Fun in the Downtown of Edmonton

A few months back I moved in with Chrissy and went from being a 'hip' urban dweller to a suburbanite pariah. However, to be honest with you, even though I liked living in the downtown I don't really miss living downtown.

• Where I once had a farmers market nearby, I now have a garden.
• I used to like stopping in for a drink at some great pubs, now I have a large deck and much cheaper beer.
• For all the talk of a downtown community I have talked to my neighbours nearly 3 times as much now out in the suburbs.
• I now no longer have to weave through smelly, pushy homeless people and punks or rush to the meter to pay for my visitors parking or have to witness drug deals on the streets....
• The new digs are pretty good. Plus, the downtown is still there - I can jump on the train and visit anytime and when the spirit moves me to...I do.  BTW I take the train cause driving and parking to the down town just sucks and is not worth the money.

Most trips to the downtwon this year I start with a quick visit to Kehrig Fine Art for a chat with Randy and to browse the new works in the gallery. It's been a lot of fun having Randy and his family in town for the summer and I'll miss them and the show once it's done.

Being situated right by the Farmer's Market is definitely a big plus for the gallery and I usually walk through each Saturday that I find my self downtown. As I now live in the North East of the city I tend to actually buy directly from the greenhouses near our house as opposed to the market. I would say that the markup at the market is probably an additional 40-60% compare to right at the greenhouse. The price of convenience and set-up I guess. However, I can't buy little princess dresses...which is what I really want :)

Plus, sometimes the entertainers can be quite good.

Right behind the library they have been setting up little games stations for people to take advantage of during the summer. It's a nice little idea and somewhat decreases the amount of junkie kids hanging in the bandstand. On one occasion Greg joined me and Christina for a tournament of champions.

I'm so into the game I never even saw the old shirtless dude behind us...

Christina used to play basketball quite a bit and she still has good fundamental form.

Greg came out of nowhere to try and stuff her but he timed his jump poorly and just looked lame when the camera snapped. Now it just looks like he is scared of girl power.

No look smiling for the camera....It missed horribly, but doesn't she look nice?

All the running around made us thirsty and thankfully at the time the Works Festival was going on. We settled in to listed to some chick strangle a cat on stage (figuratively) and enjoyed a beer. Which, by the way, they should have available right in Churchill Square all year round.

With Randy in town that also means I get to spend some more time with my niece Amelia. 

Hanging at the gallery all day can be a bit tiresome for a kid, so during the Street Performers Festival I swooped her up to join me in watching a show.

I often find that when I head downtown I don't really have a plan (much to Chrissy's chagrin) and I spend a lot of time wandering around and stopping into places that catch my eye. Some of my favourite little spots include the McKay Avenue School and the Legislature. 

Although I don't live there any more the downtown keeps drawing me back in...And maybe that's ok. I can enjoy the best of the downtown at my leisure while leaving all of the crap things behind whenever I chose that I have had enough. Maybe I can have my cake and eat it too.