Mariana Serna

Siu To first introduced Edmontonians to his interpretation of cake in the 1980s. He had arrived in Edmonton in 1978, from Qingdao, China, and despite having no professional culinary background, he was driven by a strong desire to share his culture with his new city. In North China, the cong you bing is a beloved grab-and-go dish.

Tyler Visser has always found comfort in working with his hands. It is practically his birthright — his dad, cousin and uncle are all electricians, as is he. In 2019, as he searched for a meditative escape from his corporate job, he discovered leather work. From the moment he got his first leather panel, he was entranced in the craft. “I taught myself from watching videos online,” he says. It was meant to be a hobby but in no time, almost seamlessly, he began considering it a livelihood.

Imagine: It’s the summer of 2025 and you’ve just been set up on a blind date. You, and the person you have yet to decipher, find yourselves aimlessly wandering the streets of downtown Edmonton. No direction, no expectation. That is until you make a turn into Churchill Square. Every corner of the square is filled with activity. A sign reads: The Works Art & Design Festival.