What's happening in Edmonton this week?

Edmonton's week has two market anchors. The Old Strathcona Farmers' Market fills a brick hall on 83rd Avenue every Saturday, south of the North Saskatchewan River. Arrive before 10am. By mid-morning the aisles are shoulder-to-shoulder, the air thick with the smell of fresh saskatoon berry pies and pan-fried Ukrainian perogies from at least 3 vendors. The 124 Grand Market on Thursday evenings spills across 124 Street in the Westmount neighbourhood, with food trucks, live acoustic sets, and local produce. Temperatures in peak summer sit in the high 20s with humidity around 51%, which means you'll want shade by early afternoon. Thunderstorm cells tend to build west of the city around 3pm and roll through by 5pm. They pass fast, but the air drops 8 to 10 degrees in minutes. A C$20 packable rain jacket earns its keep.

Tuesday through Thursday, Edmonton feels like a city of 1 million people acting like 300,000. The North Saskatchewan River Valley trail network covers over 7,000 hectares, one of the largest urban park systems on the continent, and weekday mornings it is nearly empty. You might run the paved trail from the Walterdale Bridge east toward the Muttart Conservatory without passing more than a dozen people before 9am. The Muttart's four glass pyramids, open since 1976, house arid, temperate, tropical, and rotating show biomes. The tropical pyramid smells like wet earth and orchid pollen. Admission is around C$15 (about US$10.70 at current rates). Weekday afternoons are the time for the Royal Alberta Museum on 103A Avenue downtown, which moved into its current 38,000-square-metre facility in 2018. The original collection dates to 1967. Monday hours are standard, no closure to worry about.

Friday and Saturday nights belong to Whyte Avenue in Old Strathcona. The stretch between 101 Street and 109 Street fills with foot traffic after 9pm, sidewalk patios packed with locals drinking craft beer from Edmonton's 20-plus independent breweries. The noise level rises after 11pm. If that sounds like too much, the downtown Arts District around Sir Winston Churchill Square stays quieter, with the Art Gallery of Alberta (founded 1924, its current angular metal building opened 2010) anchoring the block. West Edmonton Mall, about 15 minutes west by car, is its own weekly constant. Galaxyland and the Mindbender triple-loop coaster run daily, and the World Waterpark holds the air at 30°C year-round, thick with chlorine and coconut sunscreen. Sunday mornings are slow across the city. Most restaurants on Whyte Avenue don't open until 11am.

Edmonton's food week has a pattern worth knowing. Weeknight reservations at places like Corso 32 on Jasper Avenue or Baijiu on 104 Street are easy to get Tuesday through Thursday. Friday and Saturday, book 3 to 4 days ahead or eat before 6pm. For first-timers, the dish to order is the Edmonton donair. It is not a Halifax donair. The Edmonton version uses a sweeter garlic sauce, and the meat is sliced thinner from the vertical spit until the edges crisp and char. You'll find competing donair shops along 118 Avenue and on Whyte Avenue, with regulars arguing over which spot gets the sauce right. A regular donair runs C$12 to C$15. The city's Vietnamese food, concentrated along 97 Street and 107 Avenue, is some of the strongest in Canada outside the Vancouver metro. Pho Hoan Pasteur on 107 Avenue has been serving since the early 1990s.