MTM: Parks & Dragons!

The Louise McKinney Riverfront Park, is named after the first woman to be elected to Alberta's Legislature, the first woman in any legislature in Canada or the British Empire. She was elected in 1917 and "believed in temperance education, stronger liquor control, women's property rights and the Dower Act".

As the name suggests, this park is on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. It starts at the top of the bank however and that means stairs....lots and lots and lots of stairs. In spite of all this it is handicap accessible. If you are fortunate enough to see the parking lot on the way up the hill (or know that it is there), you are able to eliminate an entire series of stairs (the large & top right photos) and are then at the point that paved paths begin.


The city is also in the process of improving McKinney park, they have put in paved paths, more stairs to the river bank, a stage area and there will be room for permanent concessions. There are plans to put in a funicular lift as well. The park itself is home also to a Chinese garden with beautiful statuary that is dedicated to the Chinese immigrants that helped to build Edmonton. As you can see the lights have yet to be installed and a few other things are not quite completed.



The Dragon Boat Festival is one of the regular events held at this park and it was this weekend!


We attended the opening ceremonies and watched Lion Dances by the Borneo Lion Dancers and then we traipsed down three more set of stairs to the river to see the traditional Blessing of the boats.

We watched a few of the initial races before calling it a day and heading back up those ... stairs.

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My Town Monday is the brainchild of Travis Erwin. To read other entries just visit click here.

To see more photos of the park and dragon boats, you can go to my Flickr site.

Have a good day all.

Dragons

On the summer solstice, my friends and I went to the museum to see an entertainment ('cause I can't think of another word for it) put on by the Edmonton Stilt Walkers to celebrate the solstice and the arrival of the Dragon Exhibit at our Museum.

I now know that at something like this I need to decide before hand if I am going to film or photograph, because it is really hard to do both. Please bear in mind that this was the day I rode my bike for 11 miles, so some of the video is a bit shaky, plus I was standing on the seat of a picnic type table and there were teenagers on the table top itself.

I added a few stills at the beginning and end of the video clips and some music to cover the silence. Unfortunately the production had a pretty poor sound system and it was outdoors. So, after all these excuses, if you still want to watch, please do and any editing tips will be welcome.

This is the poster for the event.



Fortunately I have two more opportunities to get this right! They are performing again in August and September.

I will report on the exhibit once we have seen it. For an idea of what I am referring to, here is a link to the Royal Albert Museum and just click on dragons.


Have a good weekend all.