The Pulse: Sept. 23, 2021

No matter how niche an interest of yours is, there's probably a podcast about it.

The second-annual YEGPodfest is celebrating everything podcasts have to offer with three days of online conversations, panels, and workshops.

"The great thing about podcasting is that the means of production and dissemination are easily available, so there's an inherent diversity of voices and content out there," festival producer Fawnda Mithrush told Taproot.

That diversity is on display in YEGPodfest's lineup — this year's events range from book-focused panel discussions to a conversation with the host of LifeJolt, a podcast about women who have experienced (or are experiencing) Canada's correctional system. There are also masterclasses on audio storytelling and improving podcast listenership, and more.

While there isn't a particular theme to the festival's programming, Mithrush notes some patterns have emerged in the final lineup.

"It was almost impossible to avoid discussions on the political landscape," she says. "Especially with shows like The Strategists, Women of ABpoli, and The Flamethrowers, there are some fascinating angles on how different voices shape our perceptions and awareness of politics."

• The official list of municipal candidates has been released by Edmonton Elections following the close of nominations on Monday. There are 74 candidates vying for a council seat in Edmonton's 12 wards and eleven mayoral candidates. Six incumbent Edmonton Catholic School Board trustees have won their ward uncontested.
• A group of O-day'min candidates have come together to condemn the racism and hatred directed at fellow candidate Adrian Bruff over the past year. Bruff spoke about his experience at a recent forum.
• The City of Edmonton has decided to adopt a proof-of-vaccination program for youth sports at its facilities. The province issued a clarification that kids aged 12 to 17 do not have to provide proof of vaccination or a negative test when they're playing in the province, but Mayor Don Iveson said the city is erring on the side of caution.
• Edmonton Oilers defenceman Duncan Keith will miss the first week of training camp as he travels home to the U.S. to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Josh Archibald is the only unvaccinated player on the Oilers roster. GM Ken Holland hasn't decided on whether to keep him in the lineup yet. Meanwhile, goaltender Alex Stalock is likely to miss out on the season due to a possible heart condition.
• A group of doctors are calling for the Edmonton Oilers to drop plans to play in full-capacity arenas this season.
• The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) and Telus have set up new buy-and-sell exchange zones at police stations across the city to make online transactions safer. Each zone will be equipped with around-the-clock video surveillance.
• Premier Jason Kenney will face a leadership review in the spring, amid internal strife over his handling of the pandemic. Kenney wasn't slated for a mandatory review until late next year.
• Liberal candidate Randy Boissonnault was declared the winner in the tightly contested riding of Edmonton Centre. Boissonnault beat out incumbent Conservative James Cumming by only 577 votes.

Taproot asked candidates to complete a 30-question survey based on what we heard when we asked what key issues people wanted the candidates to be talking about as they compete for votes in the 2021 municipal election.

Here are the answers we've received so far from the candidates in Karhiio:

• Charan Saggu
• Tom Shaw
• Keren Tang
• Shamair Turner

We have not yet received finalized surveys from Muhammad Herman Gill or Sana Kakar. We will update the links above when we receive them.

Want to see which candidates line up best with your own stances? Take the survey and find out.

For more coverage of the 2021 municipal election in Edmonton, visit edmonton.taproot.vote. And for more on the origins of this project, visit our People's Agenda page.

On this day in 1974, one of Edmonton's oldest churches was seeking a new congregation after being turned into a nightclub.

The 1974 version of a nightclub might be a bit different from what we're used to in 2021, with Friar's boasting dancing, dinner, and a show by the Lee Kenniston Set lounge band.

The impressive brick building that housed the church and then a nightclub has been on 96th Street for more than a century. In its early days, the church served as a vital part of the community for Edmonton's growing German community.

German-speaking residents were rare in Edmonton's early days as a town, with the 1885 census counting only about a dozen people of German origin in the area. As railways grew and transportation became easier, more arrived and by the turn of the century, German-speaking arrivals from Germany, Russia, Austria, and the United States began to settle in and around the city.

The First German Baptist Church was founded in 1900 - the building was quite small, with room for only about 50 people. That proved to be inadequate for a growing community, and it was expanded twice over the next decade. Eventually, the building was sold and a new, larger church was built in the same location.

The church served as a gathering spot for the city's German-speaking community for decades. Shortly after the Second World War began, the church changed its name to Central Baptist and began offering English-language services.

In the 1960s, most of the church's congregation began to move to Edmonton's rapidly expanding suburbs. In 1967, the Central Baptist followed, moving to the south side. The building that had once been the centre of the community sat empty for awhile, before being converted into a steakhouse and eventually Friar's nightclub. By the end of the 1970s, Friar's became a popular disco spot in the city.

However, the nightclub eventually shutdown and the building was abandoned until 1993 when a new owner returned it to its religious roots. It became the Mustard Seed Church, a Christian non-profit that provides support services to unhoused and vulnerable people. Since then, it has provided food, clothing and emergency shelter for Edmonton's unhoused, and has been a partner in the city's plan to eradicate homelessness. As temperatures drop this fall, the Mustard Seed recently put the call out for donations of cold-weather clothing, as well as hygiene products.

This is based on a clipping found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse — follow @VintageEdmonton for daily ephemera via Twitter.

• Jurassic Festival Edmonton is an outdoor dinosaur exhibition running Sept. 24-27 that will bring visitors face-to-face with gigantic moving prehistoric creatures like a towering 20-metre brachiosaurus, a 15-metre tyrannosaurus rex, and a 10-metre triceratops.
• The Edmonton Short Film Festival will bring a screening of six short films by independent Albertan filmmakers to Root 107 on Sept. 25.
• The Lessard Back to School Market and Tradeshow is happening outside the Lessard Community League on Sept. 25.
• Alberta Culture Days is coming to the Art Gallery of Alberta on Sept. 25-26, with activities led by local artists Braxton Santiago-Garneau and Yong Fei Guan.
• The first annual Greek Festival, hosted by the Hellenic-Canadian Community of Edmonton and Region, will take place Sept. 25-26. The cultural celebration will offer authentic Greek food, traditional dancing, a raffle, and more.

Photo: Edmonton Short Film Festival/Candace Makowichuk