The Melting Queen

by Bruce Cinnamon

  69 | TILLER SABLE

  Tiller Sable had lobbied to become the Melting Queen for three years, and is largely seen to have bought the position with a $500,000 donation to the Edmonton Civic Heritage Organization (ECHO). After attaining the position, she was largely an indifferent figurehead, refusing to attend most community events. Her one nominal accomplishment was the establishment of the Edmonton Yacht Club, an exclusive group for wealthy citizens interested in mooring their pleasure craft on the river.

  70 | JENNY SHIRTMARGETTS

  Jenny Shirt-Margetts helped found the Alberta chapter of Indian Rights for Indian Women and was an early advocate for Cree language education. She founded the Awasis educational programs in Edmonton schools to help a new generation of Cree youth regain their language and culture.

  71 | HELEN LAROSE

  A consummate history buff, Helen LaRose devoted her term to educating the public about Edmonton’s history. Her crowning accomplishment was the creation of the Edmonton Municipal Archives.

  72 | ELLY DE JONGH

  Elly de Jongh was a founding member of SPARE (the Society for the Protection of Architectural Resources in Edmonton) and fought to preserve the city’s built heritage in a time when Edmonton was keen on knocking things down.

  73 | PATRICIA CULLEY

  An amateur botanist and high school biology teacher, Patricia Culley suffered from major Seasonal Affective Disorder every winter and longed to escape to a rainforest oasis in the coldest months. She achieved this wish by opening the Muttart Conservatory in the river valley.

  74 | VASANTA SARASVATI

  Vasanta Sarasvati, the city’s first Indian Melting Queen, created the Edmonton Heritage Days festival to celebrate the diversity of all peoples in the city. The second-most attended festival in the city (exceeded only by the Fringe), Heritage Days brings everyone together to feast on the food and song of a hundred nations.

  75 | PAULINE POSKAIAO

  Pauline Poskaiao created the Edmonton river valley parks system, which chained together all the disparate pockets of green into the largest continuous urban park in North America. She also helped forge the city’s Green Ribbon Policy, which states that no commercial development may occur in the valley (although this policy has been increasingly ignored in recent years).

  76 | JANET HUGHES

  During her reign, Janet Hughes helped found the Edmonton Food Bank, redistributing surplus food from grocery stores and local growers to hungry citizens.

  77 | OLIVE TELLFORD

  Olive Tellford ushered in Alberta’s 75th anniversary by inaugurating the Great Divide waterfall—taller than Niagara Falls, cascading off the side of the High Level Bridge, and ultimately shut down in 2009 when Environment Canada pointed out that dumping thousands of gallons of chlorinated tap water into the river was not a good idea.

  78 | DAWN PLATTE

  Music-lover and picnic-blanket enthusiast Dawn Platte organized Edmonton’s first Folk Fest in the river valley during her reign in 1981. It has since become a mainstay of Edmonton’s summer festival lineup.

  79 | BREANNE BREG

  Following the warm reception of her predecessor’s initiative, Breanne Breg decided that she would also launch a festival. Just like the Folk Fest, Edmonton’s Fringe Theatre Festival was an immediate success, and has since become the largest Fringe in the world outside of Edinburgh, gathering hundreds of thousands of people in Old Strathcona every August to see over 200 shows.

  80 | ANTONIA SEPÚLVEDA

  A Chilean refugee and community activist, Antonia Sepúlveda helped popularize the Hispanoamerica radio program and the Nosotros TV channel. Her cultural events to promote Latin American food and music were popular, but her frank discussion of racism in Edmonton met with less enthusiasm from the city’s dominant white population.

  81 | DR. MARGARET ANN ARMOUR

  A chemistry professor at the University of Alberta, Dr. Margaret Ann Armour had long noted the lack of female students in her faculty. When she became Melting Queen, she founded WISEST—Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science, and Technology—to encourage women to pursue careers in STEM fields.

  82 | NELLIE MILDRED CARLSON

  A Cree woman living on Treaty Six territory, Nellie Mildred Carlson lost her status when she married a Métis man. She used her position as Melting Queen to fight against this injustice, having long been involved in the Indian Rights for Indian Women movement. Her phones were tapped and she faced numerous threats, but nevertheless she persisted and ultimately succeeded in changing federal law so that Indigenous women would not lose their treaty rights by marriage.

  83 | RACHEL KASTERMAN

  From a labour activist family, Rachel Kasterman became the voice of the workers during the Gainers Meatpacking Plant strike. The increasingly violent strike gripped Edmonton over the summer and fall of 1986, as the company owner, Peter Pocklington, brought in scabs, called the strikers terrorists, and refused to negotiate with their union. The tension culminated in an assassination attempt against the Melting Queen—which both sides blamed on the other—who was shot in the chest and spent three days in surgery. The ensuing vigil ended the strike, leading to a new deal between the workers and the management. The defiant Rachel Kasterman continued to insist that the compromise was a bad deal for the workers.

  84 | INVIDIA STRAUM

  After witnessing the attempted assassination on Rachel Kasterman, Invidia Straum refused the call when she was Named. A devastating tornado hit Edmonton in August, killing twenty-seven people and destroying millions of dollars’ worth of property. The natural disaster confirmed the narrative that absent Melting Queens cause devastation for the city, and Invidia Straum was widely blamed for the destruction.

  85 | PHILIPPA SCALDERSON

  Philippa Scalderson revolutionized Edmonton’s Waste Management system by introducing the blue bin program and educating the public about recycling. Edmonton’s recycling efforts boomed, with a 95% diversion rate of solid waste in 1988-89 (though this has since fallen).

  86 | MARGARET “PEGGY” O’CONNOR FARNELL

  Peggy Farnell was both a reference librarian and an intelligence agent for the British Secret Service during her long career prior to becoming the Melting Queen. Her tenure as Melting Queen focused on promoting the unique identities of Edmonton’s 375 neighbourhoods, starting with her home of Old Glenora and featuring a new neighbourhood every day for a year.

  87 | OSWIN THOMPSON

  Oswin Thompson divided the city by calling for the government to suspend all funds to the Catholic school board. By a very slim margin, she successfully persuaded Edmontonians that funding Catholic schools—while not funding special schools for any other religion—was discriminatory. The province mandated instead that world religion classes must be taught in all public schools.

  88 | CLODAGH PASKWAMOSTOS

  Clodagh Paskwamostos wanted to build a monumental fountain in the heart of Edmonton, a gathering place where people could make wishes and relax in the sun. Instead, she became the reluctant face of the Alberta Eugenics Board class-action lawsuit against the government.

  89 | DR. ANNE BURROWS

  Dr. Anne Burrows became blind at six years old, but she did not let this impairment get in the way of her dream to pursue music. She studied at the Royal College of Music in London and became an exceptional piano teacher. Her reign focused on spreading her love of music throughout the city and providing services to blind Edmontonians.

  90 | MIA PARANÁ

  Mia Paraná’s multiple initiatives focused on sustainability and overconsumption of energy. She established the hugely successful Lights Out Edmonton Earth Hour event during the 1993 Perseids meteor shower, which continues to this day with a 99% participation rate.

  91 | SHISHIRA SARASVATI

  Seventeen-year-old Shishira Sarasvati faced huge expectations when she was Named. Not only was she the first daughter of a Melting Queen to be Named, she had also been born during her mother’s term. Despite these expectations,
she became overwhelmed by intrusive memories and backed away from public life. She found solace painting and drawing her visions, but ultimately the memories shredded her mind and she killed herself by jumping off the High Level Bridge.

  92 | VICTORIA GOULBURN

  Victoria Goulburn blamed herself for Shishira Sarasvati’s death, and saw her term as penance. She planted elm trees all around Edmonton, causing the city to have the highest concentration of urban elm trees anywhere in the world.

  93 | LUCIENNE MEEK

  The “Mother Theresa of Boyle Street,” Lucienne Meek created the Mamaokiskatema Society to further Cree culture and advocate for homeless Edmontonians.

  94 | EMILY THOMPSON (ALMOST GLORIA HOLE)

  When Lucienne Meek went rogue and vowed to Name drag queen Gloria Hole (the alter-ego of local author, historian, and queer rights activist Darrin Hagen), ECHO intervened and pre-emptively announced Emily Thompson as Melting Queen. Emily protected homeless children by fundraising for Youth Emergency Shelters and shining a light on the violence faced by children in Edmonton.

  95 | DORIS BADIR

  Throughout her career, Doris Badir worked for the United Nations and for numerous universities in Canada. Having witnessed extreme poverty around the world, she was a tireless advocate for providing the necessary resources to help lift women and children out of poverty in Edmonton.

  96 | KAREN MACKENZIE

  A DJ and bartender at Phrique, Jasper Avenue’s most popular and notorious nightclub, Karen Mackenzie’s signature initiative was creating the largest New Year’s Eve celebrations in Edmonton’s history to mark the turn of the millennium. The fireworks show alone lasted over an hour.

  97 | DR. PHYLLIS CARDINAL

  Author and educator Dr. Phyllis Cardinal founded the Amiskwaciy Academy, a high school for Indigenous students which preserves First Nations culture and oral traditions.

  98 | ZOPHIA VOLGA

  A film and television arts student at NAIT, Zophia Volga aspired to create a Great Edmonton Movie in the vein of Elsie Park Gowan’s Who Builds a City. She brought in dozens of scriptwriters, consulted with hundreds of historians and community members, and featured thousands of everyday Edmontonians as actors and extras in the feature film. The four-hour-long movie that resulted, titled 53/113, is regarded as an overly ambitious mess that nonetheless highlights some of Edmonton’s charms.

  99 | BARB TARBOX

  Barb Tarbox was an anti-smoking activist who spoke to thousands of young Edmontonians about the dangers of cigarettes even as she was dying of lung and brain cancer. She visited hundreds of schools, and died days after crowning Theresa Darling as the 100th Melting Queen.

  100 | THERESA DARLING

  The one hundredth Melting Queen tried to create a reunion of Melting Queens, but almost all of her predecessors refused to participate in any commemorative event. Instead, Theresa Darling promoted the 2003 Heritage Classic hockey game and celebrated each major festival by honouring the Melting Queen that started it. She presided over the 100th Melting Day in 2004.

  101 | IRIS ZAMBEZI

  The first out lesbian Melting Queen, Iris Zambezi advocated for Edmonton’s LGBTQ community and pushed major public figures to attend the Pride Parade in an especially controversial era. The Alberta government was blocking same-sex marriage and threatening to invoke the Notwithstanding Clause again (as it had in 2000), and Iris challenged Premier Ralph Klein and Mayor Bill Smith to join her or stand on the wrong side of history.

  102 | ROSA ACICULARA

  Much like Gloria Tremblay in 1967, Rosa Aciculara’s signature initiative was decided long before she was Named. She organized centennial celebrations for the province of Alberta, including the royal visit of Queen Elizabeth II.

  103 | ANANKE COSMOPOULOS

  An urban planner with the City of Edmonton, Ananke Cosmopoulos used her newfound celebrity to push for a project she had long dreamed about: transforming the barren industrial lands beside Fort Road into a park. Ultimately, Sundial Park used the surviving smokestack from a former meatpacking plant as the needle in a giant sundial garden.

  104 | APRIL TREMOR

  An aspiring fashion designer, April Tremor helped found Western Canada Fashion Week in Edmonton and encouraged citizens to develop bolder and more individual styles. She also organized clothing drives for needy families.

  105 | KATHY KIFTS

  In 2008, the population of metro Edmonton surpassed one million people for the first time, making it the furthest north metropolis in North America. Kathy Kifts advocated for the merger of all the surrounding satellite communities into a gigantic super-city. Although she attracted some support, her idea ultimately fizzled out.

  106 | INGA CAUSEWAY

  A chef at The Silver Spoon, Edmonton’s finest restaurant, Inga Causeway promoted the Taste of Edmonton festival for its 25th anniversary and raised money to help poor families go to Edmonton restaurants and experience various international cuisines.

  107 | JENNIFER FINLAY

  The first truly social media savvy Melting Queen, Jennifer Finlay popularized the mainstream use of #YEG and encouraged citizens to share photos of their city’s hidden beauty. She also spoke at Edmonton schools about the psychological dangers of consuming mass amounts of curated photos and the inevitable feelings of inadequacy that result from this new culture of treacherous images.

  108 | LENTE VAN DEN BERG

  An enthusiastic cyclist, Lente van den Berg advocated for the construction of bike lanes throughout downtown Edmonton and criticized the city’s reliance on cars. She ran afoul of PAPRIKA (People Against Potholes Ruining the Integrity of Key Avenues) when she suggested that all of Edmonton’s streets should be torn up and replaced by public transit lines and bike lanes. Her reign was a lukewarm success, but she did manage to get 5,000 people to participate in a winter cycle through the river valley.

  109 | DOREEN SPURLONG

  Doreen Spurlong founded the Edmonton International Cat Festival to celebrate the city’s feline population. Her own cats—all twenty-nine of them—became local celebrities in their own right and inspired dozens of fake Twitter accounts.

  110 | AUTUMN KAGERA

  Autumn Kagera fled to Edmonton as a refugee from Uganda during the 2011 East African Drought. She focused her term on water conservation and founded Glacier Day, an event which honoured the Saskatchewan Glacier that feeds the river and sustains Edmonton.

  111 | SUMMER JOHNSON

  Figure skater and ice dancer Summer Johnson worked with landscape architect Matt Gibbs to create the Freezeway—a 20 km skating loop that wraps around downtown Edmonton like a shivering white halo, rivalling the Rideau Canal.

  112 | TEGAN STORNOWAY

  Tegan Stornoway transformed the derelict Edmonton City Centre Sky Harbour—a huge plot of land in the heart of the city, which had previously prevented any construction over 40 storeys high—into the Sky Harbour Gardens, a huge urban park. She also planted the Infinite Maze, Canada’s largest labyrinth, at the centre of the gardens.

  113 | LOUISE MORRISON

  Louise Morrison created Citizen Identity Registration Cards for Living in Edmonton (CIRCLE), which centralized public services (library, transit services, public Wi-Fi, fitness centres, etc.) under one system and created a central municipal directory.

  114 | ALICE SONGHUA

  Alice Songhua popularized the Chinese community’s Lunar New Year celebrations, ringing in the Year of the Dog in February 2018.

  115 | RIVER RUNSON

  The Last Melting Queen. Created the Winter Fountain to honour the memories of their foresisters and replace the need for a Melting Queen forevermore.

  APPENDIX {2}

  The Melting Day Proclamation

  ARTICLE I.

  AFTER A LONG WINTER, when darkness reigns and dawn surrenders to the night, when howling winds lay waste to a thriving city, when ice and snow entomb our verdant valley, the people of Edmonton cry out for the salvation of spring. And on that triumphant day when the ice
breaks up on the river, when our city wakes from its slumber, when the fiery sun of summer returns, to free us from our winter prison, the people of Edmonton shall gather by the riverside and celebrate Melting Day.

  ARTICLE II.

  The Day of the Sun, the first day of spring, the victory of sunshine over shadow, Melting Day shall be the festival of all peoples. The prince and the pauper, the radish and the rose, the saint and the savage shall join hands and celebrate their liberation from the tyranny of winter, an unlikely family, united by a shared trauma.

  ARTICLE III.

  And on that glorious day—that splendid, shining, singular moment of the year—the people of Edmonton shall be led by One Woman. A daughter of the city, the mother of its people, the Melting Queen shall embody the spirit of the city, proclaim our victory over the Long Winter, and lead a Parade of Revellers, who dance with joy to see a shattered river.

  ARTICLE IV.

  As day turns to night, as sundown claims the melting city, the people of Edmonton shall be free to indulge their wildest whims and appetites, their fancies and delights. As dawn decorates the city with light, we shall assemble before our Melting Queen, and she will Pardon us for all our sins and transgressions.

  ARTICLE V.

  The great carnival shall end only when the people have been assured that their grand tradition shall continue through the ages. As the embodiment of the general will of the people, the Melting Queen shall Name a successor to her Sacred Charge. The Melting Queen shall be free to choose any daughter of Edmonton to carry on her hallowed duty.