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something to do this weekend

My dear old (and I mean OLD ~snicker snicker~) friend Netti Spaghetti is performing at the Arts Alive! Kaleido Festival this weekend. What better way to spend the weekend than soaking in one of the city's last warm-weather festivals?

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Tanya said…
I heard about this festival on city tv this week, and have to say I am intrigued. Hopefully events like this will help revitalize the neighborhood... I know it's got a long way to go but definitly a step in the right direction.
September 28, 2007
ticblog said…
This is my old neighbourhood, so it's very personal to me that the community has successful events like this. We'll be going down on Saturday afternoon!
September 28, 2007
alphonsedamoose said…
What neighbourhood is it in . I haven't heard about this festival.
September 28, 2007
Mary Rankin said…
The neighbourhood is actually called "Alberta Avenue" and it is the area just around 118th Avenue, approximately 90 Street to 95 Street. Actually it's bigger than that, but that is where the festival will be. There will be venues all along that strip, some indoors, some outdoors in tents. The Netti Spaghetti Shows will be at the Family Fun Zone tent which will be at 118 Avenue & 92 Street. Her shows are at 1:00pm and 5:00pm. There is also a very cool "storytime" (bring your dancing boots) at 2:15 and an amazing brother and sister act at 3:30, Luke & Tess. The other stages have all kinds of music and performances for grown-ups as well as families. Hope to see you there!
September 28, 2007
ticblog said…
Moose - as my other OLDER dear friend Mary mentioned, it's the Alberta Avenue community. Back in the 80s the Edmonton Downtown Business Association wanted to revitalize the downtown core, and went on an aggressive campaign to 'clean up' the area. What this equated to was pushing the prostitutes (and all the associated sidekicks like pimps, johns, and dealers) into the residential areas to the northwest of the downtown core. Alberta Avenue is sometimes referred to a 'ho row' which is really very sad. The home I purchased there was a two-storey '4-square' (think white clapboard, wide-plank hardwood floors, 9 foot dove-coved ceilings, veranda and widow's porch, bay windows...) built in 1914 by real estate developer James Wesley Stambaugh. JWS would later go on to be a member of the Canadian Senate, and is credited for cutting "90% of the deadwood" from the senate when he pushed through a motion to make 75 the mandatory retirement age for senators. Most of the historical houses in the neighbourhood have been beautifully restored, and because of the local real estate market the area has served as the prime hotspot for first-time homebuyers because you can still buy in the $200,000 range there. (I paid a measly $77,000 for my house there 10 years ago, and flipped it for almost 100% profit after just 5 years.)

I was never scared when I lived there, mostly because I knew all my neighbours. There were block parties, meetings, events... you'd walk down the street in any direction for blocks and blocks and knew at least a couple of people on every street. We know a lot of our neighbours in my new 'hood, but I still miss the feeling of community there was over in Alberta Avenue.
September 28, 2007
Tanya said…
Very personal to me as well. I was grew up in Northeast edmonton very close to alberta avenue. I love the beautiful old houses and some of my favorite memories when I was a teen were of walking to the movie theater which at that time was a dollar theatre, the johns trolling for hookers were not so nice during those walks though.
September 28, 2007
ticblog said…
Tanya - there was one night the X was late for work because the cops had pulled a john over in the alley and were blocking our garage... There was also one time I was walking to the drug store with the boys - Kaelan was sick and I was going to buy cough syrup and Tylenol for the poor little gaffer. It was fall, and it was about 10:00 at night. As I'm walking along, feverish baby in a stroller, dragging a cranky toddler, a john pulls over and asks me for a date. I laughed at him and said what, you think the kids are going to watch? He said something nasty to me after that, so I walked over and kicked a big dent into his front quarter panel and took off a chunk of his trim around the wheel well. He jumps out of the car (people were gathering by now) and starts yelling that he's going to call the cops, whips out his cell phone, and starts dialing. I laughed out loud and said, "Buddy, you just tried to solicit sex from a mother walking her babies to the store for cold meds - who do YOU think will get in trouble if you call the cops?" The lady in the house we were in front of and the other guy on the street were applauding and catcalling after I said that. He got in his car, cursing and swearing the whole time, and peeled out of there. I hope it cost a lot of money to get that dent taken out and the trim replaced.

That was the ONLY time I was ever bothered by anyone in the entire 5 years we lived there, though sometimes I'd harrass the prostitutes and tell them to get off my corner since I paid property tax. They never gave me any hassle - they were OK with moving on.
September 28, 2007
ticblog said…
I wanted to add that the hookers have actually moved a bit, and have actually gotten further out towards 66th street along 118 avenue, as well as out around 156 street and Stony Plain Road and in the 107th avenue area, just south of Vic Comp. When they were downtown, where all the businesses closed at 6:00 and the lawyers burning midnight oil were the only competition for slimeballs in the area, the residential areas weren't bothered by it. The cops used to have downtown, and then Alberta Avenue listed as a 'zone of tolerance' but the community members have campaigned very hard to remedy this. Later shopping hours and eventually the creation of warehouse loft housing, have all contributed to prostitution being pushed out into all these other areas. I'm still of the mind it should be legalized and zoned,l but of course, then it becomes a case of NIMBY so where will you put them, plus who will pay to institute a plan of action then monitor and regulate it?
September 28, 2007
Tanya said…
Yeah errm some of the johns definitly lacked brains for sure. I would love to see this legalized and have a redlight district so to speak but I agree with you lots of red tape and headaches when it comes to legalizing it. I guess theres no easy answers when it comes to remedying the problem.
September 28, 2007
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