Categories: Lifestyle

The City of Edmonton finally has a ‘Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion’ & it’s here to stay (for now)

Photo via Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

It’s happened! After years of trying to secure a Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion for the City of Edmonton, The Old Strathcona Business Association (OSBA) and Vivid Print, have finally done it.

Known for his role in Firefly, Castle and The Suicide Squad, actor Nathan Fillion is a hometown hero, and now fans who visit Whyte Ave will have a place to rest their feet in his honour – according to Annie Melnychuk of the OSBA.

“The Parklet – the big steel and wood seating area that is on curb lane where the pavilion has come to be is actually part of a much larger project that our team at The Old Strathcona Business Association has been working on,” she told Curiocity.

“It’s called the Placemaking Project, with the help of a grant administered by PrairiesCan, we were able to create, manufacture, and install permanent street furniture all around our BIA District.”

Once in place, it was actually local business, Vivid Print, that gave their nearest installment some pizazz.

“They took a little creative license and one day they decided to print a nice vinyl decal and they named our parklet for us, which is so funny,” Melnychuk explains.

“They just did it and it was a huge hit. Everyone is loving it.”

In fact, it even inspired OSBA to run a contest to name the other parklets.

“That’s kind of the point of placemaking, is to inspire a sense of place and belonging in folks when they come across these areas,” she continued.

“We’re so excited to see that Civillion Pavilion Pop-up is doing so great.”

As for whether or not it’s permanent? Edmontonians who were upset that the renaming of City Hall was so short-lived are in luck because they have no plans to change it… any time soon, anyway.

“You never know! Maybe we’ll do a yearly naming campaign,” Melnychuk explains,

If you’d like to check it out yourself, the Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion is on 103rd Street and Whyte Ave.

Don’t forget to take photos! It’s only a matter of time until Nathan Fillion comes back to visit his parklet and you may be in the right place at the right time.