Transforming Edmonton Quiz: March 2022

Happy April, everyone! Here’s the latest installment of the Transforming Edmonton Quiz, featuring some of the great things from last month about this city and the people who make it go. Answers are at the bottom.

1. Qualified!

Here are 12 words that haven’t been true since 1986: the Canadian men’s national soccer team is going to the World Cup!  The national side confirmed their spot in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar with a 4-0 win over Jamaica last month in Toronto. 

One of the Canadian stars is Edmonton-raised Alphonso Davies. Davies was born to Liberian parents in a refugee camp in Ghana. At age five, Alphonso and his family moved to Canada, and relocated to Edmonton. Which northside neighbourhood was home for the future superstar?

a) Clareview

b) Hermitage

c) Castle Downs

d) Delwood

“I think [his success] will also bring a lot of eyes to Canada and the Edmonton area,” Nick Huoseh has said of Davies, whom he coached as a youngster. “People will start taking good Canadian players more seriously.” Here’s that story, including the night the City of Edmonton lit the High Level Bridge for Alphonso Davies.

Late last month, the Alberta government pledged $110 million, with conditions, to support the City of Edmonton’s bid to host games at Commonwealth Stadium when the FIFA World Cup comes to North America in 2026.

(The pic above, courtesy Canada Soccer, shows, left to right, Steven Vitória and Alphonso Davies celebrating the goal by Jonathan David in front of 48,806 fans at Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 12, 2021.)

2. Relief

The word went out, and the supplies flooded in, as Edmontonians contributed in ways big and small to the United for Ukraine relief drive. 

“This is who we are,” said United for Ukraine co-chair Thomas Lukaszuk. “When we see need, we pull together. We bicker and we fight and we have political divisions and, you know, north Edmonton versus south Edmonton, but when something like this happens, we’re solid and we’re together.”

In the 2016 federal census profile, what percentage of Edmontonians reported Ukrainian as their ethnic origin? 

a) 6.1 per cent

b) 7.3 per cent 

c) 9.5 per cent

d) 10.8 per cent 

We spent a couple of hours at the Polish Hall as Edmontonians dropped off their donations and shared thoughts about the plight of people in Ukraine. Supporting firefighters in Ukraine has been a years-long commitment for Edmonton firefighter Kevin Royle, whose work got some high-profile attention from CNN last month.

3. Bright idea

It’s as clear as daylight: Edmonton gets a lot of sun at this time of year, and March is the month that that truth starts to dramatically make itself felt again. From February to March, Edmonton experiences a 38 per cent increase in the hours of bright sunshine. 

According to Environment Canada, on average, how many hours of bright sunshine do we get in these parts in the month of March? 

a) 105

b) 138

c) 160

d) 175

In April, the gift of the sun keeps giving. The hours of bright sunshine in Edmonton jump by another 33 per cent to 233 hours. April bright sunshine in Toronto is 180 hours, by the way.

4. Colourful lesson

A new comic book published by the City of Edmonton follows the adventures of Lily, Chip and Aadi as they go looking for, well, that’s the question, what are the fictional trio of friends actually in search of? 

a) their superpowers

b) their homework

c) their skateboards

d) Aadi’s pet lizard

The colourful and action-packed comic book, called The Builders, is perfect for municipally-minded young citizens interested in finding their public voices. It also helps in the work of the ongoing Zoning Bylaw Renewal Initiative, which might not sound as colourful and action-packed, but is 🙂 

Here’s a story of the March day at City Hall when a cape-wearing Mayor Amarjeet Sohi debuted the comic book to a class from Holy Child Catholic Elementary School.

5. Spring’s eternal!

We’ll wrap up this month’s quiz with a tribute to spring, sort of, from the archives. The Edmonton Auto Spring Works Building (1924), lost in a fire in 2010, was a building that mixed the false-front architecture of the livery stables with a taste of Moderne Style, according to the Historical Walking Tours of Downtown Edmonton. At what intersection did the everyday landmark building sit? 

a) 109 Street & Jasper Avenue

b) 124 Street & 107 Avenue 

c) 95 Street & 102 Avenue 

d) 82 Street & 118 Avenue

Big pieces of Edmonton’s memory are stored and searchable by appointment at the City of Edmonton Archives at the Prince of Wales Armories Heritage Centre in the Central McDougall neighbourhood, or here online. 

Enjoy the Edmonton spring, everyone!

Answers

1-a, 2-d, 3-d, 4-a, 5-c