursday, head over to the CBC Edmonton studios for a leaders’ forum with Brian Mason, Alison Redford, Raj Sherman, and Danielle Smith.
The Edmonton Woman’s Show takes place this weekend at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
On Saturday evening, the Edmonton Rush are hosting the Calgary Roughnecks. Should be a great game!
Also Saturday is hot chefs, cool bEATS. Sharon wrote about the event here. We’re looking forward to it!
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Recap: Trip the Light

Last night was artsScene Edmonton’s Trip the Light, a unique after-hours party and showcase of local artists. With a brand new board for 2012, the event was a great introduction to the new artsScene Edmonton and is hopefully a sign of things to come. Trip the Light was completely sold out, so Sharon and I were lucky to be on the guest list – thanks to artsScene for that! New co-chairs Erin Elizabeth Ross and Miranda Wulf and their team put on one heck of a party – it was certainly the place to be in Edmonton yesterday evening.

We asked Erin where the name came from, and she said it was a play on the phrase “trip the light fantastic”. As Wikipedia explains, the phrase has come to mean dancing in an imaginative manner. In the sixties and seventies, it was commonly used to mean “let’s go out and have a great time!” The organizers decided to drop the “fantastic” to shorten it, but wanted to channel that message.

Held at the Breakfast Television Studios, Trip the Light was an opportunity for people to experience an unconventional event space in the heart of downtown. I understand that it took a lot of negotiation and compromise to secure the space, but it was totally worth it. The studio worked really well as a venue, with lots of room for a stage, DJ tables, a photo booth, two bars, and more. Guests even got to sit on the BT Edmonton couch, and the Good Women Dance Collective partied in the elevator! It was particularly cool that they left the cameras and lots of other equipment in the studio. One of the monitors was setup with Twitterfall tuned to the very popular #tripthelight hashtag.

Ryan Jespersen

Miranda & Erin

After DJ Alex Faid had gotten everyone warmed up, Mitch Holtby (aka Mitchmatic) got up on stage to perform his high energy mix of rap and music creation. A skilled multi-instrumentalist, Mitch impressed the crowd by playing the saxophone in the middle of rapping. Follow @Mitchmatic on Twitter to find out where he’s performing next!

DJ Alex Faid

Mitchmatic

The headline performer was local rock band Scenic Route to Alaska, made up of Trevor Mann on guitar and vocals, Murray Wood on bass, and Shea Connor on drums. They had back-to-back shows last night – fortunately their first gig at the Yellowhead Brewery was not far away! Sonic 102.9’s Band Of The Month for February, Scenic Route to Alaska did not disappoint. Follow @scenicalaska on Twitter for upcoming show announcements!

Scenic Route to Alaska

Food was provided by Bistro La Persaud and consisted of two-bite quiche tarts and salad rolls. Yellowhead Brewery served up beer all evening, while wine was provided by Cono Sur Vineyards and Winery. There was a silent auction featuring the awesome Joker mural by The Daft Punk artist, and everyone left with a small piece of art also created by Daft Punk.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=109615

Trip the Light was lots of fun! Slightly reminiscent of Electric Circus, I think it showed what an awesome combination unconventional event spaces and local artists can be.

artsScene Edmonton will be hosting a new Behind-the-Scenes event this year with the Freewill Shakespeare Festival. For details on that and other upcoming events, keep an eye on the website and follow @artsSceneEdm on Twitter. To see more photos from Trip the Light, click here.

2012 Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts

mca2012 The 25th annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts took place last night at the Winspear Centre. Being the silver anniversary, Sharon and I just couldn’t miss it! As in years past it was a fun evening of awards and performances, not to mention a great networking opportunity for everyone in attendance. This year the event came very close to selling out, which is great news for the chosen cause for 2012 – the Rock & Roll Society of Edmonton’s Centre for Arts and Music. It was fantastic to see so many people out in support of our amazing arts community here in Edmonton!

Here’s an excerpt of Mayor Mandel’s message in the program:

Arts and culture form the very heart and spirit of our city and for 25 years this event has celebrated the best artistic talents our city has to offer. Every year, some of Edmonton’s most talented artists perform at this event leaving me with renewed appreciation of Edmonton’s immensely talented arts community.

The Mayor seemed to be in a particularly joyful mood last night! His remarks during the show were brief, but he had some fun with MCs Peter Brown and Carrie Doll. At the end of the evening, he even instigated the on-stage dancing, which is something of a tradition for the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts.

The full list of nominees is available at the PACE website. Here are the winners:

Mayor’s Award for Sustained Support of the Arts
Realtors Association of Edmonton, Jon Hall, nominated by Azimuth Theatre Association

Mayor’s Award for Innovative Support of the Arts by a Business
ATCO Gas & Electric, nominated by Victoria School of the Arts

John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts
Arts on the Ave, nominated by Theatre Prospero

Robert Koetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize
Freddy’s War by Judy Schultz, Brindle & Glass Publishing Ltd.

CN Youth Artist Award
Candace Chu, nominated by Alberta College Conservatory of Music

Northlands Award for an Emerging Artist
Jason Carter, nominated by Jessica Aube

DIALOG Award for Excellence in Artistic Direction
Marsh Murphy, nominated by Kyle Armstrong

TELUS Courage to Innovate Award
iDANCE Edmonton, nominated by Alison Neuman

ATCO Gas Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement
Brian Webb, nominated by bottom line productions inc.

The evening’s performances, sponsored by Syncrude, included:

I’m a big Colleen Brown fan, so I really enjoyed her set. I thought Brett Kissel did a fantastic job as the show opener! He’s obviously a talented artist but was funny and personable on stage too. He got the audience clapping along which really set the tone for the show. I also really liked the guys from Caution: May Contain Nuts. They did an Arnold Schwarzenegger segment which was pretty funny. I think lots of people in the audience enjoyed seeing Tommy Banks perform too. Christian Hansen did a wonderful job closing the show – he was very high energy!

Some of the kids from the Rock & Roll Society also performed a song that they themselves composed. The Centre for Arts & Music is a program that helps students learn how to write lyrics, compose music, play instruments, record & produce, engineer video, perform on stage, and many other skills. More than 100 kids have benefitted from the program, which is ten weeks and consists of two sessions of two hours each week. You can learn more here.

Unlike in years past, there was no intermission during last night’s event. That meant that the evening flowed smoothly and quickly, and it meant that everyone got to enjoy the after party! Food was sponsored by Northlands, and it was great to see so many people stick around for the party. It added an excellent social element to the show that I think was mostly missing from previous events. During the after party, a few volunteers walked around with iPod touches preloaded with Touch Metric’s Surveyor to ask attendees to fill out an exit survey. It worked really well!

Congratulations to all of the 2012 nominees and winners! And thank you to all of the sponsors who made the event possible!

This year I joined the event Steering Committee, so it was great to see how it all works from the other side. I joined about halfway through the planning for this year’s event, so I am definitely looking forward to having a bigger impact on next year’s edition!

You can see more photos from the evening here. You can read my previous recaps here: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Edmonton Notes for 4/1/2012

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Hope you didn’t get fooled too badly today! I was happy to see some local jokes. The Oilers & the Eskimos plan to go head-to-head for the Edmonton Cup. The Alberta Party wants to build a high-speed gondola from Edmonton to Calgary. And Danielle Smith would pursue a merger of Alberta and Saskatchewan to form Saskberta. Love it!
Can you believe the snow returned? I think the City jinxed it by talking about this year’s mosquito control program.
Here’s more proof that Edmontonians want LRT expansion to happen faster. Those surveyed said that provincial funding should be fast-tracked for the LRT expansion to Mill Woods, and that it should not be used to support the downtown arena.
Here’s one of the most popular things I posted this week: Cineplex Odeon Windermere is set to open on April 20, the first theatre in Alberta with VIP Cinemas.
So much for the negative “EPCOR effect” – Enbridge is gobbling up office space downtown to support the company’s extensive growth over the few years. They have leased 218,000 square feet in just the past five months. Also, APEGA has signed on to become the first new tenant of First & Jasper.
Every time we walk by Remedy Café on Jasper Avenue, it’s full of people. I love it. Here’s the story of Sohail Zaidi, the man behind the popular spot.
Congratulations to all of the Edmonton and area recipients of the Diamond Jubilee Medal recognizing citizens “who have made real and lasting contributions to the quality of life we enjoy as Albertans.”
More of the same story we’ve been hearing for months now – prairie cities, including Edmonton, will lead growth in Canada. The Conference Board of Canada predicts GDP growth of 3.2% for Edmonton this year.
The City of Edmonton’s Drainage Services is considering changes to the Sanitary Utility Rate structure. You have until April 9 to fill out their survey to provide your feedback.
File this one under “I’ll believe it when I see it” – apparently the Kelly-Ramsey Block on Rice Howard Way is going to become a 28 story highrise hotel and office building.
FC Edmonton is ready for the upcoming season, and will call Clarke Stadium home.
Not that it has any bearing on the standings, but Taylor Hall’s season has come to end to facilitate shoulder surgery.
Later this month, ETS will launch regular bus service to the Edmonton International Airport. It’ll be known, appropriately enough, as route 747.
Can’t say it better than this: “Local firms cleaned up at the recent Canadian Construction Association Conference, winning five of the 11 categories.”
Beginning Saturday, April 7 about 20 bus routes that normally use Jasper Avenue between 100 Street and 102 Street will detour to allow rehabilitation of the Central LRT Station to move ahead.

The old BMO ‘63 building demolition continues!

Here are some upcoming events:

The 25th Anniversary of the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts takes place Monday night at the Winspear Centre!
On Tuesday evening the City is hosting another community conversation on the southeast to west LRT. This one is on the Whitemud Drive to Argyll leg of the line.
Western Canada Fashion Week continues at the Arts Barns through Thursday.
Head down to the ARTery on Thursday for the Edmonton NextGen Art House Party.
Also Thursday is the next Green Drinks Edmonton, taking place at the new Common on 109 Street.
There are a couple tech events this week to note. The next EMUG event on Architecting Consumerization of IT takes place on Tuesday, and Agile Edmonton’s lunchtime event on TDD/BDD with RSpec and Cucumber takes place on Wednesday.
Can’t wait for the next artsScene Edmonton event on Saturday – Trip the Light is taking place in the Citytv Edmonton studios!
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.ca.

Happy April Fools from Google – it’s Edmonton in Google Maps 8-bit for NES!

For election related events, keep an eye on the following pages:

Events with Brian Mason
Alberta Party Upcoming Events
Wildrose Events
PC Alberta Events
For the Liberals, I suppose follow their Twitter. Their website is not working. In the middle of an election. Nor is it linked from their Twitter profile page, oddly.

You can learn more about the Central Station LRT Rehabilitation and Jasper Avenue Streetscaping here.

Recap: Blink Edmonton, Pedway Pop-up

A month ago we held Blink, a pop-up restaurant that Sharon and I organized. On February 26, sixty people filled the pedway that connects Commerce Place and Scotia Place across 101 Street for a six-course meal. We sold out just twelve hours after tickets went on sale, and had a number of people on the waiting list. There’s certainly a hunger for unique experiences in Edmonton!

We had only minor glitches throughout the evening, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The food that Chef Tony Le and his team created was delicious, and I love that they were able to do something different. As Century Hospitality’s VP Culinary Paul Shufelt wrote in the Edmonton Sun:

Yearning for any opportunity to express our creativity. #Blinkyeg was just the opportunity we needed, a chance to create with far less limited boundaries.

Because of the space constraints of the venue, we needed to limit the tickets to 60 people. This allowed us to play with ingredients and techniques that were a little more obscure, and seen far less often on the everyday menu.

So with that in mind, we set out to assemble a menu that would allow us to express a different side of our creativity.

Sharon did a great job capturing the dishes and other details about the restaurant, so check out her recap for more.

We really wanted to hold Blink in a pedway because it fulfilled our desire to utilize a forgotten or under-appreciated space. Usually I speak against pedways, because I’d rather see people on the street than indoors, but they’re an important part of the overall pedestrian system downtown. And even if we succeed at making the streets more attractive, welcoming, and filled with shops and other reasons for people to use the sidewalks, the pedways aren’t going anywhere. So we might as well make the most of them!

As I mentioned in my post announcing Blink, the first hurdle was to figure out who owned the pedway and who we needed to get permission from. Fortunately the Downtown Business Association’s Jim Taylor was extremely helpful in that regard! He was able to track down the information and make the necessary introductions. As a member of the pedway committee, he was already working on gathering that information and they’ve made significant progress in the last year.

Last week, the Downtown Pedway Committee submitted its annual report to Executive Committee. Established in 2010, the pedway committee exists to examine and address the challenges & opportunities related to the downtown pedway network. While much of the committee’s initial work was focused simply on finding ownership, maintenance, history, and other information about the pedways (which culminated in the creation of a database), they are now starting to make some positive changes. By the end of Q2 this year, the committee hopes to have the existing maps updated throughout the system (with help from Edmonton Transit). And next on the list is an integrated way-finding signage system. The signs throughout the system are dated, some are incorrect, and they’re very inconsistent. Refreshing them also provides an opportunity to look ahead, by incorporating digital-friendly way-finding solutions (that was my initial feedback to the committee). All of those improvements will help make navigating downtown easier. And who knows, maybe we’ll see more exciting events take place in pedways!

Thanks again to everyone who had a hand in making Blink happen, especially the Downtown Business Association, the Downtown Edmonton Community League, GWL Realty Advisors, Morguard, and of course, Century Hospitality and everyone at Lux.

And thank you to everyone who bought tickets to Blink – you made it a success! Check out Sharon’s recap here, and you can see my photos here. We are in the process of planning another Blink, so stay tuned for updates!

Edmonton Notes for 3/25/2012

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Winter returned with a dump of snow this week, but the temperatures have remained relatively warm. With spring essentially here, the City is accelerating its 2012 pothole repair program. But not before the sand trucks hit the road again!
According to MoneySense magazine, Edmonton is the 8th best place to live in Canada.
Neil Calhoun, a senior partner with Cushman & Wakefield, predicts that Edmonton will add a million square feet of retail space this year. That’s roughly the size of Kingsway Mall.
Travel Alberta would like to increase tourism in the Edmonton area by $200 million by 2017, an increase of about 20%.
West Edmonton Mall’s Deep Sea Adventure submarines, launched in 1985, will soon be dismantled. They were last in operation in June 2005.
Last year’s Graffiti Vandalism Audit recorded 1133 incidents of graffiti in the top 20 neighbourhoods affected, a drop of 43% from 2010.
There hasn’t been much arena news lately, but there was some discussion this week about the “pedestrian plaza”.
Coming soon to the corner of Jasper Avenue and 100 Street: Underground Tap & Grill, a new bar that will be located underneath The Treasury.
Downtown was a lively place on Saturday afternoon as an anti-racism rally and a white pride march clashed. EPS apparently followed the white pride group all around the city.
Nominations are open for Avenue Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2012. The deadline to nominate someone is May 13!
I had no idea that Edmonton is home to a $1 billion auto dealership chain, but that’s how much revenue AutoCanada reported for 2011.
A new housing program called Welcome Home officially launched on March 22 and will be administered by Catholic Social Services.
The Edmonton Combative Sports Commission handed out its 35th annual awards for excellence in combative sports and outstanding achievements and commitment to those sports. Congrats to all the winners!
Just 2332 property assessment complaints were filed last year, down significantly from the kind of numbers the City saw in 2008 and 2009. More than half of the complaints were filed online.
Edmonton’s Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society has launched a new welcome program for aboriginal people moving into the city. That’s important, as Edmonton will soon be home to Canada’s largest urban aboriginal population.
Starting Sunday, about 1400 census workers will be knocking on doors throughout the city! Remember, all census workers wear photo identification, they never phone residents, and they don’t ask for names or addresses.
Check out the updated renderings of the Walterdale Bridge Replacement:

Here are some upcoming events:

The Blue Man Group is at the Jubilee Auditorium on Tuesday evening!
If you get some time this week, check out the Student Design Association’s exhibit at Enterprise Square, called Sweat of Our Brow. It runs Wednesday through Saturday.
The Oilers host the Stars on Wednesday evening, and the Kings on Friday.
Western Canada Fashion Week kicks off on Thursday at the TransAlta Arts Barns.
There’s a public information session on the Central LRT Station Rehabilitation taking place on Thursday at Enterprise Square.
The Farm & Ranch Show kicks off on Thursday the Edmonton Expo Centre. And that evening is the start of the Canadian National College Finals Rodeo.
Hard to believe there have been fifteen already – the next Social Media Breakfast Edmonton is happening on Friday morning.
On Friday evening, Brittney is auctioning off her 50,000th tweet! The money raised will go towards the Edmonton Public Schools Foundation. Should be a great party!
The Edmonton Rush are back in action at Rexall Place on Saturday evening as they host the Minnesota Swarm.
Anna Marie Sewell, our city’s Poet Laureate, is the keynote speaker at the Never Ending Learning Conference on Sunday.
Head over to the Shaw Conference Centre on Sunday for the Edmonton Collectible Toy & Comic Show.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Rooftop Panorama by Darren

Recap: DemoCamp Edmonton 18

Last night was our eighteenth DemoCamp here in Edmonton, and it was awesome! We had an excellent turnout – probably one of our best – and seven really great demos. It’s so inspiring to see local folks working on some really unique and creative projects. You can read more about DemoCamp Edmonton here, and you can read my recap of our last event here.

Tonight’s demos, in order of appearance:

Backup Box – Eric and Mark showed us their online backup utility, a project they started working on at the Startup Hackathon / Global Game Jam back in January. Backup Box makes it easy to transfer files from a variety of different services, such as from FTP to Dropbox. There’s a big need for a service like this. I love that their website says “Proudly made in Edmonton” right on the front page!
Life Goes On – Susan, David, Eric, and Ian demoed their very creative game, something they also started back at the Startup Hackathon / Global Game Jam. I just love the idea behind the game – you solve puzzles using your characters dead bodies. From the website: “Sacrifice an endless stream of fearless knights into the arsenal of spike pits, flamethrowers, sawblades, and lava to make progress through a deadly gauntlet filled with elaborate deathtraps!” You can download the demo now, and watch for a commercial release in the future.
PlanHero – Sean, Graham, and Dave demoed their solution for organizing events with friends. You can schedule an event and invite people, and they can then vote on options and pay their share of the costs. I was one of the test users for the demo, and it went really smoothly. Imagine organizing ski trips or pub crawls or hockey pools, those are just some of the events that PlanHero would be useful for. They’re off to a great start!
Super Motherload – Skye and his team from XGen Studios demoed their intriguing digging adventure game. From the website: “Super Motherload challenges players to dig deep into the substrata of Mars as they collect increasingly rare and valuable minerals.” I kind of liked that the team basically just sat down and played their game for seven minutes, though a bit more commentary would have been welcome. Looks like fun though!
Signia – Next up was Dan who showed us his solution for connecting customer behavior and analytics. It’s a sort of check-in system, so you might use it to track what customers are purchasing and then use that data to create a reward program. Signia was created because Dan’s brother had a specific need, so he just decided to see how far he could get!
Technitone – Grant showed us a few things he has been working on, but the big one was a web technology showcase app called Technitone. You’ll want to use Chrome if you check out the website, because it makes use of some cutting edge stuff like the Web Audio API. Using the tool you can compose music using a visual drag & drop interface, but that’s a pretty simplistic description. There’s much information about Technitone here.
The Peregrine – Brent came up from Lloydminster to show us his innovative glove for user input. With over 30 touch points and motion sensitivity, you can use the glove to move things on the screen, to type, or to perform other programmable options. Currently you need to plug it in, but a wireless version is in the works. It was very Minority Report-like, and the audience loved it. Here’s a video that gives you a better idea of how it works:

People always love hardware demos, so I think The Peregrine was definitely an audience favorite. Chatting with people after the event at Original Joe’s, it sounds like Life Goes On and Backup Box were also quite popular. The sound effects of your character dying over and over again in Life Goes On had everyone hooked and laughing! I also enjoyed Technitone, because I love that it stretches the boundaries of what is possible today. It offers a glimpse of what’s coming!

There were a bunch of announcements throughout the evening:

Work on the Startup Edmonton Space is coming along and we hope to be open in the Mercer Warehouse soon. Memberships will come in two flavors – $275/month for a desk and other benefits, or $125/month for drop-in members. You can apply here!
The website for Flightpath is now up! Check it out and learn about the entrepreneur-led, peer based startup accelerator launching in Edmonton later this year.
Have an interest in data analytics? Then the Analytics Hackathon is for you! Build something with one or more of the available datasets (City of Edmonton, Edmonton Oilers, etc.) and you could win some big prizes! Submissions are due on April 12, so you need to move quickly.
Accelerate AB is back at the end of May! This year the event is taking place here in Edmonton, and it should be a great opportunity to connect with entrepreneurs from around Alberta.

Thanks to everyone who came out last night. See you at DemoCamp Edmonton 19!

DemoCamp Edmonton 18 is tomorrow!

Every couple of months there’s another DemoCamp here in Edmonton. Our last event was in January, and the next one takes place tomorrow evening. If you’ve never been, you should definitely try to make it out tomorrow! You don’t have to be a programmer to get something out DemoCamp.

DemoCamp is an event that brings together developers, creatives, entrepreneurs and investors to share what they’ve been working on and to find others in the community interested in similar topics. For presenters, it’s a great way to get feedback on what you’re building from peers and the community, all in an informal setting. Started back in 2008, DemoCamp Edmonton has steadily grown into one of the largest in the country, with 200-300 people attending each new event.

The rules for DemoCamp are simple: ten minutes to demo real, working products, followed by a few minutes for questions, and no slides allowed.

Here are the details for tomorrow’s event:

WHAT: DemoCamp Edmonton 18
WHEN: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 7pm
WHERE: TELUS Centre 150, University of Alberta
COST: Free! Register here

There are seven demos lined up, so it should be an exciting evening! DemoCamp is a free event, but we do like you to register so we know how many people are coming. After the demos are done, we’ll all head over to Original Joes on 109 Street for post-DemoCamp drinks and conversations. If you can’t make it, follow along online using the #democampyeg hashtag.

In addition to being an excellent opportunity to meet others in the local tech community and to get inspired by what they are up to, DemoCamp has at times been a launching pad for local startups. Back at DemoCamp Edmonton 15 in September 2011, Sam Pillar demoed Jobber. Just a few weeks ago, he announced that Jobber had received a seed round of investment! Likewise, at DemoCamp Edmonton 12 in September 2010, Edmontonians were among the first to see TestFlight. At the end of last year, they were acquired by Burstly!

You can check out my recaps of all previous DemoCamps here, and you can see some photos here.

Oh, and if you’re looking for something to do tonight to get you in the mood for DemoCamp tomorrow, check out the YEGRB meetup. They’re talking about design and are also hosting the first ever Exchange.js talk to chat about JavaScript development.

See you at DemoCamp Edmonton 18!

Edmonton Notes for 3/18/2012

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

The TELUS World of Science is getting a new $7 million, 16,000 square foot gallery that is expected to open in mid-September, just in time to host the acclaimed “STAR WARS Identities” exhibit beginning October 27. While the expansion is welcome news, it’s definitely no TELUS Spark.
This weekend was the grand opening of the Arctic Shores exhibit at the Edmonton Valley Zoo. The $16.7 million project is the first of many that will transform the zoo. I did a photo tour of the construction last April – can’t wait to check out the finished product!
Another exciting project officially opened this week – the newly renovated Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre is now open to the public. It looks amazing!
Alberta Municipal Affairs has approved a $250,000 grant towards the Northwest LRT Concept Plan Study which will look at developing an extension from NAIT to a future transit centre in St. Albert. The $1.1 million study is expected to be completed by December.
The new Edmonton Filmed Entertainment Fund launched this week. The profit-motivated $10 million fund will invest in film and television projects made in and around Edmonton, and is a partnership between EEDC and Los Angeles-based Kilburn Media.
Starting tomorrow a two block section of 105 Street between 105 Avenue and 107 Avenue will be closed until November to facilitate construction of the North LRT to NAIT.
Councillor Anderson thinks that taxpayers are in for a rough ride in the years ahead. He’s concerned that civic taxes could go up more than 50% in the next decade.
You’ve really got to see the picture of the snow piles in this article. Last year’s was nearly 20 stories high, this year’s is much, much smaller. Bring on spring!
Representatives from twelve Ukrainian cities were in Edmonton last week to learn about economic planning, intergovernmental cooperation, and government reform. The trip was part of FCM’s Municipal Local Economic Development program.
According to new figures released by Statistics Canada, total employment in the Edmonton CMA has slipped by over 4000 jobs in February, bringing the unemployment rate to 5.3%.
On the other hand, the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey says that 28% of employers plan to hire for the upcoming quarter while just 11% anticipated cutbacks.
Some sad news in the local food scene: d’Lish is closing permanently. That follows the news that Kerstin’s Chocolates is also closing. For more local food news, don’t miss Sharon’s weekly food notes.
I’m gonna have to head out to Donnan Park to check out Edmonton’s first “natural playground”. The new playground was designed by Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds and features rocks, stick, sand and dirt rather than monkey bars and plastic play structures.
Here’s some excellent news for downtown and hopefully also for Rapid Fire Theatre – our city’s longest running improv group is moving back downtown, into the Citadel’s Zeidler Hall in September.
If you haven’t already done so, check out Backup Box. Created by Eric Warnke and Mark Fossen, the utility helps you connect technologies like FTP and Dropbox. I love the message in the footer: Proudly made in Edmonton.

Photo by Paula Kirman

Here are some upcoming events to note:

The next EBL Edmonton event takes place tomorrow night at Accent Lounge. The guest speaker is Ron Gilbertson, currently EEDC’s President & CEO.
On Tuesday evening the monthly Ruby Meetup is taking place at the Computing Sciences Centre at the University of Alberta.
The 18th DemoCamp Edmonton is taking place on Wednesday evening at the Telus Centre. Come see what Edmonton’s entrepreneurs and tech community has been up to!
BUILDEX Edmonton is at the Shaw Conference Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
There are two Southeast to West LRT Community Conversations taking place this week. On Tuesday, the Argyll Road to Strathearn area will be discussed at St. James School, and on Thursday the Mill Woods Town Centre to Whitemud Drive area will be discussed at the South Edmonton Alliance Church.
Jason Kapalka, Chief Creative Officer of PopCap Games, is the next speaker in the Innovative Leaders Lecture Series. He’ll be at the U of A on Thursday afternoon to talk about his experience.
Also Thursday afternoon is Jennifer Cockrall-King’s Food and the City event at Hardware Grill.
The Home & Garden Show takes place at the Edmonton Expo Centre starting Thursday.
Don’t miss this on Saturday: Bust a Move Edmonton!
On Saturday evening, head down to Rexall Place to cheer on the Edmonton Rush as they host the Washington Stealth.

Photo by Ian McKenzie

I hope you had a safe and enjoyable St. Patrick’s Day!

Edmonton Notes for 3/4/2012

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

City Council’s annual budget and year-end expenditure reports were released on Friday. Council budgeted $1,263,865 in 2011 and actually spent $1,118,682.
Council is considering a new bylaw that would ban smoking within 10 metres of any outdoor playground, skating rink, sports field, or spray park. Similar legislation exists elsewhere. If passed, the new bylaw could take effect as early as next month.
Monday is the deadline for nominations for the next Historian Laureate. Ken Tingley’s two year term ends in April.
Congratulations to FiliStix, Tres Carnales, Cake Couture, and Guru – the folks behind those organizations made Western Living Magazine’s list of the 40 Top Foodies Under 40 for 2012! Great to see Edmonton represented.
I certainly wouldn’t be handing out any awards until the project is finished, but the City has received an Award of Merit from the Consulting Engineers of Alberta for the North LRT to NAIT project. UPDATE: To be clear, the award was for the LRT tunnel under the new EPCOR Tower, taking advantage of that building’s construction, which makes sense.
Did you know Edmonton still had a milkman? Barry Svederus was the last milkman in Edmonton until he retired on Friday, a job he has been doing for 34 years!
The City of Edmonton is accepting applications for the position of firefighter until March 30.
The list of nominees for the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts was announced this week! Should be a great event.
Congratulations to Sam Pillar, Forrest Zeisler and the rest of the team at Jobber – they just scored a six-figure venture capital investment!
Another year, another uneventful NHL trade deadline. Check out the analysis at OilersNation.
Work is well underway for a new stormwater line in The Quarters. Cool photo of the giant hole crews dug – six stories deep!
Four Edmonton schools made the Fraser Institute’s top 10 schools for 2012. You can check out the full list here.
Police handed out 379 distracted driving tickets in February, the most since the legislation took effect in September.
It sounds like Council will be discussing the Edmonton Stories website this week – Councillor Diotte wants to see the program shut down.
Here are some recent business comings and goings from Bill Mah.
In case you missed it, here’s the first part of my State of the Edmonton Twittersphere for 2011.

Big snowflakes fell in Edmonton today, but with warm temperatures ahead, it won’t last! Here you can see the Jaffer Building signage going up. You can see the finished product here.

Here are some upcoming events to note:

The Innovative Leaders Lecture Series continues on Tuesday with TELUS CEO Darren Entwistle.
Yelp’s Prohibition Party takes place on Wednesday at Suede. Should be a fun way to mark the one year anniversary of Yelp in Edmonton!
March 8 is International Women’s Day, and there are a bunch of events taking place around the city to mark the occasion. The annual Key Communicators Luncheon takes place at the Sutton Place, and there’s a wine & cheese celebration at NorQuest.
BlogWest gets underway on Thursday and runs through Saturday at the Delta Edmonton Centre Suite.
The Seniors Association of Greater Edmonton is holding an open house on Thursday afternoon.
The Oilers host the Canadiens on Thursday evening at Rexall Place.
The high-flying Oil Kings will go for six wins in a row on Wednesday as they host Moose Jaw. On Saturday they host Red Deer at Rexall Place.
The Edmonton Rush are back in action at home on Friday evening when they’ll take on Calgary!
You can take part in the International Women’s Day March on Saturday at Tipton Park. Or, check out the Women’s Wellness Fair at the Alberta Avenue Community Centre.
The City of Edmonton is holding a Neighbourhood Engagement Workshop all day Saturday at the Santa Maria Goretti Centre.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

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