Capital Ex
Capital Ex (or: the exhibition formerly known as Klondike Days) is now in full swing. It’s being billed as Edmonton’s BIGGEST summer celebration. BIG entertainment. BIG smiles. BIG shopping and culture. BIG value. Everything is BIG at Capital Ex, if you believe the hype. Unless things have improved dramatically since last year, Capital Ex is anything but BIG.
Last year, wandering around the Midway, I found myself wondering why I’d handed over my hard earned money at the admission gate. The exhibition grounds looked barren, and abandoned. The rides were all half-empty, and the corn dogs–those most sacred of all carnival foods–were small and soggy.
Perhaps I’ve just outgrown the Ex. I have friends who’ve attended every year since elementary school, and have always reported having a great time. Personally, the only part of K-Days that I found enjoyable for the past 5 or so years had been the concerts. Since the festival was re-branded last year as the painfully generic Capital Ex, the concerts are no longer free with admission. This is a bit of a mixed blessing.
Since there is now an additional fee to attend the concerts (which have been dubbed Ed Fest), the organizers can now afford to book higher calibre acts. And, after realizing that most people didn’t want to pay $25 a ticket last year, this year’s prices have been reduced to $8.
If nothing else, I have to admit that I would love to check out Ed Fest on Wednesday, and see “Weird Al” Yankovic. However, that happens to be the day that my friend Patrick Pilarski is launching his new book of haiku and haibun (more on that tomorrow).
Despite my criticism, I may go down to the Ex this week, and see if it really is as BIG as the marketing team is claiming. It’s been a year since the exhibition was first re-branded as Capital Ex. It’s quite possible that the organizers have learned from the mistakes they made last year, and improved things. The only way to know for sure, is to head down to Northlands and check it out.
“The Ex” is kind of a tradition. You know it sucks, you know it’s expensive, you know it’ll be too hot, you know the agricom shows will be kind of lame, but you go anyways because it’s a staple of E-Town summers. If nothing else, the people watching is fabulous. At no othter festival will you find a greater concentration of annoying posers and young families. And the corn dogs. The fast food holiest of holies. May they bask long in the terrible squint of dirty animal fat…
Mike
25 Jul 07 at 7:34 am
I totally agree, Mike. I’m pretty busy this week, so I don’t think I’ll be able to make it down to the grounds, but I really would like to check it out this year, despite my less than stellar comments.
Adam Snider
25 Jul 07 at 4:53 pm
I don’t agree in going to this just to go to it. I haven’t like the displays or the midway at this event for years. Spend your dollars at Heritage Festival instead!!!
Rosemary
31 Jul 07 at 6:43 am
Ya, I went to the “Ex” with my wife and 2 little daughters this year again. $12 to park the minivan. $20 for me and wifey to get in (the kids were either free or too short to be noticed). 3 bottles of water was $9 bucks. So I was instantly out 41 bucks, and all I had to show for it was 2 kids who had to pee, a sunburn, and a parking spot in a questionable neighborhood. I really wanted to see if I could find an old timer still wearing the hardcore Klondike Days suspenders, but alas, I was too busy paying 20 DOLLARS for the 4 of us to ride the rickety ferris wheel. Next stop was the inexplicably-still-standing Sportex for some kind of silence of the lambs inspired bug fest. In a mesh tent, 7 billion flying creatures attack you and your offspring. Three dollars each please. What makes us go back year after year? Why do we feel the urge every July to consider buying a vegetable chopper that cleans your jewelry? What is it about the exhibition that pulls us in like so many moths to a big flashing gold-brick? I don’t know. I’ll try to figure it out again next year I’m sure. Now, who wants to buy a shammy?
Rick
24 Jul 08 at 10:53 pm
On the plus side, the Ed Fest concerts are apparently free with admission, just like in the old days. Of course, that doesn’t really help someone like Rick, who has kids with him.
Adam Snider
25 Jul 08 at 9:54 am