With the Works Festival, Street Performers Festival, Taste of Edmonton, and Cariwest Festival just around the corner, soon Churchill Square will be a hub of summer activity. But it’s not just the festivals that draw in the crowds. Working in City Hall I get a chance to see how Churchill Square is used on a daily basis.
Last week I was photographing the celebrations of National Compost Week at City Hall and I noticed that the square seemed particularly busy. All of the tables alongside City Hall pool were full, there were long line ups at the hot dog stand on the corner across from the Art Gallery of Alberta, and the square was full of people eating lunch, reading, playing basketball, and people watching.
Even though I like the excitement of the summer festivals… there’s always something interesting to see at the Works, I like to see if any of the returning street performers might recycle old jokes, Taste of Edmonton provides a tasty lunch, and my mom is from the Caribbean so I have a special connection to Cariwest… it’s really that every day use of the square that I like best. Maybe it’s because I don’t have to wait for the event to happen, I don’t have to buy tickets or tip anyone, I can just walk right down to the square and find a spot in the sun (or shade depending on my mood) to read or eat lunch, have a meeting with my colleagues, or if I’m feeling particularly athletic, shoot some hoops (one of my women I work with will even play in heels). Even in the cooler months I’ve taken a minute or two to stop in the square to collect my thoughts after a meeting or taken photographs of the sun glinting off of the City Hall pyramid (and I’m not the only one who likes to take pictures in Churchill Square).
Public spaces like Churchill Square are there for citizens to use, so it’s great to see the square bustling with activity on ordinary days when there are no big events or festivals to draw us in. And with gorgeous weather forecasted for the remainder of the week, it’s a perfect time to get outside and visit the City’s public spaces, be it a nearby square or community park. Let the weather serve as your incentive. These places are meant to be gathering places, so find a reason and gather there.