From Calgary

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This month’s column is being written from the Calgary Stampede where the city is buzzing once again with packed bars, restaurants, hotels and a fantastic atmosphere that makes an Edmontonian slightly jealous of what we are missing out on with our own comparable event, Klondike Days. It seems that the entire Calgary corporate community is out competing with each other by hosting functions, building floats, flipping pancakes and entertaining clients and employees in a manner that does not remotely resemble what goes on in Edmonton during our own festival. My suggestion is that we come up with a way to change the Klondike Days theme to the Alberta Provincial Fair and conduct it the way that the Texas State Fair is held annually in Dallas. This event would celebrate our agricultural heritage along with a much-needed boost to our cattle and pork industries. The Taste of Edmonton would easily fit into this event and the cities country bars, clubs and restaurants could tag their menus to incorporate the theme of Alberta grown products. Other events could include a Canadian BBQ competition, free nightly concerts with major recording acts at the revamped Churchill Square and serious corporate involvement to bring Edmonton the same type of economic spin off that Calgary enjoys each year at the Stampede.

Great news about Vancouver winning the competition to host the 2010 Winter Olympics for people living in Alberta. We will now be able to easily travel to the Olympics in February of 2010 and enjoy the event while not having to pay the cost of increased taxes and construction hassles that the residents of the lower mainland will have to endure over the next seven years. While the Olympics themselves will break even, the taxpayers of BC will have to dish out $1.7 billion for the rapid transit line from downtown Vancouver to the airport, $600 million for the widening of the sea-to-sky highway, $450 million for the new Convention Centre, and $620 million for the new Games facilities. All the residents of Edmonton will have to pay for is a Westjet airline ticket, a sleeping bag to crash at a friends place and the tickets to the events, which will most likely include the hockey finals being played at the 55,000 seat BC Place Stadium.

Congratulations to Rob and Kimberly Reeves and their partners at Budweiser Motorsports Park for the first ever International Hot Rod Association top dragster weekend on the last weekend of June. Over 25,000 people attended the weekend events and it brought back memories of the time when Speedway Park was the top summer attraction for race fans. This event has been booked to be held for the next five years and will undoubtedly become one of the premier events on the local calendar for the foreseeable future.

Happy Anniversary to Brian Hall at 630 CHED, who recently celebrated his 50^th year of broadcasting. Listening to Brian on the radio was an institution in our home back in the 1960’s and 70’s when he was the only sports radio voice in Edmonton with his Sunday shows “The Topic is Sports” and “Sportsline” along with his broadcasts of the Oil Kings hockey games.

Watch for the second Original Joe’s Bar and Restaurant to open this fall in the University area. Perhaps this is the first of many new establishments in the U of A area which is currently served by only the Power Plant, RATT and Earl’s in the immediate area. Considering there are close to 30,000 students attending the U of A it would seem a natural place for more bars and restaurants as Whyte Avenue is several blocks away from the core of the University.