The Pulse: Jan. 6, 2022

Winterruption YEG, a winter music festival scheduled to run Jan. 27 to 30, has been postponed as COVID-19 cases in Alberta hit record highs.

"It is incredibly frustrating at this point ... when you see a light at the end of the tunnel and then that light just ends up getting smaller and smaller and smaller," festival producer Brent Oliver told Taproot.

Oliver was optimistic that the event would go ahead as planned this year after its inaugural run in January 2020. It was set to be a mix of outdoor and indoor shows, with the majority of the latter to be held at The Starlite Room. But ultimately it was decided with the five partner festivals in Western Canada that it made sense to push the events to early spring.

"I really wish that there would be more of an effort from our provincial authorities to put public safety on a governance level instead of on an individual business level," Oliver said, addressing that the responsibility to determine whether or not an event should go ahead currently falls to individuals as Alberta has not yet introduced additional regulations.

In addition to safety concerns and audience hesitation amid the Omicron variant, it was difficult to keep artists scheduled when other gigs they had booked on the same tour fell through.

"It's this really large row of dominoes ... provincial regulations not only across Canada, but also internationally because we have a few U.S. artists," Oliver said. "If one of those (festivals or events) can't do the show, then it just doesn't become financially viable for an artist to tour to play these venues."

And without further support from all levels of government, Oliver expects there will be more casualties in the arts and entertainment industry during this wave. He was glad to see the $1.2-million in funding to the arts and culture community in the city budget that was recently approved, but wonders how venues and other gig economy workers in the sector will be supported.

• Alberta's gruelling cold snap will come to an end next week — at least for a while — as warm winds from the Pacific reach the province. Temperatures are expected to rise by more than 40 degrees next week, according to Environment Canada. Meanwhile, Edmonton Transit is investigating a claim that a group of people were expelled from Churchill LRT Station into the extreme cold early Wednesday morning.
• Members of the Bear Clan Patrol Edmonton Beaver Hills House — which often hands out food and water to homeless people — videotaped a confrontation they experienced outside Edmonton City Centre, in which they were hassled by a Paladin Security guard. The mall and the group met this week, and discussed ways to work together going forward.
• The Bissell Centre is in dire need of winter gear for its community members. New or used boots, gloves, coats, etc., can be dropped off at the site from 10am to 4pm, Monday through Friday.
• The City of Edmonton is making some adjustments to all of its departments so it can continue to deliver important services, now that 400 staff are out with COVID-19. The city said there have been no disruptions to services yet, but they might be coming down the pipeline as the Omicron variant spreads. The Edmonton Police Service confirmed that 100 employees have tested positive, including 77 sworn members.
• Property assessment notices will be mailed out on Jan. 14, letting homeowners know how much their property will be worth, and how much in taxes they'll need to pay come June.
• NASA is featuring an Edmonton man's photographs of the sunrise and sunset. Luca Vanzella's work was featured as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day on Jan. 5 — this was the fourth time the space agency shared his work.

On this day in 1977, rumours were flying about the future of the LeMarchand Mansion. As the Edmonton Journal reported at the time, the Land Titles office would only say the four-storey building at 115 Street and 100 Avenue was undergoing a "change of status." The owners weren't saying much, and some worried a demolition of the then-68-year-old building might be in the cards.

René LeMarchand was already in his 50s when he came to Edmonton in 1905, after working most of his life as a butler in France. He arrived with some unusual cargo: hundreds of slightly used razors. He had inherited them from his former employer, a Parisian nobleman with an extravagant quirk — he never shaved with the same razor twice. LeMarchand sold his boss's castoffs at a luxury store on Jasper Avenue. Then he got into real estate.

When LeMarchand had the mansion constructed starting in 1909, his goal was to create the most luxurious apartment building in Canada. A Paris waiters' union kicked in much of the investment money, and the French influence extended to the Beaux-Arts design, evoking a sense of refinement and prosperity. The ornate columns and cornices, as well as an impressive lobby with hardwood, marble, and stained glass, made it one of the most recognizable buildings in the city and an address for the city's elite. It was also among the most modern, including state-of-the-art heating systems and one of Edmonton's first residential elevators.

LeMarchand died in 1921, and his wife kept the building until she died in 1949. Over time, it lost its lustre. However, it avoided being discarded like some French nobleman's once-used razor. In July of 1977, the province designated the building as a heritage property. And it still stands.

Other heritage buildings have not been so lucky. The El Mirador Apartments at 10147 108 Street may not have been as luxurious as the LeMarchand, but they too were a unique part of Edmonton's downtown before they were torn down to make room for development.

A recent audit of the city's $2.3-million historic resources management program found it was "generally effective," but suggested updating its guiding documents, making sure information on properties is current, and formalizing the process to assess the health and conditions of the city's historic properties.

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.