Avenue Oct 18

CITY| LIFE| STYLE| CALGARY

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Alberta

Shines

The Alberta Medical Association is proud to salute these extraordinary Albertans as they are honoured with the most prestigious awards bestowed by the AMA and the Canadian Medical Association.

Our remarkable

honourees

AMA MedAl for distinguished service for outstanding personal contributions to the medical profession and to Albertans that have contributed to the art and science of medicine and raised the standards of medical practice: • dr. norman M. Kneteman Edmonton • Dr. John B. Kortbeek Calgary • Dr. Harvey R. Rabin Calgary

cMA AwArd for Young leAders (Early Career) for exemplary dedication, commitment and leadership in clinical, political, education, research and/or community service: • Dr. Cara A. Bablitz Edmonton cMA owen AdAMs AwArd of honour for excellence in service to the profession in the field of medical organization:

AMA MedAl of honour for outstanding personal contributions by a non-physician to Albertans that have contributed to the advancement of medical research/education, health care organization, health education and/or health promotion to the public:

• Michael A. Gormley Edmonton

• carol e. cass, PhD Edmonton

The AMA awards were presented at its Representative Forum/

• The Price Family (Chad, Dave, Isabelle, Joanna, Matt, Teri) Acme

awards were presented at its 151st Annual Meeting and Health

AMA AwArd for coMpAssionAte service for serving as an inspiration to others with outstanding compassion, dedication and extraordinary contributions to volunteer or philanthropic efforts to improve the state of the community: • Dr. Bonnie R. Larson Calgary

For more information on these awards and individuals, visit www.albertadoctors.org or www.cma.ca.

Annual General Meeting September 21–22 in Calgary. The CMA Summit/General Council August 19–22 in Winnipeg.

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F E AT U R E S

contents OCTOBER 2018

ON T HE C O V E R Gluten-free treats from Mountain Rhino Donuts.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JARED SYCH PAGE 52

40

Do the (Side) Hustle Everyone and their boss has a secondary income these days. We talk to five Calgarians about how they juggle their side hustle with their full-time job and one whose side hustle evolved into his main gig.

By Tina Shaygan

25 Best Things to Eat Our annual round-up of the tastiest, most tantalizing pastries, charcuterie, breads, bevvies and other bits and bites that you can buy and enjoy in the city right now.

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By Julie Van Rosendaal

46

Risky Business Here in Calgary, entrepreneurialism is highly lauded, but there are certainly downsides to running your own show that people often don’t talk about until it’s too late.

By Julia Williams 22

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D E PA RT M E N T S 28 EDITOR’S NOTE 30 CONTRIBUTORS 93 SOURCE 98 WORK OF ART

contents OCTOBER 2018

67

The Pour Today’s Greek wines are proving that this Mediterranean country can do much better than the cheap retsinas that have tarnished its reputation.

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Detours A local theatre company that’s found its niche by upping the fear factor in its shows, an illustrated guide to our local squirrels, and a walk down the 17th Avenue S.W. of yore on the eve of its multi-faceted redevelopment.

74

Mountains City dwellers might dread the coming winter, but out in the mountains they can’t wait for the snow to fall. Plan yourself an amazing experience in the mountains this season and you’ll start to love winter, too.

88

Decor The home of Mogens and Nicki Smed is a showpiece for the innovative pre-fab construction techniques Mogens has brought to the world through his company DIRTT.

94

Style Statement The freedom to express your personal style is one thing artist Magda Assaf definitely appreciates about life outside the corporate world.

62

Profile: Ian MacGregor The oil-and-gas executive behind the new Sturgeon Refinery and land developer behind the buzzworthy Carriag Ridge project also happens to have his own museum dedicated to tools and widgets.

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Hank Van Weelden, a managing partner in the new Kananaskis Nordic Spa, has a long history of adventuring in some of the world’s most unforgiving climates.

Blokes menswear store owners Jenni O’Nyons and Phil Lane on their favourite DJ nights, barbers, sweet treats and more.

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avenue RedPoint Media & Marketing Solutions 100, 1900 11 St. S.E. Calgary, Alberta T2G 3G2 Phone: 403-240-9055 Toll Free: 1-877-963-9333 x0 Fax: 403-240-9059 info@redpointmedia.ca AvenueCalgary.com Facebook: Avenue Magazine — Calgary Twitter: @AvenueMagazine Instagram: @AvenueMagazine

Group Publisher Joyce Byrne, jbyrne@redpointmedia.ca Editor-in-Chief Käthe Lemon, klemon@redpointmedia.ca Executive Editor Jennifer Hamilton, jhamilton@redpointmedia.ca Senior Art Director Venessa Brewer, vbrewer@redpointmedia.ca Executive Editor, Digital Content Jaelyn Molyneux, jmolyneux@redpointmedia.ca Senior Editor Shelley Arnusch Associate Art Director Sarah McMenemy Assistant Editors Andrew Guilbert Editorial Assistant Colin Gallant Assistant Editors, Digital Content Alyssa Quirico, Alana Willerton Staff Photographer Jared Sych Graphic Designer Rebecca Middlebrook

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Digital Intern Vanessa Nim Fact Checker Alex Rettie Contributors Jenn Allford, Aldona Barutowicz, Valerie Berenyi, Michael Byers, Elizabeth Chorney-Booth, Tom Firth, Christina Frangou, Jennifer Friesen, Jager & Kokemor, Citlali Loza, Fabian Mayer, Bryce Meyer, Harry Sanders, Julie Van Rosendaal, Dalbert B. Vilarino, Julia Williams, Nicole Wolf, Katherine Ylitalo Print Advertising Coordinator Erin Starchuk, production@redpointmedia.ca

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Published 12 times a year by RedPoint Media & Marketing Solutions. Copyright (2018) by RedPoint Media & Marketing Solutions. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher.

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Avenue is a proud member of the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association, abiding by the standards of the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors. Visit albertamagazines.com.

Paid circulation is audited by the CCAB. REDPOINT MEDIA GROUP INC. President & CEO Pete Graves, pgraves@redpointmedia.ca Executive Assistant and Operations Manager Terilyn Lyons,

Top 20 GLOBAL JOINT EXECUTIVE MBA PROGRAMS by QS.

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avenue

EDITOR’S NOTE

CITY| LIFE| STYLE| CALGARY

OCTOBER 2018 | $4.95 AVENUECALGARY.COM

WINTER IS COMING Plan your mountain adventures now

BEST THINGS TO EAT

PM# 40030911

Work.

Life.

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avenueOCTOBER.18

The risky business of being an entrepreneur

G E T AV E N U E O N YO U R TA B L E T! To get the tablet edition, go to avenuecalgary.com/tabletedition.

H

JOI N U S

Käthe Lemon Editor-in-Chief klemon@redpointmedia.ca

rumour than fact — have you heard about this guy with an underground museum? And while MacGregor and his businesses may be legendary in some circles, the CEO of North West Refining, museum operator and land developer is real.

Learn more about him in our profile story starting on page 62.

No matter how many jobs you’re juggling, many of us feel the struggle of having too much to do in too little time. Beyond just feeling time crunched, you are what you spend your time on — your life will be defined by how you’ve decided to allocate this precious resource. But deciding what activities and efforts will make you the person

Come to our first-ever Avenue Pop-Up Market: 25 Best Things to Eat at the Inglewood Community Centre Hall on October 20. More information at AvenueCalgary.com/ PopupMarket.

you want to be and best reflect your values is tough. Even tougher is following through.

Though this is not to say everything is about work — prioritizing family, friends and personal time also only happens if you make sure it happens. I know that’s certainly the case for me — scheduling free time sounds like an oxymoron — but it helps make sure it happens, whether that’s for a spa trip or a day hike in the mountains.

If you’re not sure how to spend your limited free time, visit our website and sign up for our newsletters at AvenueCalgary.com.

No matter what your priorities are, thanks for spending some of your time with us this month!

Photograph by Jared Sych; hair and makeup Citlali Loza (Artists Within); jewellery supplied by Brinkhaus. For information turn to page 93.

ere at Avenue, we set our editorial calendars each year in the spring for the following calendar year, so by the time we roll around to October, it has been about a year and a half since we thought the theme was a good idea. It turns out this month’s focus on work and wealth could hardly be more timely.

It feels like everyone has a “side hustle” these days — a small business they are growing in their “spare” time. In part, this reflects the current uncertainty of the corporate world, with some employees feeling one short step from being out the door. A gig on the weekends that could maybe grow into a full-time business makes it feel like you could walk out the door on your own rather than being pushed. But the trend also reflects changing technology that makes it easier to start and market small businesses. We caught up with several Calgarians who have started a small business while continuing to work mainly in the corporate sector (page 40).

One Calgarian who is wearing lots of hats these days is Ian MacGregor. The first time I heard about MacGregor it sounded more like

(including these “you won’t believe they’re gluten-free” treats from Mountain Rhino Donuts)

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29

NEXT ISSUE

CONTRIBUTORS

November

JAGER & KOKEMOR phy duo based out of Calgary. The J&K team has over 10 years of experience in corporate, industrial, architectural, lifestyle and portrait photography. Between photography trips, Jager and Kokemor can be found adventuring with their friends and family in and around

18

P 40 U

NDER

TO

2018

Stephanie Jager and Britta Kokemor are a photogra-

the Kananaskis area, whether by paddleboard, mountain bike or on foot.

HARRY SANDERS Harry Sanders was born in 1966 in Drumheller, Alberta, where his father owned and operated the Whitehouse Hotel. Spending his childhood in and around this old hotel gave Sanders a lifelong appreciation for heritage

40

20

buildings. Sanders is a historical consultant, contract researcher and freelance writer and has worked at the Calgary Public Library, the city archives and the Glenbow Archives. He has written several books on local history and served as the city’s first historian laureate in 2012. CBC Radio listeners also know him as “Harry the Historian.”

TOP 40 UNDER 40 Find out who made it onto the 20th annual list of Calgary’s top young movers and shakers.

G E T R E A D Y T O PA RT Y

DALBERT B. VILARINO Dalbert B. Vilarino is an illustrator born, raised and based in Toronto. He studied chemistry at university for three years before dropping out to attend (and graduate from) Toronto’s OCAD University for illustration. He spends much of his time drawing (even when no one has asked

You can cry if you want to, but you

him to) and can frequently be found in cinemas around

won’t need to with our guide to

Toronto, or in cafés, where he’s either plotting his next

hosting a fabulous and low-stress

career move, plotting his next trip, or drinking far more

holiday get together.

coffee than anyone could reasonably recommend.

WINTER HIKING Things you should know if you’re inspired to take to the trails during

NICOLE WOLF

the winter months.

Nicole Wolf is a visual storyteller with a degree in visual communication from ACAD and an associates’ degree in fine art from Grant MacEwan University. Wolf has collaborated with Parks Canada, the Calgary Zoo and the City of Edmonton, and is currently involved in public-art initiatives with the Beltline Urban Murals Project and the City of Calgary. She also creates comics and editorial illustrations. See more of her work at nicolewolfdesign.com or on Instagram @nicolewolfdesign.

30

avenueOCTOBER.18

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DETOURS

Jay Whitehead in The Confession of Jeffrey Dahmer, a co-production of Theatre Bsmt and Theatre Outré.

Stage Fright

Photograph by Jaime Vedres

A

basement is a dark and scary place when we’re young, home to monsters and other horrors conjured by an impressionable mind. Venturing down dimly lit stairs could stir up feelings of unease, even dread. But even back then, we could also sense the thrill that comes with confronting the unknown.

That emotional mixture is what Theatre Bsmt, the city’s only horror-focused theatre company, taps into. The company functioned for eight years under an emerging-artist mandate before making the switch to scary in 2016. Its first show under the new mandate was The Underneath, a story of monstrous, tentacled creatures from the deep that terrorize a small town, complete with mysterious disappearances and creepy children.

The reaction, says artistic director Ryan Reese, was significant. “There was a huge response from the community that we didn’t expect. There were horror fans, people in the theatre community, but there were also people that didn’t get out to the theatre that came to see our production,” he says. “That was surprising, so we just decided to keep going.”

Its next horror production was The Curing Room, which Reese describes as “a pretty heavy play about cannibalism,” featuring a fully nude cast. The Curing Room sold out performances in both Calgary and Lethbridge and even saw an audience member faint mid-play. Needless to say, the shows are making an impression.

In Reese’s opinion, the renewed interest in frightening tales is in part thanks to smart films like Get Out, It Comes At Night and Hereditary, that are bringing fresh stories to the genre. “I would say we’re living in a renaissance; I don’t think a lot of people realize that. There are all these wonderfully crafted, emotional stories around scares,” he says. “We’re getting films that stick with you afterwards because you see images and situations that are quite frightening,

that seem to remind us of issues in the present.”

To Reese, the theatre format complements a particular trait of the genre, which is taking the audience into consideration every step of the way.

“We need to do things that make them feel safe, but also make them feel scared,” he says. “Crafting horror theatre, you’re creating an enclosure for something scary. How close you let that thing come to the perimeter of the fence is where the fear comes from. The fence should never break, because then the audience will feel unsafe. But, if you let that thing get close enough… ” The pop-up nature of Theatre Bsmt (it hasn’t performed in the same venue since taking on its new mandate) means its shows are often announced only a month or so in advance of opening night. But regardless of when you see a show, it’s likely to stay with you long after you walk out into the night. “The thing I hear the most is that people are glad they came,” says Reese. “They don’t say they’re happy, or overjoyed, they say they’re glad they came and experienced it.” —Andrew Guilbert For more information visit theatrebsmt.ca

33

AvenueCalgary.com

DETOURS

North Star Oil service station show here in 1927, before it moved across 17th Avenue S.W. to the site of the current National Block.

STARBUCKS AND BLANCO CANTINA 715 17 AVE. S.W. AND 723 17 AVE. S.W. A four-storey mixed-use building called High Street will eventually replace the small buildings at 17th Avenue S.W. and College Lane.

Before that, around 1910, two of ABOVE Arlington Street Investments’ projected rejuvenation of the National Block.

Calgary’s most distinguished residents lived as neighbours: General Hospital superintendent Dr. William A. Lincoln — a future alderman, associate clinic co-founder, and Rotary Club and Board of Trade president — lived at 1701 Col-

JALLAND BLOCK

lege Lane, where Starbucks now

602 17 AVE. S.W.

stands and A. Melville Scott, who

Across 5th Street S.W., ASI will

served as public-school super-

build The Fifth as a companion

intendent for 30 years, lived at

to the National. The site was once

729 17 Ave. S.W., where Blanco

Looking Back at 17th Avenue S.W.

home to the Jalland Block, a

Cantina now stands.

Victoria, B.C. It included a main

BUON GIORNO RISTORANTE ITALIANO

C

34

avenueOCTOBER.18

1907 by the Jalland Brothers from storefront (Joseph Nettleton’s

823 17 AVE. S.W.; AND THREE

NATIONAL BLOCK

grocery), a secondary storefront,

NEIGHBOURING HOUSES AT

1550 5 ST. S.W.

which usually housed a shoe-

825, 827 AND 829 17 AVE. S.W.

As a section road, 17th Avenue

maker, tailor or barbershop, and

Royal Park, a future mixed-use

became a highway used in

Elizabeth Nettleton’s upstairs

building, will replace Buon Giorno

particular by farmers entering

boarding house. A month after

restaurant and the three neigh-

Calgary from Springbank. The

the first Stampede in 1912, a

bouring houses that were long

South Side Livery stable long

double-murder suicide upstairs

ago converted to commercial use.

stood where the Ship & Anchor

— committed by a bigamist, no

Buon Giorno occupies the former

Pub is now, next to what is at

less — shocked the city. By the

York Block, a commercial building

present the National Block, a

1970s, the building was home to

created in 1933 by renovating the

three-storey office/retail complex

Gold’s Photography, followed by

existing structures. Previous oc-

that ASI has revamped as its

the Magic Room salon and, finally,

cupants included the Kit Kat Lunch

easternmost 17th Avenue project

Waves Coffee House, before the

Counter in the 1940s, the Import

and new head office. Previously,

block was demolished in 2017.

Shop in the 1950s and, beginning

it was the site of the Red Indian

in 1960, the Prairie Inn. “This quaint and rambling restaurant is

in 1928 by Canadian-owned

FISHMAN’S DRY CLEANING

McColl-Frontenac Oil before that

615 17 AVE. S.W.

Hughes who was raised on the

company’s acquisition by Texaco.

The next ASI development to the

Texas-Mexican border and features

Sometime in the 1940s, the North

west will replace the building that

the hot spicy foods of that region,”

Star Oil service station across the

houses Fishman’s dry cleaning

wrote Albertan columnist Mort

avenue (where the Shell station

at 615 17 Ave. S.W. This third-

van Ostrand, the Import Shop’s

now stands) was moved behind

generation business dates back

former owner, in 1963. Hughes

Red Indian, where it became

to 1945, when Jack and Lily Fish-

died relatively young in 1967, but

an autobody shop, eventually

man established it as Economy

his restaurant carried on as the

known as Big Ben Auto Body.

Cleaners. Twenty years later, the

renamed Prairie Dog Inn. Buon

Big Ben took over the former Red

family bought this location from

Giorno opened in this space in

Indian station around 1967. It was

Templeton’s, Calgary’s pioneer

1987, and owner Gabriele Battist-

demolished around 1980 and

dry-cleaner. In 1930, laundryman

essa sold it to ASI in 2016. ASI has

replaced by Camcrest Place, now

John W. Templeton built Calgary’s

said it intends for the restaurant to

known as the National Block.

first dry-cleaning plant here.

remain in the new development.

Service Station No. 102, built

owned and managed by Thornton

Renderings courtesy of Arlington Street Investments; historic photograph courtesy of Glenbow Archives NA-3656-11

algary’s 17th Avenue S.W. is on the verge of transformation. That’s quite a statement for an avenue with nearly 135 years of history, but it’s true.

Arlington Street Investments (ASI), a local development firm, has assembled seven sites that it plans to develop or renovate over the next 10 or more years along the highest profile intersections. Frank Lonardelli, ASI’s founder and CEO, has said that he hopes to see 17th Avenue become as vibrant and diverse as Bloor Street in Toronto or Robson Street in Vancouver. Whatever the future holds, 17th Avenue S.W. has a past, and a retrospective of ASI’s development sites tells its story.

The avenue now known as 17th started as a line established by land surveyors. The earliest known map that identifies and names the line was published in 1884, the year Calgary incorporated as a town. The line became the boundary between the town and the Roman Catholic settlement to the south, where street names reflected residents’ religious affiliation — the settlement referred to 17th as Rue Notre Dame and there is evidence that non-Catholic Calgarians also used this name.

From 1899 to 1907, 17th Avenue continued to serve as the boundary between the City of Calgary and the Village of Rouleauville, as the Catholic settlement had become known. Calgary absorbed Rouleauville in 1907 and the area is now known as Mission.

gambrel-roofed house erected in

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA 1429 17 AVE. S.W. The new Scotia Block will see the former Bank of Nova Scotia, built in 1927 at 1429 17 Ave. S.W., renovated and expanded. Original bank manager William D. King lived in a second-floor suite here that was later divided into two rental apartments.

The branch made headlines in 1959 when two female employees conspired to steal nearly $20,000 in what defence lawyer Milt Harradence called a “fantastic and silly excursion.” Both

TOP Bank of Nova Scotia West End Branch, August 1939.

ABOVE ASI’s proposed rendering of Scotia Block.

were sentenced to a year in jail. The branch moved in the mid-1970s, and the building later housed Mother’s Music and American Apparel before it became the Prema Health salon.

CONDON BLOCK 1609 14 ST. S.W. Kitty-corner from the Scotia Block at 1609 14 St. S.W., the 52-year-old

The Bank of Nova Scotia photograph courtesy of The Scotiabank Records and Information Management Office, archives@scotiabank.com

Condon Block will be demolished to make way for The Sentinel, a residential-commercial project. On this site in 1913, well-known confectioner and restaurateur Jimmie Condon opened the Mount Royal Tea Room, which he had to rebuild after a 1936 fire. In 1954 he built the first Condon Block, replacing it with the present structure after another fire in 1964. The City of Calgary’s heritage inventory cites significance in “its distinctive blue pagoda-style flared roof design, ribbon windows and blue tile cladding at the retail level of the building.” Fair’s Fair, a second-hand bookstore, occupied the corner storefront from 1995 until 2017. —Harry Sanders AvenueCalgary.com

35

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LIT GALA

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Calgary is ready.

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DETOURS

Openings

do to

this month

THE BEACH YYC Summer may be over, but you can still have fun in the sand at this new indoor-recreation facility designed to look like a beach.

3030, 2600 Portland St. S.E., thebeachyyc.ca

BERLINGO

HORROR SCREAMFEST

Claymation film. Mary and Max

Patisserie have opened a soft ice

OCT. 5 TO 31 (SELECT DATES)

explores the friendship of two pen

cream shop next to the Mission

After 12 terrifying years, Scream-

pals: a 10-year-old girl in Australia

patisserie with flavours like mango-

Fest will scare Calgarians for the

and a 44-year-old man with

pineapple amd coconut-lime.

last time this month. Venture

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327 23 Ave. S.W.,

(if you dare) into the six themed

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haunted houses, or into one of

Max Bell Theatre, Arts Commons,

the spooky escape rooms, or try

403-294-7447, theatrecalgary.com

The team behind Yann Haute

your luck playing carnival games

COUNTRY LIVING FURNISHINGS & DESIGN

Oct. 25 is adults-only night.

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The Grandstand Building,

OCT. 24 TO 27

(much of which is Canadian-

Stampede Park, screamfest.ca

In The Sleeping Beauty, a cursed

made) or ask about interior

Princess Aurora pricks her finger

design services at this locally

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OCT. 12 AND 13

thing that can save them? True

Dirty Laundry Vineyards wine and

love’s kiss. Alberta Ballet’s asso-

THE CURATED SHOP

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ciate artistic director Christopher

You’ll find apparel, soaps, prints

a few of the 700 drinks you can

Anderson gives this classic fairy

and more by a selection of local

sample at the 21st edition of this

tale a Canadian twist by setting it

makers at Curated’s second

annual wine and food festival.

in the Canadian Rockies.

Calgary location in Deerfoot City.

There will also be sweet and

Southern Alberta Jubilee

Deerfoot City, 901 64 Ave. N.E.,

savoury fare from eateries such

Auditorium, 403-245-4222,

bycurated.com/thecuratedshop

as Midtown Kitchen & Bar, Pza

albertaballet.com

like the “Wheel of Misfortune.”

Parlour and Ollia Macarons & Tea.

Shop for casual, elegant furniture

ELITE BREWING & CIDERY

your fill of samples from the

C OS T U ME PART Y SPARK HALLOWEEN PARTY

200 festival booths.

OCTOBER 27

is focused around military history.

BMO Centre, Stampede Park,

Science takes a turn for the

1319 Edmonton Tr. N.E.,

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spooky with this evening of adults-

elitebrewing.com

Cast your vote for the Great Big Taste Awards once you’ve had

Try a kölsch or raspberry cider at this new brewery and cidery that

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Spark’s galleries, enjoy a silent

Pick up a beautiful custom

disco dance party, join in an orga-

bouquet from this new flower

Theatre Calgary artistic director

nized “Thriller” dance and more.

shop in Marda Loop.

Stafford Arima directs this brand-

Telus Spark, 220 St. George’s

1930 34 Ave. S.W.,

new musical adapted from a 2009

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Do the (Side)

Hustle

BY Tina Shaygan ILLUSTRATIONS BY Michael Byers

With more and more opportunities available to earn extra income outside of a traditional day job, it seems everyone and their boss is getting into the groove.

Welcome to the world of the side hustle.

40 avenueOCTOBER.18

W

orking multiple jobs isn’t new; throughout history, people have always done what they needed to do to get by. That said, working a second job hasn’t always been a point of pride. Even the term used by previous generations — “moonlighting” — suggests something secretive or illicit, happening under the cover of night.

But these days having what’s known as a “side hustle” is seen in an entirely different light.

Rather than something to hide, it’s something people promote on their Instagram feeds. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article put forth that “even senior-level executives need a side hustle,” listing reasons that ranged from hedging against economic uncertainty to enhancing your brand and building your network.

It may be that there are more people working side hustles now, or maybe it’s just that we’re just more aware of it, says Dr. Rob Oxoby, a professor in the economics department at the University of Calgary and a researcher in behavioural economics. The driving force behind the changing nature of side hustles, and our increasing attention to them, is technology. Apps such as Uber have spurred the rise of the gig economy, while online marketplaces and social media allow anyone,

anywhere, to sell all manner of goods. “With technology, people’s hobbies can become their second jobs. A lot of the things we did because we enjoyed them, we can now find a commercial aspect for them,” Oxoby says. Those same technologies allow individuals to outsource tasks and projects that can become side-hustle income for others.

Advances in technology have also blurred the lines between working and leisure hours. More and more, it’s expected that employees will check work email outside of office hours. “People used to work a nine-to-five, come home and that was it,” Oxoby says, “but with technology, you’re always on the clock.”

There are, of course, financial advantages to having a second (or third, or fourth) source of income. For those who are lucky enough not to require income outside of a primary job simply to pay the bills and cover the necessities of life, side-hustle earnings become bonus cash — a way to justify making indulgent purchases or, for those of a more responsible nature, build up savings. “Behavioural economics shows that people code their money into specific mental accounts.

The money from a side hustle is often stored in a different mental account than paycheques,” Oxoby says.

That perception helps explain why people might continue working a second job even when their primary job gets increasingly busier. “As soon as you have that money, when you stop doing it, it becomes a ‘loss,’” Oxoby says. “People may think they’re out of the money they could have made.”

Oxoby also cites the “productivity revolution” as a factor in the rise of the side hustle. “Level of busy-ness is bragging rights now,” he says. “The whole productivity revolution has been about stuffing as much as you can into your time, so why not pick up a side hustle?”

But while some people may enjoy wearing multiple hats, there are also downsides to having a side hustle, particularly when it comes to the commercialization of hobbies. “It’s not surprising to me that the new side hustles and productivity are coming up alongside [a collective interest in] mindfulness. If you’re productive all the time, then when do you have the time that goes into whatever makes you subjectively happier?”

The best side hustles, of course, are those that don’t just earn extra cash, but are also fulfilling in that “if you do what you love you’ll never work a day in your life” way. We spoke to five side-hustling Calgarians about what motivates them and how they make it all work.

AvenueCalgary.com

41

Jason HASTIE

DAY JOB Accountant SIDE HUSTLE Country Musician

ODAI ALMOQADAM DAY JOB IBM Consultant SIDE HUSTLE Clothing

Company Owner

42

avenueOCTOBER.18

O

riginally from Saskatchewan, Jason Hastie moved to Calgary in 2002 after getting his MPAcc (masters of professional accounting degree) from the University of Saskatchewan. He started working at an accounting firm here, but just four months in he realized the job wasn’t for him, so he quit to start his own consulting practice.

In those early days, while he was still building his client list, he found himself with considerable free time, which he used to pursue his interest in country music. “I was going to a lot of jam sessions in Black Diamond and thought, ‘hey, I’d like to [do this] professionally,’” says Hastie.

Today, Hastie and his band The Alibi have released two albums and multiple singles that have gotten local, national and international radio play (he’s been played on 75 radio stations in

France). He continues to work as an accountant, but has transitioned to a cloud-based accounting practice, which gives him flexibility to pursue his music. “It’s quite hard to make good money in the music industry,” Hastie says. “I feel super fortunate to have my accounting, and that’s where I can get my income to support my music.

I almost base my schedule on what my music requirements are and then allocate time to accounting.”

Hastie says music provides a balance with the more tedious aspects of accounting and, in turn, accounting provides stability that complements the highs and lows of a music career.

Music isn’t all fun and games, of course — Hastie notes that a big chunk of his time goes toward administration and logistics — but he says hearing his songs on the radio makes it all worth it.

Jason Hastie photograph by Nate Northridge Photography

O

dai Almoqadam started the apparel company Harf Design a year after graduating from the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering. The company creates garments printed with Arabic calligraphy. “There is a social part to it,” Almoqadam says. “The main objective is to bridge cultures and embrace diversity.”

Almoqadam says he has always been interested in the intersection of technology and art. “I got into calligraphy because I had terrible handwriting, so I took lessons and fell in love with the concept — it’s actually very mathematical because it’s about symmetry,” he says. In line with his background in engineering and interest in art, he is fascinated by wearable technology. “I see [Harf Design] as my window to get into wearable technology,” he says.

Since he works full-time as a consultant for IBM, Almoqadam has to make time in the evenings to connect with his designers in Calgary and manufacturers abroad.

He admits that keeping up with the demands of his side hustle can be exhausting. “You get weeks where you just don’t want to do any of it,” he says. “I take breaks, I rely on friends and I try to talk about new things I can do.”

But his efforts are definitely earning him exposure; last year Harf Design won second place in the Emerging Designer category at Western Canada Fashion Week.

“It was one of those moments where I thought, ‘yeah, this paid off,’” he says.

Alex LEUNG JASON HOLLEY DAY JOB Marketing and

Business Strategy Professional SIDE HUSTLE Beef Jerky Company Co-owner

J

ason Holley says he started considering what he could do as a side hustle during the summers when things were slower at his job in marketing. Originally from Toronto, Holley lived in Vancouver and Portland before settling in Calgary in 2011.

Inspired by the dynamic craft-beer scene in Portland, he decided to start a beef jerky company with co-founder Dion Lobreau. Launched in 2017, Brazen Jerky is produced locally and distributed in select breweries and markets across the city. “It’s more than just the products ... it’s about the community,” Holley says.

Though Brazen draws on Holley’s experience in marketing and branding (and Lobreau’s background growing up on a ranch), Holley says actually owning a brand is very different from what he does in his day job. “It’s a fun way to stretch myself and learn new skills,” he says.

Running Brazen has made him “hyperfocused” on setting priorities. “[Your side-hustle] will take as much time as you devote to it, so it’s important to set boundaries,” he says. Between his commitments to his young family and day job, he typically works on Brazen in “five-minute increments,” using his smartphone to respond to emails, make calls or do accounting updates.

The Brazen Jerky motto is “made for the choosy” and Holley says allowing the company to grow organically and keeping it as a side hustle will keep it true to its branding.

“Our products are for people who are choosy about the food they put into their body, are adventure-oriented, and looking for something special,” Holley says. “There is that alignment of personal connection.”

DAY JOB Wealth Management Sales Support Officer SIDE HUSTLE

Wedding Photographer

P

hotography has always been Alex Leung’s favourite hobby, but her first foray into doing it professionally was when a coworker asked Leung to photograph her wedding. “It was unexpected, because I hadn’t really done anything besides personal stuff and some family photos,” Leung says. “It seemed unreal at the time that I would be able to do it for money. And then I got a referral from [the co-worker’s] cousin.

It went from there.”

Leung now operates a thriving wedding photography business along with her fiancé Adam Maisonet.

Their bookings for summer of 2018 doubled over those from 2017 and Leung says she owes much of that momentum to social media. “The majority of our couples find us through Instagram,” she says.

Leung says she also uses Instagram to connect to the small-business community in Calgary. “It helps you feel less isolated,” she says.

A large portion of the time Leung spends on her side hustle involves photo-editing as well as managing bookings. “[Adam and I] have a shared Google calendar that we utilize more than I ever thought I’d use a calendar in my life,” Leung says.

“We struggle to manage it, but we make it work and it has actually been a good learning process.”

While her side hustle allows her to indulge her artistic side, Leung says she appreciates having a day job that provides financial freedom and health-care benefits so she can “just be passionate about photography.”

“My biggest fear is I’d resent my passion,” she says. “I don’t want my livelihood to depend on my art so that it takes the passion out and becomes just about making money.”

AvenueCalgary.com

43

WHEN YOUR SIDE HUSTLE BECOMES YOUR MAIN HUSTLE

Kyle

REGULAR DAY JOB Pet Store Manager SIDE HUSTLE Vegan and Vegetarian Pet Treat Maker

K

yle Regular started making his own vegan and vegetarian pet treats two years ago when his dog was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and was bothered by meat-based proteins. “I started making treats for [my dog] at home and thought, if he is like this there must be other animals like this, too,” Regular says. “It naturally progressed.”

That progression led to him starting the pet treat company Monster Cravings, which he runs in his off hours from his day job managing a chain pet store. Regular says having a side hustle has forced him to become more organized, particularly when it comes to scheduling. “I’ve gotten into the habit of doing things at least a month in advance,” he says. “On certain days, I bake all my cookies and on other days I decorate them all. I’ve started to plan things out better.”

Monster Cravings markets itself mostly on Instagram and sells its treats at local markets (farmers’ markets and night markets) and in shops around the city, as well as through the online marketplace Etsy.

Regular says social media has been a catalyst in driving his business. “A lot of my customers are from social media,” he says.

“I probably wouldn’t have gotten into some of the local [stores] I’ve gotten into without it.”

Regular says the best part about his side hustle is that it doesn’t feel like a job. “I can do it whenever I want to do it and it’s on my own time,” he says. “It’s something I enjoy at my own pace.” Though he hopes his business eventually grows to includes toys and accessories, he is comfortable with where Monster Cravings is at now.

“I want to see it naturally grow,” he says.

44

avenueOCTOBER.18

Silk Road photograph by Hero Images

C

olin Leach is a co-owner of The Silk Road Spice Merchant, a Calgarybased retailer of highquality spices and spice blends.

In the summer of 2008, Leach and his business partner Kelci Hind, his then-wife, started Silk Road as an online side hustle when Leach was working fulltime at the online advertising agency Critical Mass and Hind was on maternity leave from her job as a registered nurse. Hind quit her job the following year, around the time they decided to open a Silk Road booth at the Calgary Farmers’ Market, while Leach transitioned from full-time to part-time at Critical Mass. He eventually quit, too, when they opened a bricks-and-mortar store in Ramsay.

Since then, Silk Road has moved to a larger location on 9th Avenue in Inglewood, opened on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton and leased two warehouse spaces to serve the thriving online business.

It’s an inspirational story for anyone who dreams of ditching their day job to live off their side hustle, but Leach says it certainly wasn’t an easy process. “It took a long time for the business to make enough money to support a family, as well as the staff we had,” he says. “There were a lot of stressful times. A lot of soul-searching and staring at the bank account thinking about what the future might look like.”

His number-one piece of advice to anyone on a similar course is to exercise patience and take things slow. “Really talk every decision through carefully; I’d caution people against being too impulsive,” he says, “and be prepared for other people to not love your idea as much as you do.”

But even with the weight of responsibility, the appeal of running your own show is hard to deny. “There is the flexibility to work when I want to,” Leach says. “And I get to feel really good about it and be proud of what we’ve built.”

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Exploring the high price of entrepreneurial success and the downsides of owning a business that often get ignored.

BY Julia Williams ILLUSTRATIONS BY Dalbert B. Vilarino

T

Entrepreneur City

hree years ago, Derek Luk quit his day job Luk is one of thousands of founders and business to start Mimentra, a company that teaches owners in Calgary, a city where the streets flow with entrepreneurial Kool-Aid. We celebrate “mavericks.” mindfulness practices to people with We admire “make-it-happen” attitudes. Once, this stressful workplaces. This work is deeply idea was tied to Calgary’s heritage of pioneers, important to Luk, a registered nurse who started cowboys and self-made oil barons. Now it’s being Mimentra after he lost a colleague to depression and repurposed for a new era. suicide. But when he took the leap into entrepreneurThe 2014-2015 economic downturn that shook ship, Luk found he had inadvertently created his own Calgary’s energy sector occasioned a larger cultural intensely stressful workplace. shift. It spurred city leaders and Calgary Economic Like many new companies, Luk’s began with a big Development to start forming a new, diversified idea. He registered Mindfulness Mental Training Inc. economic strategy for the city, one as a business at the end of 2014, and the that will beef up the high-tech sector following year he won the ATB Finan“I THINK I DRANK and position the city as a global innocial Boostr pitch competition, ran a TOO MUCH OF THE vation hub. Many oil-and-gas professuccessful crowdfunding campaign and KOOL-AID.” — Derek sionals who were pink-slipped during won the People’s Choice Award at the Luk, founder, Mimentra the downturn decided to launch solo 2015 Startup Calgary Launch Party. At ventures, widening Calgary’s already substantial that point, leaving his nursing day-job seemed like pool of entrepreneurs. the obvious move. Now, Luk regrets his haste.

“I think I drank too much of the Kool-Aid,” Luk says.

In December 2015, the number of self-employed The people he was meeting in the startup world people in Alberta jumped an astonishing 16,700 kept telling him he just had to take the leap, that he from the previous month. In 2016, Alberta’s entrwould figure it out as he went. “Rarely did I actually preneurship rate vied with Ontario’s for the highest hear people talk about the downside,” Luk says. “You in Canada. In late 2017, the Government of Alberta get so excited. You don’t even consider the risks until passed the Growth and Diversification Act to boost you meet them.” high-tech training and attract investment, and

46 avenueOCTOBER.18

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“Even with a lot of experience you’re not always Calgary City Council approved a $100-million going to be able to predict the outcome of your efforts,” Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund for “catalytic” Alberta says. and “innovative” projects.

And what if you have no experience?

Amid this economic reshuffling, it seems Calgarians’ passion for self-starting has only intensified. Today, Life Takeover Calgary is home to more than 30 co-working spaces, business incubators and accelerator programs. Mount Kari Gordon is the executive director of Startup Calgary, Royal University and the University of Calgary both a support organization for early-stage entrepreneurs. teach innovation and entrepreneurial mindset and She organizes workshops and networking events, pairs skills as part of business training. For people with big fledgling entrepreneurs with mentors and facilitates colideas, this looks like a great time and a great place in laboration between business founders. Gordon says it’s which to chase a dream. hard to prepare for the demands of business ownership.

But sometimes the chase is just a chase. Fledgling Non-work relationships and activities tend to disappear. businesses are vulnerable to failure, especially after the “You eat, sleep, breathe your project and your idea. I’m first year. About 85 per cent of Canadian businesses not sure people are always prepared for the intensity of make it to their first birthday and 70 per cent survive what I would call that life takeover,” Gordon says. for two years. By the five-year mark, only about half Entrepreneurs are required to be extremely proof those original ventures still exist. ductive, to perform at a high level and “EVEN WITH A LOT OF to make constant decisions that have big EXPERIENCE YOU’RE implications. No matter what’s happenThe Fifth Element NOT ALWAYS GOING ing behind the scenes, they must present Until recently, Alberta Ennest and her TO BE ABLE TO PRE- a confident, positive face. They also need husband Dwayne were the co-owners DICT THE OUTCOME to be resilient, not only to manage the of a small Calgary restaurant empire OF YOUR EFFORTS.” workload, but to weather regular rejecthat included Diner Deluxe, Big Fish, — Alberta Ennest, tion from investors, advisors, critics and Open Range and White Rose Vegetarian former entrepreneur clients. These are the basic requirements Kitchen and Coal Shed Smoke House. for an entrepreneur whose venture is Now they’re employees at Bite Grocery running smoothly.

Struggle, loss of control and failure & Eatery in Inglewood, who are enjoying relief from can feel catastrophic for entrepreneurs, even the most nearly two decades of intense responsibility and experienced among them. coming to terms with the twist their path has taken.

Diner Deluxe opened in 2001 without much of The Cost of Stress a formal business plan and was an instant success.

It afforded the Ennests the chance to learn on the job The Ennests are still emerging from the cocoon of and to take chances on other projects. When they stress that enveloped their last couple of years as opened White Rose in 2016, a vegetarian restaurant in business owners. Dwayne says he still wakes up some Bowness, they poured into it 16 years of expertise. But nights with his heart pounding. For months, the first things happened. Taxes and utility costs doubled and thing he did each morning was check his bank balroadworks temporarily blocked access to the restauance to see if the White Rose could stay afloat that day. rant. Customers just weren’t coming in. The Ennests He was teaching himself to do the restaurant’s plumbbegan pouring personal resources into the venture, but ing and electrical work on top of his duties as chef and business owner. He was spread so thin it affected his eventually there was nothing more to do. White Rose creativity as a chef. closed at the end of 2017.

Alberta says the fear of letting people down — staff, Alberta says planning and hard work matter, but suppliers, investors who trust you — locks you in a they don’t guarantee success or even survival. There’s heartbreaking cycle. “Those are terrible days. They’re an intangible “fifth element” that has to be in place, sleepless nights. You can never see the end of it,” she some combination of luck and timing, and it’s not an says. “The worries became so imposing they eroded element that business owners control.

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the world for threats and signals the “fight or flight” the reasons we were in the business in the first place. response) into a state of constant vigilance. Stress That, I think, was more tragic than anything else.” elevates cortisol, a hormone that, when chronically Luk says there have been days when business setelevated, can interfere with learning and memory, backs made him feel like he couldn’t get out of bed. lower immune function and even cause heart disease.

“You invest time, money, sweat, energy and finance, you put up a lot of risk and it doesn’t pan out — no Severe stress manifests in a range of physical symptoms one talks about that,” he says. He’s heard stories about that can include shortness of breath, muscle aches and entrepreneurs who, like his former nursing colleague, fatigue. Mentally, it causes people to get locked in have chosen to end their lives. negative thought cycles. Some people can’t sleep; In recent years, such stories have become unsetothers do little else. Avoidance can become a coping tlingly common. Several high-profile entrepreneurs strategy, sometimes by hiding from people and situahave died at their own hands: Austen Heinz, CEO and tions, sometimes by retreating into substance use. founder of Cambrian Genomics; Aaron Swartz, a develMacNeill says business leaders can learn from oper of Reddit; and most recently Kate Valentine Spade, Olympic athletes, whose training schedules always incorporate recovery time. Many entrepreneurs feel founder of the Kate Spade fashion brand. In 2017, Alberta’s business community lost Edmonton entreprelike they have no time to spare, but those who fail neur Ruth Kelly, founder of Venture Publishing, and to embed recovery periods in their daily schedules Calgary investment banker George Gos— like 15 minutes of mindfulness practice “IT’S THAT FEELING bee. Each of these tragedies had its own or half an hour for family dinner — are complex set of circumstances, but in each OF NOT HAVING CON- more vulnerable to stress and less likely TROL. THE SYSTEM case, depression was cited as a factor. to perform well.

DOESN’T LIKE THAT. Such losses have sparked conversaWE LIKE TO OPERATE Surviving the Worst tions about whether entrepreneurship ON CERTAINTY.” and mental illness could be connected.

In 2009, Calgary entrepreneur Kevin Franco — Dr. Karen MacNeill, Does the creativity and drive that helps co-founded Enthrill, a tech startup for the performance psychologist entrepreneurs succeed also make them publishing industry. Under his leadership, vulnerable to conditions like depresthe business grew into a multi-million-dolsion and anxiety? A 2015 study from the University of lar company, working with massive retailers and being California Berkeley and University of California San lauded in business papers. Yet by November, 2015, the Francisco investigated the prevalence of mental health intangible “fifth element” had started to work against conditions in entrepreneurs. Of the study sample, Franco, and Enthrill was floundering. In January, 2016, 49 per cent of entrepreneurs self-reported having a Franco made the wrenching decision to let his staff go. mental health condition like depression, substance He moved the entire office into the basement of his abuse or bipolar disorder compared to 32 per cent of home, and used his own credit cards to keep the lights non-entrepreneurs. The results are interesting, but at on until he was able to sell the company a year later. this point, they don’t point to any universal truths.

He lived a nightmare, meeting most of his investors More compelling is the evidence that intense, longone by one to tell them their money was gone. term stress, the kind associated with being an entreFranco found himself struggling with depression. preneur, has health consequences. Dr. Karen MacNeill, Losing the business was one thing. Feeling like he’d a Calgary-based performance psychologist who works disappointed the people who depended on him most with business leaders and top-tier athletes, says the — that was devastating. “I felt as though I let all the uncertainty of entrepreneurship creates an ongoing people who believed in me down: my wife at the time, state of stress. “It’s that feeling of not having control. my family, my investors, my staff and my friends. I The system doesn’t like that. We like to operate on didn’t realize how much I put at risk — it wasn’t until certainty,” she says. it was all gone that I felt the full impact,” Franco says.

According to MacNeill, ongoing, unrelieved stress During his most successful years, Franco had sends the amygdala (the part of the brain that scans been careful to give credit where due and to avoid

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PROFILE

“SOMETIMES For years, Franco has been a mentor HEARING FROM wrapping his ego around his company.

SOMEONE WHO HAS to other entrepreneurs (he’s had many When the business failed, however, it coffee sessions with Luk, in fact) and he BEEN THERE, EVEN felt personal. “I took it all on myself. believes experiencing failure made him IF THEY’RE TELLING The buck ends at the CEO, and despite YOU HOW THEY DID IT a wiser, more empathetic guide. the actions or inactions of others, despite In Calgary, the narrative about failure WRONG, CAN PROmarket factors, despite everything, it’s your VIDE GREAT INSIGHT.” is evolving, but slowly. Gordon says responsibility as a leader to deal with it she’s observing more open conversations all,” he says.

— Kevin Franco about struggle than ever before, and it’s MacNeill says it’s common for indibecoming easier to find founders who are willing to viduals in high-pressure roles to have their personal share their more difficult stories. She says many entreidentities con-sumed by their “performer” identities. preneurs think mentors and peers will only want to be When this happens, a poor performance becomes a involved with a business when it’s thriving, but that’s not crushing personal failure instead of a learning opporso. “I have seen that the community is there through tunity. “It’s not necessarily the dollars and cents of the thick and thin,” Gordon says. business,” MacNeill says. “It becomes, ‘if I fail at this, Luk knows he can rely on his mentors when he’s this means I’m a failure as a person, versus, ‘it’s just a struggling. His expertise in mindfulness helps him business that did not go for a variety of reasons.’” manage stress and monitor his own warning signs. In According to MacNeill, it’s important for top Twitter, he’s found an excellent support system where performers like athletes and entrepreneurs to define founders let their confident masks slip and share poiwho they are and what they stand for outside of their gnant, honest details of their experiences. Lately, Luk professional roles. For athletes, it’s not about getting has taken to building IKEA furniture as a mindfulness a gold medal, it’s about executing the best possible practice. It’s a simple process with a tangible result. performance on a given day. For entrepreneurs, it’s It feels good to complete something. not about profits, it’s about cultivating the hardiness It raises the question then: if entrepreneurship is to endure difficult conditions. so stressful that it makes building IKEA furniture feel In the end, Franco found he was hardy enough. like therapy, why does anyone do it? Despite the stress, After the fallout of losing his company in 2016, a menLuk is proud of Mimentra. He’s working on mindfultor warned him about experiencing depres-sion as a ness training programs with the Calgary Police Service, result of failure. Franco never forgot this warning, and the Wellness Centre at the U of C and with female it helped him to maintain perspective as the foundations of his life began to shake. It re-minded him that inmates at Lethbridge Corrections — achievements that failure is not catastrophic. Failure is normal — it’s part wouldn’t have been possible had he refused to take the of the process. leap. Franco’s experience, while devastating, afforded him the wisdom to help others and to assess his own Talking About Failure options. Not even MacNeill has been unable to resist the lure of entrepreneurship — she’s involved with a custom Despite the fact that failure is incredibly common in the entrepreneurial world, we still give the most attenmental-health media startup called Headversity. tion, the most column space and the most TED-talk Alberta Ennest says the experience of business time to the stories of exceptionally successful people. ownership made her and Dwayne stronger, but Franco finds this unusual. Success stories have few they’re done now. She believes people are seduced lessons to offer, he says, whereas failure is incredibly by the idea that business ownership means freedom educational. “Sometimes hearing from someone who and independence, but that’s often a misconception. has been there, even if they’re telling you how they did When you’re the boss, she says, you’re utterly tied it wrong, can provide great insight,” Franco says. down. Now she’s free.

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25 Best

things to

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BY Julie Van Rosendaal PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jared Sych

G L UT EN-F RE E M OU N TA I N R H I NO

D O NUT S

Those who have had to ditch gluten are going crazy for Calgary’s first gluten-free artisan doughnuts, which come in classic (honey dip, old-fashioned caramel, chocolatecake) and modern flavours, like haskap, yuzu poppyseed and lavender lemonade. They even make gluten- and dairy-free apple fritters.

Available online and frozen at pop-ups and retailers around town, 403-922-1324, mountainrhinodonuts.com

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UP

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MARKET

PAIN R U STIQ U E F RO M M AR I B A K E S HOP

Mari Bakeshop’s signature loaf — a pain rustique—is enormous, with a crisp, dark crust and a creamy interior. Made with a blend of wheat, dark rye and wholemeal spelt flour, it takes three days of natural fermentation to develop the flavour. You don’t need to commit to the whole thing.

There’s the option to buy just a half or quarter — a traditional way for bakeries to supply fresh loaves to customers who pop in for the regular supply of good bread.

529 Riverfront Ave S.E., 587-356-4461, maribakeshop.ca

Join us for the Avenue Market:

Best Things To Eat

October 20 at the Inglewood Community Association Hall AvenueCalgary.com

AvenueCalgary.com

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I CE CR E A M

F R OM XO I C E C REAM

+

WAFFLES

Some of the best small-batch ice cream is being made and scooped in Auburn Bay — classics plus interesting seasonal flavours like strawberry-rhubarb and blackberry-lavender sorbet, made without artificial flavourings. It comes with handmade waffles or waffle cones.

808, 100 Auburn Meadows Dr. S.E., 587-573-8837, xoicecream.com

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A PPETIZER S

«

Y O U- B A K E

FR OM T HE C E N T R E FOR N E WC OM E R S

The Centre for Newcomers has a catering arm called EthniCity that provides education to newcomers entering the hospitality industry while drawing on vast cooking knowledge from around the world. It does catering or there’s an option to pick up frozen samosas, fatayer, spanakopita, satay and other tasty things to bake or fry at home.

1010, 999 36 St. N.E., 403-5693325, centrefornewcomers.ca/ ethnicity-catering

CANNE D

P A R L O UR G IN & TONIC

F R OM EA U CLAIRE DISTILLERY

Turner Valley’s Eau Claire Distillery has put its award-winning Parlour Gin into a can, blended with its very own bespoke tonic to create a well-balanced ready-to-drink G&T with hints of rosehip, Saskatoon berry, coriander and lemon.

Available at the distillery in Turner Valley, 113 Sunset Blvd. S.W., 403-933-5408, and at retailers around Calgary, eauclairedistillery.ca

LARD FROM EMPIRE PROVISIONS

For the most sublime batch of roasted potatoes or the flakiest pastry (and some real mincemeat to fill those tart shells with), Empire Provisions sells lard (pork fat) and tallow (beef fat) from naturally raised Alberta pork and beef. Keep it on hand to cook with the way you might use oil. With a high smoke point, it’s perfect for roasting, sautéeing or frying.

8409 Elbow Dr. S.W., empireprovisions.com

B I T E E NG L ISH

MUFFINS

Puffy and pale, the larger-than-life English muffins at Bite will inspire you to build the ultimate eggs Benny or breakfast sandwich. They’re also fab for burgers and make the very best craggy rounds of toast, spread with Lyle’s golden syrup or marmalade.

1023 9 Ave. S.E., 403-263-3966, biteyyc.com

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BI L L I NGSGATE

K IN G OF FI S H B ATT E RMIX

For the landlocked, a bag of Billingsgate battermix plus fresh fillets of cod (or halibut or salmon) makes it possible to produce some of the best fried fish you’ll ever eat, produced in your own kitchen.

The mildly spiced batter can also be your go-to for onion rings, shrimp, fritters, zucchini or whatever you want to dip and fry.

Crossroads Market and various other Calgary retailers, 403-690-2914, billingsgatemkt.com

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HAND P I E S F R OM G R A I NZ BR EA D S H OP

The much loved Wild Grainz bakery from Inglewood has reopened in the south, where it’s back to producing three-day naturally fermented loaves and pastries as well as just-gooeyenough cinnamon buns and fruit-filled hand pies — a great fix for your pie craving without the commitment.

5330 72 Ave. S.E., 587-620-8850, grainzbreadshop.ca

BU R W OOD DI S TI L L ER Y M E DICA HONE Y L I Q UE UR

Two of the co-founders of Burwood Distillery are brothers who grew up with the tradition of making honey liqueur every year with their family and neighbours in a small town in Croatia.

The family brought their technique here, and now they make it using honey from the bees in their dad’s back yard.

15, 4127 6 St. N.E, 403-276-8410, burwooddistillery.ca 56

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C O C O NUT PEC AN P IE BARS FROM SWEET RELIEF

These inch-thick bars are built on a shortbread base, with loads of pecan halves and a coconut-spiked gooey brown-sugar filling. The pastry shop also has the only cupcake happy hour in town (the last hour of the day their cupcakes are $2). And last summer, Sweet Relief started doing daily sundae creations with a new soft-serve machine.

120 13 Ave. S.W., 587-894-0822, sweetreliefpastries.com

WA LT Z CR E A M Y

C HEVR E

FRO M DAN CIN G GOAT S FA R M

Each cheese from Dancing Goats Farm in Acme, Alberta, is inspired by the owners’ prior careers as professional ballet dancers. The waltz, a creamy, spreadable chevre, is a classic — simple and versatile, it goes with sweet and savoury, from salads to toast.

At retailers and markets around town, dancinggoatsfarm.com

L U K ES

P A S T A S A UCE

Chef Eric Hendry of Bar Von Der Fels created two pasta sauces just for Lukes. The ingredient lists are simply tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and olive oil. One contains basil, and the other is generously spiked with chilies.

112 4 St. N.E., 403-266-4142, and 3407 26 Ave. S.W., 403-242-1566; lukesdrugmart.com

S A US AGE R O L L S

F R OM PI E JU NK I E

It’s tough to choose the best pie from Pie Junkie — the cherry hand pies are the stuff of dreams (they’ve been on the list before) and the butter chicken pies are as delicious as you imagine. But Pie Junkie also makes an amazing sausage roll, with thick, peppery homemade sausage wrapped in a swath of all-butter crust. Delish.

8 Spruce Centre S.W., 403-452-3960, and 1081 2nd Ave. N.W., 403-287-8544; piejunkie.ca AvenueCalgary.com

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C R OISSANT S

F RO M LA B O U L AN G E R I E

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On any given day there are all kinds of flaky pastry creations at La Boulangerie. You might choose one stuffed with almonds or chocolate, or go for a sugared kouign-amann.

2435 4 St. S.W., 403-984-9294, la-boulangeriecalgary.com

UNCOM M ON

CI D E R

Alberta’s first cidery presses seasonal apples sourced from B.C. and Calgary backyards (and occasionally pears, peaches and cherries) to create ciders made even more complex with hops and haskap berries. The fruit itself makes the base flavour, with yeast and time developing each unique flavour profile.

3921 Manchester Rd. S.E., uncommoncider.com

T HA I M A N N A

C U R R Y KIT

C UB ES

Thai Manna’s popular curry kits have been stripped down to just the tricky bits. Grab a cube containing packets of spice paste, palm sugar, fish sauce, bird’s eye chilies and lime leaves, with some varieties including peanuts and tamarind, then add meat, veggies and coconut milk for a divinely fresh homemade Thai curry.

Available to order online and at markets around town, 403-998-7049, thaimanna.com 58

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BUTTE RSCOTCH

P UD D I N G

AT L I TTL E H ENR Y

The little grab and go butterscotch pudding in a jar at Little Henry comes with a wee container of sponge toffee to sprinkle on top. It’s the perfect serving of creamy-crunchy-buttery-sugary deliciousness to get you through your day.

1209 1 St. S.W., 403-475-5537, tenfoothenry.com

F IN O C C HIO N A FR OM V D G S A LU M I

(F E NNE L SAL AM I)

This Tuscan-style salami is made in small batches, loaded with fennel seed and ready to slice onto a charcuterie board. It’s also the perfect package to tuck into your bag or desk for spontaneous snacking.

Multiple retailers around town, 587-896-5385, vdgsalumi.com

LIMITED EDITION

RESERVE TAWNY PORT

L I TTL E TU C K ER

SNICKAROO S Q UA R E S

They’re raw, gluten-free, dairy free and vegan, but these nut butter and salted date caramel bars, sweetened with maple syrup and wrapped in chocolate with peanuts on top are 100 per cent delicious — reminiscent of a peanut butter cup without the cloying sweetness.

At retailers and markets around town, littletucker.ca

AN EXTRAORDINARY CREATION

90 POINTS BA KL AVA

WINE ADVOCATE

AT A N AT OLI A

The Elbasi family makes phyllo pastry from scratch. Although they have a long traditional rolling pin and sometimes do it by hand, the only phyllo rolling machine in Canada is at their location in the Crossroads Market. The baklava is layered with intense green, flavourful pistachios imported from Turkey.

Anatolia in the Crossroads Market, 403-455-9099, anatoliaturkishfood.ca

TAYLOR.PT PROUDLY REPRESENTED BY:

TO FIND A RETAILER VISIT: LIQUORCONNECT.COM/805253

AvenueCalgary.com

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BL AC K BI RD C O LD BR EW

CO N C E NT RAT E

Blackbird coffee makes a cold brew concentrate with beans steeped in cold water for 24 hours before being triple filtered for maximum smoothness. Serve it over ice or mix 1:1 (or to taste) with hot water or warmed milk for black coffee or a latte. It’s great over ice cream or in milkshakes, hot chocolate and cocktails of all kinds too.

At retailers and markets around town, blackbirdcoldbrew.ca

YOU -BA KE G LAMO R G AN

CHEE SE B U N S

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Yes, they’ve been on the list before (they could have a permanent spot every year) but now you can buy these iconic Calgary buns frozen. Proof them on your counter overnight and bake them in the morning or leave them out for the day and bake when you get home from work. They’re not only irresistibly buttery and cheesy, they’re also warm and gooey, fresh from your oven.

19, 3919 Richmond Rd. S.W., 403-242-2800, glamorganbakery.com

C O- O P GO L D C OC ON UT ALMOND G R ANO L A

I’m legitimately hooked on this stuff — it’s crunchy but not hard, flavourful but not overly sweet. The ingredients — oats, seeds, honey, whole almonds and thick shards of coconut — are mostly organic, even though it doesn’t say so on the front, and it’s some of the most affordable granola in town.

11 Calgary Co-op locations, calgarycoop.com

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CA N N O L I

F R OM S A U C E I TA L I A N MA R K ET

Sauce Italian Market is known for its cannoli, house-made with a recipe from the owner’s mom. They’ve sold over 75,000 of the crisp, chocolate-dipped shells stuffed with a dozen different cream fillings, from traditional (chocolate) to creative (Skor bar). They’re perfect to bring to a party. Cannoli is the new cupcake.

3326 17 Ave. S.W., 403-727-7627, sauceitalianmarket.com

*

SECOND LOCATION ARRIVING SPRING 2020

GREENWICH

AvenueCalgary.com

61

PROFILE

BY Jenn Allford PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jager & Kokemor

Ian At 69, the CEO of North West Refining is hard at work building what he describes as Alberta’s economic engine, as well as a subdivision of luxury homes and a private museum.

MacGregor

W

hen he was a little kid, Ian MacGregor would tag along with his dad to visit junkyards around Calgary on Saturday mornings.

His father worked in the office at Barber machine shop and was looking for buyers for the shop’s scrap metal. MacGregor the younger was looking for gems in the junk and launching his lifelong passion for collecting “cool things.”

Over the following decades, MacGregor would amass enough cool things to necessitate and fill a private 20,000-square-foot underground museum. His trove, the Canadian Museum of Making in Cochrane, focuses on machinery from around the world, including an 1895 steam engine from an English weaving mill and tens of thousands of tools, from African metal-work tools to typewriters.

But back in the late ’50s MacGregor, founder and CEO of North West Refining, chairman of Enhance Energy, founder of the Museum of Making and developer of Carriag Ridge and M2, was a kid scouring auto wreckers including one in the East Village as his dad, Jack, talked to the proprietors.

(Disclosure: after writing this profile, but prior to publication, the writer was hired by MacGregor to help promote Carriag Ridge.)

“Because they were trying to make friends with my dad to get the scrap, they would just let me take whatever I wanted,” he says with a grin. “So I would take a speedometer out of a car, or a clock, or steering box or something and take it home and take it apart. Then I just got in the habit that if it was really cool, I’d keep it.”

Despite having a museum of his own now, MacGregor’s collection runneth over and he has brought a few objects,

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including a well-used carpenter’s hammer from Cuba and a solar-powered seismic data collector, to his downtown Calgary office. Amid the curios and books there’s also a big framed photo of his late mother, Anna, as a young woman in a red sweater. He adored her. And he inherited at least some of her ingenuity. “My mom could make anything,” he says. Once she even built the winning entry in a contest to see the Ice Capades — a miniature model of the Stampede Corral complete with skaters on the ice and spectators in the stands.

Anna MacGregor’s family couldn’t afford to send her to university and she was determined her only child would get an education. “We lived in Renfrew, it was a workingclass place and she decided nobody in Renfrew was going to university,” says MacGregor. “So she made my dad move to Brentwood because people who lived in Brentwood were people who would go to university.” It would seem that her plan paid off. MacGregor graduated from the University of Calgary with a mechanical engineering degree in 1971.

He headed to the University of Alberta to do his Masters degree, but when a romance went south he did too, ditching grad school and coming back to Calgary to get to work in the oil-and-gas industry.

“Ian looked at the oil industry and he just saw it as a big complicated puzzle that he could solve,” says Tyler Trafford, a writer and friend of MacGregor’s from his university days.

“He doesn’t think about ‘how do I make some money.’ He thinks, ‘how could I find a puzzle hard enough that it would be really difficult to do?’ That’s how he does everything. He really likes complicated problems. The more complicated, the more challenging, the more he loves them.”

Ian MacGregor with items from his Canadian Museum of Making collection.

AvenueCalgary.com

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PROFILE

Ian MacGregor in the Canadian Museum of Making.

“HE HAS SEMI-RETIRED A COUPLE OF TIMES AND EVERY TIME HE ENDS UP WITH SOMETHING LIKE THE MUSEUM. SO WE TRY TO ENCOURAGE HIM NOT TO HAVE FREE TIME.” —Kate MacGregor

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The world has begun the complex and decadeslong process of transitioning off fossil fuels, but in the shorter term, global demand for oil is increasing.

MacGregor is determined that Alberta should maximize the profit it can get for its resources, while minimizing the environmental damage. “To maintain the things that we’ve got, like health care, education and infrastructure, you have to pay for them somehow,” he says. “[Canada] has a small population. We’re widely spread out. The only way we can pay for them is to dig things out of the ground or cut them down.

We want to do that in the very best way we can, and make the very least impact on the environment, and fix it up as good as we can when we’ve left. [But] we still have to do it, otherwise it’s going to be cold and we aren’t going to be able to find a doctor.”

North West Refining partnered with Canadian Natural Resources (CNR) to build the new Sturgeon Refinery near Edmonton, which produced its first diesel late last year. The refinery is expected to reach full capacity this year, producing 80,000 barrels of diesel a day, and despite the drop in price of oil, Alberta producers who send their bitumen there stand to earn more than $20 extra on each barrel.

MacGregor wanted to add skilled jobs to the Alberta economy and more value to bitumen by turning diluted bitumen (dilbit) into more expensive diluent and diesel, rather than shipping the raw material elsewhere to be refined. The new refinery, the first one built in Canada in more than 30 years,

also tackles another problem MacGregor saw coming long before pipelines started making headlines. “We thought pipelines are going to be really difficult to get approved, so you should use the pipelines we’ve got for the most economically dense material you can ship,” he says. “Diesel is about three-and-a-half times as economically dense as dilbit, so if you use the same pipe for diesel, you can ship three-and-a-half-times as much money out,” he says.

This is the culmination of an idea that MacGregor had more than 15 years ago.

The Sturgeon Refinery also incorporates the world’s largest carbon capture and storage system (CCS) to pipe and pump the refinery’s CO2 emissions down into old wells across Alberta. It’s the first refinery in the world to be built with CCS included from the beginning. The refinery will supply an independent company with CO2 to be used in enhanced oil recovery, a process that injects CO2 into depleted wells to recover light oil trapped inside.

The carbon stays in the ground and the valuable light oil comes out.

“It’s like a made-in-heaven opportunity because we know we have to mitigate CO2 and we are the only place in the world that has a use for prolific quantities of it,” says MacGregor. “Everywhere else is like ‘what do we with this stuff, how do we get rid of it?’ We’re like ‘give us more!’”

When complete, the CCS system will have the capacity to manage 10 times the refinery’s emissions.

“We think everyone else is going to use it,” says MacGregor.

While North West and CNR each own 50 per cent of the refinery, the provincial government helped build it with a 30-year commitment to refine some of the bitumen the province collects in royalties there. The $5.7-billion price tag for phase one has ballooned to $9.5 billion and critics, including former provincial finance minister Ted Morton, have called the refinery a “boondoggle.” Morton and others have also characterized the government’s processing agreement with the refinery as being “effectively” a loan guarantee for the construction costs.

Initially Morton was a supporter of the project. “[MacGregor] was, I think, sincere in his statements that he thought more bitumen should be upgraded in Alberta and that the government wanted to do more, and he was willing to try and help in that. I think it was a mix of public-spiritness and self-interest,” says Morton.

“But at the end of the day he wildly out-negotiated the Government of Alberta in terms of both the risk of construction costs and future markets for the product.”

Capital costs for building the refinery have nearly doubled, but interest rates are lower than expected, so in the end, the total refinery financing costs are coming in at about the same. “That was luck,” says MacGregor.

While he still spends most of his time on the refinery, MacGregor is setting his mind to his next big projects. One of those is organizing the players to build an open source library of big data from Canada’s primary industries — not only oil and gas, but also agriculture, mining, logging and fishing. “Somebody has to coordinate that effort, so I’ve decided that should be my job,” he says with a grin. Sharing this vast information, he believes, will help industry improve operations, reduce costs and protect the environment.

That said, at 69, it might seem like time for him to take on fewer long-term projects.

“He has semi-retired a couple of times and every time he ends up with something like the museum,” says his daughter, Kate MacGregor.

“So, we try to encourage him not to have free time whenever possible.” An architect and civil engineer, Kate works on M2, a multi-use building east of the Simmons Building in the East Village, that Ian is an advisor for. She also works on Carriag Ridge, a series of homes her dad is developing in the foothills not far from the Museum of Making.

“I always thought this is one of the most beautiful places there is,” says MacGregor of the area north of Ghost Lake where his parents retired in 1977. “As I got lucky in my life I kept buying more land, and as I got enough of it, I thought, ‘I could have a subdivision.’”

MacGregor envisions a giant “park” of homes, each inspired by its particular landscape and designed by an acclaimed architect to be beautiful and to last for generations. He goes out to the first home in the development, Rock House, a couple of times a week to think, work and enjoy the view of the mountains. Designed by award-winning American architect James Cutler and nestled between giant sandstone formations, it was named “Best Cabin” by Wallpaper magazine in 2017.

While he happily discusses his favourite machinery, list of projects and his parents, MacGregor is also clear on what he will not talk about publicly. Namely, his wife (“she wouldn’t like that”) and his philanthropy.

Aside from his public support of Women Building Futures, a program that encourages women to pick up tools and work in the trades, MacGregor keeps his community work to himself. “It would be impossible to know 100 per cent of the stuff that Ian does because he would never tell you,” says Trafford of his friend’s philanthropy. “His dad in particular [believed] you just keep your mouth shut. You don’t make a big deal out of yourself. That’s very important in that family — you don’t make a big deal of yourself.”

And you don’t give up. “He always tells us when someone can’t do it, that just means that they can’t do it,” says Kate. “He always expects that everyone is going to give everything they’ve got solve a problem.”

Even his critics note his persistence and character. While Morton says their conflict over the refinery project “pretty much destroyed” their relationship, he also says, “as a person I thought Ian was one of the most intelligent, interesting and successful people I met in my eight years in government.”

Trafford, too, remembers being struck by MacGregor’s intelligence when they met in the late 1960s. Over the years he also learned to admire his friend’s determination.

“He’s essentially a very shy person,” says Trafford. “He was really shy at university. You have to admire him; he taught himself not to be. He taught himself how to interact like a regular guy.

When you spend some time with him, you realize he’s not, really.”

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AVENUE POP-UP MARKET Best

things to E A T Saturday October 20th INGLEWOOD COMMUNITY HALL •

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10am to 4pm

all ages

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Angela's Artisan Olives • Annex Ale Project • Billingsgate Market • Blackbird Cold Brew Coffee Co. Dancing Goats Farm • Going Nuts • Lukes Drug Mart • Pie Junkie & Bakery • Real Treat Sweet Relief Pastries • XO Ice Cream & Waffles and more!

Visit avenucalgary.com/market for a complete list of vendors and details.

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MARKET

UP

participating

•

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Join us to shop and sample Calgary's best eats at our one-day market.

THE POUR

BY Tom Firth PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jared Sych

Lamb baklava paired with Lantides G. red blend at Broken Plate.

PAI RI N GS BROKEN PLATE Lamb Baklava and Red Blends Who would have thought that lamb shoulder wrapped in phyllo would be so good? It’s even better when you match it with Lantides G., ($60 for the bottle),

on the menu

a medium-bodied red blend from Nemea.

BAR VON DER FELS Squid and Malagouzia The Kitrus Malagouzia, ($65 for the bottle), with its intense aromatics, is well placed for the divine Humboldt squid at this hotspot. BVDF changes its food and wine offerings frequently, so if this isn’t available, ask for a different Greek wine-and-dish recommendation.

ALLOY Lamb Chops and Xinomavro Another lamb-and-Greek-red pairing, because why mess with success? Alloy’s lamb chops with kale, olives and phyllo and the Kechris “Genesis” xinomavro blend from Macedonia ($55 for the bottle) are a match made in the Mediterranean (subject to

Greek Wines

seasonal menu changes).

No longer resigned to bad retsina, this Mediterranean country’s modern-day wines are worth celebrating.

R

emember retsina? How friggin’ awful it used to be? This all-but-forgotten wine style was Greece’s vinous gift to the world from the 1960s through the 1980s, eventually petering out to the barest presence on liquor-store shelves. However, if you’re still holding on to your Greek wine aversion, you may be missing out.

Greek wines have come a long way since triremes sailed the seas and Hoplites walked the earth. Greece’s location on the Mediterranean Sea and its role in the dawn of Western Civilization translates into 6,500 years of wine-making history. Greek myths are peppered with as many wine references as Zeus had illegitimate progeny.

Wine is truly in Greece’s blood.

Since the heady days when neon was at the height of fashion, Greek wine has kept ticking along — in its domestic market and at neighbourhood Greek restaurants that continue to offer miserable authentic wines. If you’ve ever had cheap retsina, you know you’re not missing out.

Retsina is a wine like no other. Its exact origin is clouded by history, though it is believed to have AvenueCalgary.com

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THE POUR something to do with the practice of using pine resin to seal clay amphora in ancient Greece and Rome. Eventually, people just got used to the flavour of pine resin in their wines, while others like Pliny (the Elder) saw to recommending the resin be added during fermentation. Over the subsequent millennia, wines tasting of pine resin went the way of the dodo for the most part — with retsina being the exception.

Retsina did enjoy some respectability in the 1960s and 1970s, but eventually, with only the poorest examples to drink, it became a vinous joke. Today, a few modern producers are making premium retsinas, which are miles removed from the old plonk, igniting a small renaissance. These contemporary retsinas run the gamut of delicate and citrusy, and they can be damn tasty.

Besides retsina, Greece produces plenty of table wines, too. While wines made from chardonnay or pinot gris are around, you’ll more likely see grapes like assyrtiko, agiorgitiko, xinomavro or moschofilero, if a grape is listed at all. (Greece follows the European tradition of naming the region of origin, rather than the grape). These wine names don’t exactly roll off the tongue, but one thing they do do is exude terroir — they definitely taste like they come from somewhere, in part because few Greek wines taste overly commercial, unlike inexpensive Australian shiraz, or inoffensive California chardonnay, for example.

Greek wines are classified like many other wine regions in Europe, though to all but the most devoted Greek wine buffs, the regions are widely unfamiliar. Greece ranks 16th, between India and Uzbekistan, in terms of vineyard acreage. In terms of wine production, in 2010, it produced about six times what Canada did. Wine production is scattered across much of the Greek mainland and a number of islands have some viticulture of some note. Nemea, Crete and Macedonia are fairly productive, with Corfu, Santorini and the Peloponnese also garnering attention. As for climate, Greece is the Mediterranean — the ideal climate for most viticulture — with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers.

Greece’s move toward modern winemaking is welcome, indeed, and advanced techniques are percolating down from the largest winery cooperatives to smaller, artisan producers. Modern viticulture is working its way down, too, in part assisted by the European Union. Even dining is changing; the traditional tavern culture of Greece is yielding to younger, more worldly patrons aware of what is happening elsewhere in Europe.

Traditions are breaking like plates.

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PICKS TSANTALI 2013 RAPSANI RESERVE, RAPSANI, GREECE Deep and dense on both nose and palate with blackberry fruits and a decidedly smoky, licorice-laden profile, it also has a fine balance between fruit and savoury. Match it up with anything made on the grill. $22

SANTO 2004 VINSANTO, SANTORINI, GREECE A remarkable dessert wine coming from the famous island of Santorini, made from drying assyrtiko and aidani grapes in the sun and aging in casks for three years, it’s unlike Italian or other vin santos. Bursting with

NICOLUZO 2014 PAVLO-KAKO-

dried fruits of apricot and fig with lime

TRYGIS (PABLO-CACOTRIGI),

and caramel, it’s also intensely sweet

CORFU, GREECE

on the palate. Very similar to premium

Made from the main white grape of

boal Madeiras, it’s excellent from start

Corfu in minute quantities at Nicoluzo,

to finish. $34

look for an abundance of lemon and lime characteristics with mild salinity and a touch of honey without the sweetness. It’s quite similar to chenin blanc, and very, very good. $42 KECHRIS “TEAR OF THE PINE” NV RETSINA, MACEDONIA, GREECE A clean and modern expression of retsina, using only about a fifth of the pine resin permitted by law, and BOUTARI 2016 MOSCHOFILERO,

using a high-altitude source of Aleppo

MANTINIA, GREECE

pine resin. Almost unrecognizable as

One of the classic white wines

retsina on the nose, it’s bright, herba-

from Greece for many Canadian

ceous and citrus-laden, while flavours

consumers, Boutari’s Moschofilero

showcase a more high-toned resinous

is wonderfully perfumed with clean,

character on the palate. A completely

tropical fruits and a mild herbaceous

delicious and perception-changing

character. Light and summery with

example of the genre. $40

great acids and a long, lemon-driven finish, this should pair well with seafood of nearly any type. $15

Speaking of breaking plates, that custom is growing less common of late. Ervin Bushi, chef and proprietor of Broken Plate in Willow Park Village, says that for 15 years, they broke plates with their guests. But recently, as part of an effort to reduce waste, they halted plate-breaking, allocating the funds they would have spent replacing plates toward their annual donation to the Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter. “We can put those funds to much better use,” Bushi says.

“Opa!” is the quintessential Greek expression of enthusiasm, but it can also acknowledge danger or risk. Sound out a hearty “opa!” the next time you pop open a bottle of Greek wine.

BOUTARI 2010 GRANDE RESERVE, NAOUSSA, GREECE That’s not a typo — the 2010 is the current vintage in our market. Made from xinomavro grapes and spending a minimum of four years in barrel, look for deep, earthy aromas with herb and charred tomato leaf, while on the palate, there are some strong similarities to left-bank Bordeaux. Great in the glass or with decanting, pair it with briskets or roasts done low and slow. $17

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PROMOTIONAL

RECOGNIZING ALBERTA'S ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERS

Celebrating the recipients of the 2018 Emerald Awards

T

he annual Emerald Awards recognize and celebrate outstanding environmental achievements across all sectors in Alberta. From classroom curricula to large, corporate initiatives, the program recognizes a variety of projects. The Emerald Awards categories celebrate those who demonstrate commitment to the environment and take

the initiative to make quantifiable, sustainable changes, educate others about the importance of sustainability and lead the way for other individuals and organizations to adopt their own environmentally friendly practices.

Read on to learn more about the people and groups who are greening Alberta, one project at a time.

SAIT SETS AN EXAMPLE

AWARD SPONSOR

SAIT ARIS Green Building Technologies - Green Building Technology Lab and Demonstration Centre | Education: Post-Secondary

S

AIT’s Applied Research and Innovation Services (ARIS) Green Building Technologies (GBT) Lab and Demonstration Centre is Calgary’s first net-zero commercial building. It is a living research lab that is an innovative example for the green building and structure sector to see, feel and understand how to design, build and live more sustainably.

The lab is available to post-secondary students for research and development, and for public tours. It's received rave reviews in the short time it’s been open.

Each year, GBT Lab sees over 100 industry partners and 2,800 visitors, including the Solar Energy of Alberta’s monthly speaker series.

It offers solar design and installation courses to train electricians and engineers. The lab’s 6,350 square-foot space is designed to showcase net-zero water and energy efficiency in the building sector, offering an affordable contribution for decreasing Canada’s carbon emissions by over 40 per cent.

“The Emerald Award is an acknowledgement that this is a team that goes above and beyond.

We strive for innovation and we’re proud to push researchers, suppliers and industry partners out of their comfort zone,” says David Silburn, a GBT general manager.

“In [the] future, the GBT Lab will continue to teach Albertans about sustainability.”

SAIT team at the ARIS buildling

In the GBT Lab, industry partners are able to test things like net-zero energy compliance, water conveyance and smart-building management — all which can be viewed by students, the public, industry leaders and decision makers. Even with the additional 16,800 square feet of research infrastructure that houses specialized workshops, testing bays, storage and construction, the GBT Lab is 75 per cent more efficient than a typical commercial building of the same size.

It incorporates passive solar design (south facing windows for natural light) and includes features like an electric car charging station, rainwater harvesting, living walls and green roof testing plots.

The GBT research division started in 2008, developing environmentally friendly technologies, programs and services that fundamentally change how we build, educate and develop skilled labour. The GBT Lab has also built 17 net-zero homes in Alberta to date, raising the standards for construction and advancing green-building technology in Canada.

ConocoPhillips Canada is a long-time supporter of the Alberta Emerald Foundation and the Emerald Awards. We are proud to be the sponsor of the 2018 Education Post-Secondary category.

Congratulations to the finalists who have shown leadership and creativity in educating students about the importance of environmental matters. Ω emeraldfoundation.ca 71 AvenueCalgary.com 7 1

PROMOTIONAL

Dr. Andrea Morehouse, Science and Stewardship Coordinator, and Jeff Bectell, Carnivores and Communities Program Coordinator, Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association

LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER

Waterton Biosphere Carnivores and Communities program | Community Group/ Not-for-Profit Association: Grassroots

G

overnment, landowners, producers — it’s tough to bring people and groups together and agree how to address a problem. In this case, it’s about the increasing conflicts between large carnivores and agricultural land users in southwest Alberta. But, using neighbour-toneighbour coffee-table discussions and with research and government support, the Waterton Biosphere Reserve’s Carnivores and Communities Program (CACP) is successfully tackling the complex issue of human/ wildlife conflict with a customized, one-size-doesn’t-fit-all approach.

A core working group representing private landowners, the provincial government and nature conservancy (fish and wildlife) facilitates what can be an emotionally charged, controversial topic: How to adequately support the bears, wolves and cougars that inhabit scarce public/protected areas, as well as private agricultural land, while maintaining human safety? A multi-faceted, community-based approach has identified key sources of human/wildlife conflicts and provided custom solutions.

Addressing the three-pronged goals of attractant management, deadstock removal and human safety, CACP initiatives include electric fencing projects, grain-bin replacements and feed-storage retrofits, deadstock removal with free farm pick-ups and bear-safety workshops for agricultural families. To date, the CACP has completed 60 costshared attractant management projects with 50 range families, and removed over 3,600 carcasses from 500,000 hectares of land.

Further outreach by this provincial success story raises awareness and encourages participation in projects to reduce conflict and increase safety. All are critical to long-term protection of carnivore populations, local livelihoods and residents’ safety. Ω

The Emerald Awards 7 2 72 avenueOCTOBER.18

Lonny Balbi

CYCLING MADE SIMPLE

Lonny Balbi - Bike to Work Day Individual Commitment

L

onny Balbi offers the secret to the success for Calgary’s Bike to Work Day, an annual one-day event now in its 12th year, with over 5,000 participants pedalling into the city core: Keep it simple.

Balbi has kept the event accessible to everyone – anyone can hop on a bike that day and ride for the fun of it. Hosting the event early in the season fuels the hope that cyclists will enjoy the experience and do it all season long.

Utilizing Calgary’s well-established bike paths and a growing network of protected bike lanes on downtown streets to get to his own office, Balbi recognizes that safety concerns continue to be barriers to potential cyclists. Bike to Work Day offers fellow riders refreshments and bike tune-ups at “energy pit stops” hosted by event partners. There’s even a free pancake breakfast, giveaways, a draw for a free bike and cycle-related vendors and merchandise to entice Calgarians to get on their two-wheelers and “feel like a kid” again.

Balbi sweetened the pot this year by offering to donate $1 for every participant to a local, cycling-related charity.

There’s momentum to be sure, with some downtown companies even offering bikes for employees to get to meetings in the core. School groups have increasingly joined in for the day’s events too. Ω

PROMOTIONAL

Nominations for the 28th Annual

Emerald Awards open on November 1 at emeraldfoundation.ca

RECYCLING FOR NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Redemptive Developments | Small Business

W

hen Redemptive Developments (RD) started as an Edmonton-based social enterprise seven years ago, its aim was to create employment, help diminish poverty and invest in the community. Becoming one of the biggest mattress recyclers in Western Canada was never part of the plan.

But that’s what has happened. In 2011, under the umbrella of its charity, The Jasper Place Wellness Centre (JPWC), partners from business and social work backgrounds found initial success for RD in junk removal, with just one pick-up truck and a trailer. Seeing that furniture and mattresses were filling the landfill, RD then created Salvage, a store that sells second-hand goods and diverts useable furniture from the dump and offers affordable options to vulnerable community members.

“We’re meeting our goal of employing disadvantaged Edmontonians and providing them with a living wage,” says RD Chief Operating Officer Henry Motta.

Murray Sorka, CEO, Redemptive Developments

In 2016, after learning that about 30,000 mattresses per year were being landfilled, RD responded with another social enterprise, Evergreen Mattress Recycling. Starting with hotel and retail clients, RD then won the contract to recycle mattresses from the City of Edmonton’s Waste Management Centre. In 2017 alone, Evergreen Mattress Recycling kept 51,000 mattresses out of the landfill, with hopes of hitting 100,000 next year.

“Growing a business is always a challenge; social enterprise loans and other funding helped us overcome the inevitable hurdles that face any growing business. Now RD is sharing lessons and inspiring other business initiatives, which means more job opportunities for the city’s most vulnerable,” Motta says.

Today, this innovative social enterprise is creating business opportunities where social and environmental needs collide. In its 10,000 square-foot west-end facility, RD employs dozens of seasonal employees, who separate mattresses largely by hand for donation or sale of the wood, foam and metal parts. And Junk 4 Good now rivals big players like 1-800-Got-Junk in that competitive industry.

“Recognition from the Emerald Awards helps potential customers and people in the city and province know about who we are. In coming years we plan to expand beyond Edmonton to become a regional leader for mattress recycling and junk removal,” Motta says. Ω

emeraldfoundation.ca 73 AvenueCalgary.com 7 3

Point Backcountry Campground overlooking Upper Kananakis Lake.

Let it snow,

Photograph by Robbie Lehnert

let it snow, let it snow!

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M O U N TA I N S

BY Shelley Arnusch, Valerie Berenyi, Elizabeth Chorney-Booth AND Fabian Mayer

City dwellers tend to view the coming winter with a sense of dread. But out in the mountains, they actually celebrate when there’s snow in the forecast.

It goes to say, then, that if you want to appreciate winter, you should go to where winter is appreciated.

Here are just a few of the things you can do in the mountains near Calgary to make 2018-2019 your winter of love.

WINTER CAMPING

B

ackcountry camping in the winter is not a totally crazy thing to do. Though it might seem like the daunting preserve of hard-core adventurers, with the right preparations, it can be an unforgettable (in a good way) experience — even for the minimally outdoorsy.

Kananaskis Country’s Point Backcountry Campground in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park is an ideal first foray into winter camping. Situated on the northwest edge of Upper Kananaskis Lake, the campground is only about 3.5 kilometres from the trailhead at the North Interlakes day-use area.

Waterproof winter boots and Microspikes (slip-on devices that add spiky grips to regular footwear) are recommended for the scenic-but-snowy walk in.

Aim to get to the campground in the early afternoon so you have enough time to set up camp and explore a little bit before it gets dark. The advantage of cold-weather camping is instantly noticeable upon arrival; you’ll have your pick of the 20 sites and can secure a lakeside site of your choice.

The lack of people makes the pristine natural environment all the more peaceful; trails and campgrounds that are usually bustling in the summer become your own private winter wilderness.

Forest fires are also less of a concern and it’s pretty much guaranteed there won’t be a fire ban. The campground is supplied with a giant pile of firewood allowing for a bonfire big enough to keep you warm all evening. As night falls, the snow-covered landscape stays surprisingly bright and combines with the stars and surrounding mountains to create beautiful, slightly eerie tableaux.

While braving the cold is part of the fun, it’s still better to pick a night when temperatures aren’t too extreme.

Instead of planning for a specific weekend and hoping the weather cooperates, it’s better to have a few weekends in mind and keep an eye on the forecast for milder conditions.

Having the right equipment is essential: a solid fourseason tent, thick sleeping mat, sleeping bag rated to well-below freezing and fire-starting materials are all crucial. An extra tarp to lay under your tent, a small shovel, flashlights, camp stove and hand warmers are also worth bringing. As with most outdoor winter activities, layers are your friend; since the hike in is only a few kms you can err on the side of caution and bring more warm clothes than you think you’ll need.

When you are ready to crawl into your sleeping bag, be sure to change into fresh clothing as any dampness will make it hard to stay warm. You can sleep soundly knowing that the bears in the area are doing the same and that the rumbling and cracking outside your tent is just shifting lake ice.

While you’re unlikely to have the most comfortable sleep of your life, braving the elements provides a satisfying feeling of accomplishment — think of it as one small way of sticking it to winter. —F.M. T HE M U ST-HAVE BAG FO R T H E SEASON With winter camping, the right sleeping bag is going to be the difference between a good time and a terrible time.

If you don’t want to invest in a bag that will keep your toes toasty when the temperature drops, you can rent one from the Outdoor Centre at the University of Calgary. The OC’s gear program includes Mountain Hardwear Lamina Z Bonfire bags that are rated to -30 C and are water-repellent to keep you dry when condensation builds up in the tent during the course of the night. —S.A.

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Mount Engadine Lodge.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas in the Mountains

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EMERALD LAKE LODGE Nestled next to its namesake jewel of a lake near Field, B.C., during the holiday season Emerald Lake Lodge has all the hallmarks of a vintage Christmas card. Assisted by her merry band of elves, co-owner Connie O’Conner delights in decking the halls of the timbered lodge built in the 1920s, along with its massive stone fireplaces and the elegant-but-cozy common areas.

On Christmas Eve you can enjoy carolling around an outdoor firepit while sipping homemade eggnog and glühwein. The popular Christmas package for two includes one night’s accommodation and a festive gourmet dinner (plus, an appearance from Santa on the big day to hand out gifts), as well as a buffet breakfast on Boxing Day. Every room has a fireplace for those essential holiday naps. Then, be sure to burn off the Xmas excess with a walk or cross-country ski around frozen Emerald Lake. crmr.com/emerald 76

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Emerald Lake Lodge.

Mount Engadine photograph by Paul Zizka; Emerald Lake lodge photograph by Erik McRitchie

he lure of a snowy hideaway in the mountains at Christmas is irresistible; you can practically smell the wood crackling in the fireplace (tended by someone else) and taste the sweets (baked by other hands). These four alpine lodges offer extra-special holiday escapes (and do all the work), but you’re not alone in dreaming of them, so don’t waste a moment because they book up fast.

Skoki Lodge.

Post Hotel & Spa.

Post Hotel photograph courtesy of the Post Hotel; Skoki Lodge photograph by Mike Byrne

MOUNT ENGADINE LODGE Located in Spray Valley Provincial Park, Mount Engadine Lodge offers the intimacy and charm of a backcountry resort, even though guests can drive right up to its door. No wonder Christmas is one of its busiest times of the year, with repeat guests often booking it up by the end of summer.

Executive chef Mandy Leighton puts on a Christmas feast after which guests are known to gather around the piano and sing carols well into the night. You can curl up under a Hudson’s Bay blanket next to a garlanded stone fireplace and watch for wildlife in the vast meadows below.

If you’re so inclined, wax up your Nordic skis and do the five-km loop from the lodge, or venture a bit further to the nearby Mount Shark trails.

To meet the huge appetite for this kind of immersive experience, Mount Engadine opened five glamping tents this past summer with heated hardwood floors, bathrooms, chandeliers, fireplaces, king-size beds and decks. Available yearround, they will alleviate some of the demand over the holidays. mountengadine.com

POST HOTEL & SPA A member of the prestigious Relais & Châteaux hotel group, this outpost for gourmands in Lake Louise is legendary for pampering its guests, but it offers an especially divine experience at Christmas. The hotel and its grounds are festooned with twinkle lights, angels, tin soldiers and much more. The front lawn is transformed into an ice rink and the hotel’s cabins, suites and some of its standard rooms have wood-burning fireplaces. If you’re staying additional nights, the scent of your very own Christmas tree in your suite adds to the heady atmosphere.

The traditional turkey dinner is anything but — the 2017 Christmas meal began with carpaccio of Alberta Angus beef tenderloin and foie gras, and concluded with Callebaut dark-chocolate mousse and fudge cake topped with raspberrypomegranate sorbet. There’s a special four-course dinner for Christmas Eve, too. Hotel manager Carol Schwarz recommends booking holiday accommodation and meals at least three months in advance, so if you want to spend your Christmas at the Post this year, there’s really no time to lose.

SKOKI LODGE You’ll earn every calorie of the Christmas feast that awaits you at the end of your 11-km ski-tour or snowshoe over two breathtaking mountain passes into iconic Skoki Lodge in Banff National Park. Beloved by Albertans, the remote National Historic Site was catapulted onto the world stage when royals William and Kate honeymooned there in July 2011. These days, the 1930’s-era lodge and its three log cabins are exceedingly popular, though more so during the summer months, so if you’re dreaming of sharing a gourmet-rustic turkey dinner lit by lantern, and singing impromptu Christmas carols beside the roaring stone fireplace with other apple-cheeked outdoorsy types, you may still be able to snap up one of Skoki’s 25 beds during the Christmas holidays. In the event that it is all booked up, Dan Markham, director of brand and communications at Lake Louise Ski Resort, which operates Skoki, says you can always put your name on a wait list as cancellations are known to occur. —V.B. skoki.com

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Castle Mountain Resort’s culinary team creates unique menus for each Full Moon Snowshoe and Fine Dining Experience.

WINTER GLAMPING

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Snowy Owl Sled Dog Tours.

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T HRE E MORE S N O WSHOE E X P E R I EN CES TO D O T HI S W I N TER The Mountain Heritage Snowshoe Tours at Fernie Alpine Resort are interpretive full-day and half-day tours that teach

Full Moon Snowshoeing

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irectly south of Calgary (and just a hair to the west), Castle Mountain Resort is nestled in the stretch of mountains that run through Waterton Lakes National Park and the new Castle Provincial Park. With most Calgarian skier/ snowboarders accustomed to hitting the Big Three resorts of Banff National Park, Castle remains slightly off the radar. But being a best-kept secret has allowed it to maintain its distinct community vibe. This is the kind of place where you’ll see a guy on a snowboard in contractor’s Carhartts shepherding his kids through the lift line for last run of the day.

Last season, Castle debuted a series of snowshoe-and-dinner events that proved smashing successes with both locals and visitors alike. The Full Moon Snowshoe and Fine Dining Experiences meet up just as the ski hill is closing down. Snowshoes and ski poles in hand (you need them for balance), your group of around 30 participants gets whisked up the ski hill on the Huckleberry chair lift. From there, guides lead you downward through the natural terrain just beyond the ski hill’s boundary.

If you’re a bit nervous when it comes to navigating downhill slopes, you can certainly follow the tracks of the guides. However, if you’re a bit bolder, you can go your own way through the powder, taking giant steps that give you a sense of walking on the moon.

If the conditions are right, you’ll even get the chance to front flip off a small rise into a soft snowy landing.

The snowshoe component ends with a walk back along a forested trail to the resort base for a multi-course dinner with wine pairings.

The dinners are held long-table style in the Joe’s Café section of the main ski lodge and are a chance for the resort’s hospitality crew to flex their culinary muscles and cook something beyond ski-lodge cafeteria fare. Afterward, you can head outside to the bonfire and marshmallow roast or catch some live music at the T-Bar Pub & Grill, a classic après-ski bar complete with scuffed-wood tables and walls covered in ski memorabilia and vintage photos.

The Full Moon Snowshoe and Fine Dining Experiences happen monthly (on full-moon nights) and cost $119.99 or $129.99 with snowshoe rentals. Last year’s events sold out fast, so contact the resort at 403-627-5101 to book for 2018-2019. —S.A.

you about local history and the mountain environment along the way. To book, call the Winter Sports School at 250-423-2406. Fernie also does Snowshoe and Dine events on Tuesday evenings, 1.5-hour guided tours that finish with pasta and wine at Cirque restaurant in the Lizard Creek Lodge.

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Night Owl Snowshoe tour is an afterdark adventure in the woods that includes stargazing on clear nights. The two-hour excursion is open to the general public as well as hotel guests and is suitable for kids eight to 12. Book through the hotel concierge at 403-522-1601.

Panorama Mountain Resort offers guided snowshoe tours complete with s’mores. Tours are booked through guest services, the resort’s seasonal concierge and info desk, at 1-800663-2929. —S.A.

Snowy Owl photograph by Jessie McKay; Snowshoe and Fine Dining Full Moon photograph by Aundrea Leckie

ith two days of mushing your own team of six-to-eight canine athletes through a wintery dreamscape, plus an overnight stay in a sheepskin-lined tent in the backcountry of Spray Lakes Provincial Park, the Ghosts of Fortune Mountain dogsled tour is a whole other realm of winter-camping experience.

Legend holds that Fortune Mountain is full of gold and that many have never returned from seeking its riches, however, your safety and comfort are guaranteed by the experienced guides from Canmore-based Snowy Owl Sled Dog Tours, with a ratio of one guide to every guest. Snowy Owl co-owner Jereme Arsenault says the 80-km tour, which runs over the frozen expanse of Spray Lakes and into the wild, is popular with adventure-hungry Canadians and Europeans.

At the end of the day, you can opt to help feed and care for the huskies or wrap yourself in a Pendleton blanket and sip hot chocolate around the campfire before dining on Valbella venison and roasted vegetables, cooked fireside. (Vegetarian and gluten-free options are available.)

Then, you slip into your expedition-style tent, luxuriously kitted out with reindeer, bison and sheep skins and North Face Inferno sleeping gear rated to -40 C. Fresh coffee and a hearty campfire breakfast will fuel your second full day of exploring the region by dogsled.

The Ghosts of Fortune Mountain tour is $3,500 for two, and if you’re feeling particularly energetic, snowshoeing and ice-fishing excursions can be added to what Destination Canada has designated one of their “Canadian Signature Adventures.”

—V.B.

Cheers, Drinks are on us!

Book your holiday party before October 31st and receive a complimentary drink for each guest!

For more details: (403) 256 7150 greateventscatering.ca info@greateventsgroup.com greateventsyyc

A winter wonderland is calling.

Book an unforgettable holiday event in the heart of Fish Creek Park

Corporate | À la carte | Weddings 15979 Bow Bottom Trail SE, Calgary, AB (403) 476 1310  www.bvrrestaurant.com

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N SPRAY AVEN UE

BOW RIVER

FAIRMONT BANFF SPRINGS

Stock Food & Drink The Vermillion Room 1888 Chop House

EATING THE CASTLE

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he Fairmont Banff Springs has always felt like a world of its own. The massive hotel, styled to resemble a Scottish castle, is so well-outfitted with restaurants, lounges, spa amenities, an outdoor heated pool and green spaces, that guests could conceivably experience a rich mountain getaway without ever leaving the property. The hotel’s food program is particularly robust — with 12 restaurants on site, there’s a wealth of high-end eats within the castle’s walls.

It’s why culinary outfitter Alberta Food Tours launched Eat the Castle earlier this year. It’s the first Banff-based experience for the company, which also runs tours in and around Calgary, Edmonton and Canmore.

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Alberta Food Tours president and CEO Karen Anderson says she was so impressed by the Banff Springs’ commitment to serving food made from scratch with local Alberta ingredients that she wanted to share both the food and the stories from the kitchen with visitors. “I wanted to reveal the amount of care that goes into creating these luxurious meals,” Anderson says. “On the tour we tell people about the 150 chefs that work there, the bread-making program, the pickling, the butchery, the herb cultivator and all of the Alberta farmers the kitchen buys from. It’s a classic culinary institute, but they are making almost 80 per cent of everything they serve in-house.”

Eat the Castle features four stops, all within the main hotel, making it an ideal experience for those inevitably blustery days when it’s too cold to enjoy the outdoor wonders of Banff National

Park. In just over two hours, guests indulge in food and a drink pairing at four of the hotel’s restaurants: Stock Food & Drink, The Vermillion Room (a French bistro-inspired restaurant that opened this past May), 1888 Chop House and Grapes (a charcuterie and wine bar).

Even though the tour takes place in the late afternoon, Anderson says the food portions are substantial and recommends that her guests arrive with an empty stomach and an open mind. “It’s a history, art and architecture tour meets food tour,” she says. “Also, it’s a way for people who may not be able to stay at the hotel to experience it by splurging on what really is a very ample dinner.”

Alberta Food Tours’ Eat the Castle Tour is $175 per person, plus GST (price includes gratuities). Tickets can be purchased in advance at albertafoodtours.ca. —E.C.B.

Photography courtesy of Fairmont Banff Springs

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THREE EXERCISES YOU SHOULD BE DOING RIGHT NOW TO GET IN SHAPE FOR SKI SEASON

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he first ski day of the year is often a humbling experience; waking up the next morning doubly so. Even if you stay active year-round, skiing- and snowboarding-specific muscles tend to weaken in the off season. Getting in a few exercises before the hills open will help you stay upright on opening day — and make it out of bed the morning after.

As a strength and conditioning coach at Winsport Canada, Brett Walker trains everyone from slopestyle skiers to alpine racers. Here are three simple exercises he recommends to get back into ski shape.

One Love The one-piece is back, baby.

Whether you’re a skier or an aprèsskier, this season’s retro-styled suits will have you praying for snow.

THREE-WAY CALF RAISE Find a set of stairs and stand with the balls of your feet shoulder-width apart on the edge of a step, heels hanging off. Let your heels go down below the level of the step, then in a slow, controlled movement push up onto your tip toes. Repeat this 10 to 15 times in a regular stance, slightly pigeon-toed and with feet angled out. This exercise targets

BANDED WALL SIT

SUPERMAN

Wrap a resistance band around

Lower-back soreness is a perennial

your knees. With your back and

skier complaint, especially early in the

butt against a wall, feet shoulder-

season. Supermans help strengthen

width apart, squat down until your

the muscles of the lower back. Start

thighs are horizontal. Hold this

by lying face down on carpet or a yoga

position for at least a minute, or as

mat. Extend your arms in front of you,

long as you can, working up to a

and while engaging your glutes and

minute. Wall sits target your quads

core, raise your hands and legs off the

and glutes — all-important for

ground. Hold for a couple of seconds

staying in control on the slopes.

and then slowly return to the starting position. Repeat 10 to 15 times. —F.M.

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The Aspen one-piece ski suit in red by Cordova, $810, at Sporting Life (Market Mall, Southcentre).

Illustrations by Sarah McMenemy; ski suit photograph courtesy of Sporting Life

different areas of your lower legs and calves.

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Claim Your Future The guiding principles of retirement planning for every age.

BY Adrian George CFP, CLU, TEP Speaker, Certified Financial Planner President, PlayCheques Financial Solutions

The face of retirement is shifting, and with nearly twothirds of Canadian households making retirement savings a priority, it’s never too early to start living as a pre-retiree. After all, your greatest retirement concern should be which wine to pour with dinner. The earlier you have a plan in place, the more certain you can be in knowing when you can retire, even if you choose to continue working.

If your next attempt at retirement will be your first (for some, second or even third time’s the charm), you’ll be exploring unchartered, yet exciting territory. Consider

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these your guiding principles:

1 SHIFT GEARS WHEN THINKING ABOUT YOUR SAVINGS When planning for the switch from earning an income to generating one with your savings, it’s important to let go of the past. The truth is, your past successes and failures with investment returns no longer matter. Your future sequence of returns will have the biggest impact on ensuring your savings last as long as you do.

2 AIM TO LIVE OFF YOUR INCOME – BUT DON’T LEAVE YOUR CAPITAL OUT Living solely off your retirement income would certainly be ideal. The catch? Consider the inevitable rise in the cost of living. At just three percent inflation, the purchasing power of your savings is chopped in half every 20 years. Don’t fret – just be sure to account for this in your planning, and have a strategy for your invested assets. For many pre-retirees, this means maintaining portfolio growth slightly longer than anticipated.

3 BE HONEST ABOUT WHAT YOU REALLY WANT It can be difficult to know exactly how much income you’ll need when every day is – in theory – a weekend.

Try looking at it from two perspectives: What income do you need to maintain your current lifestyle? And, how does that change when you think of all of the 84

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“wants” you’ve dreamed up over the years? Now that you’ve found your future income sweet spot, don’t forget that during the first few years of your retirement you’ll likely want to take a well-deserved vacation (or two).

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4

Start with determining what income you desire regardless of the state of the economy - we recommend planning for up to three years.

Add up any guaranteed income you’ll be receiving in your retirement (CPP, OAS, etc.) and annuity or defined benefit pension plans.

DON’T BE FEARFUL OF MARKET DROPS – BE OPPORTUNISTIC In times of downturn, some retirees shift their assets to safer options only after their value has suffered.

These same retirees often miss out when the markets rise as they sit tight until they feel the worst has passed.

Working with a Certified Financial Planner and having a plan to weather the storm during these times will equip you to take on risk with confidence and excitement.

“Effective retirement planning involves some heavy lifting, and success hinges on a shift in both mindset and resource allocation.

Instead of a one-size-fits-all single investment strategy, allocate portions of your resources towards solving each of your individual needs. This yields the security you need to truly claim your future.”

– Adrian George, Certified Financial Planner

START TO PUT YOUR PLAN INTO ACTION

Commit to topping up on assets such as Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs) ahead of time. In down markets, you may have to use some of your GICs for income, but you’ll protect your other invested assets from being sold at a loss. Just be sure to replenish your GICs when markets recover.

To plan for changes in your physical and mental health down the line, select an Enduring Power of Attorney and a Personal Health Care Directive, and consider a few lower risk investments. You’ll have something set aside in the case of an unfortunate circumstance, and most importantly, it won’t encroach on the savings you’ve set aside for your desired lifestyle.

And the remaining assets? Allocate them to growthoriented investments. In rising markets, you’ll see extra retirement income, and in falling markets, you’ll be looking for opportunities when others are selling.

It’s a win-win.

Adrian is a Certified Financial Planner who is passionate about strategic retirement planning. He resides as president of PlayCheques Financial Solutions based in Calgary and Vancouver. Reach Adrian at: adrian@playcheques.com.

WORKOUT

BY Christina Frangou PHOTOGRAPHY BY Bryce Meyer

Hank Van Weelden One of the faces behind the new Kananaskis Nordic Spa is a globetrotting adventurer who thinks blizzards are wonderful.

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or the managing partner of a wellness spa, Hank Van Weelden sure knows a lot about junk food. For instance, he can tell you off the top of his head that Hawkins Cheezies pack five calories per gram (butter has seven). Ergo, if you’re pulling a month’s worth of food on a sled while you bike across Antarctica, stock up on Cheezies.

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WORKOUT

“WHAT AMAZED ME WAS THE DEPTH WITHIN US WHEN OUR BODY SAYS NO AND OUR MIND WANTS TO CONTINUE.”

Now, if you’re headed to, say, Mount Everest, a few packs of Oreo cookies might be a wise investment. They’re delicious at altitude.

Those are the kinds of things you learn over nearly four decades of adventuring around the world, whether it’s cycling at the South Pole or paddleboarding through canyons in Arizona.

Van Weelden also spends a fair amount of time in the Canadian Rockies these days overseeing the new Kananaskis Nordic Spa at the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge (formerly the Delta Kananaskis hotel).

Van Weelden, whose home base is Edmonton, isn’t shy about his love for K-Country. He’ll even defend the infamous winter storms that blow through the region. “It’s a place where people are going for an outdoor experience and so the fact that it may be a blizzard while you’re there is wonderful,” he says.

Van Weelden, 52, has certainly dealt with his fair share of inclement weather as many of his sporting adventures take place in austere or far-flung locations. Each year he enters the 86

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Arrowhead 135, considered one of the world’s toughest endurance challenges, in which participants bike, ski or run nearly 220 kilometres (135 miles) over trails in northern Minnesota during the winter. Temperatures regularly drop below -30 Celsius.

“The second-last time, it was -56 and I rode my bike for 36 hours nonstop,” he remembers.

“It’s horrific in the moment. You hate life.

But you’re curious to see what this vessel — this combination of mind, body and soul — what its potential is.”

Van Weelden has long had a thirst for adventuring in the outdoors. He grew up in Edmonton, the son of two Dutch emigrants who fell in love with the Canadian mountains. By five, he was hiking. By 11, he had completed his first backcountry ski tour and, in his teens, was mountain climbing throughout Western Canada.

At 22, Van Weelden joined his first grand-scale international adventure as part of the third Canadian expedition to Everest. He didn’t summit, but spent several weeks at Camp 3. At an elevation

of 7,300 metres, the camp is just over 1,300 m higher than the summit of Mount Logan, Canada’s highest peak. While at Camp 3, Van Weelden ventured out one day to climb a nearby peak. He “bonked” (a term athletes use for succumbing to exhaustion) and struggled for the next six hours to return to camp. Rather than discouraging him, the experience left Van Weelden hungry for more.

“What amazed me was the depth within us when our body says no and our mind wants to continue,” he says.

Last year, Van Weelden took on his biggest solo challenge to date, cycling from the South Pole to Hercules Inlet on the southwestern edge of Antarctica. He expected the 1,125-km journey to take 30 days and he spent six months working with a psychologist to prepare for the extreme isolation. Six days in, he quit. Several things convinced him to stop, though it was mainly because his bike was malfunctioning and he had a chance to catch a MedEvac flight out. “I’m an adventurer, but not to the point where it gets stupid. I’m not going to push myself so far that I can’t come home,” he says. As a husband and father of three, there’s a lot for Van Weelden to come home to.

“Coming home is awesome,” he says.

Van Weelden tends to avoid social media, sponsorships, even tracking apps like Strava.

He doesn’t like to compare himself to other athletes, or be beholden to sponsors or the public. He wants the privacy to carry out his adventures without outside pressure and says he’s lucky to have the financial freedom to fund his trips without relying on sponsorship (he’s CEO of Alta-Fab Structures Ltd., a Nisku-based off-site construction company). His next major adventure is a six-week backcountry cycling trip through the southern United States.

Though he has never been a gym person, Van Weelden recently started a regular yoga and morning exercise routine. “I want to still be doing these adventures when I’m 70 and 80.

There are things I need to do now to put myself in a position to do it sustainably,” he says. His number-one fitness tip, no matter the sport, is to push your limit three times every time you go out. “Whether it’s climbing a hill or sprinting for something, your body and your mind will come back more refreshed, ” he says. And a post-workout relaxation session in a gorgeous alpine spa certainly helps, as well.

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DECOR

BY Käthe Lemon PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jared Sych

The Gilded Life The home of Mogens and Nicki Smed pushes pre-fab construction to its most luxurious ends.

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inning down a description of the new home of Mogens and Nicki Smed is almost as difficult as defining Mogens himself. The enigmatic 70-year-old entrepreneur and cofounder of DIRTT, a Calgary-based pre-fab interior design and construction company, has been described variously as brilliant, charismatic and highly demanding. This past January Mogens was removed as CEO and given the role of executive chairman. He was ousted from that role in September.

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The home, which the Smeds call Hygge, the Danish word most often translated as “coziness,” was built to serve as both their primary residence and as a show suite and research-and-development site for DIRTT. In the year since it was completed, more than 200 groups of up to 40 people toured the home.

Earlier this year, the Financial Post reported that DIRTT’s fourth-quarter losses included $2.9 million related to construction of Hygge, with the Smeds paying more than $4 million in addition

Hygge was built as both a DIRTT showcase and as the primary home for Nicki and Mogens Smed and their four large dogs. The Hugh Short-designed laser-cut metal panels used as a gate to the deck are inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs.

to that — the high costs due in large part to the research and development aspect of the innovative construction process.

While the term pre-fab usually conjures images of boxy and bland modular construction, with Hygge, architect Cheryl Link has used the advantages of the factory-made walls to craft angles and arches that would be nearly impossible to create by hand on site. “The computer doesn’t care if there are 90-degree angles,” says Mogens, “it can be whatever angle you want.” And so instead

TOP The curved wall and the use of metallic tile on the home’s exterior were inspired by Mogens’ admiration of Studio Bell home of the National Music Centre.

MIDDLE The adjacent detached garage and dog-grooming and feeding space includes an outdoor kitchen that faces into a courtyard between the two buildings.

ABOVE The deck extends the length of the home and includes an outdoor fireplace and TV. Enormous timbers create the illusion of a timber-frame home, but without the heat loss associated with that style of building.

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DECOR RIGHT The main living space’s open concept allows for easy entertaining of large groups, while the lofted sitting area is a cozy space that is away (but not entirely separated) from the action.

BELOW Large expanses of triple-paned windows allow the light and views in without sacrificing energy efficiency.

The pre-fab construction allows for the walls to each be at different angles, creating visual interest.

of being set at right angles, the walls lean and curve, creating a sense of great space and even movement.

The exteriors of the home and the garage are covered in metallic tile in a variety of tones that catch and reflect the changing light.

Inside, DIRTT interior designer Debbie Carruthers has also used subtly reflective metallic wall treatments in many rooms, brightening and opening the space.

“It’s almost vulgar to say that this house is small,” says Mogens.

At the same time, it is surprising to learn that Hygge comes in at 2,900 square feet on the main floor — the space feels much larger.

Knowing that the Smeds used to live in what is now the Azuridge Estate Hotel, it is a bit disarming to see them and their four enormous dogs (a Great Dane, two British mastiffs and a standard poodle) living large in a normal-sized home. “Our Priddis house was 18,000 square feet and would feel crowded very quickly just because of the way the spaces were broken up,” says Mogens. In Hygge, Link spent a lot of time figuring out how to make this much smaller space feel expansive and ready for the large groups that it would host.

With the large deck that runs the length of the back of the house and the outdoor kitchen at the front, Link created a wellused outdoor space that extends the true living area by just under 2,000 square feet. Soaring ceilings and a curving hallway that starts out quite wide and then narrows as it goes further into the private areas of the home both create the illusion of a larger space. Link has also positioned the interior doorways to all open to views of the outside, drawing the eye out.

Aging in place was another key consideration in the design.

Carruthers selected fixtures, door knobs and other hardware throughout the home that accommodate easily for arthritis or other disabilities, the doorways are wide enough for wheelchair 90

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accessibility and most of the home is on one level. But for now, the loft space Link created overlooking the living-dining room area is a cozy refuge that Nicki says is her favourite spot in the home.

Carruthers used DIRTT walls for the interior and the building processes and materials were selected for their sustainability and low environmental impact. However, the use of high-tech wall panelling, laser-cut metals and the latest in everything from triplepaned windows, to wiring, to cabinet hardware is less noticeable than the overall feeling of natural materials and complementary colour schemes. All of which, of course, makes Hygge so exceptional. In terms of architecture this isn’t what you expect of pre-fab and in terms of the interior design this isn’t what you expect of wall paneling systems; it is all so much more.

Natural materials such as the wood timbers and the stone fireplace integrate seamlessly with the high-tech panels, such as the Willow Glass printed with a log graphic next to the fireplace.

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DECOR 5 WAYS HYGGE HOUSE BRINGS TOGETHER THE PAST AND THE FUTURE DIRTT built Hygge to showcase its capabilities and to test its materials and procedures. The home is the first building the company built from the ground up. Here are five ways it marries the past and the future of design and construction.

1. Architect Cheryl Link designed the home with paper sketches and physical models. Her designs were translated into a digital platform and a virtual reality space and finally made into files for the factory production of the walls and roof.

2. The style mimics timber-frame design, but the timbers don’t breach the exterior walls, cutting down on thermal-bridging heat loss.

3. New-growth sustainable forest wood was used to create the factory-made cross-laminated timbers. The structure was put together with centuries-old techniques of mortise and tenon and dovetail joints; the only metal connection in the whole house is in the sheer plates at the bottom of the timbers.

4. Among those who have toured Hygge are executives of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, who said that the home “celebrated the spirit” of the iconic American architect. The inspiration can be seen most clearly in the custom DIRTT pantry doors in the kitchen and the laser-cut metal panels used in the hallway and outside along the garden.

5. Hygge house was designed to stand the test of time.

“You have to build for generations. We really designed this for our great-grandchildren,” says Mogens.

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TOP All four dogs often sleep in Nicki’s bedroom, but despite being a canine refuge it is still a glamorous retreat. Custom furniture built

by DIRTT is accented with a variety of pillows.

LEFT The curved hallway wall is at a greater-than90-degree angle to the floor — a feat of engineering for conventional construction methods, but easily handled by the factory-made pre-fab construction.

OPPOSITE NEAR RIGHT Throughout the home, designer Debbie Carruthers used a neutral colour palette to create a timeless look.

OPPOSITE FAR RIGHT The home is designed with two principal bedroom suites.

Both feature DIRTT panels for the headboards and were laid out so that great views were visible from the bed.

To see more about how Hygge House was created, visit blogs.dirtt.net/hygge/

SOURCE EDITOR’S NOTE PAGE 26

18-karat white-gold diamond pavé earrings, $5,915; 18-karat whitegold Forevermark round brilliant diamond tennis bracelet, price upon request; Roberto Demeglio black ceramic bracelet with 18-karat white-gold diamond pavé rondelle, $2,395. All available from Brinkhaus, 823 6 Ave. S.W., 403-269-4800, brinkhaus.com

DECOR PAGES 88 TO 92

Interior design by Debbie Carruthers, DIRTT, 7303 30 St. S.E., 403-723-5000, dirtt.net Architect, Cheryl Link, DIRTT Dining-room table designed by Debbie Carruthers, fabricated

by Live Edge Design Inc., Duncan, B.C., 250-748-0763, liveedgedesign.com

Cattelan Italia high-back dining chairs from Finesse Furniture & Interiors, 4210 Gateway Blvd.

N.W., Edmonton, 780-444-7100, finessehomeliving.com Patrona pendant chandeliers from Tech Lighting, techlighting.com Wall panel fabricated by DIRTT with Xorel panel fabric by Carnegie Fabrics Paintings on stair wall by Bev Tosh, represented by Masters Gallery Ltd., 2115 4 St. S.W., 403-245-2064, mastersgalleryltd.com Antolini Kosmus Island stone countertop from Stone Selection Ltd., 1240 26 Ave S.E., 403-214-2363, stoneselection.ca Miele range from Jerome’s Appliance Gallery Inc., 7152 Fisher St. S.E., 403-255-6050, jeromesappliancegalleryinc.ca Willow Glass side-swipe pantry doors fabricated by DIRTT

Kitchen cabinets by DIRTT (with some drawer inserts by Richelieu, 5211 52 St S.E., 403-203-2099, richelieu.com) Cattelan Italia stools from Finesse Furniture & Interiors Kitchen backsplash from Tierra Sol Ceramic Tile, 4000 106 Ave. S.E., 403-259-3467, tierrasol.ca Custom fireplace by DL Artworld Ltd., 462 Grotto Rd., Canmore, 403-679-9788 Art over fireplace by Bev Tosh Custom log print on Willow Glass (adjacent to fireplace) designed and fabricated by DIRTT Living-room wallcovering from Metro Wallcoverings, 2151 32 St. N.E., 403-245-9191, metrowallcoverings.com Sectional sofa from Wayfair, wayfair.ca Living-room chairs from Bondars Furniture, 6999 11 St S.E., 403-253-8200, bondars.com Harmony Arrow tile on bathroom wall from Porcelanosa, 1334 11 Ave S.W., 587-3492290, porcelanosa-associate. com/calgary/ Sconces in bedrooms from Cartwright Lighting, 7301 11 St. S.E., 403-270-8508, cartwrightlighting.ca.

Arte Monsoon Collection (facet pattern) wallcovering in hallway from Metro Wallcoverings

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S T Y L E S TAT E M E N T STORY AND PHOTOGRAHY BY Aldona Barutowicz

Describe your everyday style.

After stepping away from the corporate world two years ago, I’ve made a conscious decision to toss all dress pants, blazers and other clothes that simply don’t excite me. I definitely like pieces that are modern and feminine, but with a little bite. They make me feel confident walking into a room. No look is complete without a little cat eyeliner, bold lip, and a stack of bracelets. What do you carry in your purse or bag? My Kindle, lipstick, phone and a tiny card holder from Pixie Mood. What is your greatest extravagance? I took a solo vacation this year to Thailand. Specifically, a month-long vegan yoga retreat. It was an indulgence to have a month of peace, self-reflection and soul-searching. What or who is your style inspiration?

I don’t follow trends or celebrities, but have a weakness for checking out current street styles on Instagram or during local events. Outfits that turn my head make my eyes happy. What’s your favourite

current thing to wear? Definitely my

Magda Assaf The contemporary abstract artist and owner of Modern Emulsions crafts a bold, non-corporate look for herself.

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well-worn — and torn — jeans and stud-

Describe this outfit and why you love it. My favourite piece is this asym-

ded leather jacket. They are easy to dress

metric, off-the-shoulder top. It creates a

accessories. What’s your favourite

up with a cute top or sweater and bold

clean, but bold line. The vegan leather

local clothing store or designer?

jacket is a staple of mine — it goes with

Lauren Bagliore comes to mind instantly.

everything! I’ve had this Saint Laurent bag

There are several local clothing stores that

for a couple of years now, and it feels like

I love popping into regularly. This jacket is

my parting gift with the corporate world.

I hope it remains a classic piece in my

from The Bamboo Ballroom. Drink of choice? Coffee. It can range from black

wardrobe for years to come.

to extra fancy, I love it all.

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THE LIST AS TOLD TO Jennifer Friesen

2

Gifts from Stuff4Him “They have a bit of everything

6

DJ KKay's Italo Disco Dance Parties “DJ KKay usually holds

and just the coolest, most random

secret discos every other week at

items like bourbon-flavoured tooth-

rotating venues like Pizza Bob’s or

picks. It’s the best place to go be-

Without Papers. He has the best

fore a party to get a gift that’s a bit

collection of Italian disco records

different and a bit special.” —J.O.

and he’s a real character.” —P.L.

3

7

around and having a laugh during

shop. It has all this Canadiana stuff

Hang the DJ at Dickens “Dickens is a really relaxed pub

and everyone is bouncing

Mantiques Antiques “I just recently found this place in the

back of Quality Tools Etc. hardware

Hang the DJ. I especially like Brit-

and old gas station signs and old-

pop nights because they play the

school hockey equipment. It’s such

nostalgic stuff from when I was

a great find.” —J.O.

a teenager.” —J.O.

8

Dresses from Velour Clothing Exchange “It’s such

a cute shop, and [the owner] really

Jenni O’Nyons and Phil Lane

curates all of the clothes in there.

The expat Brits behind the Beltline boutique Blokes menswear first crossed paths at Lilac Festival in 2014. “We just heard each other’s accents and that was that,” O’Nyons says.

The couple started Blokes, which focuses on U.K. and European menswear brands, at markets and pop-ups across the city, and opened their 4th Street S.W. storefront last November.

Here are 10 things they love in Calgary.

9

She has some really killer pieces.

And it’s nice that it’s above Tubby Dog so you can get a little snack afterward.” —J.O. “Football” at the Ship and Anchor “It’s the best place

to go watch a bit of football [soccer]. There’s a real football culture there and it’s a great atmosphere for a game, especially World Cup games.” —P.L.

4

Palak Paneer from Taj Mahal Restaurant “We like to get

take-away from the Taj Mahal, and we always get the palak paneer.

They know what they’re doing. It feels like I’m eating back in Birmingham, because I’m from ‘the curry mile.’” —Phil Lane

1

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avenueOCTOBER.18

Hot Chocolate at Waves “I didn’t really drink hot choco-

5

Matt O’Donoghue and Karlo Farkas at Johnny’s

Barber + Shop “They’re the

10

Cannibale “It’s in an old heri-

late, but I discovered this a few

best barbers in the city. They

years ago. It’s made with real milk

know exactly what they’re doing

local feel to it. It’s also the first place

chocolate, so it’s so chocolatey and

– and you can have a little drink

we did a pop-up shop.” —P.L.

creamy. I love it on colder days.”

while you’re there. It’s like a proper,

Blokes menswear is at 1112

—Jenni O’Nyons

old-school barbershop.” —P.L.

4 St. S.W., blokes.ca

tage building and it’s got a real

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WORK OF ART CURATED BY Katherine Ylitalo

one and the same

W

e’ve become accustomed to sensors in public places. In the service of hygiene, safety and security, our movements trigger washroom sinks, grocery and bank doors and the alarm systems of airports and museums.

Artist Suzanne Morrissette uses a sensing program for a more poetic interaction in her work one and the same, currently at Stride

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avenueOCTOBER.18

Gallery in Calgary. In the darkened gallery, an image from the water’s edge is frozen on a screen. Upon entering the space, video and audio begin to move in sync with the speed of your gestures. You engage in the landscape at the water’s edge from two perspectives: wind soughs through close-by reeds according to your rhythm; light plays on the wide view of open water and ice, sparkling in time to your movement. Body and landscape are linked

in a mesmerizing mirror. The reflection does double duty, encouraging us to examine our relationship and our experience with nature through images and technology.

Morrissette works with various media, including drawing, photography and video, often in ways that embrace experience on many levels. She is also a curator and academic (she recently earned a Ph.D. from York University in social and political thought) and taught at the Alberta College of Art + Design last year before moving back east to teach at OCAD University.

Morrissette’s one and the same is part of wnoondwaamin | we hear them, a touring exhibition of works by four Indigenous artists, which began in North Bay and moved through Brandon and Saskatoon before landing at the artist-run Stride Gallery.

Photograph courtesy of Toni Hafkenscheid

TITLE: one and the same, 2016 ARTIST: Suzanne Morrissette MEDIUM: Interactive installation with video and audio using MAX MSP software and Kinect hardware.

(Kyle Duffield served as lead developer and technical consultant).

LOCATION: Stride Gallery, 1006 Macleod Tr. S.E., on display until Nov. 9 as part of touring exhibition wnoondwaamin | we hear them (Autumn Chacon, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Melissa General and Suzanne Morrissette, artists; Cheryl L’Hirondelle, project mentor; Lisa Myers, curator).

NOTE: Morrissette’s one and the same was produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council. The exhibition at Stride Gallery is part of Contemporary Calgary’s nomadic programming while it prepares to move into the Centennial Planetarium. Contemporary Calgary and Stride Gallery are co-presenting the exhibition in Calgary. Throughout the exhibition, there will be an assortment of public programs developed in conjunction with M:ST Mountain Standard Time Performative Art Festival.

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