Happy May! Here’s the latest edition of the Transforming Edmonton Quiz, featuring some of the interesting things from last month about this place and the people (and amphibians) who make it go. Answers are where they always seem to be—at the bottom of things. 🙂
1. Axolotl interest in this little guy
A quick introduction before we go further. In the pic above is the new axolotl at the John Janzen Nature Centre. Axolotls are wide-headed, lidless-eyed amphibians (related to the tiger salamander) that, in the wild, were close to extinction in 2020.
What is the name of the Janzen Nature Centre’s new critter?
a) Aries
b) Libra
c) Scorpio
d) Leo
The John Janzen Nature Centre re-opened last month after some down time during the early days of the pandemic. The centre is renovated and has a new exhibit room. The facility was opened in 1976, and is the longest-running, municipally operated nature centre in Canada.
“It’s just an excellent place for people to come if they have kids that have energy and they just need to get the energy worked out, but also learn about nature while you’re here,” says Sarah Gericke, who is an Attractions Program Manager.
(Think bees, snakes, animal poop and the axolotl, for starters).
Here’s more about the new digs at the John Janzen Nature Centre.
2. Step right this way…
The Valley Line Southeast will be a new LRT experience for Edmonton passengers used to high-floor, suburban-style service. The Valley Line gets different adjectives. It’s a low-floor, urban-style ride. It’s in the community at community speeds with neighbourhood stops—not underground stations.
So, how low is low? When you stand inside a low-floor train, approximately how far are you above the ground?
a) 1 m (3.3 ft, or so)
b) 0.75 m
c) 0.50 m
d) 0.3 m (roughly one foot)
Chris Gentile, the City of Edmonton’s Valley Line Technical Manager, explains it like this:
“Low-floor, urban-style LRTs don’t need as many ramps, steps and platform structures to make up a street-level stop, so they don’t take as much space as high-floor LRTs,” said Gentile. “This allows us to blend the new line more seamlessly into neighbourhoods along the alignment.”
Get more of the lowdown here on the style of the Valley Line Southeast LRT in Edmonton.
3. Welcome back, Mr. Carter!
The opening exhibition in the Miller Art Gallery at Edmonton’s storied and restored Roxy Theatre is work by contemporary Indigenous artist Jason Carter from Little Red River Cree Nation. Carter is an alumnus of two Edmonton post-secondary institutions. Which two?
a) U of A and King’s
b) MacEwan and NAIT
c) NorQuest and Concordia
d) Yellowhead Tribal College and Campus Saint-Jean
Carter has wowed local audiences before, including his wâpos installment during Downtown Spark in 2021, which he called “a love letter to Edmonton.”
The Roxy is back, too. From the ashes. The theatre burned to the ground in a fire on January 13, 2015. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, A Radical Retelling by Cliff Cardinal runs until May 15.
4. On the QE2 to Edmonton
The actors Daisy Edgar-Jones and Pedro Pascal swapped stories about Alberta last month while guests on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Pascal told the story of seeing something unforgettable while driving from Calgary to Edmonton. What made such a visual impact on Mando?
a) Canola fields in bloom
b) Three moose
c) The Northern Lights
d) The Big Dipper
We won’t totally spoil it, but you can sign up for a newsletter from the University of Alberta to get notified when the conditions are right to see more of what Pascal was gushing about.
5. From the City Archives
While we’re talking QE2, Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth II! Her Majesty The Queen turned 96 last month. Next month are Platinum Jubilee celebrations in London, marking 70 years of the Queen’s service to the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.
The pic above shows the Queen with Mayor William Hawrelak at a tree planting in 1959 in which Edmonton park?
a) Mayfair
b) Rundle
c) Coronation
d) Gold Bar
Thanks for playing!
Answers
1-a, 2-d, 3-b, 4-c, 5-c