Labour Day Food Festivals

Like squirrels storing up food for a long winter, Albertans will be stuffing their faces at many food festivals across the province next weekend. Here’s a lineup of some of the events happening on the Labour Day long weekend.

Fort McMurray's Fish Fry
September 4
Walleye, salads and blueberry pie. How can you beat that?

Calgary’s BBQ on the Bow Festival
September 4 and 5
Southern-style barbecue in southern Alberta. Chicken, pork ribs, pork butt and beef brisket grilling over slow burning wood or charcoal. What more needs to be said?

Glendon’s Annual Pyrogy Festival
September 4
The highlight of the festival has got to be the pyrogy eating contest. How many pyrogies would a pyrogy eater eat if a pyrogy eater could eat pyrogies?

What will you be stuffing your face with?

Act Up at the Edmonton Fringe Festival

Local actor and long time Fringer Joe Garreck gives us an insider’s perspective on why the Fringe is the best place to experience theatre without a three-piece suit.

“There’s no business like show business.” You can almost hear Rosemary Clooney singing those now famous lyrics as you step on to the grounds of the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival. In 1982 when the Fringe first started, who would have guessed that today it would be North America’s largest theatre festival even dwarfing places like New York City?

This year approximately 100,000 people will attend the Fringe. So what brings them to this theatrical Mecca again and again? Could it be the little doughnuts whose scent permeates the air? Or could it be the opportunity to people watch from the beer tent or from any of the outdoor venues? Well for me it’s a chance to watch theatre as it should be done: un-pompous and intimate.

Theatre over time has in the eyes of many developed into a pastime for the upper class, the elite. We dress to go to the theatre and sit in box seats. Part of the experience is paying $120 to see a show that we have heard once played on Broadway. The Fringe strips that overly-cultured pretense away and brings it back to a time when theatre was accessible to the masses and was there to entertain us all. The Edmonton Fringe theatre festival does not censor any of the productions so you never know what you are going to have the opportunity to experience. It could be a classic rock opera or a play about love or a musical about zombies. There is something for everyone.

So how does one break with tradition and enjoy theatre without a three-piece suit?

1. First, dress comfortably. Shorts are OK. No ties or gowns are needed here.
2. Second, do your research. Buy the official program or navigate to the best shows by tweeting, referring to the new Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival iApp or by my favorite technique - getting referrals in the beer tent.
3. Third, buy a ticket and stand in line. Do not waste this time by keeping to yourself. As you stand there strike up a conversation with others in the line. Find out what they have seen and how they liked it, and of course if you have some of those little doughnuts make some friends.
4. Lastly, once you get inside surrender yourself to the world of the play. These actors will now do their best to entertain you. Enjoy the experience because as the song says “there are no people like show people”.

Many thanks to Joe for being a guest blogger!

Cooking Lessons at Métis Crossing

My friend Kathy and I were jonesing for some bannock so we decided to head out to Métis Crossing near Smoky Lake. For $5, visitors get a guided tour of the site complete with bannock and tea. You can’t beat that!

Our costumed interpreter walked us around the site which includes a nature trail, museum and various types of residences that the Métis people would have lived in over the years, including trappers’ tents and one room houses.

Also on site are replica York boats and Red River carts used by the Métis to ship furs. Speaking of furs, the staff let you touch a variety of animal hides including beaver, otter, buffalo and skunk. The skunk is surprisingly soft and beaver isn’t as soft as I expected!

The ingenuity of the Métis people amazed me. In one of the historical houses, I saw a very unusual item (see below). It turned out to be a handmade berry picker. The Métis were also very aware of the medicinal value of plants. For instance, they knew the white powder that coats the trunk of an Aspen tree can be used as sunscreen (SPF 15)!

Similarly, Métis customs intrigued me. They believed that sage placed above a baby’s crib protected the baby from evil spirits and that when a Métis sash was placed on the table there was no arguing permitted.

The highlight of the visit came at the end of the tour when Kathy and I were taught how to cook bannock over a fire on a stick. You wrap the dough around the stick and cook it until it sounds hollow (I was skeptical that bread can sound hollow but it actually works). Once the bannock is cooked, you squeeze jam into the opening created by the stick and savour the warm, sweet treat. Mmm. An enjoyable cooking lesson… with a little history thrown in for good measure.

Jumpin' Jurassic

OK. The dinosaurs at the Jurassic Forest don’t jump, but they sure move and growl. My friend Terry recently visited the 40 acre site located 15 minutes north of Edmonton and here’s what he had to say.

Family Focus
The park is “very family focused with a huge sand pit play area for kids. The play area comes complete with fiberglass eggs and pieces of interlocking bones the size of small children that are light enough for kids to move them around.” Terry also believes that families will enjoy the wooded picnic area.

The Setting
According to Terry, “Two wood-plank routes wind through an untouched old growth forest. Each loop is one kilometre. Throughout the loops are interpretive stations of each of the dinosaurs, as well as informative plaques regarding local flora and fauna.” Everyone can have a close encounter with the dinosaurs because the walkways are wheelchair, motorized scooter and stroller accessible.


The Dinosaurs
Jurassic Forest is home to 40 animatronic dinosaurs. Terry says, “The dinosaurs are motion activated and the movements are very smooth and lifelike – the sound effects are wonderful, especially when the sounds are coming from somewhere out of sight deep in the forest.”

The Last Word
Jurassic Forest is “well worth a return visit” says Terry.

The Largest Wooden Train Trestle in North America

The largest wooden train trestle in North America is right here in Alberta. Spanning over 700 metres, the Rochfort Bridge Train Trestle is a sight to behold. Not only because of its size, but also because of the fact it is made of wood! What’s also amazing is that it was built in 1914.

The trestle spans Highway 43 so you can admire it as you drive under it or you can stop at the lookout on the hill for a longer look. The Rochfort Bridge Train Trestle is about 1 ½ hours from Edmonton and is an easy drive on divided highway.

The trestle alone is worth the trip but there are also plenty of other attractions along Highway 43 such as:

• the Sangudo Speedway
• George Pegg Botanic Garden near Sangudo
• E.S. Huestis Demonstration Forest near Whitecourt