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One of, if not my favourite event of the year.

I will forever remember our winter relay race and going down the Edmonton Ski Club (bunny) hill in a canoe.
Same, top 3 in Edmonton for me and they are bringing the caberet back this year! Loved the vibe back in 2019 before covid cancelled it.
 
Kinda love this.

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Name a Plow contest winners announced



January 18, 2023

The City of Edmonton’s first ever Name a Plow Contest was a fun way to welcome the winter season. With more than 2,100 entries, Edmontonians made it a great success.

“We appreciate the incredible enthusiasm for this contest, and are very excited to display the winning names on plows throughout the city,” said Mark Beare, Director of Infrastructure Operations. “With so many entries, we’ve decided to name 15 plows this year. Thank you to everyone who submitted such creative and unique ideas.”

The following names have been chosen:
Amarsleet Snowhi
Blizzard of Oz
Blizzard Wizard
Buzz Iceclear
Connor McBlade-It
Ctrl+Salt+Delete
Darth Blader
Fast and Flurrious
Mr. Plow
Peter Parka
Plowasaurus Rex
Plowy McPlowface
Qanniq (“Snowfall” - Inuktitut dialect)
Snow-Be-Gone Kenobi
 
Most of the boxes in the Downtown are broken, used for garbage and rarely for their intended purpose. Contractors put so much material down these days that I am not sure that they are needed in central areas.

I would not miss them at all.

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City seeks input on sandbox program for ice control
By Karen Unland


The City of Edmonton wants to know whether it should scale back, maintain, or beef up its community sandbox program, which is the largest of its kind in Canada.

Edmonton spends $900,000 per year to maintain more than 700 sandboxes around the city, offering communities and residents free sand to make icy sidewalks more passable. A scan of other Canadian municipalities revealed that most have fewer large bins in central locations rather than small boxes distributed throughout neighbourhoods. Edmonton’s program, which has been in place for about 30 years, has grown from about 150 boxes five years ago to 769 at last count.

Four options are under consideration, each offering a different way to balance the cost to taxpayers, the capacity of crews to keep the sandboxes full, and the distance people have to travel to pick up sand:

Option 1 would phase out small community sandboxes and replace them with up to eight large bins at eco stations and roadway maintenance yards. The city says this would save $900,000 per year, which would be put toward other snow and ice control services.
Option 2 would reduce and redistribute the sandboxes, putting 30 to 100 large bins at central locations such as transit centres, recreation centres, and recycling depots within a 10-minute drive for most residents. This would save about $800,000, which would go into other snow and ice control.
Option 3 would maintain the status quo, keeping about 700 boxes around the city but redistributing them more evenly, so they would be within a five-minute drive for most residents. The cost would remain around $900,000.
Option 4 would increase the number of boxes to about 900, giving newer neighbourhoods at least one box. This would add $235,000 to the budget, bringing the total to more than $1.1 million per year.
An online engagement tool allowing you to rank the options will be available until March 7. You can also share your ideas online or at a series of pop-up events:

Feb. 15, 5pm to 8pm: Kinsmen Sports Centre
Feb. 22, 2pm to 7pm: Orange Hub
Feb. 23, 5pm to 8pm: Clareview Community Recreation Centre
Feb. 28, 5pm to 8pm: Mill Woods Edmonton Public Library
City crews refill the boxes after other snow clearing has been completed, with a goal to do so within 13 days of a snowfall.

Image: A screenshot of the map of sandbox locations maintained by the city from the open data portal.
 

WinterWarmupMarch2.jpeg
 
I always have very mixed feelings about promoting winter focused events. On the one hand, I feel it reinforces stereotypes about us being a cold frigid place, which are not accurate or helpful, but on the other hand I do feel we need to get out more and not hunker down just because it is cooler outside.

So I find it sad and ironic, when something is outdoor winter event is planned, like Ice Sculptures in February and the weather is too warm that particular week and they do not well. In reality, our winter weather is quite variable, so you can never guarantee the right weather even in mid winter when it is supposed to be cold. I suppose that's always a hazard in planning for outdoor events.
 
I always have very mixed feelings about promoting winter focused events. On the one hand, I feel it reinforces stereotypes about us being a cold frigid place, which are not accurate or helpful, but on the other hand I do feel we need to get out more and not hunker down just because it is cooler outside.

So I find it sad and ironic, when something is outdoor winter event is planned, like Ice Sculptures in February and the weather is too warm that particular week and they do not well. In reality, our winter weather is quite variable, so you can never guarantee the right weather even in mid winter when it is supposed to be cold. I suppose that's always a hazard in planning for outdoor events.
Very hard to plan winter events here with potential for -40 or +5 always around haha. But a lot have week long formats, which I think helps hopefully give time for at least a few days to “work”.

I think it’s a key differentiator for us. Other Canadian cities have winter. But we have a “better winter” cause we actually embrace it, enjoy it, and have fun. Outdoor rinks, festivals, etc are key I think.

We can’t fake that it’s not cold here. Might as well make it something we’re known for.
 
Yes, sometimes it is cold here, sometimes it is not. However, there is probably a temperature range that is relatively good for winter events, maybe -5 to -10.

A lot colder than that and people really don't want to "embrace" being outside quite so much regardless, so events can be poorly attended, despite all the organizers enthusiasm, real or fake.

I don't mind embracing winter, just the stereotypes that are negative and not helpful. We seem to get guaranteed coverage on the national news when it is very cold here, but seldom gets mentioned when warmer than TO in the winter which does happen probably more than realized.

We sometimes forget in our myopia, there are places much colder than here, we are in the middle of Canada, not the far north. Of course, many places warmer than here too.
 
Yeah, Edmonton isn't really in the category of coldest cities in Canada. Canadians are fairly uninformed about the geography/ climate of their own country and generally just listen to media stereotypes.
Granted, we're definitely in the mix for coldest major city. I think only Winnipeg edges Edmonton out, by a fine margin. In all honesty, when people are comparing places in a country, they're doing it with the relevant places in mind, not Bubblegum - YK.
 
Average January highs and lows in Edmonton are very similar to Montreal.

Montréal, Quebec average high: -5 average low: -14

Edmonton, Alberta average high: -6 average low:-15

Anywhere in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, large portions of Quebec or Central/ northern Ontario, has colder January than Edmonton. I didn't look at the Atlantic provinces but possibly cooler in some parts there as well..
 
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