The City of Edmonton is asking the community to name an unused backstreet off Whyte Avenue – a task they hope will be right up Edmonton’s alley.
For the second time since 2015, the City is revamping the alleyway on the north side of Whyte Avenue, between 104 Street and 105 Street. The underused alley is closed to traffic, and will be revamped with a colourful paint job.
This year’s theme: an alley labyrinth.
Marco Melfie, a city planner with CITYlab, said the newly animated area will be a “playful place or place for rest.”
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“Whyte Ave is great already – there’s already that draw – but it’s nice to have that unique space adjacent to Whyte Ave,” he said.
The community has been tasked with submitting potential names for the space, with the Edmonton Naming Committee set to choose the winner in June.
“(Naming the alley is) another way to get community members to be involved, to take ownership of a space that we’re all going to share,” Melfie said.
Cory Sousa, a planner with the Edmonton Naming Committee, said naming and upgrading the space will make it a safer, recognizable location in Edmonton.
“There’s all these amazing sites within the existing parts of Edmonton… and these little corners or alleys get ignored,” he said.
Sousa noted this isn’t the first time Edmontonians have been asked to name features of their city.
In 2012, people were asked to submit name ideas for Edmonton’s current and proposed LRT lines. The City landed on the names Metro, Capital, Valley, Energy, and Festival, highlighting a metropolitan capital city with a stunning River Valley. The names Energy and Festival are nods to the oil and gas industry and the numerous festivals that roll through Edmonton.
Sousa said the Naming Committee is open to any type of name for the alley, but similar to the names for the LRT lines, it needs to be meaningful to Edmontonians.
The name will remain when the alley is eventually converted into a public plaza with seating.
For now, the area will see a temporary facelift with this year’s maze theme.
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While City of Edmonton volunteers are set to paint the pavement on Saturday, Melfie said there’s potential for more community involvement in the future.
“We know there are a lot of talented artists that we could ask for help in the future when we do something more permanent,” he said.
The alleyway received its first upgrade two summers ago after city council determined the passage was no longer needed for transportation purposes.
That year, the space featured hopscotch, and was covered in polka dots. Melfie said the theme was a hit with the community.
“Part of our work is to animate, to activate, and to engage with people,” he said, highlighting the reasoning behind upgrading the alleyway.
“By naming it, it kind of gives more of a permanency to it,” Sousa said. “It’s a permanent place that you can come and be a part of.”
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