This Is A Plea To Fringe Festival Goers Who Do NOT Live In Old Strathcona.
A good portion of the people who attend the Edmonton Fringe Festival do not live in Old Strathcona and have never lived in Old Strathcona. I have lived in Old Strathcona for 27 years (22 of which in the same building) and I have grown to dread the 10 days that the Edmonton Fringe Festival occupies here. This note is directed at some Fringe goers who come from all over the city (and elsewhere too) and show no respect to the neighbourhood or the people who live in this neighbourhood. Every year these Fringe goers make and leave a mess in Old Strathcona. Citizens, such as myself, who live just off of Whyte Avenue end up having to clean up after these people.
Here are just a select few examples:
2016: I heard knocking on my window and a man who I didn’t know asked to borrow $20 because he was coming down off of crack and had to go to work.
2015: Upon returning from my late shift at work I couldn’t get in to the front entrance to where I live. This was because a man had passed out in front of the door of where I live with his pants around his knees and a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels in his hands.
2014: Early one morning I heard women giggling in front of and below bedroom my window. I looked out to see four women with their pants around their ankles and all were urinating below my bedroom window.
2013: I woke to hear and see a man vomiting near the front entrance of where I live.
Again these are just a few examples of disrespectful behavior. I by no means want the Fringe to stop or to stop people from having fun during their visit to Whyte Avenue. My only hope is that some of the Fringe guests would be more respectful of the Old Strathcona neighbourhood and clean up after themselves when they go home. Please have your fun, just not at the expense of residents of Old Strathcona and Whyte Avenue. Thanks!