I remember having intentions to visit last summer’s Whyte Avenue Street Sale, but never got around to it. So this year, I jumped at the chance to kill three birds with one stone – namely, the Old Strathcona Art Walk, Fashion Extravaganza, and of course, the opportunity to shop on pavement.

The weather was perfectly glorious for outdoor activities of any kind on Sunday, including the open-air catwalk that greeted us at 82nd and Gateway Boulevard. As my sister predicted, the fashion show turned out to be rather “lame” – the DJ had a preference for one-hit dance tunes from the 90s, some of the models left the stage before the announcer was finished with their outfit label rundown, and tags on some items were clearly visible from the crowd. On the bright side, much improvement can and will happen should the event be repeated in the future (here’s a video clip courtesy of Mack’s Flip if you’re interested).

Crowded runway

Model

We continued down the street, pausing on occasion to peruse discounted wares in addition to displays set up by local artists participating in the Art Walk. Perhaps it’s too cliché or tourist-oriented, but I was expecting to see more pieces devoted to Edmonton’s land or cityscape for sale.

Street sale

A kayak, anyone?

How about a turtle?

Art Walk

More art for sale

Mack can never avoid the beckoning call of mini doughnuts

We also wandered into a number of stores. Notable was Ten Thousand Villages (10432 82 Avenue), where Mack found a visor that was perfect for him, and Eden Lilly (10416 82 Avenue), which carries a line of locally-designed cards that were too cheeky not to photographically commemorate.

Coke visor!

 

Double take? (Cards by Brulak Design Studio, available in 11 locations in Edmonton)

On our way back north, we noticed that the High Level Bridge waterfall was on as it had been earlier in the day (yesterday was also the Sourdough River Festival – it amazes me how many events took place on one day). We scrambled to park the car so we could take pictures (and a video!).

Beautiful

By late afternoon, we had built up quite the appetite. Thankfully, we had tickets to Edmonton’s Countryside Taste of Summer event.