Categories: Things To Do

This unique Edmonton Instagram account is now hosting its first-ever pit tour

Photo via SOLDATOOFF/Shutterstock

Edmonton is full of holes and pits all throughout construction season, and one Instagram account is here to not only address them but also bring a whole new energy to them.

Since launching in May, Edmonton Pit Tour has built a steady following by combining humour with local history and development sleuthing, using news reports and SkyriseCities to document the city’s various pits. Through this, the account has successfully put together a map of all the pits, as well as pit-adjacent spots.

There’s also a wide range of pit varieties, as named by the account itself.

According to the account’s vocabulary, a “pit” is a place where a building once stood, but no active construction is happening. An “almost pit” is a derelict building awaiting its transformation, while an “almost-not-pit” is a former pit where construction is finally underway. There’s even a category for a “PFKAP,” or “Pal Formerly Known As Pit.”

Following the success and popularity of the account, there’s since been an event listing for their first-ever pit tour. We’re here to give you all the details, so let’s get straight into it.

What to expect on the first Edmonton Pit Tour

On Aug. 12, the first pit tour will hit Edmonton, starting at St. Joseph’s Cathedral Basilica.

This tour is a live pit tour to some of the most iconic pits of the Wîhkwêntôwin neighbourhood. Led by Stephanie Swensrude of Taproot Edmonton, the tour should take approximately one to one and a half hours.

Following the tour itself, you’ll be led into the Oliver Exchange building for a panel to learn a bit more about these pits: why they form, what they do to a neighbourhood, and how they can be fixed. Though the people behind Pit Tour wish to remain anonymous, Taproot will have notes from the account to read, on behalf of the pits.

Tickets are $6.73 for the tour, and the organization recommends getting them as soon as possible due to high interest. We won’t be too surprised if it actually ends up selling out; this Instagram account is really popular.

Anywho, keep your schedule open for the highly awaited pit tour next week. Who knows, you might learn something entirely new about the pits in the city.