encourage
Taking Takinga arisk, risk,ororhelping helpingsomeone someonetake takea arisk, risk, isisthe themost mostEdmonton Edmontonthing thingyou youcan cando. do.
In the fall of 2013, we gathered to talk about Edmonton Economic Development. What did we do in the past, what do we do today, and what can we do — what should we do — in the future? More importantly: why? There are 840,000 city builders in Edmonton. We count ourselves among them, but we also have a distinct role. City building isn’t easy. People with ideas need allies, mentors, champions to refine those ideas, help take them to reality. They need a story to tell about this mysterious bend on the North Saskatchewan River, to each other and to people in Toronto and New York, in Beijing, in Mumbai. Visit Edmonton, invest in Edmonton, learn in Edmonton, play in Edmonton, try something new in Edmonton, launch in Edmonton. This is the best place on the continent to take a risk, to create, to build. Our job is to embody that spirit in everything we do. It’s difficult to describe a spirit, but we left that gathering in the fall of 2013 with the words in this book. We hope you read it as we do, as an invitation. Brad Ferguson
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Every morning we wake up with a choice. We can be good enough or we can be remarkable.
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We come into work each morning with an unusual responsibility.
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We are working with over a million people in the Edmonton Region to create something on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River
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— a city like no other.
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It’s our job to give them a common language, a common direction, a poke, a hand, a path.
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Sometimes it’s silent work.
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Sometimes it’s
boisterous,
booming, rambunctious.
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It’s work for our children, our grandchildren.
We only have one chance to transform what we have inherited into something that lasts forever.
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Stewardship 29
Creativity 30
In Edmonton, we create extraordinary things
Creativity 31
— for us and for the world.
Creativity 32
It takes courage.
Creativity 33
In the process, we’ll sometimes fail.
Creativity 34
But there isn’t a better place, anywhere,
Creativity 35
Creativity 37
to fail and start over again.
Creativity 38
We take the word
enc
Creativity 39
courage
seriously, and literally.
Creativity 40
It’s our history and it’s our identity:
Creativity 41
if you have the courage to create something from nothing,
this is your city.
Creativity 42
And we can help.
Creativity 43
Collaboration 44
Everyone has a theory.
Collaboration 45
Collaboration 46
Maybe it’s 8,000 years of history as a First Nations gathering place.
Collaboration 47
Collaboration 48
Maybe it’s the mystery of the north,
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our roots in agriculture and energy,
Collaboration 51
the way immigrant communities have chosen this place.
Collaboration 52
Maybe it’s the volunteer spirit in our DNA.
Collaboration 53
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Collaboration 55
But when we launch an idea in this city, and build it together,
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it thrive
es.
Collaboration 61
Collaboration 62
A million people share the success.
Collaboration 63
Courage 64
Courage 65
We know what it’s like to go home frightened at the end of the day.
Courage 66
All risk-takers know that feeling.
Courage 68
If we aren’t scared we think harder, until we are.
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Edmonton has been underestimated, but this is not a city of underdogs.
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It’s a city of adventurers.
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Going home afraid, and waking up the next morning ready to keep building, is at the heart of what it means to be an Edmontonian.
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Courage 78
Confidence is not about empty boasting. It’s about knowing who you are, who you have always been —
Courage 79
Courage 80
at your best
Courage 81
and striving for nothing less.
Courage 82
We have been too quiet about our successes, the links between them:
Courage 83
We have been too quiet about our successes, the links between them:
Courage 84
between our entrepreneurs and artists,
Courage 85
Courage 86
our inventors
Courage 87
and researchers
Courage 88
our volunteers
Courage 89
our heroes
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our time
Courage 91
is now.
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Let’s be
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bold.
Urgency 96
There have been a few moments in Edmonton’s history when we had to get it right.
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This moment is the most crucial,
Urgency 99
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It will, we will, define the next century.
Urgency 102
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We’re competing with hundreds of cities on this continent and around the world.
Urgency 104
None of them have our advantages. But as we have seen in the past, if we don’t act with courage and intelligence,
Urgency 105
Urgency 106
if we don’t tell our own story,
Urgency 107
others will tell it for us.
Urgency 108
Our objective is simple. Edmonton will outperform every other regional economy. And we will win by welcoming
Urgency 109
Urgency 110
more companies
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more entrepreneurs
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more families
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from everywhere.
Pride
Pride, in Edmonton, is different. 114
It’s in thousands of head offices, in thousands of creators and what they have created.
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There is a song we can sing, in this city. We’re writing it today.
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Let’s inspire everyone we meet.
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Let’s create ambassadors and evangelists, singers of the Edmonton song.
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Let’s invite each other.
Pride 125
Let’s invite the world.
Pride 126
Alone, we’re good.
Together,
Pride 127
we’re unstoppable.
Significance 128
We are measured by
Significance 129
what we do.
Significance 130
But our real results are in the heads and hearts of Edmontonians.
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It’s difficult work. It’s complex.
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Sometimes it’s crazy.
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We fall asleep with the same choice: We can be good enough tomorrow, or we can be remarkable.
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It’s an honour to be frightened:
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helping a million people succeed is the most Edmonton thing we can do.
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The world needs more Edmonton.
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Let’s be remarkable.
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let’s give it to them.
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Images in this book:
Stewardship
Creativity
Collaboration
Page 5: Sunset in Edmonton’s river valley, University area. Page 6: Fans at the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo.
Page 30: (middle) A mural by Edmonton artists Mark Feddes and Chelsea Boida at the Northgate Edmonton Transit Station.
Page 11: A fall stroll through the river valley, Oliver area.
Page 32: Local artists Dara Humniski and Trevor Anderson enjoying winter.
Page 44: (top) Edmonton Economic Development corporate games participants fundraising for the United Way. Image courtesy of Edmonton Economic Development
Page 12: Warren Currie breaks ice on the North Saskatchewan River on his stand-up paddle board. Image courtesy of Perry Nelson.
Page 34: Tres Carnales Taqueria. Image courtesy of NGYOFACE.com
Page 13: Dudley B. Menzies Bridge transports pedestrians and the LRT over the North Saskatchewan River.
Page 35: (middle left) Zeshan Qureshi and Shawn Kanungo, creators of Press Moi, the mobile press conference. Image courtesy of Make Something Edmonton.
Page 14: Image courtesy of the City of Edmonton.
Page 35: (bottom left) Image courtesy of Mack Male/What the Truck?!
Page 15: Edmonton Folk Music Festival goers at a Neko Case workshop. Image courtesy of the Edmonton Journal/Fish Griwkowsky.
Page 35: (right) Image courtesy of Kevan Morin/moreinmind.com.
Page 16: Capital City Burlesque at the Edmonton Pride Festival.
Page 36: Revelers on Whyte Avenue during the failed 2006 Stanley Cup run.
Page 24: (bottom left) Chanelta ShaNay-Nay playfully greets Stephen Mandel.
Page 38: Terrance Houle speaks at the 2013 Works Art and Design Festival. Image courtesy of the Edmonton Journal/Fish Griwkowsky.
Page 25: (top right) Cycling enthusiasts at the annual Bikeology Festival.
Page 40: Idle No More protestors in front of the Alberta Hotel.
Page 25: (bottom right) Harriet the wonder dog plays in the river valley.
Page 41: Gardeners building the LIVINGbridge project on an old CN overpass over 97th Street at 105th Avenue.
Page 26/27: A family of Canadian geese amble along Jasper Avenue. Image courtesy of the Edmonton Journal/Fish Griwkowsky. Page 29: A child enjoys the Silver Skate festival. Image courtesy of the City of Edmonton.
Page 43: Image courtesy of Jeff Samsonow.
Page 45: (bottom left) Construction of the Talus Dome. Page 45: (bottom right) A close-up of “Transition,” a mural by Josh Holinaty and Luke Ramsey. Page 46: The Turtle Rock Effigy Labyrinth by Leah Dorion at Louise McKinney Park. Page 50: St. Josaphat Cathedral. Page 52: Volunteers at the 2013 Canadian Finals Rodeo. Image courtesy of Northlands. Page 53: The food service crew preps meals for over 2000 other volunteers at the 2013 Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Image courtesy of the Edmonton Journal/Fish Griwkowsky. Page 55: Chef Mike Scorgie and Barman Andrew Borley, co-owners of WOODWORK. Page 58: Actor, writer and improviser, Mark Meer, poses with the character he voices in Bioware’s Mass Effect game. Image courtesy of the Edmonton Journal/Fish Griwkowsky. Page 59: A Ladies Learning Code workshop assembled in Startup Edmonton. Image courtesy of Jody Bailey. Page 60: The cast of Die-Nasty at Varscona Theatre. Page 61: The Happy Accidents clown troupe at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival.
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Urgency
Courage Page 66: The John T. Ross residence hidden behind a January snowfall. Page 69: A Viking atop the original boat from the SCTV skit, “Vikings and Beekeepers.” Page 73: A view of the river valley from the top of the Glenora stairs. Page 74: A smart phone screen capture from the Edmonton Journal mobile site posted to Instagram. Image courtesy of the Edmonton Journal/Larry Wong. Page 84: Aboriginal artist, Aaron Paquette. Image courtesy of Make Something Edmonton. Page 85: A shopper examines an artisan’s wood work at the Royal Bison Craft and Art Fair. Image courtesy of Make Something Edmonton. Page 86: The Royal Alberta Museum sparks a child’s interest in science. Image courtesy of Edmonton Economic Development. Page 87: University of Alberta paleontologist Philip Currie displays the pristine, near-complete skeleton of a baby Chasmosaurus, a relative of the Triceratops, he found in Alberta’s badlands. Image courtesy of the University of Alberta.
Page 88: Homeless Connect volunteers participating in a smudge ceremony. Image courtesy of Edward Allen. Page 89: (left) Joey Moss waves after receiving the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Image courtesy of David Bloom/QMI Agency. Page 89: (right) William “Wild Bill” Hunter. Image courtesy of the Edmonton Journal/File photo. Page 90: Cherry blossoms near Constable Ezio Faraone Park.
Page 97: A train placed on the low level bridge to prevent it from washing away during the flood of 1915. Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, EA-160-1399. Page 98: The Edmonton Grads basketball team takes part in a parade in 1923. Image courtesy of City of Edmonton Archives, EA-160-189. Page 99: A coronation school student shows off her bridge building efforts. Image courtesy of Make Something Edmonton. Page 100: Image courtesy of Peel's Prairie Provinces (peel.library.ualberta. ca), a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries. Page 101: Image courtesy of Mike Kalt. Page 109: With billions worth of energy-related projects underway in the province and billions worth more planned through to 2016, Edmonton is forecasted to be one of the fastestgrowing economies in Canada. Image courtesy of Edmonton Economic Development. Page 110: A trade show takes over the West Edmonton Mall Ice Palace. Page 111: Duchess Bake Shop. Image courtesy of Make Something Edmonton. Page 113: Frank Spinelli stands in his original Italian Centre Shop in Little Italy. Image courtesy of the Spinelli family.
Pride
Significance
Fish Griwkowsky
Page 120: Image courtesy of the Edmonton Journal/Fish Griwkowsky.
Page 133: Shoveling snow off the Art Gallery of Alberta roof towards Chancery Hall.
The art critic of the Edmonton Journal, Fish Griwkowsky is an award-winning photographer, journalist and culture blogger whose images and cinematography have appeared in newspapers and magazines internationally, and onscreen everywhere from Sundance and Berlinale to film fests in Vladivostok, Brooklyn and Dawson City. He specializes in stereoscopic photography, is a founder of Golden West Music Fest, initiated the National Portrait Gallery Project, has been a published cartoonist for over 25 years and has directed and shot videos for Corb Lund, the Wet Secrets and Lad Mags. At the latest Mayor’s Night, he won the Poole Award for support of the arts and is an Avenue 40 Under 40 recipient.
Page 122: (left) Image courtesy of Edmonton Economic Development. Page 122: (right) Anticipation building at the inaugural Tour of Alberta. Image courtesy of Edmonton Economic Development. Page 123: (far right) Former Edmonton Poet Laureate, Cadence Weapon. Image courtesy of David Topping. Page 125: Commander Chris Hadfield enthralls the audience with tales from outer space at the inaugural E-Town festival. Image courtesy of Edmonton Economic Development. Page 126: (left) Image courtesy of Edmonton Economic Development. Page 127: Local music lovers at the SOS Music Festival, directed by Kaley Bird. Page 128: (left) The Edmonton Aurora Synchonized Swim Club takes a break from practice at Queen Elizabeth Outdoor Pool. Image courtesy of Edmonton Economic Development. Page 129: Image courtesy of Edmonton Economic Development.
Page 139: Image courtesy of Jason Woodhead. Page 141: Edmonton International Street Performers Festival is a 10 day festival home to outdoor performances by musicians, jugglers, acrobats and unicyclists. Image courtesy of Edmonton Economic Development. Page 146: Edmonton musicians after a long day of landscaping work. Page 147: A red-tailed hawk takes flight. Page 150: Master Warrant Officer Don Cormier is greeted by his wife, Jennifer Cormier, at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton on Friday, Dec. 13, 2013. Image courtesy of Codie McLachlan/ QMI Agency.
Griwkowsky’s photos illustrate a passion for this city that could easily earn him the title of Edmonton’s unofficial ambassador. Whether it’s +25C or -35C, you can find him, with a camera in hand, on the streets of Edmonton adding to his immense collection of personal photographs, dating back to the 1980s and currently numbering over a million shots.
Images in this book are from a collection of photographs taken by Fish Griwkowsky in Edmonton, unless otherwise noted. © 2014
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Taking a risk, or helping someone take a risk, is the most Edmonton thing you can do.