Edmonton Trivia

• The name “Edmonton” is a Latinized version of a Saxon word meaning “Happy Hamlet.” Edmonton was named after a borough of London, England.
• Edmonton’s sister cities are Hull, Quebec (1967); Nashville, Tennessee (1992); and Harbin, China (1985). The province of Alberta was twinned with Hokkaido, Japan in 1980 and Heilongjiang, China in 1981.
• Ripley’s Believe It or Not has recognized 96th Street as “Church Street” for its 16 churches in the neighbourhood.
• The Canadian Cold Buster Bar was invented and developed at the University of Alberta in 1991 by Dr. Larry Wang. This energy bar, sold under various trade names worldwide including Access Bar and Fat Lighter, is available in North America, Taiwan, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia.
• The world’s largest ice cream sundae weighing 54, 914 lb. 13 oz (24.91 tonnes), was made by Palm Dairies in Edmonton on July 24, 1988.
• The first Booster Juice location opened in Sherwood Park – east of Edmonton – in 1999. Booster Juice was co-founded by its president and CEO Dale Wishewan of Sherwood Park.
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck – was filmed at Fort Edmonton Park in the fall of 2005. Several locations in the park were utilized by the production, including the park's working steam train which was used in a robbery sequence; the train's interior was refurbished by the production crew for even more historical accuracy in a goodwill gesture to the park.
• Edmonton is one of Canada’s sunniest cities with about 2,300 hours of bright sunshine per year. In June, Edmonton enjoys up to 17 hours of daylight per day!

HISTORY

• In 2004, Edmonton celebrated its 100th anniversary as a city. As part of a community beautification project, The Old Strathcona Centennial Mural Project showcases local artists and their work on 40 public utility boxes located throughout the Old Strathcona area.
• The Old Strathcona Provincial Historic Area was established under a provincial Order-in-Council on January 31, 2007. This designation signalled the recognition by Alberta of the district for its contributions to provincial history. The new district, including a section of Whyte Avenue, will now be listed on the Alberta and Canadian registers of historic places, placing its inherent merits before a wider public.
• The High Level Streetcar operates spring through fall giving visitors a trip over the world’s highest streetcar bridge – the High Level Bridge – built in 1912.
• To commemorate Alberta’s 75th anniversary, the Great Divide Waterfall on the High Level Bridge was created in 1980. This man-made waterfall is 7.3 metres (24 feet) higher than Niagara Falls.
• With the arrival of the railways, Edmonton entered its first boom years. Between 1900 and 1914, its population soared from 2,000 to 72,000. During this time, it became the capital city of the brand-new province of Alberta.

FESTIVALS

• Edmonton has more than 30 established festivals each year devoted to music, performances, visual arts, family fun, sports and culture.
• Largest in North America, and second only in size to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edmonton’s International Fringe Theatre Festival attracts 500,000 visitors each summer and some 1,000 performances. The Edmonton Fringe attracts performers from across Canada, the United States, Africa, Austria, Australia, Bulgaria, Great Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Sweden, Taiwan, and Central and South America.
• For something a little different… Edmonton is home to the Silly Summer Parade, Old Strathcona Ghost Tours and the Mount Pleasant Cemetery Tour. Other different events include The Stroll of Poets, The Sourdough Raft Race and during Christmas check out Candy Cane Lane, a small community that goes all out to decorate their houses with colourful light displays and unique decorations.
• Edmonton Heritage Festival is an annual opportunity to sample ethnic foods from more than 50 different cultures in an unmatched outdoor experience.
• There are up to 40 restaurants at A Taste of Edmonton each year that offer one savoury and one sweet dish from their menu.
• Capital EX – formerly Klondike Days – continues to be one of Canada's largest exhibitions where more that 810,000 guests attend each July, and is Edmonton’s oldest festival.

ARTS & CULTURE

• Edmonton was named as a Canadian Cultural Capital for 2007.
• The first of its kind in Canada, the Gallery Walk was formed in 1981 to promote both art and artists of merit, with a special focus on Canadian artists and their work.  Edmonton is home to over 60 art galleries.
• Edmonton is home to 20 theatre companies and dozens of acting co-ops. Eight theatre companies can be found in the historic Old Strathcona district.
• The first Muslem mosque in North America was the Al Rashid Mosque, now located at Fort Edmonton Park.
• Edmonton’s impressive Chinatown Gate was built as a symbol of friendship between the Edmonton and its sister city, Harbin, in the People’s Republic of China.
• Edmonton's only complete season of contemporary dance, presented by the Brian Webb Dance Company, is recognized as the largest dance season west of Toronto.
• Mural, mural on the wall, which is the biggest one of all? Both Stony Plain, just west of Edmonton, and Legal, north of Edmonton, feature outdoor art walks focusing on more than a dozen impressive murals depicting the history of each area.

URBAN FLAIR

• There are over 3,500 eating establishments in the Edmonton region to choose from.
• Downtown Dining Week, held in March, promotes the downtown area’s best restaurants.
• In 1984, Edmontonian John Stanton opened the first Running Room, a small shop located in the living room of an Edmonton home. Since the opening of his small athletic store offering a variety of running shoes for the avid runner, the word has spread quickly of Stanton’s passion for quality running shoes that met the specific needs of those who required them.
• Old Strathcona, named one of the 10 best shopping districts in Canada is a bustling area rooted in history which boasts 300 businesses of which 90% are family owned.
• Motor sport is revving its engines with the recent addition of Edmonton to the Indy Racing League circuit in 2008. In its inaugural year in 2005, the Grand Prix of Edmonton set the record for a Champ Car event in Canada with attendance of 200,052 spectators.
• It’s Canada’s biggest money rodeo and the season-ending championship competition of Canadian professional rodeo – the Canadian Finals Rodeo. Held annually in mid-November at Rexall Place, it’s the largest annual indoor sporting event in Western Canada.

ATTRACTIONS

• The Alberta Legislature sits on quicksand!  Patches of quicksand were discovered during construction in 1908. Concrete piles were driven in before the footings could be set into the ground.
• Fort Edmonton Park is Canada’s largest living history park, tracing the growth and development of Edmonton through four historical periods represented by The Fort, 1885 Street, 1905 Street and 1920 Street.
• The world’s largest car park is located at West Edmonton Mall. It can hold 20,000 vehicles. West Edmonton Mall also holds records for the world’s largest indoor amusement park (26 rides and attractions), the world’s largest indoor triple loop rollercoaster (1,285 metres of track), the world’s largest indoor lake (complete with a replica of Christopher Columbus’s Santa Maria), the world’s largest indoor wave pool (12.3 million litres of water), and the world’s largest indoor permanent bungee tower (30 metres up and 30 metres down).
• The average yearly visitation to West Edmonton Mall is approximately 28.2 million, more than eight times the population of the province of Alberta, making WEM Alberta’s number one tourist attraction.
• Some of the world’s biggest roadside attractions can be found in the scenic countryside northeast of Edmonton. Find the world’s largest Easter egg (Pysanka) in Vegreville; the biggest Mallard Duck in Andrew; giant mushrooms in Vilna; the largest pyrogy in Glendon and an oversized sausage in Mundare. You’ll also find the world’s first UFO Landing Pad in St. Paul.
• Northlands has been rocking Edmonton since 1879 and now have 2,500 events that attract over 3.5 million visitors every year.
• West Edmonton Mall’s Fantasyland Hotel features 12 different theme rooms for guests to stay in, including African Safari, Arabian, Canadian Rail, Hollywood, Igloo, Polynesian, Roman, Truck, Victorian Coach, Sports, Waterpark and Western.

STEPPING OUTDOORS

• Canada’s largest Ecomuseum - Kalyna Country is a heritage and eco-tourism district in East Central Alberta.
• Edmonton has the longest stretch of urban parkland in North America, which is 22 times larger than New York’s Central Park and 8 times larger than Vancouver’s Stanley Park.
• The Victoria Golf Course is the oldest municipal golf course in Canada (1907). There are more than 70 golf courses within the Edmonton Alberta Capital Region.
• With the exception of the Serengeti Plains of Africa, Elk Island National Park has higher densities of hoofed mammals per square kilometre than any other wild area in the world.  Elk Island National Park of Canada – located less than one hour east of Edmonton – is home to herds of free roaming plains bison, wood bison, moose, deer and elk.  There are over 250 species of birds; the park is a bird watcher’s paradise.
• The Canadian Birkebeiner – held in Strathcona County east of Edmonton – is Canada's premiere Cross Country Ski Festival and the largest Classical Cross Country Ski Festival in North America.
• Jasper National Park – 370 kilometres (192 miles) west of Edmonton – is the largest and most northerly Canadian rocky mountain national park.