We are excited to bring veteran journalist Paul Cashman on board to curate the Business Roundup.
Paul Cashman, our new Business Roundup curator.
Paul brings a wealth of valuable experience. He was a reporter and editor at the Edmonton Journal for 33 years, and served as the business editor for much of that time. After he left the Journal in 2012, he worked in communications for industry associations representing homebuilders and heavy construction. And now we get to share his talent for spotting news and conveying it efficiently in our weekly wrap of what’s happening in Edmonton’s business scene.
We launched the Business Roundup on March 29 to keep track of the companies, entrepreneurs, employees, investors, leaders and others shaping Edmonton’s economy. Mack is happy to hand the reins over to someone of Paul’s stature, and this will give him more time to focus on building our own business here at Taproot.
The Business Roundup comes out every Friday, and Paul’s first edition will be published Aug. 16.
We’re proud of our growing roster of roundup curators who are working hard to keep you informed about what’s going on in Edmonton:
Arts — Fawnda Mithrush
Business — Paul Cashman
City Council — Mack Male
Food — Sharon Yeo
Health Innovation — Catherine Griwkowsky
Media — Linda Hoang
Music — Emily Rendell-Watson
Regional – Mack Male
Tech — Mack Male
Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an edition. You can get up to two of these roundups for free if you join as a Taproot Reader.
If you become a Taproot Member, you can get as many roundups as you like, along with other perks. Plus you’ll be helping us pay for high-calibre local journalism from our curators and the freelancers we commission for original stories. We’re building what comes next — join us.
Every Thursday, we’ll publish a newsletter gathering up the headlines and happenings in theatre, dance, the visual arts, the literary arts and other local creative endeavours that catch our attention.
The arts scene in Edmonton is vibrant, multifaceted and a little under-covered. So we’re thrilled to take a step towards filling the gap with our new Arts Roundup.
Fawnda Mithrush, our new Arts Roundup curator.
We published our inaugural edition on Aug. 1. Starting this week, the Arts Roundup will be curated by Fawnda Mithrush, a former editor at the departed SEE Magazine, current executive director of LitFest, and co-host of the award-winning podcast I Don’t Get It. We’re thrilled to have Fawnda on board to share her knowledge, experience, and passion for the arts.
The Arts Roundup grew out of previous experiments with the #YEGFringe Daily Digest in 2017 and the Fringe Roundup in 2018, both of which helped us refine the idea of creating an ongoing way to satisfy readers’ curiosity about a topic. Thanks to a title sponsorship from the Edmonton Arts Council, we can now share what’s going on in local arts year-round.
The Arts Roundup makes a great companion to the Music Roundup, curated by Emily Rendell-Watson and published on Thursdays as well. You can get up to two roundups for free if you join us as a Taproot Reader; if you want to be even more well-rounded, become a Taproot Member, which affords you other perks, including access to as many roundups as you like.
The Edmonton Downtown Farmers Market on May 18, 2019, opening day for its new location at 97th Street and 103rd Street. (Photo by Mack Male)
It looks like the downtown farmers’ market may not be moving off of 104th Street entirely.
We reported in March that the Edmonton Downtown Farmers Market would be moving to the old GWG building on 97th Street, where it would have a permanent, year-round presence and be open on Saturdays and Sundays. The market did in fact open there last weekend, setting up outside of the building, as the inside was not ready yet.
But now the market has decided to return to 104th Street on Saturdays, starting on June 15, except on days when construction makes that impossible, indicates an email from the City of Edmonton’s Civic Events and Festivals department, obtained by Taproot.
“After discussion with the Edmonton Downtown Farmer’s Market (EDFM), they have decided to return to 104 St on Saturdays starting on June 15th,” the email says. “The only exception to operation this summer will be if construction impacts arise, in which case the EDFM will be notified on the Monday before the market. On those Saturdays, EDFM vendors will return to their new location. We hope the businesses on 104 St, area residents, and Edmontonians will continue to enjoy vibrant Saturday’s on 104 Street!”
In a follow-up email, City spokesperson Amber Medynski told Taproot that while the prior agreement between the City of Edmonton and the EDFM for 104th Street was cancelled in December “due to anticipated construction restrictions in the area,” those have since decreased and EDFM was given the opportunity to return.
“The plan is for the Downtown Farmers Market to also take place at their new, permanent location at the GWG building on Sundays, but now they will also operate on 104 Street, between Jasper Avenue and 102 Avenue, as well as on 102 Avenue between 103 St and 104 St on Saturdays. The only difference is that the amount of space available in the area each week week may change based on the needs of construction,” said Medynski.
EDFM spokesperson Dan Young confirmed the decision to return to 104th Street was due to the availability of the space. “It’s easy to pick up and move tents to a certain extent,” Young says. “So we thought, ‘Well, we’ll come back and we’ll do what we can to program that street and get it going.
“Part of the other reason, too, is that our building on 103rd Avenue is not ready for occupancy,” he continues. “We thought it would be ready sooner, but it’s not. So we thought we might as well try to split the markets.”
Young says the EDFM will operate the market in both locations for 2019, and will review it with the City again next year.
Kirsta Franke of Wild Heart Collective, which organizes the 124th Street Grand Market, had been in talks to start a new, smaller market on 104th Street between Jasper and 102nd avenues.
“Grand Markets Edmonton has been working on a centrally located Saturday Market option that would extend into the holiday season for some time now,” she told Taproot. “With the news of Downtown Market relocating, our group was approached by local vendors as well as concerned downtown business stakeholders to provide an alternate level of programming for 104 Street.”
She said the well-being and success of local vendors and businesses is her organization’s first priority. “With this surprising news, we will continue to work with stakeholders to provide complementary programming downtown.”
Young confirmed that they were aware through some of their vendors that there was another group interested in running a market on 104th Street. When asked if this played a role in the EDFM’s decision to return to 104th, Young was noncommittal. “I think there’s always some advantages of having a couple of markets [downtown],” he said. “We like to view ourselves as the Edmonton Downtown Farmers’ Market.”
“I think competition is good,” he said, in response to whether he thinks there shouldn’t be another market downtown. “We think that that will settle out over time.”
The market’s first day at the Quarters location seemed to be a success, with lots of people turning up at the new location on Saturday, the first day of the market’s outdoor season.
“All the comments we’ve got from the vendors on Saturday is that they did very well,” said Young. “They didn’t do quite as good as they did on opening day on 104. But for a brand new market and a brand new area they were very happy.”
Chris Buyze, president of the Downtown Edmonton Community League, called for collaboration. “We hope area residents, businesses, farmer’s market, City of Edmonton, and other stakeholders will work together to coordinate programming on 104 Street this season,” he said. “We believe we can all work together to balance the needs of 104 Street and programming, with future construction challenges.”
Taproot tends to stay away from breaking news, but we know from the reaction to our first story on the market that you’re interested, so we wanted to share what we know. Mel Priestley, who wrote our initial story, is working on a follow-up piece about the economics of multi-day markets in Edmonton. Stay tuned for that.
You can help us pay attention to such matters by becoming a Taproot Member. Just $10 a month or $100 a year helps us compensate our writers and cover our community.
Each week we bring together the latest on the companies, entrepreneurs, employees, investors, leaders, and others shaping Edmonton’s economy. Read the Business Roundup to stay informed on what’s happening in local business. Sign up here to get the Business Roundup delivered to your inbox.
We are constantly gathering business-related updates from a variety of sources and each week we distill what we’ve discovered into an email update containing everything you need to know about local business. We save you time and keep you informed, and we add context where appropriate to help make sense of the news.
I (Mack) am currently writing the Business Roundup. I have been writing about urban affairs for more than 15 years at mastermaq.ca and have cultivated great information sources during that time. That said, I have my hands full building the engine that makes Taproot go, so we’re looking for a talented curator to help us tackle this beat! Learn more and apply here.
We believe that beat reporting is a critical part of the intelligence gathering that we do at Taproot. Paying concerted attention to a local topic that Edmontonains are curious about helps us ensure the stories we produce serve the community. We have covered business in the past with our stories on building an AI industry and the expectations facing 104 Street. Of course, our existing roundups like Tech and Food also cover aspects of business.
We’ll publish the Business Roundup for Taproot Members and subscribers first, each Friday morning, with social media shares to follow later. You can see the launch edition here. Let us know what you think! Your feedback will help us improve the roundup and make it even more useful.
You can read the Business Roundup for free, because we believe good stories should reach as many people as possible. Taproot Members get it first though, and will have access to the full Business Roundup archive and other benefits. You can join Taproot as a paying member or a free reader here.
Each week we bring together the latest on the restaurants, chefs, producers, events, and other updates from Edmonton’s food scene. Sign up here to get the Food Roundup delivered to your inbox.
We are constantly gathering food-related updates from a variety of sources and each week we distill what we’ve discovered into an email update containing everything you need to know about local food – the cream of the crop! We save you time and keep you informed, and we add context where appropriate to help make sense of the news.
Sharon Yeo is curating and writing the Food Roundup. She has been writing Food Notes on her blog for years and will continue doing so. Taproot readers will benefit from her experience and attention to Edmonton’s food scene, and we’ll work together to produce even more great coverage of local food.
We believe that beat reporting is a critical part of the intelligence gathering that we do at Taproot. Paying concerted attention to a local topic that Edmontonains are curious about helps us ensure the stories we produce serve the community. On the food beat this effort has already borne fruit as we were first to tell you about the City Market’s impending move away from 104 Street.
We’ll publish the Food Roundup for Taproot Members and subscribers first, each Tuesday morning, with social media shares to follow later. You can see the launch edition here. Let us know what you think! Your feedback will help us improve the roundup and make it even more useful.
You can read the Food Roundup for free, because we believe good stories should reach as many people as possible. Taproot Members get it first though, and will have access to the full Food Roundup archive and other benefits. You can join Taproot as a paying member or a free reader here.
Every Tuesday morning we publish the Tech Roundup, a newsletter full of the latest headlines & happenings in Edmonton’s technology community. In addition to the curated, easy-to-scan lists of news and events, each edition includes one or two featured items which are the updates highlighted below. Sign up here to get the Tech Roundup by email each week.
Here’s our look back at the month of January 2019 as captured by our Tech Roundups.
January 8 – BioWare co-founders appointed to the Order of Canada
BioWare co-founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk were the only Edmontonians among 103 new appointments to the Order of Canada in December. The two co-founders were named Members of the Order of Canada for their "revolutionary contributions to the video game industry" and as developers and co-founders "of an internationally renowned studio." In this edition we also highlighted the selection of the founding members of the Edmonton Advisory Council on Startups (EACOS), the refinancing and shareholder consolidation announced by Yardstick Software, and an Alberta Venturefeature on Testfire Labs.
January 15 – Alberta AI Business Plan funding ask submitted to Province
Every Tuesday morning we publish the Tech Roundup, a newsletter full of the latest headlines & happenings in Edmonton’s technology community. In addition to the curated, easy-to-scan lists of news and events, each edition includes one or two featured items which are the updates highlighted below. Sign up here to get the Tech Roundup by email each week.
Here’s our look back at the month of November 2018 as captured by our Tech Roundups.
November 6 – Electric Autonomous Vehicle Pilot Project wraps up
The City of Edmonton’s electric autonomous vehicle pilot project, featuring a shuttle known as ELA (for Electric Autonomous), wrapped up at the beginning of the month. The ELA vehicle was a 12-person shuttle manufactured by EasyMile called the EZ10. It operated at low speeds (less than 12 km/h) and featured a battery that could last up to 16 hours. In this edition we also highlighted the new Dev Edmonton Society, Athabasca University’s use of AWS, and that Extra Life Edmonton raised $69,303 for charity.
November 13 – City of Edmonton named Most Open City in Canada
November 27 – Four Edmonton companies receive federal funding to get innovative products to market
Edmonton-based DevFacto Technologies, instaMek Solutions Inc., Intelligent Imaging Systems, and Lumican Corporation have received a combined $3.2 million to "help move their new and innovative technologies from the later stages of research and development to the marketplace." The funding comes through the five-year Western Innovation (WINN) Initiative. We also highlighted an interview with Amii’s new CEO John Shillington, a recap of DemoCamp Edmonton 43, and that Myrna Bittner and Ashley Janssen were accepted into the fall cohort of Connection Silicon Valley’s Canadian Women’s Network.
Popular Clicks
These were the top 5 most clicked on items from the month:
Martin Seto, producer of the COPAs, said they “celebrate the people that produce content in a world where there is growing mistrust of the media and the widespread distribution of tabloid and farticle content on the internet.” This year was the 10th anniversary of the awards.
We combined open data from the City with other data that we collected to build the election microsite. Prior to Election Day, readers could use the Election Guide to find their wards, candidates, voting station, and more simply by entering their address or clicking the “Locate Me” button. On Election Night, the results dashboard provided real-time updates on every race, total voter turnout, and other interesting data points, such as the incumbents being defeated and the most supported candidates. Once the information became available, we updated the microsite with campaign finance disclosures. You can easily search the data to see all the donations that candidates received.
Every Tuesday morning we publish the Tech Roundup, a newsletter full of the latest headlines & happenings in Edmonton’s technology community. In addition to the curated, easy-to-scan lists of news and events, each edition includes one or two featured items which are the updates highlighted below. Sign up here to get the Tech Roundup by email each week.
Here’s our look back at the month of October 2018 as captured by our Tech Roundups.
October 2 – EEDC signs conditional lease for Innovation Hub concept test
We began the month noting that EEDC had signed a conditional lease to test its Innovation Hub concept at the former Enbridge building on 103 Street downtown. "Should the Innovation Hub go ahead, Startup Edmonton would move out of the Mercer Warehouse to be the primary tenant in the space." We also highlighted NAIT’s new entrepreneur-in-residence program for students.
October 9 – Edmonton Startup Week runs October 15-19
This edition featured a preview of Edmonton Startup Week, including a Q&A with Startup Edmonton CEO Tiffany Linke-Boyko. "One of the major goals of this week is to create different opportunities for Edmontonians that don’t know anything about the startup community to experience it," she said. We also highlighted the lineup for Launch Party 9.
October 23 – Edmonton Startup Week: All good things must come to an end
We started this edition with a recap of Startup Week, which saw more than 50 events focused on innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship take place throughout the city. The flagship event, Launch Party, highlighted ten local companies on the rise. The conversation about the proposed innovation hub continued, with a new episode of Speaking Municipally focused on the project and our story about it.
October 30 – City Council presses pause on the Innovation Hub
Every Tuesday morning we publish the Tech Roundup, a newsletter full of the latest headlines & happenings in Edmonton’s technology community. In addition to the curated, easy-to-scan lists of news and events, each edition includes one or two featured items which are the updates highlighted below. Sign up here to get the Tech Roundup by email each week.
September was an exciting month for us as we added our first sponsors to the Tech Roundup! Their support enables us to chronicle Edmonton’s tech sector each week. We also launched a new roundup focused on Health Innovation. Here’s our look back at the month of September 2018 as captured by our Tech Roundups.
September 4 – Avenue Edmonton puts the spotlight on AI
The first edition of the month had a big focus on artificial intelligence as we highlighted Avenue Edmonton’s three features. The September 2018 edition of the magazine talked about the context of Edmonton’s position in the world of AI, featured Edmonton.AI as a community initiative to grow the industry, and looked at how robots will change your job,
September 11 – NAIT’s new Productivity & Innovation Centre
NAIT’s newest facility is the $83.4 million Productivity and Innovation Centre (PIC). The building houses manufacturing labs, acceleration spaces, and a hub for applied research activity and is described as one of North America’s largest innovation spaces. This edition also featured a bunch of AI-related news, such as Folio’s feature on machine learning and research. People were also talking about an Edmonton Journal article that suggested the improvement in downtown’s office vacancy rate is the result of tech companies.
September 18 – New funding for Computing Science students
The University of Alberta is adding 25 additional students to its computing science after-degree program thanks to new provincial funding as part of the Growth and Diversification Act. We also highlighted a video feature on Frettable, which uses AI to provide transcriptions for instruments and songs.
September 25 – Hendrix.ai launches, Improbable expands to Edmonton
Testfire Labs officially launched its flagship product, Hendrix.ai. The product aims to improve meetings by providing automatically transcribed summaries and action items alongside other insights about users’ meeting history. Also making headlines at the end of the month was the announcement that former BioWare GM Aaryn Flynn will lead the Edmonton office of UK games tech startup Improbable. We also linked to the recap of DemoCamp Edmonton 42.
Popular Clicks
These were the top 5 most clicked on items from the month:
Sharon Yeo is curating and writing the Food Roundup. She has been writing 
Taproot Publishing 