TAKE IT OUTSIDE Geartogetyourbackyardand balconysummerready
DISRUPTED DINING
Are delivery apps a threat to how we eat?
MAY MARATHONSdifferentGoingthedistanceattwovery runningraces
They are the faces of joy, fascination and hope. They are the faces of education. We are the Alberta Teachers’ Association, and we believe in them.
The community of Erlton is one of the most historic in the city. Close to downtown, the Repsol Sports Centre and river and bike pathways. Not to mention it’s just steps from home to the commercial and entertainment district of 4th Street S.W.
@yycinnercitytowns
yycinnercitytowns.com
1,811 sqft gorgeous townhomes, 320 sqft rooftop patio, private single garage, panoramic city view, open concept, 9’ ceilings on every level, gas fireplace, luxury finished throughout. Located in the heart of the sought-after Erlton neighbourhood.
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Townhomes combine the convenience of traditional condo living with the independent living of a detached home. Imagine never having to worry about maintaining your property, living in a convenient inner city location and having plenty of living space all for less than the cost of a new detached home. Townhomes are a more secure investment opportunity than traditional condos and provide you with the feeling of independent home ownership.
At YYC Inner City Towns we only represent developers who are committed to quality and thoughtful design, we have the best collection of brand new, sophisticated and stylish townhomes within Calgary’s inner city.
It’s time for you to get in on the #yyctowns movement. Style, location and value, YYC Inner City Towns
Contact Kamil Lalji (Associate Broker) at 403.294.1500 or klalji@cirrealty.ca
We are more than builders. We are construction partners who deliver Alberta’s top projects by understanding your goals, providing innovative solutions, and by working diligently to exceed your expectations. PCL is the proud builder of the award-winning Shane Homes YMCA at Rocky Ridge; winner of the 2017 General Contractors Award and the overall “Best in BIM” designation at the Canadian Building Information Modeling (CanBIM) awards.
Watch us build at PCL.com
Mount Royal University proudly introduces
As our tenth president and first vice chancellor, Tim Rahilly, PhD, is deeply committed to the transformational power of education to change students’ lives and communities for the better.
From our beginnings more than 100 years ago, we’ve been committed to quality postsecondary education. Mount Royal University has transformed since then, but our dedication to an exceptional undergraduate experience will never change.
mru.ca/WelcomeTim
4 BATH: 4/1 3,632 SQ.FT. MLS C4233801 Architectural masterpiece at high point along the Bow River. One of a kind home, fabulous indoor & outdoor spaces on this premium river lot.
luxurious, 3-storey custom build in desirable Currie Barracks offers unique attached triple garage.
17 Signature Villas SW, Calgary, AB
BED: 3 BATH: 3 1,170 SQ.FT. MLS C4236301 Walkout bungalow villa backing south - steps to LRT, Sunterra market, Westside Rec. Immaculately maintained in well
Calgary’s craft beer scene is hopping right now, so we’re making a case for 12 of our favourite indie taprooms in the city. Plus, a list of all the winning brews at the 2nd Annual Alberta Beer Awards, including the over all Best of Show beers.
By Shelley Arnusch and Colin GallantFood-delivery apps have made it all too easy to have pretty much any dish you desire brought to your doorstep. But as dining in gains in popularity, some restaurateurs and others in the hospitality industry find themselves caught in the middle.
By Jessica Barrett
’Tis the season for eating and entertaining outside, and also for sprucing up your outdoor spaces with summery accessories and got-to-have-it gear.
By Venessa Brewer and Käthe Lemon
16 EDITOR’S NOTE
18 CONTRIBUTORS
66 WORK OF ART
With a new non-profit board at the helm and a new artistic vision, the city’s historic Grand theatre is entering a new stage in its long and storied life. Plus, a local company that has found fame in the reptile terrarium game, a look at the numbers behind the three-day Otafest gathering for anime-lovers, and a local group that engages in medieval combat for sport.
Teresa Wong experienced crushing postpartum depression after giving birth to two of her three kids. Now, she has published a graphic novel about her struggles that she hopes will help others like her know they’re not alone.
By Karen Perl-Pollard
An inside account of the Half Corked Marathon, an event held each May in Oliver-Osoyoos Wine Country, where participants dressed in wild costumes consume wine before, after and during an 18-kilometre run.
For runners of all levels, the marathon is more than just another race —in many ways, it’s a lot like the prom (but sweatier).
A steep hill couldn’t dissuade an active family from building a custom home in the neighbourhood they loved. They just needed a little design ingenuity to take things to the next level.
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APRIL 16-22, 2018
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Contributors Jessica Aldred, Jessica Barrett, Katie Carey, Citlali Loza, Karen Perl-Pollard, Katherine Ylitalo
RUSSEL BRAND LIVE
JUNE 15, 2019
TWO SHOW TIMES: 6PM & 9PM JUBILEE AUDITORIUM
Fresh Start Recovery Centre presents your opportunity to see Russell Brand up close and personal!
Elevating Calgary’s cultural landscape with the best in international independent cinema, CUFF is Western Canada’s premiere genre festival. Throughout our 7-day festival you will discover unique films, lively Q&A’s with visiting guests, and be swept into the fun atmosphere CUFF has created. This year we will be showcasing 40 feature films, 20+ short films, retroSaturday Morning Cartoons, National Canadian Film Day event, parties and CUFFcade (custom arcade cabinets with new independent video games!)
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Russell Brand is one of the most recognizable British comedians, with a series of sold-out tours, books, podcasts and a number of major film roles to his name. Tickets available at: www.ticketmaster.ca
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Avenue is proud to support local initiatives in our community. Visit AvenueCalgary.com/events to find out more about upcoming events in the city.
Avenue is proud to support local initiatives in our community. Visit AvenueCalgary.com/events to find our more about the upcoming events in the city.
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There’s only so much you can do in 10 days, so check our list of events both on and off the grounds for all the best ways to get your yahoo on.
It has been more than 100 years since Guy Weadick and the Big Four launched the Calgary Stampede. Since then, Calgary has become not just host to this event, but synonymous with it in many ways. But how does a celebration rooted in nostalgia stay relevant for the next 100 years? Through hard work, creativity, flexibility and community — many of the same traits that have always been part of its success.
This year, the Indian Village starts life under a new name, the Elbow River Camp. Teepee owners and others tell us why the name change also reflects a change toward Indigenous selfdetermination.
To get the tablet edition, go to avenuecalgary.com/tabletedition
They say you should dress for the job you want and we’re taking that aspirational approach to the weather and the stories we have in this issue by writing for the weather we want. Our May issue this year features some stories that have previously been part of our June lineup: we’ve moved both our beer stories and our outdoordecorating coverage into May in hopes that it will extend their usefulness.
Patio season may be short here, but we want to help you take full advantage of it with our picks for great barbecue, backyard and balcony gear from local shops so you can entertain outdoors in style all summer long. You’ll find that story starting on page 44.
This past March we were delighted to once again co-present the Alberta Beer Awards with the Alberta Small Brewers Association. Since the provincial government made changes to regulations that had previously imposed a punishingly large production quota on breweries, the number of craft brewers and brew pubs in Alberta has increased exponentially. More than
70 breweries entered this year’s Alberta Beer Awards in more than 20 categories. You’ll find the winners listed starting on page 32. We’ve also highlighted Calgary’s growing brewery scene with a roundup of some of our favourite taprooms in the city, starting on page 28.
Most taprooms sell snacks but don’t have a full kitchen. To encourage patrons to stay longer, many allow you to bring in your own food (make sure to ask first), so you’ll often see Skip the Dishes and other food-delivery services dropping off meals to hungry beer drinkers around dinnertime. But of course, these delivery services are mostly delivering to homes across the city. Writer Jessica Barrett looks at what effect
The big markets, the small markets and the out-of-town markets to visit if you are looking for fresh, local products.
This month in Calgary and all over the world people will lead Jane’s Walks to celebrate urbanist Jane Jacobs’ birthday. Join the Urban Affairs Book Club event to discuss Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities on May 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the new U of C School of Architecture space in the former Central Library. The event is free, but you do need to register to attend at showpass.com/janes-talk.
services like this are having on Calgary’s dining scene and the restaurant business. We also offer some tips on how to order for the best results and what you need to know about how various services pay their delivery people. For some, summer is more about getting active than drinking beer or lounging in the backyard. We look at the big, audacious Calgary Marathon as a transformative experience for runners and also go inside the quirky Half Corked Marathon in Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country, which blends running and wine-tasting. No matter what you’re planning for your spring and summer in the city, we hope you find something useful in Avenue this month.
everyday.
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Katie Carey is a Toronto-based illustrator specializing in colourful, playful and curious work. Her clients include The Wall Street Journal, Reader’s Digest and The Hollywood Reporter. When she isn’t in her studio, she is usually out finding new and inventive ways of exhausting her studio mate, Ruby, a red Australian cattle dog. You can see more of her work at katiecarey.ca.
Karen Perl-Pollard is a lifelong Calgarian who is passionate about the stories of our city. By day, Perl-Pollard is a senior communications strategist at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business. At all hours, she pursues her desire to be interested and interesting — forever on a quest to learn why things happen, what makes people tick and the trends that will impact tomorrow.
Rebecca McDonald joined RedPoint Media in 2017 in the role of events and marketing coordinator. She is responsible for coordinating all of Avenue’s events throughout the year — her favourite being Avenue’s Best Restaurants launch party because of all the delicious food. Before joining the team at RedPoint, Rebecca worked in her homeland of Scotland as a wedding and event manager. Soon she will be leaving her post at RedPoint to return to Scotland, plan her own wedding and build a forever home.
Alyssa Quirico is a Calgary-based writer and digital editor and the person behind the social-media channels for both Avenue Calgary and WestJet Magazine. She also writes and edits online content for both publications. When she’s not behind a computer or out capturing mobile social content, she enjoys hunting through local thrift stores and consignment shops, going to the dog park with her pit bull Angel, doing yoga and drinking at Calgary’s craft breweries.
The historic Grand Theatre is once again going through a renaissance. The theatre, built in 1912 by Sir James Lougheed, was revitalized by Mark Lawes in 2006 when his artistic company purchased the space as the home for a merged entity known as Theatre Junction Grand. But following some difficulties, Theatre Junction is out and the space now operates as The Grand under a new non-profit board. The new CEO, Tony McGrath, says a new artistic model, overhauled business practices and diversity (of both art and people) are top of mind for the future of the venerable space.
McGrath fell in love with the Grand theatre after he attended his first show there in 2015. He was soon asked to join Theatre Junction Grand’s board, but couldn’t make that commitment due to his schedule. Instead, his wife and business partner Marcy Krafft filled the role and the pair offered the services of their company, Technique Adjustment Consulting, to the theatre on a pro bono basis. Though McGrath’s background is in the corporate world, when he was asked about a year ago to step in for three weeks as interim CEO, he says he couldn’t refuse.
“I don’t want to let [The Grand] disappear. I have a six-year-old granddaughter who lives with me up in Crescent Heights. I don’t think I could look her in the eye and say, when she asked me what happened to it, ‘I walked away from that opportunity and let it happen,’” he says.
Flash-forward nearly a year and McGrath is still the CEO, working with a tight-knit team who helped him host a run of prestigious shows and meet every financial milestone.
Two theatre companies, Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society and Black Radish Theatre, now call The Grand home. In addition, McGrath hopes to entice renters from both the arts and the corporate world, as part of a business model where The Grand’s team will use revenue from private rentals and corporate donations to help subsidize the space for those who need assistance. “I will absolutely make it happen,” McGrath says. “That doesn’t mean I can always give it away. I will give it away to very small companies that really need help to perform in our theatre.”
McGrath will also save the theatre money with a radical new curatorial infrastructure. Rather than hire a full-time artistic director, The Grand will answer to a volunteer-run curatorial panel consisting of rotating members from across artistic disciplines and cultural backgrounds.
“This is not my theatre. The idea of the curatorial panel is that we make sure it’s everybody’s theatre,” says McGrath. “[That will include] greater diversity in gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity, and we’ll make sure our Indigenous brothers and sisters are involved ... and even old white guys like me,” he laughs.
Despite being cold-blooded, reptiles have been nothing but helpful to Calgarian Greg West. They’ve allowed him to work his dream job, appear on Dragons’ Den and even landed him his own TV series. In return, West, the founder of local terrarium company Cornel’s World, builds stunning, large-scale reptile homes with cool themes ranging from Japanese pagoda to Western bar. “My favourite build is one that was Bill & Ted-inspired that we did for a comic book shop in Edmonton,” says West. “It looked exactly like the phone booth in the movie. We had a lot of the scenes from the movie incorporated into the interior, which actually spun around 360 degrees, so you could always be looking at something different.”
West, who grew up with various reptiles as pets, started designing his own terrariums when a job at a glass company provided access to the materials he needed. People began asking for his handiwork and his hobby became a business in 2013, when an appearance on CBC’s Dragon’s Den inspired him to dive into the business full time.
TV came calling for West and his crew once again when a casting company emailed in 2017 asking if they would be interested in filming a series for Animal Planet. The show, Scaled, follows the terrarium builders’ work creating one-ofa-kind habitats for every style of cold-blooded critter, from boa constrictors to monkey-tailed skinks.
While West says filming the show was a great experience, it also put a lot of pressure on him and his team. The show’s constraints meant that for the five months they filmed, builds that would normally take a month or more had to be finished in weeks. “We would be filming from nine until seven each day, and once we were done filming we had to actually work — we didn’t have a shadow team working through the night for us when we were done filming,” says West.
“So a lot of late nights, a lot of missed family time. It wasn’t easy by any means.”
All that work paid off, however, as the exposure has more than doubled sales and created months of backlog work as orders from fans pour in. Cornel’s World has even had celebrity orders, like the Jurassic Park- and hockey-themed terrarium created for former NHL player Brad Stuart, whose son is a fan of the show.
West says it’s still unusual when people stop him to ask for an autograph, but he’s happy his work has made an impact. “The one thing that I thought was really cool about the show is how many people have reached out to us that have never had a reptile and have now gotten into reptiles,” he says.
“It’s really cool to see the end result and realize that there is a fan following.”
Andrew Guilbert— Tony McGrath, CEO of The Grand McGrath knows he needs to keep the momentum going. His plan is to “give the theatre back to Calgary” within a few years. That entails a strong successor, thriving operations, a repaired reputation and, ideally, sharing more of the tech and business sectors’ knowledge with artists. It’s no small task, but McGrath seems invigorated by the possibility of saving the theatre for Calgary’s future. —Colin Gallant
Black Radish Theatre’s Waiting for Godot is on stage at the Grand until May 12. Calgary Opera and The Old Trout Puppet Workshop’s Ghost Opera runs May 27 to June 8. For tickets, visit thegrandyyc.ca
“THIS IS NOT MY THEATRE. THE IDEA OF THE CURATORIAL PANEL IS THAT WE MAKE SURE IT’S EVERYBODY’S THEATRE.”ABOVE This large-scale reptile habitat can be seen in episode one of Scaled, a reality show on Animal Planet about Calgary-based terrarium company Cornel's World. LEFT Kevin, the Cornel's World mascot. RIGHT A custom build inspired by the time-travelling phone booth from the cult movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Tony McGrath photograph by Tammy Hanratty, courtesy of RedBloom Salon; Cornel's World images courtesy of Cornel's World
RICHARD MANNS, PRESIDENT OF THE HEAVY ARMORED COMBAT SOCIETY OF ALBERTA (HACSA) AND DIRECTOR FOR MEDIEVAL COMBAT CANADA
Has anyone ever threatened to get medieval on your heinie?
If it was Richard Manns, we’d suggest getting out of town. That’s because Manns is skilled in the medieval sport of Buhurt. Unlike reenacting or live-action roleplaying (LARPing), Buhurt pits play ers against each other in armoured, athletic combat.
“Medieval combat, or Buhurt as it’s also known, is much different [than LARPing]. We are a fullcontact, full-steel, unscripted combat organization. We use historically analogous techniques, weapons and armour, very similar to what was used in ancient warfare. The best thing is you can hit your friend with an axe or a sword and still be injury-free friends when you’re done.” —C.G.
Watch live demonstrations by HACSA at the first-ever Calgary Medieval Faire & Artisan Market, May 24 to 26 at Crossroads Market. For more information visit hacalberta.org.
Otafest is an annual anime festival in Calgary. Originally a one-day affair, it now extends over the May long weekend. With all-night anime screenings, the festival offers continuous programming over the entire 72 hours.
Attendees are encouraged (though not required) to dress up and can compete in a variety of costume contests. Committed cosplayers, a group Otafest chair Jenny Chan describes as the “soul of the festival,” can compete for a qualifying spot in Clara Cow’s Cosplay Cup, an international competition in the Netherlands.
Otafesters can also shop the exhibitor hall and artist valley for collectables and original artwork and see appearances by industry professionals: this year’s lineup includes vocal actress Wendee Lee of the anime series Cowboy Bebop and YouTube personality ProZD.
It takes a lot to put a festival like this together every year, and here are the numbers to prove it. —Stephanie Joe
21years ago the first Otafest took place in 1999.
700 attendees showed up that first year.
9,500 attendees showed up in 2018.
142 year-round volunteers help make Otafest a reality.
300additional volunteers were brought in to help run the three-day festival in 2018.
50 storefronts make up the Otafest 2019 exhibitor hall.
150 independent artists will show their work.
3showrooms will stream classic, new and obscure anime content all weekend long.
108 total hours of anime programming will be presented over the course of the three-day festival.
8,026 kilometres is the distance one Otafest fan from Japan travelled to attend. Other fans have come from the U.K. (6,563 km), France (7,595 km) and Finland (6,957 km).
$125,657 has been raised for various charities since the festival started in 1999. Each year, Otafest chooses a designated charity to benefit from its fundraising initiatives.
Last year the festival raised $12,000 for the Alex Youth Health Centre.
this month
APRIL 9 TO MAY 12
The story of boy-meets-ballet comes to the stage as a jubilant musical for Theatre Calgary. The comingof-age tale deals with loss, gender norms and dreams through song and dance, and is brought to life by some of Calgary’s brightest rising stars. The Tonyaward-winning musical features songs by Elton John and just-for-Calgary choreography by former Alberta Ballet principal dancer Yukichi Hattori.
Max Bell Theatre, Arts Commons, 403-294-7447, theatrecalgary.com
MAY 4 TO 11
Handsome Alice Theatre’s newest show is about the life of iconic Canadian artist Emily Carr. Written by Calgary poet laureate Sheri-D Wilson, the multimedia show explores the artist’s life through poetry, video, visual art and plenty of humour.
Big Secret Theatre, Arts Commons, 403-294-9494, handsomealice.com
MAY 25
The Forest Lawn-based music festival that turns the neighbourhood into a mini-SXSW returns this year, spread over eight blocks of 17th Avenue S.E. Primarily featuring local and regional musicians, East Town Get Down takes over barbershops, bowling alleys, a laundromat and other venues for a day of fun for all ages. Multiple venues, easttowngetdown.ca
MAY 24 TO JUNE 2
Calgary’s LGBTQ2A+ film festival moves to the New Central Library for its 21st edition. The festival represents a wide variety of experiences along the gender- and sexually diverse spectrum. Expect everything from comedy to drama through both narrative and documentary filmmaking over 10 days of screenings and events.
New Central Library, 800 3 St. S.E., 403-244-1956, calgaryqueerartssociety.com
Innovative orthodontic solutions and treatments designed especially for each and every patient’s unique smile.
This new growler bar lets you grab a prefilled, stainless-steel growler full of cold local beer, then exchange it for another full growler when you’re done. Patrons pay a one-time (refundable) growler deposit on their first visit and then just pay for the beer on subsequent visits.
130, 1642 10 Ave. S.W., albertabeerexchange.ca
The historic Fairmont Palliser hotel’s first new restaurant and bar in more than 60 years replaces the former Rim Rock Dining Room and Oak Room Lounge. Guests can enjoy regionally inspired share plates in the redesigned dining room and cocktails in a brand new lobby bar, while the former Oak Room space will be relaunched as a private dining room and event venue.
133 9 Ave. S.W., hawthorndiningroom.ca
The owners of Leela Eco Spa have added two new locations to their spa family: a second downtown location in Calgary Place and a second Bridgeland location, Leela Boutique, offering nail treatments, massage and facials as well as wine service. Leela’s original downtown spa on 4th Avenue S.W. is temporarily closing for renovations and will reopen later this summer. Once it reopens, there will be five Leela locations in the city 414 3 St. S.W. and 906 1 Ave. N.E., leelaecospa.com
Treat your dog or cat to a spa service or a night at a pet hotel at this new pet care facility in downtown Calgary. It’s also home to a dog daycare on weekdays.
101, 131 9 Ave. S.W., 587-779-8900, thepetropolitan.ca
This new Canmore dining spot features a cocktail and wine bar on the ground level and an upper-level restaurant with locally inspired cuisine and breathtaking mountain views. 101, 300 Old Canmore Rd., Canmore, thesensory.ca
Five years ago, Calgary’s microbrewery and taproom scene was pretty sparse, with only a handful of craft brewers meeting the formidable and expensive (some might say draconian) standards set by the mighty AGLC. However, legislative changes in 2013 allowed many a would-be brewer with some barley, hops and a dream to hang out a shingle and start slinging pints. Some even added food to their repertoire.
These days, in areas like Inglewood and Manchester, you can’t swing a growler without hitting at least three trendy taprooms, each with their own unique charms. To date, there are 35 brewery-taprooms in Calgary where you can wet your whistle. Here’s a case of 12 that we love, plus a list of the rest of the new brew kids in town and of the local O.G. microbreweries. Cheers!
It’s hard to keep track of the city’s rapidly growing microbrewery scene, so we did it for you. You’re welcome.
Minimalist and modern, Annex’s taproom will appeal to the beerloving KonMari aficionado. Even the bar-snack menu is decluttered: just hop chips and salty string-cheese to pair with the meticulously crafted beers. Annex is a good option if you have a sober or pregnant friend in tow as the brewery makes two awardwinning signature craft sodas: a ginger beer and a root beer, the latter of which is made with 11 botanicals. —S.A.
COME for the Metes and Bounds extra pale ale created with a bouquet of five different hops
STAY for the spark of joy.
4323 1 St. S.E., 403-475-4412, annexales.com
Tucked just off Edmonton Trail, Citizen Brewing Company has grown a dedicated following not just for consistently good beers, but also for the food coming out of its repurposed-shipping-container kitchen. The menu includes burgers, hot chicken, a daily soup and even weekend brunch. Pay your respects to Citizen’s resiliency with a pint of Hijacked IPA, a bruiser of a beer that commemorates the time their food-truck kitchen was stolen. —S.A.
COME for the $10 Citizen Burger (whose legion of fans insist it’s the city’s best).
STAY for the sun on the 100-seat hop-garden patio. 227 35 Ave. N.E., 403-474-4677, citizenbrewingcompany.com
Cold Garden is the perfect place to introduce someone to Calgary’s brewing scene. Its gleefully kitschy interior has a scrappy charm that makes it instantly memorable: mismatched vintage furniture and a giant pineapple-cum-disco ball let you know right away that the beer crafted here is just as quirky and unapologetic. The tap menu is among the biggest on the scene, and both dogs and outside food are welcome.
C.G.
COME for the grandma’s-basement-on-acid feel.
STAY for the rotating offerings of treats in a retro snack dispenser. 1100 11 St. S.E., 403-764-2653, coldgarden.ca
Dandy is the place to be if you want to try juicy, new-school beers that put experimentation ahead of tradition. Its sour ales are frankly unmatched in the city, there are always a few devilishly strong beers on tap, and its guest taps, cans and bottles are curated to seamlessly match its own inventions. Wine and cider are always available (and are nothing to shake a stick at, either). —C.G.
COME for the charmingly bright local art.
STAY for the food, which is more like a tasting menu than pub fare.
2003 11 St. S.E., 587-956-8836, thedandybrewingcompany.com
Stepping foot inside Eighty-Eight is like getting out of a DeLorean. Named to commemorate the 1988 Calgary Olympics, the brewery’s two levels are adorned with neon lights, retro TV sets and Olympic memorabilia. Bring a friend with major ’80s nostalgia or an elder millennial who never had the chance to experience the era — both will love the combination of lighthearted beers like the Wave Pool IPA and deadly serious New York-style pizza made by space-sharing Noble Pie. —C.G.
COME for the Instagram post.
STAY for the genuine sense of warmth in the room.
1070, 2600 Portland St. S.E., 403-452-5880, eightyeightbrewing.ca
Tucked behind a Vietnamese restaurant in a parking lot off of 9th Avenue S.E., High Line is the hideaway that bridges the divide between the beer weirdos and the straight crowd. The discreet 32-seat space (with an additional 14 on the patio) might overflow with an experimental music showcase or larger-than-life drag show on certain nights, but its core vibe is all effortless neighbourhood-bar je ne sais quoi. The swagger is innate, never forced, in keeping with creative brews that have the quality to avoid becoming a novelty. We like the Wabi Sabi yuzu sour and Club Mate+ fermented tea. —C.G.
COME for the low-key escape from the bustle.
STAY for the expertly picked tunes DJed by the owners. 113, 1318 9 Ave. S.E., highlinebrewing.com
Opened in 2018 by a team of veteran home brewers, Inner City offers new beers as often as possible, each informed by studious research of a famous beer or brewery style from around the world. The exception to the rule is the signature Bridgelandia, a modern, hoppy blonde ale that eschews conventions. If you do like your beer with a little extra zing, try a beer cocktail or come after 5 p.m. on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday when infusion taps offer remixed versions of standard fare — past experiments include a pina colada infusion of the Sunnyside XPA and a PB&J twist on the Brick Alley traditional dark mild. —C.G.
COME for the dedication to tradition.
STAY for the experimentation happening in real time. 820 11 Ave. S.W., 587-880-8600, innercitybrewing.ca
Come to Last Best with a mixed group of friends for a sit-down meal paired with sippable, hearty beers. The ample space in the Beltline brew pub features a 360-degree bar surrounded by dining booths, a semi-covered patio (with fireplace!) and a basement nook serving up cocktails next to an active barbershop.
Last Best’s “here to stay” taps are usually rich and heavy perennial favourites like the Show Pony ale and Dirty Bird black lager, while the “here to play” roster trends lighter and more flirtatious. For both its myriad seating options and gamut-spanning beer profiles, Last Best is a crowd-pleaser you can count on. —C.G.
COME for the versatility.
STAY for the experimental botanical spirits also made on site.
607 11 Ave. S.W., 587-353-7387, lastbestbrewing.com
More than a few eyebrows raised when it became apparent that a craft brewery-taproom would be taking up occupancy in the former Smithbilt Hats production facility, right next door to another craft brewery-taproom, the cult favourite Cold Garden. But the addition of Ol’ Beautiful in the summer of 2018 to the shard of land just north of the CP Rail tracks and west of 12th Street S.E. in Inglewood has been harmonious, rather than acrimonious, with Ol’ Beautiful a more refined counterpart to its punk-ass neighbour. —S.A.
COME for the Okami Kasu Japanese Ale, a rice ale created in collaboration with Shokunin restaurant that is deepened by the addition of sake kasu, a cheesy byproduct of sake production.
STAY for the mid-centurymodern-hipster-loft vibe.
1103 12 St. S.E., olbeautiful.com
Few things pair better than Southern barbecue and beer. They know this to be true at Paddy’s, which is equal parts barbecue joint and craft brewery. Show up hungry and tuck into slow-roasted beef brisket, turkey, pork ribs and more, sold by the pound on platters and served with pickles and bread. The rich flavours of barbecue can handle a bold beer, like the IPA-V1-2019, a new IPA series that debuted at the start of 2019. —S.A. COME after 8 p.m., when the day’s meats are all 50-per cent off.
STAY because of your inevitable meat-and-barley coma.
3610 Burnsland Rd. S.E., 403-651-7150, paddysbrewbecue.com
The Tool Shed backstory is right there in the name: buddies and beer nuts Jeff Orr and Graham Sherman had a hobby-brewing operation in Sherman’s backyard tool shed and grew that into the craft brewery and taproom that it is today. And the grassroots charm is still there. Tool Shed’s quaffable Red Rage ale is named for the legendary strength that ginger folk (Sherman being one) are said to possess. Sherman certainly drew on this alleged inner fortitude during the Kafkaesque process the brewery went through with the City in order to open the taproom patio last summer. —S.A. COME for the free pinball on Mondays.
STAY for a beer on the hard-won patio (it’s the least you could do, really).
9, 801 30 St. N.E., 403-775-1749, toolshedbrewing.com
If you dream in Atari pixels then you’ll be right at home at Zero Issue Brewing. Inspired by the holy trinity of geekdom — sci-fi, comic books and video games — this brother-run operation opened back in 2017 and proudly wears its passions on its coveralls with sci-fi/comic-book-inspired artwork and beer names. —S.A. COME for the chance that the Venom Black Rye IPA is still on tap (it’s as badass as it sounds).
STAY for shameless nerding out.
4210 12 St. N.E., zeroissuebeer.com
Banded Peak Brewing
119, 519 34 Ave. S.E., 403-283-5133, bandedpeakbrewing.com
Born Colorado Brewing
414 C 36 Ave. S.E., 403-247-0295, borncoloradobrewing.com
Bow River Brewing
110, 5769 4 St. S.E., bowriverbrewing.com
Cabin Brewing Company
505 36 Ave. S.E., 403-244-3331, cabinbrewing.ca
Caravel Craft Brewery
12, 10221 15 St. N.E., caravelbrewery.com
Common Crown Brewing Company
943 28 St. N.E., 587-356-4275, commoncrown.ca
Elite Brewing & Cidery
1319 Edmonton Tr. N.E., 403-277-7099, elitebrewing.com
The Establishment Brewing Company
4407 1 St. S.E., 403-453-6212, establishmentbrewing.ca
Good Mood Brewery
2123, 4416 64 Ave. S.E., 403-452-1806, goodmoodbrewery.com
Legend 7 Brewing Company
4025 9 St. S.E., 587-355-3105, legend7brewing.com
Marda Loop Brewing
3523 18 St. S.W., 403-585-8087, mardaloopbrewing.com
New Level Brewing
7005 Fairmount Dr. S.E., 403-764-4359, newlevelbrewing.ca
The O.T. Brewing Company
1155 44 Ave. S.E., 403-816-4575, otbrewingcompany.com
Prairie Dog Brewing
105D 58 Ave. S.E., 403-407-2448, prairiedogbrewing.ca
Railyard Brewing
121, 10301 19 St. N.E., 403-465-4831, railyardbrewing.ca
Red Bison Brewery
111, 3016 10 Ave. N.E., 587-894-4766, redbisonbrewery.com
Revival Brewcade
1217B 9 Ave. S.E., 587-893-2337, revivalbrewcade.com
Trolley Five Restaurant & Brewery 728 17 Ave. S.W., 403-454-3731, trolley5.com
These guys were all doing their thing in Calgary before the rules changed in 2013. Respect!
Big Rock Brewery
5555 76 Ave. S.E., 403-720-3239, bigrockbeer.com
Brewsters Brewing Company and Restaurant
Six Calgary locations, brewsters.ca
Minhas Micro Brewery
1314 44 Ave. N.E., 403-695-3701, minhasbrewery.com
Village Brewery
5000 12A St. S.E., 403-243-3327, villagebrewery.com
Wild Rose Brewery
4580 Quesnay Wood Dr. S.W., 403-727-5451, wildrosetaproom.com
This year more than 75 breweries from across the province entered the second annual Alberta Beer Awards, co-presented by the Alberta Small Brewers Association and Avenue magazine.
Entries were judged by a panel of experts who blind-tasted the hundreds of beers to determine the gold, silver and bronze winners in each category. Here, in alphabetical order, are the winning breweries.
For category descriptions turn to page 42.
Alley Kat Brewing Company (Edmonton)
Gold Brewery of the Year
Gold Extra Strong Beer
Olde Deuteronomy
Gold Fruit Beer
Main Squeeze
Grapefruit Ale
Silver All Alberta Malt Beer
Prairie Pounder
Bronze Best of Show
Main Squeeze
Grapefruit Ale
Analog Brewing (Edmonton)
Gold Spiced Beer
Power Up Porter
Annex Ale Project (Calgary)
Gold Root Beer/Ginger Ale
Ginger Beer
Gold Pale Ale/Bitter
Forward Progress
Silver Best of Show
Forward Progress
Silver Root Beer/Ginger Ale
Root Beer
Bronze Extra Strong Beer
Ego Death
Bronze Other Strong Hoppy Beer
Force Majeure
Banded Peak Brewing (Calgary)
Gold Farmhouse Ale
Chinook Saison
Silver Hoppy Sessionable Beer
Plainsbreaker Dry Hopped
Wheat Ale
Big Rock Brewery (Calgary)
Gold German/Czech Style Pilsner
Pilsner
Silver Other Flavoured Beer
Honey Brown Lager
Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company (Edmonton)
Bronze Best Patio Beers
Fabhelles
Blindman Brewing (Lacombe)
Silver Belgian Ales
3 Year: Belgian Tripel
Bronze All Alberta Malt Beer
24-2 Stock Ale
Brewsters Brewing Company (Calgary)
Silver Barrel-Aged Beer
Russian Imperial Stout
Silver Fruit Beer
52nd Street Peach Ale
Cabin Brewing Company(Calgary)
Bronze IPA
Sunshine Rain IPA
Campio Brewing Co. (Edmonton)
Gold All Alberta Malt Beer
All Malt Lager
Caravel Craft Brewery (Calgary)
Silver German/Czech Style Pilsner
Captain’s Log German Style Pilsner
Bronze Amber and Dark Lager
Dunkel Munich Style
Dark Lager
Cold Garden Beverage Company (Calgary)
Gold Other Flavoured Beer
Last Resort NegroniInspired Ale (collaboration with Ol’ Beautiful Brewing Co.)
Bronze Trendy Beer of the Year (2019): Brut IPA
Champagne Garden
Ol’ Beautiful Brewing Co. (Calgary)
Gold Other Flavoured Beer
Last Resort NegroniInspired Ale (collaboration with Cold Garden Beverage Company)
Outcast Brewing (Calgary)
Gold Trendy Beer of the Year
(2019): Brut IPA.
Chateau d’Outcast
Silver Pale Ale/Bitter
Make That A Double!
Paddy’s Barbecue & Brewery (Calgary)
Gold New Brewery of the Year (three-way tie with Sawback Brewing Co. and Snake Lake Brewing Company)
Silver Best Patio Beers
Pilsner
Silver Amber and Dark Lager
Black Lager
Silver Sour Beer
Sour Cherry Stout
Coulee Brew Co. (Lethbridge)
Gold Barrel-Aged Beer
Barrel Aged Coulee Quad
Silver Brewery of the Year
Silver Porter
Coalbanks Porter
Silver Spiced Beer
Milk River Stout
Bronze Brown Ale
Bears Hump Nut Brown
The Establishment Brewing Company (Calgary)
Gold Porter
Fat Sherpa
Fitzsimmons Brewing Co. (Airdrie)
Silver Farmhouse Ale
Anniversary Saison
Bronze Amber Ale East Lake Amber
(Calgary)
Bronze Farmhouse Ale
Lacy Saisy Saison
Good Mood Brewery (Calgary)
Gold Wheat Beer
Hefeweizen
Grain Bin Brewing Company (Grand Prairie)
Gold Best of Show
Barreled Wild Ale II
Gold Sour Beer
Barreled Wild Ale II
The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company
(Canmore)
Bronze Root Beer/Ginger Ale
Grizzly Paw Root Beer
Bronze Burning Fuse
Hell’s Basement Brewery (Medicine Hat)
Gold Stout
Ghost Train
Silver Wheat Beer
He Ain’t Hefe He’s My Brother
Medicine Hat Brewing Company
(Medicine Hat)
Silver Extra Strong Beer
Russian Imperial Stout
Norsemen Brewing Co. (Camrose)
Gold Belgian Ales
Wolf in Monk’s Clothing
Red Bison Brewery (Calgary)
Bronze Hoppy Sessionable Beer
(Lundbreck)
Bronze Belgian Ales
St. Joe’s Abbey Style Brown Ale
Origin Malting & Brewing Co.
(Strathmore)
Bronze Fruit Beer
“Short Shorts” Cherry Kolsch
The O.T. Brewing Company (Calgary)
Bronze Pale Ale/Bitter
Flagstick Hazy Pale Ale
Party Pants Pale Ale
Bronze Stout
Alta Mira Stout
Ribstone Creek Brewery (Edgerton)
Silver Brown Ale
Abbey Lane
Bronze Porter
Old Man Winter
Sawback Brewing Co. (Red Deer)
Gold New Brewery of the Year
(three-way tie with Paddy’s Barbecue & Brewery and Snake Lake Brewing Company)
Gold Best Patio Beers
Hazy Blonde Ale
Silver Other Strong Hoppy Beer
India Dark Ale
Sea Change Brewing Co. (Edmonton)
Gold Hoppy Sessionable Beer
The Wolf
Siding 14 Brewing Company (Ponoka)
Silver Stout
Coal Pusher Stout
Snake Lake Brewing Company (Sylvan Lake)
Gold New Brewery of the Year
(three-way tie with Paddy’s Barbecue & Brewery and Sawback Brewing Co.)
Gold Other Strong Hoppy Beer
Sidewinder IPA
Silver IPA
Norglenwold West Coast IPA
Tool Shed Brewing Company (Calgary)
Gold Amber Ale
Red Rage
Town Square Brewing Co. (Edmonton)
Bronze Brewery of the Year
Gold Amber and Dark Lager
Pond Surfer California
Common
Silver Amber Ale
Forged Rye Amber Ale
Bronze Other Flavoured Beer
Prairie Fire Rauchbier
Bronze Sour Beer
Beets By Sinden Sour
All Alberta Malt Beer Beer of any style brewed exclusively with grains grown and malted in Alberta.
Belgian Ales Beer
designed to reflect Belgian ale characteristics, including spicy yeast flavours and aromas. Colour and alcohol strength may vary. This category includes abbey ales, Belgian blondes and Belgian pale ales.
Body, colour and malt-hop balance vary. The category includes (but is not restricted to) “imperialized” versions of other styles.
Troubled Monk (Red Deer)
Silver Trendy Beer of the Year (2019): Brut IPA.
Brut Of All Evil
Bronze Wheat Beer
Buck Tooth Belgian White Village Brewery (Calgary)
Gold Brown Ale
Village Blacksmith
Bronze Barrel-Aged Beer
Village Barrel Aged Friend
Wild Rose Brewery (Calgary)
Gold IPA
High Harvest Hemp SPA
Amber Ale Ambercoloured, maltaccented ale. Malt flavours should be emphasized while hop character can be low-to-medium but in balance with the malt. Can have a range of alcohol strengths, excluding imperial-strength.
Amber and Dark Lager Medium- and darker-coloured lagers. Malt-hop balance can vary but flavour should be clean and moderate in all aspects.
Barrel-Aged Beer
Any beer that was aged in wooden barrels and exhibits flavour and aroma characteristics of the barrel.
Best of Show
The goldwinning beers in the various categories are judged against each other to determine the overall gold, silver and bronze winners.
Best Patio Beers
Lagers or ales that are light-bodied, refreshing and not overly hopped. Colour may vary but the overall emphasis should be on balance and accessibility with no aggressive flavours. With 31 entries, this was the second-most popular category this year.
Brewery of the Year
The award based on a cumulative total of points for gold, silver and bronze placements in the various beer categories (excluding Best of Show and Root Beer/Ginger Beer). Points are awarded on the following basis: four points for a gold, two points for a silver and one point for a bronze.
Brown Ale Malt-accented, brown-coloured ales and lagers. Hop character can range from none to moderate and darker malt flavours should be emphasized. This category includes beers with a range of alcohol strengths, excluding imperial-strength.
Extra Strong Beer Ales or lagers brewed to higher alcohol levels, above eight per cent.
Farmhouse Ale Highly attenuated ales (that means dry), with noted yeast characteristics or spiciness. Colour, body and alcohol strength may vary. Designed in the tradition of European farmhouse ale, though saison and biere de garde are also included in this category.
Fruit Beer Any lager or ale where the addition of fruit or vegetable is a key ingredient and important flavour and aroma component.
German/Czech Style
Pilsner Light-coloured lagers with noted hop flavour and aroma. Designed to reflect the characteristics of German- and Czech-style pilsners, with European, grassy, vegetal or spicy hop character.
Hoppy Sessionable Beer
Hop-forward, but accessible beers. These beers are darker in colour with a note, but not overly aggressive hop flavour and bitterness and a focus on balance overall. Alcohol strength is under 5.5 per cent.
IPA With 44 entries this was the largest, most competitive category at this year’s Alberta Beer Awards. Light- to amber-coloured hop-forward ale with a moderate to assertive bitterness, hop flavour and aroma. English and American IPAs are both appropriate.
New Brewery of the Year
The new brewery with the highest number of cumulative points awarded for gold, silver and bronze placements in the beer categories (excluding Best of Show the and Root Beer/Ginger Beer categories). Points are awarded on the following basis: four points for a gold, two points for a silver, one point for a bronze. This year saw a three-way tie for this award; all received gold placement.
Other Flavoured Beer
Ales or lagers brewed with ingredients that don't fit into other categories. Includes beer fermented with alternative yeasts or bacteria, beer made with alternative grains (gluten-free, for example) and/or alternative sugars (such as honey), and smoked beer.
Other Strong Hoppy Beer Hop-forward ales with moderate-toassertive bitterness, hop flavour and aroma, including red IPA, black IPA, Belgian IPA, and rye IPA.
Pale Ale/Bitter
Medium-bodied paleto-amber-coloured ales with noted hop character and a balance of malt. Beers designed to reflect the characteristics of American pale ale or English bitter are appropriate in this category.
Porter Deep-brown, malt-accented ales reflective of the traditional porter style.
Root Beer/Ginger Ale
Non-alcoholic soda
beverages made with traditional root beer or ginger ale ingredients and process. Entries in this category were judged by a panel of children. Wins in this category do not count toward Brewery of the Year or New Brewery of the Year.
Sour Beer Ales or lagers in which sourness is a feature of the flavour and aroma. Can include fruit and other ingredient additions, and includes (but is not restricted to) kettle sour, gose, Berliner weisse, Flanders red and oud bruin.
Spiced Beer Any lager or ale where the addition of spice or other adjunct (such as coffee) is a key ingredient and important flavour and aroma component.
Stout Very dark ales designed to reflect the characteristics of a stout. This category included all styles of stout including dry and sweet stout, but excluded imperial stouts in the Extra Strong Beer category.
Trendy Beer of the Year (2019): Brut IPA
A very dry, effervescent IPA that is light in colour with a slight haze. Entries should have a refreshing, Champagne-like character and a dry finish.
Wheat Beer Ales or lagers featuring wheat as an ingredient and/or wheat-style flavour and characteristics. Can be designed to reflect the characteristics of American, German or Belgian wheat beer, and be any colour.
Restaurant delivery services like Skip the Dishes are changing how we eat at home. Are they also fundmentally changing the dining experience?
The ritual has become a larger part of Joe Mack’s life in recent years than he’d like to admit. At least once a week, the 41-year-old director of strategy at Telus arrives home from the office exhausted, starving and in desperate need of dinner. For that, he reaches not for the fridge, but for his phone, where a world’s worth of food styles await ordering at his fingertips.
Having food delivered to fill a dinnertime pinch is nothing new. But in the last few years third-party apps like Skip the Dishes, Door Dash, Uber Eats and Foodora have brought a digital
disruption to the time-honoured tradition, and in the process blown open the boundaries of delivery beyond old standbys like pizza and Chinese food. This is much to the delight and relief of Mack, whose frequent 70-hour workweeks have made the services a mainstay of his meal planning. “Now I can have Italian or Indian or Mexican or Vietnamese — even breakfast, I’ve seen some places doing that now,” says Mack, a self-described food-lover.
But as appreciative as he is for Winnipeg-based Skip the Dishes (his preferred app) he also sees his growing dependence on delivery as something of
BY Jessica Barrett ILLUSTRATIONS BY Katie Careya double-edged sword. It is definitely a symptom of an increasingly busy life, without much time or energy left for cooking at home, or even for swinging by a restaurant to pick up something for dinner.
“It’s made it far too easy to eat out — well, eat in, actually,” says Mack.
That distinction between eating out and eating restaurant food at home might be easily lost on diners who can now enjoy virtually any type of food — from Filet-O-Fish to filet mignon — almost without leaving the couch. But it’s a significant shift for restaurateurs scrambling to retool business models that weren’t designed to serve remote customers who now expect any and every type of food to arrive hot on their doorsteps at any time of day.
As much as these apps promise new revenue streams to restaurants grappling with Calgary’s sluggish economy, they also have disconcerting implications for the industry — and society — at large. Have we really gotten to the point where we are too busy to dine at our favourite restaurants, or even swing by to pick up our own food? And if so, what does the future hold for restaurants in a world where people have lost their appetite for socializing in public over food?
Amy Turner mulls all this over as she tends to a handful of patrons during the pre-dinner lull at Donna Mac on 10th Avenue S.W. It’s a snowy Friday afternoon in November and as the temperature outside plummets Turner knows she’ll soon see a cascade of delivery drivers brushing past her restaurant to shuttle food from other establishments to the residents of the condo tower above. A few might also stop in at Donna Mac to pick up for customers across town whom she’ll never see.
It’s a new normal that Turner isn’t exactly thrilled about. Delivery was not in the initial plans for Donna Mac. In fact, delivery was pretty much anathema for the “no-concept concept” of a restaurant built around a continually changing menu that celebrates the social act of dining rather than a specific type of food.
“It’s kind of like going to your grandma’s house for dinner,” says Turner about the restaurant she named for her own grandmother. “You don’t know what’s going to be on the menu, but you don’t mind because you’re going for the laughs and the good times and the wine and the catchup and all those reasons why we love gathering around the table.”
But within months of opening in November, 2017, Turner realized a growing number of
Calgarians would apparently prefer to gather at home instead — even those who lived right upstairs from Donna Mac. “Night after night, just watching driver, after driver, after driver come and bring food to the people in this building, and them not coming down and supporting us, we thought maybe we’re missing out on something,” she says.
That fear of missing out prompted the restaurant to start offering delivery with Door Dash in April 2018. But it’s a decision Turner says she’s still lukewarm on. Like most apps in the delivery space, Door Dash rents a tablet to the restaurant for a few dollars a month and only charges Donna Mac for orders that come through the app. But at 25 per cent per order — about average for the apps, which charge restaurants between 20 per cent and 30 per cent per dish — Door Dash’s cut eats up most of the profits on any given meal. And because ordering delivery isn’t any cheaper for customers (they pay a delivery fee to the app and tips for the driver on top of the same food costs they would pay in-house) Turner worries many people think ordering delivery is a new way to support local restaurants while saving themselves time. In reality, delivery orders are often a wash financially for traditional restaurants, or even a slight financial hit. “It doesn’t support our service staff, the bartenders aren’t making their tips, and we’re taking a hit on the food costs,” Turner notes.
This isn’t the case for every style of restaurant, however. Restaurants set up from the outset to take advantage of the business model, much like pizza joints and Chinese food spots, can do well. Turner acknowledged those in hardto-find locations without much foot traffic, or with a small staff and an even smaller physical footprint, are often better able to take advantage of delivery apps to boost the bottom line. But Turner cautions that the economics of catering to a delivery-dependent clientele is changing the nature of restaurants as we’ve come to know and love them.
Across the U.S., Europe and Canada “ghost restaurants” or “ghost kitchens” have started springing up to serve the growing delivery market. Built to run on a skeleton crew, ghost restaurants don’t have dining rooms or service staff and can set up in less-expensive locations far from high-rent high streets. Sometimes these kitchens will even pump out multiple styles of food under different restaurant brands, in order to share ingredients, staff and space, and cut costs even further.
In January, CBC reported that a ghost kitchen had opened in Calgary's southeast that was operating as many as 13 restaurant concepts out of a single space set up for pick up only. Turner says she also knows of at least one restaurant in town that recently opened a ghost kitchen, and while it makes financial sense, she worries about the impact the trend could have on the city long term. Imagine 17th Avenue S.W. or Kensington Road without sprawling patios or cozy dining rooms to liven up the streetscape. Turner wonders if that could become a reality if the business model for restaurants shifts completely to delivery: no more restaurants as we know them with dining rooms, service staff and bartenders. If taken to their most extreme, delivery services could spell the end for a dining tradition that reaches back to
If taken to their most extreme, delivery services could spell the end for a dining tradition that reaches back to around the time of the French Revolution.
With most delivery apps, drivers keep 100 per cent of their tips, but otherwise there are differences in how they compensate drivers. Understanding how it works may change which service you want to use and how much you want to tip. Most of the services didn’t return repeated requests for information.
Door Dash did not provide comment for this story, but its website says numerous factors determine payment for “dashers” (drivers), including size and complexity of the order, distance, parking, traffic and whether or not drivers have to place the order themselves at the restaurant. The company’s minimum compensation is $1 per delivery plus 100 per cent of the customer tip, but drivers are quoted the full payment amount prior to accepting a delivery and can accept or reject trips at their discretion.
Foodora did not respond to requests for comment for this story, but its website says “riders” delivering by scooter, bike or car can make up to $25 per hour.
While the company would not provide specifics upon request, Skip the Dishes’ website says drivers keep 100 per cent of tips and are paid based on distance and drive time. Its website also says drivers make an average of $8 per delivery.
Uber Eats determines driver fares through four criteria. For Calgary, the breakdown is a pickup fee of $1.50, drop-off fee of $1.00, a per-kilometre rate of $0.43 and a per-minute rate of $0.16. Uber Eats guarantees a minimum payment of $4 per trip. In addition, driver’s keep 100 per cent of their tips.
—Colin Gallantaround the time of the French Revolution. “It’s a really dangerous game,” she says.
Like so many other industries, restaurants can’t stop the disruption that apps are bringing, even if those changes are painful. And the apps themselves aren’t to blame, Turner adds. The fact that they’re successful at all means diners are hungry for delivery, and the onus is on restaurants to try to meet that demand.
How best to meet the new demands, or whether to even try, is top of mind for Tim Collins when I meet him at his office just off Macleod Trail near CF Chinook Centre. Laid out on his filing cabinet is a buffet of potential takeout containers that Collins, the director of operations for Ruth’s Chris Steak House, is assessing for a number of factors: presentation, environmental sustainability, cost and, of course, the ability to keep food both hot and fresh.
He asks me which one I like, and I confess the idea of a steak in any of the foil-lined trays makes me think of airplane food, an association Collins is hoping to avoid.
Delivery might seem like a strange option for a high-end steak house, but like Turner, Collins says the service is becoming a necessity for restaurants hoping to survive in a digitally enabled, on-demand world. “We’re all fighting for the same consumer that seems to be dining out a little less,” he says. “We don’t get to make those rules.”
If customers want to enjoy a pricey steak dinner at home, Collins is willing to try and get it to them. But figuring out how to maintain the quality of the food in the up-to-an-hour it can take to get to its destination is no small feat. “The biggest concern we have is that we have no control over our reputation with our food once we’ve let it leave our building,” he says. While he says he is still leaning toward offering the service, he isn’t sure how to pull it off in the way he wants, so he isn’t sure whether Ruth’s Chris will ultimately take the plunge into delivery.
Anyone who knows a thing or two about cooking red meat knows it continues to cook after it has left the heat source. That can spell disaster for something as sensitive as steak, where a minute or two can be the difference between perfectly cooked and completely overdone.
At Ruth’s Chris, chefs deliberately cook steaks to ensure they’re perfect by the time they get to the table rather than by the time they leave the kitchen, says Collins. They also serve the steaks on a plate heated to precisely 500 degrees with a sizzling pat of butter meant to stimulate the diners’ senses of smell and hearing. “We don’t get that with delivery,” Collins notes.
Being a pro delivery diner is about more than just downloading an app. Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of ordering in.
Choose a nearby restaurant.
Your meal will arrive hotter and fresher. Plus, your driver will probably be happier, too.
For the most part, dishes with sauce are a good bet. The sauce prevents moist foods from drying out and most aren’t too delicate. Pasta dishes are on the borderline — they can easily get gloopy during the drive. Definitely don’t choose something that has sauce but is supposed to be crunchy. Avoid fried foods. Fries don’t travel well. Neither does anything else deep-fried. In general, avoid anything that is supposed to be crispy.
Use the special instructions box. Basically, anything you’d typically ask of a server you can ask for in the app. Extra spicy? Yes! Hold the onions? Yes! You get the idea.
—Jennifer HamiltonNor do customers get the music, the design of the room, the interactions with the staff, nor even the energy of other patrons that, according to Collins, are essential ingredients in a memorable dining experience. “So, the best we have is to speak to you through our food,” he says.
Of course, the food also speaks about whatever might have happened to it along the way. Certainly the drivers, largely independent contractors provided by the apps, offer restaurants a cheaper and more effective method for delivery than most restaurants could ever provide on their own. But along with that arm’s-length arrangement with the delivery drivers comes a lack of allegiance to restaurants’ reputations, or the integrity of their food. Collins doesn’t doubt that delivery drivers take their work seriously, but anything from a wrong turn to an ill-timed bathroom break could be the difference between a repeat customer and a complete write-off. It’s a big risk for restaurants to take.
To complicate matters further, there’s no way to know whether customers will factor delivery into their assessment of the quality of the food — whether expectations are lower for a meal fresh from the car rather than fresh from the kitchen. Collins thinks most people accept that delivery won’t be as good as dining in the restaurant — at most he thinks they expect about an eight out of 10. But while that might be good enough for a $20 curry he doubts it will cut it for the Ruth’s Chris $85 Cowboy Ribeye. “If you’re
“The biggest concern we have is that we have no control over our reputation with our food once we’ve let it leave our building.”—Tim Collins, director of operations for Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
paying premium price for the best food you can buy at a steak house, I think eight out of 10 is a fail,” he says.
So should delivery really be on the table for all types of food? According to Dan Park, general manager of Uber Eats Canada, the answer is yes.
“I think there is a world where you can deliver pretty much anything,” he says in a phone interview from his office in Toronto. The average delivery time for Uber Eats in Alberta is about 15 minutes, he notes, short enough not to adversely impact most people’s meals. But beyond that, the company also offers information to its drivers on how to make what he calls “five-star deliveries.”
“Even in Canada we deliver for top-rated restaurants and we’ve done really interesting collaborations with high-profile chefs around date nights and dinners,” he says.
In a bid to meet the seemingly insatiable appetite for delivery (Uber Eats saw its heaviest user in Calgary order more than 270 times last year) Park says the company has started experimenting with its range of offerings, such as delivering partially cooked meals to be finished at home for a semi-DIY take on restaurant dishes. The company has also brought movie-theatre popcorn from Cineplex theatres to people Netflixing at home. “It’s really about delivering experiences customized and individualized for a particular consumer,” he says.
Novel as those experiences may be, Park insists they are no replacement for special nights out at our favourite restaurants. When it comes to anniversaries, birthdays or even kicking back on a Friday night with friends, people still choose to frequent their favourite culinary haunts, Park says. Where delivery apps really shine is in providing an alternative to frantic trips to the grocery store when the kids are screaming and the cupboards are bare. “It’s not a question of whether we want to go to the restaurant or get delivery. It’s a question of whether we go out, period,” he says. “Do you order food or scrounge in the fridge?” In this view, delivery doesn’t replace the restaurant experience, it replaces home cooking.
Jeff Adamson, co-founder and chief restaurant officer for Skip the Dishes, agrees that delivery is no replacement for dining out at a restaurant. “It’s an entirely different experience,” he says. Adamson also says that changes to delivery echo the changes we’ve seen in other industries such as retail or travel as they’ve adapted to an online world. Far from signalling the death of dining as a social act, the uptick in delivery apps is simply a sign of the times, Adamson says. “I wouldn’t
call people who want to buy their flights online anti-social. They just find it a lot more convenient than being on hold.”
In fact, he says, delivery apps enable social behaviour by freeing up customers’ time to spend with family and friends. He notes that Skip the Dishes sees a lot of people ordering in for social occasions. “I think we’re seeing the natural evolution of restaurants coming online and our goal is to help restaurants make that transition.”
For Falyn Letkeman, general manager of Booker’s BBQ Grill & Crab Shack, that transition doesn’t look a lot different from business as usual. Since partnering with Skip the Dishes in October, 2016, the restaurant hasn’t seen a wild increase in revenue, she says, but it has been a good way to bring in some business during slow times. “The reality is, during slower periods, like on a weekday lunch service or between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., we’re here, we have cooks here and we have servers on staff,” she says. “So why not try to get our food to other people that can’t necessarily get to us?”
Compared to an earlier experience with parent company Just Eat, Letkeman said this second go-round with Skip the Dishes has been fairly unobtrusive, plus the restaurant can turn orders off during busy times to prioritize inhouse guests. And while Booker’s doesn’t offer time-sensitive dishes like crab for delivery, the barbecue dishes have proven to travel well.
But Letkeman says her ultimate hope for Booker’s is that delivery will inspire more people to visit the restaurant in person. “We are in a weird little corner of the city in the East Village, so … in my eyes, the hope is that people order Skip, try it, and they’re like ‘next time I’m down there I’m going to go in and have a great experience at the restaurant; their takeout was fantastic.’”
It may seem like a logical connection, but it’s not one restaurants can rely on heavy users like Joe Mack to make. While he classifies his favourite restaurant as “one I haven’t tried yet,” and still makes time to dine out on the weekends, Mack said he doesn’t use delivery for discovery.
In fact, Mack has a specific takeout ordering process that starts with filtering food by delivery time and then by type. “Half the time I don’t even look at the name of the restaurant,” he says.
In the end, his decision to dine out or order delivery stems from two very different motivations, he says: eating out is about experience; ordering in is motivated by survival.
In the years to come, that may prove to be even more true for restaurants than for diners.
“I think we’re seeing the natural evolution of restaurants coming online and our goal is to help restaurants make that transition.”
—Jeff Adamson, co-founder and chief restaurant officer for Skip the Dishes
Barbecues Galore, 3505 Edmonton Tr. N.E., 403-768-3831, and 5875 9 St. S.E., 403-768-2790, barbecuesgalore.ca
Bite Grocer & Eatery, 1023 9 Ave. S.E., 403-263-3966, biteyyc.com
Burwood Distillery, 4127 6 St. N.E., 403-276-8410, burwooddistillery.ca
Canadian Tire, multiple locations, canadiantire.ca
Dade Loft, 104, 1212 13 St. S.E., 403-454-0243, dadeloft.com
Hudson’s Bay, multiple locations, thebay.com
Hutch Kitchen, 4135, 7005 Fairmount Dr. S.E., 403-253-8882, hutchkitchen.com
IKEA, 8000 11 St. S.E., ikea.com
Inspirati, 120, 2207 4 St. S.W., 403-244-4443, inspirati.ca
Kit Interior Objects, 725 11 Ave. S.W., 403-508-2533, kitinteriorobjects.com
Knifewear, 1316 9 Ave. S.E., 403-514-0577, knifewear.com
Maria Tomás, 6051 Centre St. S.W., 403-454-6051, mariatomas.com
Nanao Kimono, 225 10 St. N.W., and Crossroads Market, 1235 26 Ave. S.E., nanaokimono.com
Nordstrom, CF Chinook Centre, 587-291-2000
Real Canadian Superstore, multiple locations, realcanadiansuperstore.ca
Robert Sweep, 808 16 Ave. S.W., 403-262-8525, robertsweep.com
The Silk Road Spice Merchant, 1403A 9 Ave. S.E., 403-261-1955, silkroadspices.ca
Stuff, 709 11 Ave. S.W., 403-209-2606, stuff4him.ca
The Instagram hashtag #momlife is a gateway to upwards of 32 million images. The majority, it seems, are of smiling families in perfect composition and selfie upon selfie, without any children to be seen. Then there’s the #momlife of @by_teresawong, a Calgary author and illustrator whose content on the popular platform is there neither to present her life through rose-coloured glasses for outsiders to envy, nor display her #ootd (outfit of the day). Rather, Teresa Wong’s images offer a poignant picture of motherhood and candid depictions of the craziness of life with her three kids: daughters Scarlet and Eden and son Isaac.
Her unfiltered perspective isn’t the only thing that sets Wong’s postings apart. It’s also that Wong mostly uses illustration to show what life is like in her home, a tidy, modernist two-storey in the northwest neighbourhood of Panorama Hills, not far from the Beddington Heights home where she grew up. Now, those who are drawn to Wong’s life in pictures can also pick up a copy of her new graphic-novel memoir, Dear Scarlet, a heart-wrenching journey through new motherhood and postpartum depression, released this past April by Arsenal Pulp Press.
Wong’s road to becoming a published graphic novelist began with an affinity for comics in childhood. She is firstgeneration Canadian, born in Calgary in 1976 to Chinese parents who had immigrated to Canada via Hong Kong just a few years prior, each of them swimming from mainland China to the former British colony to escape the work communes they were sent to during the Cultural Revolution. Like many Canadian kids, Wong avidly devoured comics — she liked Betty and Veronica digests in particular — though her interest tapered off somewhat as she entered her teen years.
She discovered graphic novels as an adult in the early 2000s, starting with Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (later adapted into an Oscar-nominated film). “She writes about her childhood in Iran before the Islamic revolution and winds up having to leave. It is a beautiful book,” Wong says. The combination of adult memoir and novel-worthy themes combined with the comics-style illustration she had loved as a kid, struck a chord. “To see that put together in such a compelling way was a real revelation for me,” she says.
The experience that would spur Wong’s own foray into graphic-novel storytelling was the 2009 birth of Scarlet, her eldest daughter. Though there are countless instructive tomes on bookstore shelves similar to the ubiquitous What to Expect When You’re Expecting, fewer address what new motherhood truly feels like, especially for those who, like Wong, experience difficult births and crushing postpartum depression. “I want new mothers to know they are not alone in what they are going through,” she says. “I don’t think that new mothers or mothers of young children often see that in books, their stories told back to them.”
Scarlet’s birth resulted in an extended hospital stay — Wong only found out later that she was being closely monitored because she lost half her blood. She also had trouble breastfeeding and, at around the 10-day mark, her tiredness transitioned to postpartum depression.
One of the people Wong and her husband Sunny reached out to during this dark time was Calgary-based doula AJ Hadfield, a current member and past president of the Calgary Doula Association. “Teresa has great courage,” says Hadfield. “Postpartum depression is debilitating, both physically and emotionally, and hits at a time when a new parent is at their most vulnerable. To be able
After suffering through postpartum depression, Teresa Wong published a graphic novel that she hopes will help other moms know they’re not alone.
“WHEN I READ DEAR SCARLET, I WAS MOVED BY ITS RAW HONESTY, ITS SARDONIC HUMOUR, ITS DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE ILLUSTRATIONS AND ITS MESSAGE OF LOVE AND CARE: THAT THOSE WITH POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION AND THEIR FAMILIES, NEEDN’T SUFFER SILENTLY AND ALONE.”
to recognize that there is a problem and then actively seek out support takes courage. Furthermore, our society — and many cultures — still attach shame and blame to the diagnosis of postpartum depression, so for Teresa to write this book and be vocal about her journey is both courageous and powerful.”
Hadfield also provided postpartum support after the arrivals of Eden in 2011 and Isaac in 2014. Although Wong did not experience postpartum depression with her youngest, it was in the early days of her pregnancy with Isaac that she decided to tell her story in the form of a graphic novel. “The genre intrigued me. I really wanted to make something that was in the vein of the stuff I was reading,” says Wong. “And I thought the story lent itself well to a visual treatment. I remembered that time in images versus words because I was quiet so much. It was a very silent time in my life.” Wong characterizes herself as a professional writer and “beginner illustrator,” having honed her writing skills while earning her Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Calgary. When she started Dear Scarlet, she didn’t think she could draw it herself, having no formal artistic training, and she intended to collaborate with a professional for the visuals. But as she storyboarded the book in her own hand it became apparent that, although the illustrations weren’t slick, they were effective in conveying the sparseness she was experiencing at the time.
editor Shirarose Wilensky. Dear Scarlet was released April 1, 2019. Early reviews have been positive and the book was highlighted by CBC as one of 12 Canadian comics to look out for in spring 2019.
Wilensky, editor, Arsenal Pulp Press
—ShiraroseThough the seed for Dear Scarlet was planted in 2014, it took a while to germinate. For starters, Wong had a newborn and two preschoolers under her care. Then, just before Isaac’s first birthday, Sunny experienced two strokes and had to undergo brain surgery. In whatever in-between time there was, Wong would storyboard, draw and research the process other graphic novelists used to pull together their manuscripts. By 2016 she had a 108-page draft and an agent. Though the agent dropped Dear Scarlet in 2018, Wong persevered, seeking support from online writers’ groups. One of her biggest supporters was a Vancouver-based author named Lindsay Wong (no relation), whose memoir The Woo Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and my Crazy Chinese Family is one of this year’s CBC Canada Reads selections.
By pure coincidence, Dear Scarlet would eventually find a home with the same publisher as The Woo Woo, Arsenal Pulp Press. The Vancouver-based indie publishing house is known for its commitment to bringing voices to print that have traditionally not been showcased in mainstream publishing. “When I read Dear Scarlet, I was moved by its raw honesty, its sardonic humour, its deceptively simple illustrations and its message of love and care: that those with postpartum depression and their families, needn’t suffer silently and alone,” says Arsenal Pulp Press
Now that her long-gestating literary baby has arrived in the world, Wong is not exactly sure what her next endeavour may be, although she does have a manuscript about her parents in early stages of development. “I like telling stories, whether they are mine or someone else’s,” she says. “I think that is the main thread of everything that I do. Telling a good story that you can benefit from or relate to is just a joy.”
Wong’s candid social media presence also continues to earn admirers, among them Natalie Sit, a 37-year-old technical writer who lives in the Beltline with her husband and toddler daughter. “Like me, she’s Chinese and a firstgeneration Canadian and it is so fabulous to see a person of colour talk about motherhood and other issues like representation,” Sit says. “I’m so glad Teresa is doing her art and showing people that Asians aren’t just emotionless robots that only do math, or ferocious tiger moms.”
Whatever lies ahead, Wong says she will continue to draw motherhood as she knows it. “It keeps me paying attention to my life,” she says. “It keeps me looking out for the extraordinary in the ordinary. And it keeps that spark of creativity going.”
dreamridgehomes.com
JUNE 19-23, 2019
APRIL 16-22, 2018
ay 24-26 2019
Five reasons your next race should be the GoodLife Fitness 5K at the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon
JUNE 15, 2019
Sled Island is an annual five-day music and arts festival that brings together 250+ bands, comedy, film and art in more than 30 venues across Calgary. Since 2007, Sled Island’s thoughtful, eclectic programming and independent spirit have fused to create a one-of-a-kind festival experience. This year’s festival will include guest curator Julien Baker, Japanese Breakfast, Rapsody, JPEGMAFIA, Le1f, Hop Along, Bully, Oblivians, Man or Astro-Man?, Cate Le Bon, Cass McCombs, Jessica Pratt and many more!
Elevating Calgary’s cultural landscape with the best in international independent cinema, CUFF is Western Canada’s premiere genre festival. Throughout our 7-day festival you will discover unique films, lively Q&A’s with visiting guests, and be swept into the fun atmosphere CUFF has created. This year we will be showcasing 40 feature films, 20+ short films, retroSaturday Morning Cartoons, National Canadian Film Day event, parties and CUFFcade (custom arcade cabinets with new independent video games!)
In support of Fresh Start Recover Centre, don’t miss your opportunity to see Russell Brand performing two live comedy shows! Russell Brand is one of the most recognisable and bestloved comedy performers in the world, with a series of sold-out tours, bestselling DVDs and a number of major film roles to his name.
SledIsland.com
1. Anyone can participate. The course is open to runners and walkers and is a great way to experience your first road race. Challenging and fun for both newbies and veteran runners alike.
2. Help yourself and others by running for a cause. Run in support of any of our 80 charities participating in the Scotiabank Charity Challenge.
3. Work up to the training quickly. 5K training can easily be worked in to the day while still gaining the strength, power, speed and fitness you develop when you run.
www.calgaryundergroundfilm.com
www.freshstartrecovery.ca
Facebook: CalgaryUndergroundFilmFestival
4. Experience all the same excitement, aid stations and finish line food as the marathoners!
5. Celebrate Calgary and spring! It’s a great way to join in the energy and fun of the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon race weekend on May 1
Avenue is proud to support local initiatives in our community. Visit AvenueCalgary.com/events to find our more about the upcoming events in the city.
Avenue is proud to support local initiatives in our community. Visit AvenueCalgary.com/events to find out more about upcoming events in the city.
Avenue is proud to support local initiatives in our community. Visit AvenueCalgary.com/events to find our more about the upcoming events in the city.
About a week before last year’s Half Corked Marathon, an annual event put on in May by the Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association, it occurred to me that what I had signed up for was, indeed, a half-marathon.
The jokey reference to over-indulging had up to that point overshadowed the fact that this event is, at its core, a run of approximately 18 kilometres (just a few shy of the official halfmarathon distance of 21.0975 km). Though I could run the five kms that organizers recommend as a fitness baseline, I found myself with the uneasy feeling that I was going into it woefully underprepared.
As it turned out, I needn’t have worried.
The first indication that the Half Corked is no ordinary half-marathon is the fact that the jokey reference is not just a joke. Runners consume wine, not just as a post-run celebration, but before and during the run as well. Even if running is the core activity, wine is still really the whole point of the Half Corked.
The event, now it its 11th year, was created to showcase and celebrate the viniculture of the Golden Mile and Black Sage Road benches connecting the South Okanagan towns of Osoyoos and Oliver, B.C. Currently, around 41 grapegrowers and winemakers can be found in this region, known for its hot, dry summers.
In recent years, the Half Corked has started on the grounds of the Burrowing Owl Winery in Osoyoos and ended in Oliver’s main community park. The route winds through multiple vineyards and wineries, each beckoning runners to pause and sample their product. There are also additional tasting stations for wineries that are located off the route, and runners can expect a winetasting every km or so, offering samples of both reds and whites (or blushes, or bubbles). You’ll find food stations along the way as well, with fare ranging from cut fruit, to mini-muffins, to satay skewers.
The second indication that the Half Corked is no ordinary half-marathon is the official prerace Primavera dinner the night before (though
Long-distance running and wine aren’t an obvious pairing, but at the Half Corked Marathon in Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country, those lucky enough to get the chance to take part find a lot to celebrate.Photography by Leila Kwok; top left photograph by Kieran Frey
part of the Half Corked official weekend programming, the dinner requires a separate ticket). Far from stretching or meditating or laying in a hyperbaric chamber or whatever you expect marathon types to be doing on the eve of a race, Primavera is more like attending a laid-back — and boozy — country wedding reception. Last year’s dinner was a progressive affair, starting with a reception and appetizer at Stoneboat Vineyards. Diners then walked through the rows of grapes to the neighbouring Oliver Twist Estate Winery for the long-table main course, a family-style spread of salads, polenta and house-made sausage in rich tomato sauce paired with bottle upon bottle of wine. If anyone
HALF CORKED FIRST-TIMERS HAVE TO WIN THEIR TICKET TO THE BIG SHOW IN AN ONLINE LOTTERY. THE LOTTERY FOR 2020 OPENS IN OCTOBER, 2019.
in attendance was concerned about wine consumption affecting their race time the next day, they certainly didn’t show it.
The third indication that the Half Corked is no ordinary half-marathon is the boisterous scene at the starting area, where seasoned Half Corkers mingle with wide-eyed first timers. The event has become so popular that race newbies have to win their entry through an online lottery. Previously held in November, the lottery will move to October as of this year. (More than 5,700 hopefuls entered their name in the draw for Half Corked 2019, so if you want to run in Half Corked 2020, make sure to check the website this October for lottery sign-up details.)
Presented each year in May by the Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association, the Half Corked Marathon has a party atmosphere.
OPPOSITE PAGE The Primavera dinner on the eve of the race gets the party started.
THIS PAGE Costumes are a big part of the Half Corked experience, with seasoned participants pulling out all stops.
Half Corked 2018 runners crossing the finish line at Oliver Community Park in Oliver, B.C.
Day-Glo wigs. From there, if you can fever-dream it, you’ll probably see it: Barbie dolls encased in to-scale pink Mattel boxes, an under-the-sea crew complete with a red-tressed mermaid in a fishtail gown, a team of synchronized swimmers in matching one-piece bathing suits and nose-plugs all running in unison within a blow-up kiddie pool with its base cut out.
shady spots and water stations along the route when you need them. And my particular fear that consuming multiple wines over the course of a three-hour run in hot, dry weather was a surefire way to induce severe heartburn, proved to be unfounded.
Last year, around 1,400 participants convened at Burrowing Owl just before 8 a.m., to be sent out in staggered heats of approximately 450 runners. The overall scene could best be described as controlled chaos: music blasting while racers fortified themselves with pre-race tastings of pinot gris and put the finishing touches on their elaborate costumes. Wild and wonderful get-ups are almost as big a part of Half Corked as the wine — those runners who forgo costumes for sleek athletic wear slink around looking contrite, aware that their obvious lack of imagination is on display. The lowest rung on the costume-effort ladder is the friend squads wearing rosé-pun tank tops accessorized with feather boas and
By the time you hit the ground running it’s more than obvious that the Half Corked is less a race than a party. (“If you cross the finish line first, turn around and run back because you missed the entire point,” the 2018 race announcer gleefully declared as part of his welcoming remarks.) Any “running” that happens is secondary to an unbridled sense of fun. You can’t walk the whole race or you’ll be picked up by volunteers tasked with ensuring that everyone finishes within the 3.5-hour time frame, but you certainly do not have to run the whole way — some combination of jog-walk-shuffle will suffice in getting you to the finish line. Though heat can be a concern (temperatures nearing 30 C in late May aren’t uncommon in the region) there are
In fact, after loping into Oliver Community Park, site of the post-race celebrations with costume awards, food trucks (race admission includes a meal voucher that can be redeemed at the various trucks) and, of course, more wine-tasting booths, I found myself feeling, if not euphoric exactly, then at least unexpectedly energetic. Whether it was the joyous vibe, the ridiculous costumes, the gorgeous scenery of green vineyards nestled up against sun-baked rocky hillsides, the impossibly blue skies, or my steadily rising blood-alcohol level, I caught myself wishing that the course might have even been just a little bit longer so that it all wouldn’t be over quite yet — perhaps the ultimate indication that the Half Corked is no ordinary half-marathon. The 2019 Half Corked Marathon runs May 24 to 26, oliverosoyoos.com/halfcorked
Located up on a ridge on the Osoyoos First Nation overlooking Osoyoos Lake, Spirit Ridge Resort (now managed by Hyatt International) is a desert oasis, with condo and villa-style accommodations, pools for both family and adult guests and expansive patios for outdoor dining. The resort’s on-site winery, Nk’Mip Cellars, is the first Indigenousowned winery in North America.
1200 Rancher Creek Rd., Osoyoos, B.C., 250-495-5445, spiritridge.hyatt.com, nkmipcellars.com
Winery touring in the OliverOsoyoos region is the de rigueur daily activity, but certain wineries offer more in the way of food beyond palate-balancing crunchy breadsticks. On the chill end of the spectrum, Rust Wine Co. on the Golden Mile Bench has a resident “grillmaster” on the payroll, who will create share platters of assorted meats and veggies for your group to enjoy on the hillside open-air patio. For something fancier, the award-winning Miradoro Restaurant at Tinhorn Creek, also on the Golden Mile Bench, dishes up “local, modern winecountry cuisine” for lunch, tapas, dinner and dessert. Try to get a spot on the 65-seat wraparound deck overlooking the South Okanagan Valley.
4444 Golden Mile Rd., Oliver, B.C., 250-498-3276, rustwine.com; 537 Tinhorn Creek Rd., Oliver, B.C., 250-498-3742, tinhorn.com/restaurant
Take
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in the majesty of the Rockies from the Kananaskis Nordic Spa followed by hand-crafted cocktails and a locally-sourced meal at one of our five restaurants. Sleep among the mountains at our 4-star resort located just an hour drive from Calgary.
This gracious & meticulously maintained 4 bedroom home has been beautifully renovated offering over 5,100 sq ft of luxurious living space. The main floor presents a formal dining room & renovated chef’s kitchen finished with quartz counter tops, island/eating bar, an abundance of storage space, stainless steel appliance package & bright breakfast nook. The living room with feature fireplace & built-ins is open to the kitchen, creating a perfect family or entertaining space. The master retreat boasts a walk-in closet & luxurious newly renovated 5 piece ensuite with 2 sinks, make-up vanity, freestanding soaker tub & oversized shower.
Brand new home showcases flawless, classic style, over 3,500 sq ft of living space & 3+1 bedrooms. Open floor plan including a spacious front den/office, well-appointed chef’s kitchen finished with upgraded traditional cabinets, island with exotic counter top slab, quartz counter tops, built-in hutch, separate pantry, high-end appliance package & casual dining area. The adjacent living room is embellished with a coffered ceiling & feature fireplace with marble tile surround.
A marathon isn’t so much a race as a milestone, the culmination of months (even years) of preparation, nervous anticipation and celebration.
Calling the Calgary Marathon a “fitness goal” is like calling the Calgary Stampede a rodeo — technically accurate, but also woefully inadequate. Just like the “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth” encompasses a range of sport and spectacle that has to be seen to be believed, the marathon provides a transformative physical, social and psychological challenge that can only be understood by going the distance. It’s an epic rite of passage, like a super-sweaty prom, or the act of bringing your first-born child into the world, but instead of a squalling baby, you’re handed a medal at the end of your Herculean effort. There is a before and an after.
After all, there has to be some sort of miraculous upside for thousands of otherwise-sane people to willingly embark on a 42.2-kilometre run, which is basically running from downtown Calgary to Airdrie and then tacking on another 10 km once you get to Airdrie just for kicks.
For non-runners and new runners alike, the marathon represents the biggest challenge possible, “a big, hairy, audacious goal,
if you will,” says Colleen Parsons, head coach of the University of Calgary marathon training team and herself a many time marathoner and Ironman finisher. It can even seem daunting for seasoned runners like Parsons, who ran the Calgary Marathon for the first time in 1995, heading into it just weeks after an injury and so worried about the outcome that she parked her car at the halfway mark the night before the race just in case she couldn’t finish.
Parsons experienced her own marathon miracle midway through the race, confiding in some strangers-turned-race-buddies that she doubted she would be able to finish. “One said to me as we were nearing my car, ‘you can’t quit!’ I looked at her and said, ‘right!’ So I didn’t.”
Though physical fitness is obviously a prerequisite to run a marathon, inner fortitude is the key to finishing. According to Kirsten Fleming, executive director of Run Calgary, which organizes the Calgary Marathon (and part of Avenue’s Top 40 Under 40 Class of 2018), success at the marathon distance boils down to having a strong answer to the question you will inevitably ask
For many runners, completing a marathon is a personal victory that marks the culmination of months, even years of training.
yourself during both training and racing: Why am I doing this? In the decade since she ran her first marathon in Dubai, Fleming’s “why” has evolved into nothing short of an entirely new perspective on life. “I appreciate my body — all of it, even the bits I consider imperfect — and am grateful every day I am able to walk and run and move,” she says.
Matthew Boudreau admits to signing up for the 2018 Calgary Marathon almost on a whim, having never run a race of any distance before, but wanting to scratch “marathon” off of his bucket list. But he quickly found his “why” in the accountability of doing some very public fundraising for Inn From the Cold. “When I wanted to quit or skip a workout, I knew there were donors, a charity and those lessfortunate families counting on me to run it and not quit,” he says. And when race day arrived, the idea of his wife and four-year-old daughter waiting at the finish line became Boudreau’s ultimate answer to the “why” question. “It really got into my head … that my daughter was watching, learning and seeing her dad do something unimaginable. Setting that example for her really helped me,” says Boudreau. “I needed to make it to them.”
For Lindsay Nye, however, the “why” behind acing her first marathon had everything to do with who wouldn’t be at the finish line. “A week before the race I went through a breakup, which I was really struggling with. He was supposed to be there at the finish line waiting for me and the thought of not having a cheering squad at the end almost derailed things for me,” says Nye, but as she found out, revenge isn’t just a dish best served cold, it’s a dish best served fast. “Instead of giving into self-doubt, I rechanneled the energy and used it to fuel a Boston-qualifying time to prove to myself that I was strong on my own. What an incredible feeling to have achieved that.” Indeed, if the marathon is like prom, the Boston Marathon, with its pomp and pageantry and challenging time standards for guaranteed entry, is the runner’s Met Gala.
Extreme physical challenges like the marathon train not just the body, but the mind as well, helping us re-think our limitations and even our core identities. Sure, some runners will find any excuse to wear shorts/tights to show off marathon training’s physical benefits, but most agree that its psychological benefits are even more transformative.
“You need to find a way to push yourself beyond what you perceive is your max effort, find something else to focus on and really understand your own mindset,” Boudreau says. “We all have another gear, more to give, and an ability to keep going when we think we’re done. It’s all about not simply convincing yourself of this, but truly believing it.”
The social component of marathon training shows how invaluable face-to-face support and accountability can be in achieving big, audacious goals. Parson’s master’s degree research
demonstrated a strong connection between peer support and the likelihood someone would do more than one marathon. Most local running stores (Strides Running Store, Gord’s Running Store, Running Room and MEC, to name a few) offer marathon clinics that unite similarly paced runners for training runs, including the all-important long run, when a unique combination of hilarious conversations and hive-mind wisdom-sharing can make three-plus hours of running fly by (well, almost).
“Long runs are much more enjoyable if you can share in some banter along the way,” says Nye, who credits joining The Beaners, a running group that emerged out of a Crowfoot Running Room marathon clinic, with her own marathon debut going so smoothly. “They are an incredibly encouraging group with a lot of experience and tons of miles/marathons under their belts. I was the youngest in the group and the greenest when it came to the distance, but I showed up, listened to their advice and encouragement and it all paid off.” A decade later, Nye still runs with The Beaners (so named for their Sunday run meet-up spot, The Extreme Bean in Parkdale).
If running groups serve as supportive cliques for marathon training, then marathon day, like the prom, is where all the cliques come together, united in that one big goal. “Logging so many miles together really solidifies friendships,” says Nye.
“Or it could just be that we are nuts.”
The 2019 Scotiabank Calgary Marathon is on May 26; for information visit calgarymarathon.com.
“We all have another gear, more to give, and an ability to keep going when we think we’re done. It’s all about not simply convincing yourself of this, but truly believing it.”
— Matthew Boudreau, 2018 Calgary Marathon finisherPhotography by Dave Holland
For an active family, building a home from the ground up meant overcoming the challenges presented by a steep hill.
BY Colin Gallant
When Joel Forrest and Stephanie Nagel saw that their family was going to need room to grow, they decided to go the custom-build route to make the space they needed. Forrest and Nagel are busy lawyers with two children, aged seven and 10. The couple and their kids are all active skiers and that gear-heavy hobby, coupled with their kids’ teenage years just around the corner, meant the family needed to look for a bigger home.
It turned out they didn’t have to go far to find the site for the new home of their dreams. Forrest and Nagel already loved living in Briar Hill and, as luck would have it, they found a walkout lot less than a kilometre away from their previous home. The site for their new build had one particularly significant challenge, however: a 30-foot slope. They would be building from the ground up, and up, and up.
The creativity with which Tom Obodzinski and the Dream Ridge Homes team addressed the site’s slope resulted in a unique home layout that turned the design challenge into a celebrated feature. The home’s first floor functions like a walkout basement and houses Forrest and Nagel’s wine cellar, while the second floor is the home’s main level, with the “back door” serving as the primary entrance because of its proximity to the garage and parking area outside.
“We almost didn’t buy the lot because of the thought of climbing up the front stairs all the time,” says Nagel.
The design team addressed that particular concern by having the second-floor entrance open directly into a mudroom that leads to the kitchen and dining room. The hardwood-floored kitchen features stainless-steel appliances and white cabinetry, though the star attraction is the beautiful and functional marble-topped island with walnut cabinetry, where the family often hangs out.
Not to be outdone, the living room also has a stunning feature — a cold-rolled steel fireplace surround that will change in appearance as it oxidizes through time and use.
Just beyond the living room is Forrest’s office. Home to his book and record collections, as well as vintage Canadian Pacific Hotel posters and a cowhide rug, the welcoming space is where he spends long hours working from home. “[It’s] a bit of nice space to be in if you’ve got to be working,” he says wryly.
Each area of the home was thoughtfully designed by the Reena Sotropa In House Design Group to create the serene look Forrest and Nagel desired, while keeping practicality in mind for the active family. “A big challenge that my team and I had was to create warmth and coziness in a home that has soaring ceilings and glazing on entire walls,” says Sotropa. “It was a very gallery-like
feeling, but they are a young family with kids … and so one of my challenges was to take that envelope and create warmth and intimacy.” The living room takes full advantage of the scenic view without sacrificing privacy, and Sotropa softened each room’s 10-foot white walls with carefully considered, earth-toned elements such as natural walnut wood.
The third floor of the home contains the bedrooms and a luxurious ensuite. Above that is a loft and the home’s most enviable feature — a rooftop patio complete with a dumb waiter to easily bring food, beverages and other items up from the main level. The rooftop’s expansive view of the skyline takes the challenge of a sloped lot and subverts it into a reward: it is, quite literally, top-level comfort.
Literally building from the ground up offers endless possibilities for your home (and nearly as many possibilities for it to get off track). Here are some practical principles to keep you on course.
1. Get everyone on the same page. Building a new home means dealing with a large number of professionals who need mutual expectations to be made clear. Setting, communicating and sticking with tangible goals from the beginning is vital.
2. Encourage collaboration within your team. For the Forrest-Nagel home, design meetings with Reena Sotropa always included Tom Obodzinski from Dream Ridge Homes, something Sotropa says isn’t a given with all builders. However, she says having everyone there made decision-making more efficient. Each professional has their own skill set and putting them in the same room can take results to that next level.
3. Don’t forget that you went custom for a reason. Trying to impose conventional home layouts on a space made just for you is like dancing the salsa to waltz music. Identify the natural strengths of your lot and work with them, like Forrest and Nagel did with their entryways.
4. Finish strong. Sticking to your goals doesn’t mean you should be inflexible. Grand structural features are enviable but can make a space feel museumlike. Remedy that by picking finishes with a human touch. A good designer will help you make smart choices, whatever your particular considerations may be.
ABOVE The loft level opens onto an amazing rooftop patio that made the efforts of building from the ground up all worth it.
RIGHT The main bedroom ensuite mixes the tranquility of a white wall and cabinetry with the warmth of multitoned wood.
Builder Dream Ridge Homes, 403-616-3537, dreamridgehomes.com
Interior designer, Reena Sotropa In House Design Group, 211, 3332 20 St. S.W., 403-686-8488, reenasotropa.ca
Custom wall paneling throughout by Dream Ridge Homes
Hardware throughout from Banbury Lane Design Centre, 1301 10 Ave. S.W., 403-244-0038, banburylane.com
Living-room couch from Halstead, 5, 6325 11 St. S.E., 403-259-4444, halstead.ca
Custom fireplace surround from Modern Metal Products, 3300 114 Ave. S.E.,403-720-3611, modernmetal.ca
Chairs beside fireplace from Pottery Barn, CF Chinook Centre, 403-259-2100, potterybarn.ca
Living-room painting from Stonewaters, 638 Main St., Canmore, 403-609-4477, stonewaters.com
Kitchen bar stools from Structube, multiple Calgary locations, structube.com
Titanium leather-finish countertop from Stone Selection Ltd., 1240 26 Ave. S.E., 403-214-2363, stoneselection.ca
Backsplash from Julian Tile, 1125 42 Ave. S.E., 403-287-8453, juliantile.com
Appliances from Jerome’s Appliance Gallery, 7152 Fisher St S.E., 403-255-6050, jeromesappliancegalleryinc.ca
Kitchen cabinetry from Artero Custom Finishing, 403-371-5477, arterorenovations.ca
Pendant lights over kitchen island from Costco, multiple Calgary locations, costco.ca
Dining table custom-made by Refined Rustic Furniture, 425A 58 Ave. S.E., 403-285-9256, refinedrusticfurniture.com
Dining chairs from Structube
Light fixture over dining table from L Modern Lighting, lmodernlighting.com
Rug from Pottery Barn
Mountain painting by Chrissy Nickerson, from Elevation Gallery, 100, 729 Main St., Canmore, 403-609-3324, elevationgallery.ca
Home-office cabinetry by Artero Custom
Finishing
Desk from Showhome Furniture, Southcentre, 403-460-8114, showhome-furniture.com
Cowhide rug from Wayfair, wayfair.ca
Chair from Kit Interior Objects, 725 11 Ave. S.W., 403-508-2533, kitinteriorobjects.com
Loft rug from HPR Gallery, 1206 20 Ave. S.E. (by appointment), 403-262-5323, hprgallery.com
Ensuite faucet from The Royal Flush Kitchen & Bath Boutique, 2115 4 St. S.W., 403-228-2934, royalflushboutique.ca
Bring your dream oasis home by visiting our designer showroom and let our expert sales team assist you.
4611 Manhattan Road SE Calgary, AB. T2G 4B3 www.mountainhousefurniture.ca | 403-455-9288 For your first home or your forever home.
Nimble fingers, nimble mind: Caitlin Thompson blends deft needlework with a genius for sequencing, a quirky imagination and an inquisitive intellect. For the past year, she has constructed Alberta vistas of fabric, employing techniques of piecework, appliqué and embroidery. Those of the Panoramada series are unlike any other quilts, although the association with tradition is one of many ingredients that make them fascinating. Once the textile stage is set, giant but elusive embroidered nymphs who live in the realms of mountains, foothills and prairies enter. Thompson then sets the scene in motion with digital animation. The landscape vibrates in response to wind, weather and sunshine, while mythical semi-transparent female figures go about their daily lives. The animations are short, shimmering and enchanting. Thompson grew up in the rural area around Meeting Creek, Alta. She studied art at Red Deer College, Alberta College of Art + Design (now Alberta University of the Arts) and the
National Film Board of Canada, culminating in 2015 with an MFA in fibre and material practices from Concordia University. There, she participated in Hexagram, the innovative workshop pushing the boundaries of art and new technologies. Programming an advanced digital embroidery machine led Thompson to combine her affinity for drawing, embroidery and digital animation in the artform known as “embroidermation.”
In this piece, an enormous redhead washes her hair on the shore, seated cross-legged below a sun-glazed glacier. (Perhaps she’s the goddess of Bow Glacier Falls?) Tints, tones and shades of blue and turquoise ripple through the patterns of curves and diamonds as waves undulate toward the shore. A quilter’s eye can see the fabric pieces have lives of their own: they don’t quite lie flat. Here and there, an edge ends in fringe, hinting at the source material.
It was almost 50 years ago that experimental filmmaker and multimedia artist Joyce Weiland presented Water Quilt in the first solo exhibition
TITLE: Panoramada (Waterfall), 2018
ARTIST: Caitlin Thompson
MEDIUM: Wool, silk, ramie, cotton embroidery thread, polyester thread, animation.
SIZE: 66 inches by 52 inches.
LOCATION: The Ledge Gallery at Arts Commons.
NOTE: Thompson is working on the Panoramada series at The Ledge Gallery through the end of the month, with both the quilts and animations on view. Her residency concludes with a closing reception Friday, May 31, from 7 to 9 p.m.
by a woman artist at the National Gallery of Canada. The work included embroidered Arctic flowers and embedded pages of a treatise on Canadian water rights.
Panoramada, too, carries a subtext: the global economy is affected by fashion and the culture of consumerism. Luxury pashminas from Kashmir inspired a Western fashion trend in the mid-nine-ties that inspired the production of knock-offs, many ending up in thrift stores, where Thompson finds them. The rescued shawls provide her with both materials and a specific colour palette; she reclaims them with hours of meticulous work, a touch of whimsy and an aesthetic of light.
