Edmonton Branding and Tourism strategy

[constance_chlore]

Even though it's not directly tourism-related, I've been using this thread as a dumping ground for all the impressions I've received from non-Edmontonians—mostly either friends/family visiting me or foreign students. Yesterday I was chatting with a visiting student of mine from China. She said that at first she hated Edmonton because it was so brutally cold. (She arrived in mid/late November, just before the long spell of -30 to -15 temperatures in December.) But she said that now she's really come to love it. I asked her why and she mentioned two things: incredible food and sunny blue skies.

In the last two and a half months, she's been to Vancouver, Victoria, Banff, and Calgary. By the end of her visit, she'll probably have seen more of Canada than some lifelong Canadians.

 

[Kosy123]

Even though it's not directly tourism-related, I've been using this thread as a dumping ground for all the impressions I've received from non-Edmontonians—mostly either friends/family visiting me or foreign students. Yesterday I was chatting with a visiting student of mine from China. She said that at first she hated Edmonton because it was so brutally cold. (She arrived in mid/late November, just before the long spell of -30 to -15 temperatures in December.) But she said that now she's really come to love it. I asked her why and she mentioned two things: incredible food and sunny blue skies.

In the last two and a half months, she's been to Vancouver, Victoria, Banff, and Calgary. By the end of her visit, she'll probably have seen more of Canada than some lifelong Canadians.

And then ask a local and they might think this city is a Siberian gulag lol. It's always refreshing to hear out of city visitors/new arrivals what they think.

We really gotta market our food scene better.

 

[ADob]

Our food scene is fabulous! I remember moving back here from Chicago (a phenomenal food city) and being impressed with what YEG had. And it's only gotten better since then. It continues to baffle me that people go to chains when we have SO much amazing indie food places here.

So yeah, marketing seems to be the issue.

 

[constance_chlore]

And then ask a local and they might think this city is a Siberian gulag lol. It's always refreshing to hear out of city visitors/new arrivals what they think.

We really gotta market our food scene better.

Yeah, you would never really know from the scant coverage of food in Edmonton that we have (for example) some of the best East African food on this continent, right up there with Minneapolis-St. Paul and DC. But we do!

Our food scene is fabulous! I remember moving back here from Chicago (a phenomenal food city) and being impressed with what YEG had. And it's only gotten better since then. It continues to baffle me that people go to chains when we have SO much amazing indie food places here.

So yeah, marketing seems to be the issue.

I just wish we had as many taquerías as Chicago!

 

[MacLac]

Wrong! lol Wish we had as many Italian Roast Beef and Chicago style Deep dish pizza restaurants and/or Chicago "stuffed" pizza akin to Piquod's - which I am dying to visit one day...

 

[Gronk!]

I just wish we had as many taquerías as Chicago!

To be fair, Chicago has a large Latino population.

 

[ADob]

Yeah, you would never really know from the scant coverage of food in Edmonton that we have (for example) some of the best East African food on this continent, right up there with Minneapolis-St. Paul and DC.

East African recommendations please!

 

[constance_chlore]

East African recommendations please!

Oh boy, I'm not the most qualified to do this. I've been to a few Ethiopian restaurants and they've all been excellent. (Habesha Cravings and Abinet are the two names that come to mind...) But there are dozens, so it'll be a while before I try them all!

I haven't tried as many Somali restaurants since I'm vegetarian, but I've been meaning to go around breakfast time to try some of their ful.

 

[ADob]

I still miss Langano Skies, it was the food and the people. Recently my husband has started making Ethiopian at home and it's been excellent (particularly when I made some nitr kibeh for him to use) so we haven't been out much. Definitely want to try Habesha. Have heard good things.

 

[ChazYEG]

Our food scene is fabulous! I remember moving back here from Chicago (a phenomenal food city) and being impressed with what YEG had. And it's only gotten better since then. It continues to baffle me that people go to chains when we have SO much amazing indie food places here.

So yeah, marketing seems to be the issue.

Edmonton's food scene punches WAY above it's weight class. I have a friend who just moved back to Edmonton last September, after living in Montreal and Vancouver for the past 20 years, and she has been asking me for recommendations of places to eat (thank you foodies or SRC, because I have taken A LOT of my suggestions from here!!!) and she has been impressed by how the variety and quality of the food scene in Edmonton are high. Not quite at Montreal's level, but mirroring my own experience, me and her agree that we're not too far behind Vancouver, overall. While Van might have a few more high-end options, the overall scene in Edmonton is definitely not too far behind.

 

[constance_chlore]

East African recommendations please!

Sorry, two I forgot: Samosa House on Alberta Ave (note that I have a lot more on Alberta Ave to try in the future), and Java Café and Bakery in Queen Mary Park-ish. (The latter is actually a café; you can get a huge hunk of doolsho for $2 and then just lounge around for a few hours.)

 

[thommyjo]

Cool video on our sister city! I honestly wish we had more consistent cold so we could do stuff like this. Our infrastructure would be better too if we didn't have to navigate the volatility we have. -25 to -5 all winter would be amazing.

 

[David A]

Well, the weather is the weather and we can't do much about it. Although climate change has affected us so we sure do not have the long cold snaps we once did.

Despite this, the stereotypes persist and the promotion of us being a winter city, most people who live here know that we are really a city that can often have winter, spring and fall weather all in one week or less.

 

[YEG imagineer]

A new podcast put on by Chris Labossiere called Barney’s Tavern. His first guest is Todd Babiuk. Excellent discussion on place making in regards to Edmonton. Lots of other commentary in terms of Alberta, Canada too.