The Pulse: July 13, 2021

After being forced to cancel the festival in 2020, Taste of Edmonton has not only returned to the summer event calendar, but also to its long-term home at Churchill Square. This year's iteration runs July 22-Aug. 1 featuring 51 restaurants and food trucks.

In 2018 and 2019, Taste of Edmonton had relocated to Violet King Henry Plaza on the Alberta Legislature grounds, and though some guests and restaurants expressed that they preferred that site, the festival always intended to return to Churchill Square.

"[Violet King Henry] Plaza was a temporary home until construction on the Square was finished," said Leana Santos, marketing manager for Events Edmonton, the organization that operates Taste of Edmonton. "The LRT construction will not have any effect on physical distancing at the festival and 2021's site plan is the largest in the festival's history to allow for ample physical distancing."

A number of gates will contain the festival site to manage capacity. However, guests will not have to queue for entrance or restrict their time on the festival grounds, Santos said.

The Heritage Festival announced this year that it has eliminated paper tickets in favour of direct electronic transactions with pavilions. Taste of Edmonton, however, is moving forward with the use of paper tickets.

"In 2019 we had the option to purchase digital tickets [through the Taste of Edmonton mobile app]," said Santos. "However, after receiving feedback from our restaurant partners and attendees, we decided to switch back to hardcopy tickets to increase the speed of sale."

• The Edmonton area is under its third heat warning of the summer. The area will experience temperatures above or reaching 29 C over the next week.
• A statue of Emily Murphy located in the river valley was smeared with red paint and had the word "racist" painted over the plaque.
• Extreme heat has forced the repeated closure of the 100 Street Funicular. The $24 million City of Edmonton attraction can't operate in temperatures above 30 C.
• CBC News gives a breakdown of the Diversion First program. Last week police announced that four boys involved in the Rosslyn School attack against a Black teen would enter the alternative justice program, rather than face criminal charges.
• Gary the Cat, who is known for going on epic skiing, hiking, and paddle boarding adventures, is moving to the Edmonton area. Gary has amassed 400,000 followers on Instagram.
• Single-game tickets are now available for Edmonton Elks games. The team will hand out 35,000 free t-shirts to those attending the season opener against the Ottawa Redblacks on Aug. 7.
• The Re/Max Field, home to the Edmonton Riverhawks, has replaced its artificial grass surface with a highly advanced and close to natural, baseball specific, synthetic turf.
• Health Minister Tyler Shandro is reassuring the public that the province is working to address staffing shortages at hospitals. He also said that despite temporary bed closures Albertans can still access the care they need.

The provincial government is projecting the Edmonton area will be one of the fastest-growing regions in the province between now and 2046.

Data published by the Ministry of Treasury Board and Finance earlier this month projected population growth in each of the province's census divisions for 2021-2046, in three different growth scenarios. According to the ministry, the projections are calculated using current trends in mortality, migration, and fertility.

In the "medium growth" scenario, the population of Census Division No. 11, which includes the Edmonton Metropolitan Region as well as portions of Wetaskiwin County and Brazeau County, will grow from 1.53 million people in 2021 to 2.27 million in 2046.

This map shows the average annual growth in each census division in the medium growth scenario. At 1.58% average annual growth, the Edmonton area is just behind Census Division No. 6, around Calgary, and Census Division No. 19, around Grande Prairie.

Local officials have made similar predictions about Edmonton-area growth. The Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB) predicted the region will grow to between 1.96 million and 2.24 million by 2044 in its growth plan published in 2017, while the City of Edmonton's City Plan predicts the city alone will reach a population of two million by 2040, outpacing other projections.

The EMRB's plan includes strategies for how the region's municipalities can collectively manage this growth. One of the plan's primary goals is to achieve compact growth mainly inside already built-up urban areas, using policies that encourage density, and promote high occupancy regional transit options like buses.

In a report accompanying the data, the provincial government also said the relatively high growth reflects an increase in the trend towards urbanization across the province. Three of the areas with the highest growth are around Calgary, Red Deer, and Edmonton — collectively known as the Edmonton-Calgary corridor — which is home to around 77% of Alberta's population despite covering only 6% of the land. Meanwhile, the areas with declining populations and those with the slowest growth are predominantly rural, such as Census Division No. 4, which contains just 0.21% of the population, and covers around 3.23% of the land.

The founder of Canadian Filaments Inc. has been recognized with a youth entrepreneur award from Futurpreneur's RBC Rock My Business Start-Up Awards. The awards, which aim to encourage a more diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem in Canada, came just in time for Alex Neumeyer, who is preparing to launch the company later this month.

Neumeyer, 23, told Taproot that Canadian Filaments will be the first company in Alberta to manufacture 3D printing filament. He is aiming to sell high-quality material at competitive prices on a wholesale basis to retail companies, educational institutions, and the City of Edmonton. There will also be an e-commerce site offering products to 3D printing hobbyists across Canada.

When Neumeyer initially came up with the idea to start the company, all filaments available in Canada were being imported from China. He was unhappy with "how expensive, low-quality, and unsustainable" the filament he could access was.

"Having to ship tons of one-kilogram boxes of plastic across the globe for use in Canada is not ideal and creates a carbon footprint that can be greatly reduced by just manufacturing locally," he explained.

Neumeyer is in the midst of running filament through "hundreds of hours of tests" to ensure it's ready for launch. He said he will use the $10,000 Futurpreneur prize to pay for electrical issues he's had, as well as research into additives to improve his products and advertising to reach potential customers.