[David A]

I've experienced this as well, particularly from Calgarians and it is very bizarre. You don't have to want to move to Edmonton, but I can't imagine someone from Toronto saying that Montreal is so dangerous and rundown that they would never visit. I mean, if you want to go to Stampede every year fill your boots, but doesn't that get a bit boring after awhile? Isn't there any sense of discovery in doing something new?

Its part of the historical rivalry some there still have, or I would call it historical resentment, because Edmonton which was much smaller than Calgary at the time was chosen as the provincial capital (which IMO was a good choice as we are more centrally located in the province). There are some there who will miss no opportunity to disparage Edmonton to others. While it is probably fair to say the antipathy goes both ways, Edmontonians do not generally seem as vocal about it.

 

[kcantor]

How many parades cancelled in Edmonton over the last several years? I guess if you want to see a decent one now you have to go to Calgary.

It’s hard to have parades when you don’t have any streets capable of holding a parade…

 

[kcantor]

Just look at how hard is is to rejuvenate the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver - an area with much higher real estate prices and they still can't breathe life into large parts of the community.

When you look at the amount of vacant, developable, and affordable land in and around downtown Edmonton, Vancouver’s Downtown East Side isn’ta really good comparable except for people who like to excuse things by saying “well, it could be worse”…

 

[David A]

It’s hard to have parades when you don’t have any streets capable of holding a parade…

Well they haven't messed up Whyte Ave yet, used to have a nice Canada Day parade and Pride for a while there too.

I know they used to have K Days on 102 Ave and that worked well, but after Jasper Ave worked fine for K Days and still does one of the remaining parades we do have.

 

[Gronk!]

You all keep forgetting about the Cariwest Parade - it occurs every year along Jasper Ave from the Legislature to Churchill Square.

 

[David A]

That was one of the remaining parades I was referring to, although not sure if there are any others.

 

[Edmcowboy11]

Grass roots is where we have to start. Start with something like the Canada Day Silly Summer Fun Parade, or maybe on Sept 1, Alberta Day. Whyte Ave area or maybe 82 Ave from Bonnie Doon to the Mill Creek bridge.

 

[Coprolite]

It’s hard to have parades when you don’t have any streets capable of holding a parade…

We have no shortage of overly wide stroads and our core actually remains dominated by them.

The big barrier to parades is actually the significant expense and the huge amount of organization and volunteer time that goes into them vs the limited payoff that actually comes from them. This is why parades have been in decline pretty much everywhere, and the exceptions are things like Stampede where the parade is able to sell TV rights. Edmonton has never had a parade that can pull in those sorts of revenues.

 

[David A]

The city and others seem to spend a great deal of time and money encouraging various events to come to the city, especially downtown, but parades? No.