Edmontonians will get their final glimpse into the future of Jasper Avenue this Saturday, as the fourth and final 'Experience Jasper Avenue' design demonstration throws a massive harvest festival. Experience Jasper Avenue kicked off in July and used the corridor — from 109 Street to 124 Street — as a testbed for major upcoming functional and infrastructural changes. The reworking of the street arose from the Imagine Jasper Avenue project, which developed a vision for the street's future after a series of public consultations and studies conducted from September 2015 to March 2017.

Experience Jasper Avenue, image via City of Edmonton

To take over the parking lot at 11111 Jasper Avenue from 2 to 7 PM on October 28, the festival will include horse drawn hayrides down Jasper, free hot beverages and hot dogs, live music, a chili cook-off, a mural wall photo contest, and a special trick or treat stroll for the tots. The event will mark the final time that residents can try out the new plan and design for Jasper Avenue, with the demonstration set to begin removal on Sunday.

The July pop-up event, image by Forum contributor Daveography

During the demo, the current outside peak hour bus and off peak hour parking lanes were used as flex space, a new all-season design zone overflowing with patios, bike corrals, and performance spaces. The default use of the flex spaces is on-street parking, but can easily be shifted to accommodate people according to demand. A number of other new features introduced during Experience Jasper included pedestrian crossings at each intersection and additional street furnishing and landscaping.

Flex spaces along Jasper Avenue, image by Forum contributor Daveography

The City designated Jasper Avenue as an official Main Street in 2015, the first in Edmonton to be designed under the Main Streets Guideline. Permanent implementation of the proposed changes will begin in 2019.

Share your thoughts on the design and demonstration in the associated Forum thread, or leave a comment below.