Two things Can't believe some Edmontonians still look at you straight faced and boast about the West Edmonton Mall. It's a giant mall, congratulations. I wish Calgary had a giant water park but that's about the only cool thing about it. Most people avoid Chinook and Market as it is, I'm not seeking out a bigger center.
The Days of Edmonton being festival city are long gone, in the 90s but no longer. The two big ones for either city are Stampede and
Klondike er
Capital Ex, er K-Days but Stampede attendance of 1.2m stands at 50% more then K-days of 800k. I would also suggest nothing takes over a city, like it or hate it, as much as Stampede. Any Canadian city worth it's salt get revved up for the summers nowadays.
Beyond that I'm struggling to think of some great festivals Edmonton has that Calgary doesn't. "Taste of" was much better in Edmonton but Calgary's is huge now, it was teeny even five years ago. Every weekend in Calgary you can find multiple festivals and events to attend, some more interesting then others.
Actually Edmonton as the Sour Dough races which are a lot of fun! Edmonton's wider deeper river valley lend itself to that sort of thing. Personally I'll still take the Bow River though. The Bow being so accessible, with Prince Island and now St Patricks Island, the beautiful river walk, it beats about Edmonton's gorgeous river valley in my opinion. (not like the bow isn't beautiful)
My thoughts. Edmonton Sucks
sorry kill_carlson