Visitor Facts
- The Gateway Park Visitor Information Centre opened in 1987. This was the 40th anniversary of the Leduc #1 Oil discovery and the original derrick is still located behind the information centre.
- Edmonton hosts more than 30 major festivals throughout the year that celebrate music, theatre, arts, sports, film, culture and winter.
- Edmonton hosts the largest and longest-running Fringe Festival of its kind in North America. Attracting over 500,000 visitors. Lean more about the Fringe Festival through the stories of people who've experienced it at www.edmontonstories.ca.
- Heritage Days is Edmonton’s vibrant, multicultural celebration. Every year, during the August long weekend, hundreds of thousands of people flock to William Hawrelak Park to take in the sights, smells, sounds and tastes of the Servus Heritage Festival. Lean more about Heritage Days through the stories of people who've experienced it at www.edmontonstories.ca
- The Edmonton International Street Performers Festival is Canada's oldest celebration of street theatre, attracting more than 230,000 visitors.
- The Heritage Amphitheatre in William Hawrelak Park is Western Canada's largest outdoor seating venue.
- Fort Edmonton Park is Canada’s largest living history museum that features more than 70 period buildings – from four different eras in time – on 58 acres of land. Several scenes for The Assassination of Jesse James, starring Brad Pitt, were filmed in Fort Edmonton Park. Opened in summer 2011, the historically recreated Capitol Theatre is an intimate year-round live theatre and film venue.
- Home to national league sports teams - Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Eskimos, Edmonton Rush, Edmonton Oil Kings, Edmonton Energy, Edmonton Capitals.
- Edmonton has regularly hosted major international athletic competitions and sporting events in track and field, curling, soccer, rugby and more – including the annual Canadian Finals Rodeo and Edmonton Indy. Edmonton will co-host the 2012 World Junior Champioinship in hockey with Calgary.
- The Edmonton Oilers once won four NHL Stanley cups in five years. Just follow Wayne Gretzky Drive to find world-class sporting entertainment. Learn more about the Oilers Stanley cup win through the stories of people who've experienced it at www.edmontonstories.ca.
- The region has 84 golf courses, including the oldest municipal course in Canada, with mid-summer daylight lasting 17 hours Edmonton attracts avid and new golfers alike.
- North America’s largest urban parkland, Edmonton’s River Valley is 22 times larger than New York’s Central Park with 150 km of trails on which you can enjoy walks, bike rides, picnics, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, segway rides, and more. Get close to the North Saskatchewan River with guided or independent canoe tours.
- Edmonton is one of the best cities to view the Aurora Borealis. Weather-permitting, the lights can be viewed almost every second or third night during the winter months. The University of Alberta has created www.aurorawatch.ca to monitor when conditions are most promising.
- Edmonton offers a truly cosmopolitan variety of restaurants and fine cuisine from more than 50 ethnic groups. Many of these feature organic selections and regionally inspired menus including Alberta’s world–famous beef.
- The High Level Streetcar operates spring through fall giving visitors a trip over the world's highest streetcar bridge - the High Level Bridge - built in 1912.
- Edmonton Tourism’s Festival City initiative was nominated for the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Marketing Campaign of the Year at the TIAC (Tourism Industry Association of Canada) National Awards for Tourism Excellence.
- In 2010, Pollstar Magazine ranked Rexall Place the busiest concert venue in Western Canada and the third busiest in Canada.
- Old Strathcona is both a Provincial Historic Area as well as an arts district, with a popular, year-round farmers’ market, eight theatre companies performing out of four venues, and a thriving night life.
- Greater Edmonton’s wealth of visual art is displayed in over 60 galleries and public exhibits. The Gallery Walk is the first of its kind in Canada that features eight downtown galleries in a 12-block area around 124th Street.
- Capital EX is Edmonton’s oldest festival. This summer event includes international entertainment, Sip!, The Wine and Food Experience, Family Fun Town and a midway full of carnival fun.
- The Edmonton Folk Music Festival is a four-day outdoor music extravaganza that attracts more than 80,000 music lovers. Situated in Gallagher Park in Edmonton's scenic river valley, the festival offers an eclectic mix of music for all tastes.
- The first Moslem mosque in North America was the Al Rashid Mosque, now located at Fort Edmonton Park.
- Just outside of Edmonton, Kalyna Country is three times the size of Prince Edward Island and is Canada's largest eco-museum, home to more than 40 designated informal natural areas.
- Elk Island National Park is a beautiful oasis home to over 250 species of birds and herds of free-roaming plains bison, wood bison, moose, deer and elk. With the exception of the Serengeti Plains of Africa, Elk Island has the highest density of hoofed mammals per square km than any other wild area in the world.
- Edmonton is alive with theatre from the University of Alberta, Canada’s largest training ground for artists, or the Citadel, one of Canada’s most distinguished theatres, or the Jubilee Auditorium which ranked the busiest theatre in Canada in 2010.
- Edmonton was voted one of the top 10 Family Vacations in Canada in Trip Advisor’s Travelers’ Choice 2011. In addition, Alberta’s capital city was named as a top 10 destination by Student Youth Travel Association’s Teach & Travel magazine.
- About 500,000 people visit the Telus World of Science annually, making it Alberta’s second-busiest cultural attraction after the Calgary Zoo. The Edmonton Space and Science Foundation wants to nearly triple the size of the city owned building by adding such features as a circumpolar centre, larger exhibit galleries, a 500-stall parking structure and updated IMAX theatre.
- Integra Air will provide commuter services to northern Alberta tourists and workers to the East Kootenay region via Edmonton. Phase II of the project planned for the fall of 2011 will include flights to Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie.
- Edmonton’s numerous summer festivals represent a full spectrum of variety in music. Pleasure your auditory senses at Edmonton’s International Jazz Festival, Hip Hop in the Park or the Symphony under the Sky.
- One of the city’s most popular festivals, over 500,000 visitors take in A Taste of Edmonton’s 10 days of dazzling food and beverage options from Edmonton eateries, accompanied by entertainment in the heart of downtown Edmonton.
- The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village is a multi-award-winning provincial historic site that showcases Ukrainian settlement in East Central Alberta (1892 – 1930).
- Introduced in 2011, the Edmonton Attractions Pass is terrific value for money and enables visitors to take in up to 15 attractions at a 60 per cent discount.
- Celebrating its centennial in 2012, Alberta’s Legislature Building is set amidst 23 hectares of parkland and historical monuments, and marks the seat of government in Edmonton as Alberta’s capital city.
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