Revealing the Richness of Our Region

• Part of a larger watershed, the North Saskatchewan and Sturgeon rivers are great for paddling, boating, fishing, and more.
• Home to beautiful parks and trails, and smaller lakes.
• The largest urban parkland in North America, our signature river valley is 22 times larger than New York’s Central Park and has over 150 km of trails from Devon to Fort Saskatchewan.

• The Beaver Hills Biosphere in Strathcona County is 1 of only 2 UNESCO-designated biospheres in Alberta.
• The Wagner Natural Area near Spruce Grove is a wetland that provides the perfect habitat to grow one of the highest concentrations of Alberta’s 24 orchid species, including lady’s slipper and the rare bog adder’s mouth.

• Daylight in our Region lasts from 7.25 hours to 17 hours at the peak of winter and summer, respectively.
• We’re a strong sun spot with 321 sunny days or 2,299 hours of sun per year.

Playing a natural and beneficial role in the Region as scavengers helping to manage rodent and small mammal populations.

Source: Edmonton Urban Coyotes

Our prime agriculture lands generate 40% more revenue per acre than elsewhere in the province.

With 1.7M acres, representing 30% of Alberta’s prime agricultural lands, we’re one of the few places in the world that produces more food than it consumes.

Our Region is home to 25% of Alberta’s food and beverage processing industry, with more than 4,655 farm operators.

• Our Region’s municipalities have been operating community garden programs and urban farms on private and public land since the mid-1990s.
• Edmonton’s Kingsway Mall’s rooftop has been transformed into an urban farm, with harvests donated to Edmonton’s Food Bank.

including the St. Albert Farmers’ Market, the largest outdoor farmers’ market in Canada with over 275 vendors, food trucks, buskers offering a unique shopping experience for locals and visitors alike.

Many favourite chain restaurants and mall kiosks got their start in the Region: Boston Pizza (1964), Sorrentino’s (1979), Earls (1982), Wok Box (2004), Famoso (2007), Booster Juice (1999).

With four facilities in the Region, Annelida Organics use more than 80M worms to turn waste into sought-after premium soil enrichment products.

We’re aspiring to become the largest land port in Western Canada, where air, rail, pipelines, and roadways converge to boost the Region’s potential as a logistics hub.

• We have more than 150 km of trails for walking, cycling, and other modes of active transportation.
• The Region is leading the way on micro-mobility, showing that there’s this huge demand for shared e-bikes and shared e-scooters.

• Several municipalities across the Region are collaborating on transit with an Arc card that enables access to buses and LRT on participating regional transit systems.
• The Edmonton Light Rail Transit (LRT) has 29 stations on three lines and 37.4 km (23.2 mi) of track; it is one of the busiest light rail transit systems in North America, with over 1.5M monthly riders (2023).

• A tribute to the regional leaders who came together to push for this project starting in the 1960s, the 78 km Anthony Henday Drive was first completed in 2017.
• Serves as a portion of the CANAMEX Corridor that links Canada to the United States and Mexico.

The Region’s residents benefit from average commute times of 25.34 minutes one-way, which is more than 2 minutes faster than in 2016.

• Edmonton International Airport (YEG) is the 5th largest airport by passenger volume and a major entry point for cargo.
• YEG is North America’s northernmost major airport, located at the intersection of existing polar air routes. 

• An extensive pipeline system more than 373,000 km in length, which ships most feedstocks, natural gas and hydrocarbon products.
• Hardisty is the meeting point for many major pipelines, giving it strategic importance to the North American oil and gas industry: Alberta Clipper pipeline, part of Enbridge’s Mainline system, for delivery to eastern destinations in Canada; or TC Energy’s Keystone pipeline for delivery to Illinois and Texas; or Enbridge’s Express pipeline for delivery to the U.S. Rocky Mountains.

• We’re home to 16 rail intermodal and storage facilities that provide the capacity to move commodities across Canada and throughout North America.
• Both CN and CP play crucial roles in the Region’s rail and intermodal services, connecting the Region to broader networks and facilitating the movement of goods.

Over 6 million visitors to the Region annually, spending nearly $2 billion in our economy.

• With 80 acres to explore, the University of Alberta Botanic Garden, located near Devon, is Alberta’s largest botanical garden.
• The largest planetarium of its kind in Canada at the Telus World of Science.
• Instagrammable walls of murals and graffiti, including a concentration of over 40 public murals in Stony Plain, and a similar number as part of Legal’s Mural Walk in Sturgeon County.

Including the Arden Theater in St. Albert, Festival Place in Sherwood Park, the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, and the Francis Winspear Centre for Music, which is the home of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.

• The Region is home to two renowned sports franchises, the 13-time Grey Cup-winning Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League and the five-time Stanley Cup-winning Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League.
• With a seating capacity of 56,400, the Commonwealth Stadium is Canada’s largest open-air, multipurpose stadium, home to the Edmonton Elks (CFL).
• Rogers Place is home to the Edmonton Oilers, and the arena features state of the art technology including the largest high definition screen in the NHL.

From rodeos to jazz festivals, the Region offers many diverse events, festivals, and celebrations throughout the year, including the world-famous Fringe Festival, the longest-running and largest theatre festival in North America.

• The Indigenous population in the Region has more than doubled since 1996. 
• The Region saw the highest increase of Indigenous people in the country since 2016.
• School boards in the Region are growing their First Nations, Métis, and Inuit education programming, including through the Awasis (Cree) Program and the amiskwaciy Academy, and Nehiyaw Pimatisiwin Cree Language and Cultural Program.

• Built in 1938 in Edmonton, the Al-Rashid Mosque was the first mosque built in Canada. 
• We’re also home to two of Alberta’s four officially designated bilingual (English/French) municipalities: the City of Beaumont and the Town of Legal. Edmonton also has a French Quarter Business Improvement Area.
• The English-Chinese (Mandarin) Bilingual Program with Edmonton Public Schools has since been described as “the best Chinese language program outside of China” and is unique in North America because it offers a complete continuum of studies from K-12, and it is accomplished all during regular school hours.

Every August, the Edmonton Heritage Festival attracts more than 300,000 visitors who come to enjoy the best cuisine, entertainment, interpretive materials, and crafts from more than 60 countries.

• Open-air historical sites including the Fort Heritage Precinct in Fort Saskatchewan, River Lots 23 + 24 in St. Albert, and Fort Edmonton, the largest living history museum in Canada, which includes the interactive Indigenous Peoples Experience.
• The Royal Alberta Museum (RAM), located in downtown Edmonton’s Arts District, is the largest museum in western Canada and one of the top museums in Canada.