Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta. The city is located on the North Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province, an area with some of the most fertile farmland on the prairies. It is the second largest city in Alberta after Calgary, and is the hub of Canada's sixth-largest census metropolitan area. The hadrosaur Edmontosaurus is named after the city. In the Canada 2011 Census, the city had a population of 812,201 , and its census metropolitan area had a population of 1,159,869, making it the northernmost North American city with a metropolitan population over one million. At 684 km2 (264 sq mi), the City of Edmonton covers an area larger than Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, or Montreal. Edmonton has one of the lowest urban population densities in North America, about 9.4% that of New York City. A resident of Edmonton is known as an Edmontonian.
Edmonton serves as the northern anchor of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor (one of four regions that together comprise 50% of Canada's population) and is a staging point for large-scale oil sands projects occurring in northern Alberta and large-scale diamond mining operations in the Northwest Territories. Edmonton is Canada's second most populous provincial capital (after Toronto) and is a cultural, governmental and educational centre. It plays host to a year-round slate of world-class festivals, earning it the title of "The Festival City." It is home to North America's largest mall, West Edmonton Mall (which was the world's largest mall for a 23 year period from 1981 until 2004.), and Fort Edmonton Park, Canada's largest living history museum. In 2004, Edmonton celebrated the centennial of its incorporation as a city.
The North Saskatchewan River valley parks system (also known as River Valley Parks; and Ribbon of Green) is a continuous collection of urban parks in the North Saskatchewan River valley of Edmonton, Alberta. Edmonton's river valley comprises over 20 major parks and attractions and forms the largest expanses of urban parkland in Canada. The public river valley parks provide a unique urban escape area with park styles ranging from fully serviced urban parks to campsite-like facilities with few amenities. At 7,400 hectares (18,000 acres) in size and 48 kilometres (30 mi) in length, the river valley parks system consists of 22 ravines, which have a combined total length of 103 kilometres (64 mi). It also includes 11 lakes. Most of the city has bike and walking trail connections. These trails are also part of the 235 kilometres (146 mi) Waskahegan walking trail. Several golf courses, both public and private, are also located in the river valley. The long summer daylight hours of this northern city provide for extended play well into the evening. Golf courses and the park system become a winter recreation area during this season. Cross-country skiing and skating are popular during the winter. Four downhill ski slopes are located in the river valley as well, two within the city and two immediately outside. The City of Edmonton has named five parks in its river valley parks system in honour of each of "The Famous Five".
The idea of uniting the parks of the river valley into one parks system dates back to the 1970s. In 1974, Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed announced the creation of the Capital City Recreation Park, consisting of a 14.5 kilometres (9.0 mi) stretch of parks from the Legislature grounds east to the Beverly Bridge at an estimated cost of $30–35 million. The River Valley Alliance is a grouping of municipal governments in the Edmonton region that have committed to expanding the River Valley Parks System outside of Edmonton's city limits. The plan calls for a 73 square kilometres (28 sq mi) zone to be called the Capital Region Valley Park stretched over 88 kilometres (55 mi). Running from Devon to Fort Saskatchewan. In January 2008, the City of Edmonton paid a record $7 million to buy a parcel of land to fill in a gap in the otherwise continuous chain of parks. The city further promised to spend $20 million of pedestrian bridges and trails, but said that the as yet unnamed park would be left in an undeveloped state.
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Parade celebrating anniversary of the Hudson's Bay Co., 1920.
Edmonton, like many places in North America had been inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous groups. First permanent settlement by Europeans is known to have started around 1795, when Fort Edmonton was officially founded around present day Fort Saskatchewan.
In the early 1800s, the fort was moved to near the current (Alberta) legislature site. The fort was big in the fur trade business. The first settlement outside of the fort was on "River lots", which actually now consist of neighbourhoods. In 1894, settlement began outside the fort and the Town of Edmonton was established. The town encompassed modern Boyle Street (the original downtown) and McCauley neighbourhoods.
In the 1900-1910 decade, the Hudson's Bay Company was granted a reserve on much of the Fort's land but in the decade it was eventually all sold off to Edmonton. Edmonton became a city in 1904 and shortly after, with a mere 5,000 people became Alberta's capital. With the new land west of Queens Avenue (modern 100 St) available to the city, the city grew tremendously, and Boyle Street was abandoned as the downtown for the new, current downtown.
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Nathan Fillion in July 2014
Nathan Fillion () was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the younger son of Cookie and Bob Fillion, both of whom are retired English teachers. He attended Holy Trinity Catholic High School, Concordia University College of Alberta, and the University of Alberta, where he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Society.
He best known for his role as Richard Castle on the ABC series Castle, as well as his earlier portrayal of the lead role of Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the television series Firefly and its feature film continuation, Serenity.
He has acted in traditionally distributed films like Slither and Trucker, Internet-distributed films like Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, television soap operas and sitcoms, and theater. Fillion has also voiced several video games, including the Bungie titles Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach, and Destiny, along with the 343 Industries video game Halo 5: Guardians.
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- The millennium edition of Places Rated Almanac rated Edmonton ahead of 317 other major cities in North America, and as one of the top-three places to live in Canada. This was based on a study of North America’s largest cities that surveyed living costs, transportation, job outlook, education, climate, crime, the arts, health care and recreation.
- Edmonton is a tourism hot spot, home to one of the world’s largest shopping mall, the largest stretch of urban parkland in North America and an array of diverse attractions, from the Great Divide waterfall (24 feet higher than Niagara Falls) to historic Fort Edmonton Park.
- Edmonton's 60,000+ Elm trees is the largest concentration of disease-free elms anywhere in the world.
- The highest recorded rate of voter turn out in a municipal elections occurred in 1918? That year, 83.5% of Edmontonians turned out to vote for mayor and council.
- Alberta offers the lowest income tax rates in Canada and some of the lowest in North America.
- There are over 70 golf courses in Metro Edmonton including Victoria Golf Course, the oldest Municipal Golf Course in Canada (1907).
- The Edmonton Oilers are expected to move from Rexall Place to Rogers Place, in the new Ice District in Downtown, Edmonton for the 2016–17 NHL season.
- Rexall Place is the second oldest NHL arena still in use at 41 years. The Arena opened on November 10, 1974 as Northlands Coliseum.
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1Over the air transmissions ceased on August 31, 2011; available on cable and satellite only
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