The Pulse: Feb. 7, 2024

Local inventor Gillian Thomson has earned a United States utility patent for her Skipper shower cap and with it the exclusive selling rights in that country.

"Getting this patent is sort of a proof point that this is an innovative product, it's truly a new kind of shower cap," Thomson told Taproot.

The innovative part of Thomson's shower cap is its closure system. First, a flat band goes around the user's head and closes with Velcro; second, the user closes the open pouch in the back, which houses their hair, with a drawstring.

To get here has taken Thomson three years. She filed her patent application in 2020 and launched the Skipper cap in Canada near the end of 2021. She said she had to keep her invention under wraps until confident the patent office had her design.

"That was challenging, I guess a bit slower than what I'd want to launch the product," Thomson said.

Thomson had multiple debates with the office to prove her cap was new, useful, and not obvious. "It's sort of a back and forth and with every response from the patent office, it sounds like it's over, you have no chance, you can't have it because of these five reasons," she said.

The time and financial investment required came without a guarantee, which was a risk for a startup, Thomson added.

Now, with the patent in hand, Thomson said she has confidence and a "competitive edge" to enter the U.S. market. She can turn to new opportunities, such as larger business-to-business relationships, with a degree of protection.

"It's still up to me to kind of defend my territory, but having the patent gives me the confidence to go out to a broader audience to share my design without feeling as vulnerable, especially going to bigger beauty companies that might be looking for this kind of idea."

• Edmonton's community and public services committee agreed to restore landscaping funding to 2019 levels during its Feb. 5 meeting, which was the first regular meeting to happen since the Jan. 23 attack at city hall. The committee, which met online as city hall remains closed to the public, unanimously approved a proposed $1.3 million ongoing increase for turf maintenance and $900,000 for horticulture operations. If approved by council, the funding would address the expanded green space that city crews are responsible for compared to 2019, totalling an additional 197 hectares for turf and 334,621 more square metres for horticulture.
• Edmonton's Animal Care and Control Centre has stopped taking in healthy animals because of space shortages exacerbated by a recent influx of dogs and cats. The centre is giving priority to animals that are injured or in distress, and is urging people who find animals to attempt to reunite them with their owners or care for them until an appointment can be arranged. The city also has resources available to support pet owners who are struggling with care costs.
• The Edmonton International Airport said it served 7.5 million passengers in 2023, a 29% increase over 2022 and a more than 90% recovery of its pre-pandemic numbers. A study shows the economic output of YEG and the Villeneuve Airport rose to $4.9 billion in 2023.
• The Urban Development Institute - Edmonton Metro shared in an online post that Edmonton's urban planning committee has directed city administration to work with it on advancing the Downtown Pedestrianization Plan and implement short-term actions. The organization has partnered with Paths for People, the Downtown Edmonton Community League, the Edmonton Downtown Business Association, and the Downtown Recovery Coalition on the development of the plan, which outlines ways to make the city's downtown safer and more accessible for Edmontonians.
• The mayors of St. Albert, Edmonton, Morinville, Strathcona County, Gibbons, Fort Saskatchewan, and Beaumont have formed a subcommittee to work with the board of directors at Edmonton Global to find ways to improve the organization's operations. Five municipalities have voted to leave Edmonton Global in recent months. St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron said she's optimistic they will reverse course.
• Edmonton Oilers fans flocked to Las Vegas to watch the team in its historic bid to tie an NHL record for most consecutive wins. The Oilers ultimately lost their Feb. 6 game against the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1, ending the team's winning streak at 16 games, one shy of the league record of 17 set by the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 1992-93 season. "You forget sometimes how bad you hate losing. It's a good reminder," Oilers captain Connor McDavid said after the game.
• Item removal company Just Junk has started a community "freecycle" program, opening its Edmonton warehouse at 9766 54 Avenue every Monday night to offer salvaged furniture to those in need. Owner Peter Carvalho said about 150 people come through the warehouse each Monday night. He started the initiative to support people in need and reduce waste by saving items from the landfill.
• Leduc city council voted to declare its commitment to uninterrupted emergency shelter spaces during a meeting on Feb. 5 that featured dozens of impassioned speakers. The city's only homeless shelter, the Leduc Hub Association, could close by April 30 unless it finds a new location. The hub also provides support services and meals to Leduc's homeless community, its executive director told council.
• The Edmonton Elks announced they have signed two-time Grey Cup champion kicker Boris Bede to a two-year contract. Bede, 34, previously spent three seasons with the Toronto Argonauts.

On this day in 1975, the Chateau Lacombe was depicted in some creative photography.

The Chateau Lacombe Hotel was built overlooking the river valley on Bellamy Hill in 1966. The site had been unused for the previous half century. Before then, it was where the city's first foray into funiculars, the Edmonton Incline Railway, was located until it closed in 1911. When the hotel's construction began, the hill still bore scars from where tracks had been torn up.

The 1960s saw a wave of new development and a push for urban renewal in many Canadian cities but especially in Edmonton. The city's population was booming and its downtown was rapidly changing with new developments. The Chateau Lacombe was one of several massive projects on the hill: Edmonton House was also built in this period, as was Bellamy Hill Road.

When it opened its doors for an unofficial launch in December 1966, the round 24-storey building was already a striking landmark on the city's skyline. It boasted more than 300 rooms and was one of the first hotels in Canada to offer luxuries like air conditioning, which seemed in line with Edmonton's growing profile.

Unfortunately for early guests, the Chateau's soon-to-be well-known feature wasn't ready for its soft launch. Anyone wishing to visit the hotel's revolving rooftop restaurant had to wait for the official opening in February 1967. When it did open, the revolving restaurant was the largest of its kind in the world, and its 90-minute revolution offered diners a view of the city and the river valley.

The hotel's sixth-floor grill also offered a quite memorable, though stranger, view: an 1880-era Maxim machine gun on display for guests at the entrance.

While the Chateau Lacombe has stayed on its spot on Bellamy Hill for nearly 60 years, the hotel has changed hands several times. The original owner was Canadian Pacific Hotels, which was a branch of the railway. In the '90s, the hotel was rebranded as a Holiday Inn and later as the Crowne Plaza, before being sold to another hotel chain in 2010. Most notoriously, it was bought in 2010 by real estate developer Keyvn Fredrick for nearly $48 million. But after Fredrick and his companies faced accusations of mortgage fraud and substandard construction, the hotel was bought again for nearly half that price in 2013.

The period of construction on Bellamy Hill that introduced the Chateau Lacombe might be long over, but it continues to make a mark on the city's core. Sometimes, that influence isn't a positive one: the city is rebuilding the intersection where Bellamy Hill Road meets Rossdale Road and 97 Street. It's currently a tangled knot of fast streets that have been deemed too dangerous.

This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse of @VintageEdmonton.

Here are some events happening today in the Edmonton area.

• St. Albert and District Economic Outlook starting at 11:30am at Century Casino St. Albert
• Optimizing Business Tax Preparation starting at 3pm at the ATB Entrepreneur Centre
• Irrational Comedy starting at 7:30pm at Irrational Brewing Company

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• Feb. 10-11: Togather Chinatown Art Fair at Edmonton Chinatown Multi-Cultural Centre
• Feb. 24: Chasing Ubuntu at Metro Cinema
• March 7: The Thelma Johannes O'Neill Memorial Concert at the Winspear Centre

Visit the beta version of the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.