Eat and Seek patio opens at Calgary's Southcentre Mall
Visitors to Calgary’s Southcentre mall can now enjoy the wide variety of food court offerings in a brand new outdoor patio space designed by two local Alberta artists.
Changes to provincial restrictions regarding public spaces and retailer/restaurant capacities came into effect Tuesday.
In support of the many mall retailers and restaurants who’ve struggled though the yo-yo of changing health restrictions, Southcentre Mall partnered up with Calgary-based muralist Nicole Wolf and Edmonton creative Chris Provins to create Eat & Seek.
Boasting seating for 60 plus guests and with lots of space to play, the expansive outdoor art installation is a self-serve patio space meant to encourage Calgarians to support the local foodservice businesses at the mall by safely enjoying a takeaway meal outdoors.
Southcentre Mall's Hide and Seek patio
Alexandra Velosa, Southcentre's marketing manager, said she hopes that Eat and Seek will rally support from the community while bringing awareness to local creative talent.
“We wanted to do more than just put picnic tables outdoors in the parking lot. We wanted to do something nice that will encourage people to come here, enjoy, go in the mall, do some shopping, get some food out of the food court and then come and enjoy the outdoors," Velosa said.
The unique outdoor dining experience features interactive designs and wordplay that inspire visitors to hunt for hidden messages and symbols in a larger-than-life word search, attempt an unconventional hopscotch, and more.
CTV Calgary caught up with Nicole Wolf as she was painting some of the finishing touches.
“Chris and I were inspired by topographical maps and landforms, then I brought in my illustration and drew lines on top of the islands.” Wolf said. “What we wanted to do is provoke playfulness with children and the young at heart, the space is one that you can zoom around and find hidden symbols and messages, and there's blobs of color you can jump from and there's an adult difficulty level hopscotch in the corner. So I really hope this sparks joy for people.”
Eat and Seek patio, Southcentre Mall, Calgary
Wolf said the giant word search is filled with good intentions, "There's a few words hidden in there that we kind of dreamed up, I'd say that they're kind of like, a wish or a blessing toward people who are coming into this space."
According to a press release Southcentre also partnered with Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts) to showcase the work of emerging student artists. Eat and Seek includes original artwork from first-year student Jayden Manzara and design submissions from five additional students will also be part of the digital component on the Southcentre website.
Eat and Seek will be open to the public from June 1 until fall 2021 and is located by Southcentre Mall’s North Entrance near Starbucks.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus survives vote calling for his ouster
Greg Fergus survived a vote to oust him as House of Commons Speaker on Tuesday, but with close to half of MPs expressing a loss of confidence in him, he faces a precarious path forward in maintaining order in Parliament.
'It was hell': Israeli mother held hostage with her children describes 51 days in captivity
Hagar Brodutch, her three children and four-year-old neighbour were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants from their home in Kfar Aza, Israel on Oct. 7 and held for 51 days. They were released in November, but Brodutch says her thoughts are never far from those still being held in Gaza.
'Unruly passenger' forces WestJet flight to make emergency landing in B.C.
A WestJet flight heading to Calgary had to make an emergency landing in northern B.C. Monday due to an incident involving an 'unruly passenger,' Mounties say.
P.E.I. kiteboarder 'lucky to be alive' after shark attack in Turks and Caicos
A professional kiteboarder from P.E.I. says he has been seriously injured in a shark attack that occurred while he was snorkelling in the Turks and Caicos Islands last week.
Teen dies after being hit by train in N.W. Calgary
A teenager has died after being hit by a train in northwest Calgary on Tuesday afternoon.
Black bear kebabs make family sick with parasitic worms
It was supposed to be a celebration, but one family’s unique meal of black bear meat sent several members to the hospital instead.
'It's his vacation too': Jimmy the baby goat joins 2-week road trip across Canada
After Jimmy the baby goat was shunned by his mother, a New Brunswick man took the kid on a two-week road trip across Canada.
The double-level airplane seat is back. This time, there’s a first-class version
It’s the airplane seat design that launched a thousand memes and kickstarted a media storm. And now the double-level seat is back – only this time, with a twist.
New COVID-19 subvariants become the dominant strains in Canada
More than four years after COVID-19 effectively shut down the world, two new variants of COVID-19 have become the dominant strains of the novel coronavirus in Canada.