New website records rowdies on the 'Blue Mile'
A new website that captures Edmonton Oilers fans getting rowdy and flashing some skin on the "Blue Mile" is getting a cool reception from some businesses in the area.
The website, Bluemile.ca, is upfront about its celebration of the scanty. The introductory text reads: "This site contains sexually explicit material and is intended solely for adults only! if you are easily offended by and or if you cannot legally view this type of material where you reside, PLEASE EXIT NOW!"
Inside, you find pictures of fun-loving young men and women -- with some of the women flashing their breasts.
"We had girls coming up to us," Lyndon Golanowski, one of the site's developers, told CTV Edmonton on Wednesday.
The site went live on Monday, and was set up to promote Whyte Avenue (also known to some as the Copper Kilometre) as the premiere hockey street party in Alberta -- as opposed to Calgary's notorious Red Mile.
"The whole reason we went for the Bluemile.ca is for the controversy. We wanted people to remember what we were doing," Golanowski said.
Bluemile.ca is off to a good start of recording the street party for posterity.
"We got 17,000 hits on Monday. On Tuesday, we had half a million," Golanowski said.
Sitting in the sunshine on Whyte Avenue, which is relatively dense with restaurants and bars, Brett Pakan offered this perspective: "This is kind of what Whyte Avenue is known for, this kind of like unbridled enjoyment of whatever the night might bring."
Added Marina Littleford: "Everybody knows what goes on on Whyte Avenue. So if you don't like it, don't show up."
However, for some of the business people in the area, they don't really want to be known for hedonism.
"It has nothing to do with celebrating the Oilers' win. It's just being stupid," said Shirley Lowe of the Old Strathcona Business Association.
In 2001, the strip on Edmonton's south side suffered a serious black eye when a riot broke out on Canada Day, which could explain the aversion to rowdy behaviour.
Countered Golanowski: "We're not forcing anybody to do what they're doing. We're just there to capture what's going on."
One middle-aged woman had this reason for toning down the partying: "It tarnishes the image of the place. And let's face it: We don't want to emulate Calgary in any way."
Edmonton Police say they will ticket anyone flashing.
The Oilers play the San Jose Sharks Wednesday night in games three of their NHL Western Conference semi-final. The Sharks won the first two games of the series.
[img height=120 alt="Logo for Bluemile.ca" src="vny!://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20060510/160_bluemile_0605102.jpg" width=160 border=0]
[img height=120 alt="Lyndon Golanowski" src="vny!://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20060510/160_lydon_golanowski_060510.jpg" width=160 border=0]
Lyndon Golanowski
