City Market Report: Week 18 (plus Corn Fest!)

I suppose this really isn’t a City Market report so much as it is a recap about Corn Fest, Downtown Edmonton Community League’s annual fall event run in conjunction with Edmonton Federation of Community League’s city-wide Community League Day.

Corn Fest

Over 100 community leagues organized events for today, which ranged from barbecues, potlucks, carnivals, garage sales and pet pampering – I hope you had the chance to check out the activities in your neighbourhood!

DECL has offered Corn Fest for a number of years, but starting aligning the date with Community League Day last year. It serves up free corn with a side of salsa dancing.

Corn!

I had taken in Corn Fest last year, but this was my first time being on the other side. Set-up went pretty smoothly, and we had plenty of time to shuck the corn before our 11am start time.

Laurissa was a shucking machine!

Lindsey and Ian

The weather was overcast for most of the day, cool but not cold, and all in all, a great day for a hot cob of corn. Crowds were steady, but a rush of people late in the afternoon meant we ended up running out of corn early – we ran through about 450 ears of corn!

We need more corn!

Mack and Jon enjoy their corn

It’s amazing how transformational music is – as soon as the salsa music came on, people started wandering into Beaver Hills House Park to check out what was happening. Even when no one was utilizing the square to dance, it created a festive, warm atmosphere. The couples that did eventually descend on the dance floor were a treat to watch!

Just dance

MLA Laurie Blakeman was also around today to hand out the Downtown in Bloom awards. Congrats to all of the winners!

MLA Laurie Blakeman and Scott

There was a lot going on in that area today: the folks behind the Alley of Light were doing chalk art in the alley with children, and there was a performance on the corner of 105 Street and Jasper.

Walk the chalk

Performance art

And of course, there was the market! Because I was busy volunteering, Mack was responsible for picking up the groceries this week, so just a few photos here and there today.