Glenn Kubish

Thanks to Shaw, the Shaw Conference Centre, thanks to Winter Cities Shakeup 2017, and thanks to Edmonton NextGen for the chance to get up on stage and tell the story of a little movement called Coffee Outside. Thanks to Shelagh. She was in the front row and could have easily, had I blacked out, delivered the pecha kucha. She had heard me practise it in bed, on a plane, in hotels, in the living room, and you get the picture. And, of course, thanks to the women and men who make time for coffee outside Friday mornings in Edmonton. Everyone is welcome to stop by. More at  @coffee_outside on Twitter. 

Tonight in Edmonton, NextGen hosted a pecha kucha evening devoted to winter as part of the Winter Cities Shakeup conference now in full swing. I shared the stage with some really interesting speakers, and am grateful for that. I used my 6 minutes and 40 seconds to thank my friends at Coffee Outside. I’m going to give you the inside scoop on a little movement called Coffee Outside, but let me jump to my all-important conclusion: You’re all invited to join us for Coffee Outside in Edmonton. We meet most Friday mornings, summer or winter, in a park by High Level bridge. If you’re in the neighbourhood, please make a point of stopping by. Because next to appreciating coffee, and the outside, appreciating stopping by , stopping , is what you have to do to appreciate Coffee Outside. The ability to stop is an overlooked good of riding a bicycle in the city. It’s completely overlooked when we seal ourselves in our automobiles, that’s for sure. Stopping can be existentially diffi...

#coffeeoutside attracts a crowd The view from the ground of a #coffeeoutside meeting in Edmonton is pretty cool.  I also imagine the view from above.  I see bicycle commuters pointing in from all directions of the city toward Faraone Park, or Government House Park, or to the gazebo at McIntyre Park in Old Strathcona, moving along the spokes of road and path toward the hub of our Friday morning community meeting.  We are a loose affiliation of people who love bicycles and coffee and the outside and what Edmonton is becoming as it becomes a little more tolerant of those who go no car or low car. It's a good scene As many Fridays as we can get a quorum (on some days that has been a gathering of one), we start in a park outside over coffee. Some bring coffee in thermoses. Others take some morning warmth from the communal thermos. Others fire up miniature stoves and brew on the spot. We're on the verge of one of us roasting fair trade beans right there. W...