Sensory Safe Experiences at Fort Edmonton Park

In an effort to make Fort Edmonton Park accessible to as many guests as possible, we are piloting a “Sensory Safe” time for guests needing a lower-impact experience at the Park. This includes operating the Indigenous Peoples Experience and Midway at a low sensory level with reduced noise and lights, creating additional decompression spaces, highlighting existing decompression spaces, and offering alternate sensory programming experiences in each era. Stay tuned for 2023 Sensory Safe dates!

Decompression Spaces at Fort Edmonton Park: 

• Chapel - 1846 Fort
• Yorkboat Yard - 1846 Fort
• Egge’s Picnic Site - 1885 Street
• Safe Tipi Cree Encampment - 1885 Street
• McDougall’s Church - 1885 Street
• Gyro Park & Memorial Gardens - 1905 Street
• Bandshell - 1905 Street
• St Michael's Church - 1905 Street
• Mosque - 1920 Street

Looking for Sensory Safe activities and ideas during your next visit to Fort Edmonton Park? 

Indigenous Peoples Experience

• Smell the authentically tanned hides and tipis
• Touch traditional crafts: tanned hides, beadwork, rawhide, and artifacts
• Listen to the trees telling you a story
• Singing and traditional music and drums play through the space
• Climb into the boats and sled 
• Smell sage and other traditional plants (growing outside or ask an interpreter for a sample) 

1846 Fort

• Touch different furs 
• Feel the hewn wood of the buildings
• Smell the wood shavings in the carpentry shop, and the wooden walls
• Feel the warmth of the fire
• Enjoy the quiet and the breeze

1885 Street

• The farm has many unique smells (the chicken coup, the garden)
• Pet ponies and meet other animals like chickens, goats, and pigs
• Watch out for horse poop! 
• Touch the wool and help card fleece to spin at Ottewell Farm
• Pump water at Kenneth MacDonald House, help us water the garden
• Help us with pioneer chores
• Smell the fire crackling in the stoves
• Touch different textures of buildings: bricks, wood, siding. How many can you find! 
• Hear the clinking of the blacksmith and smell the coals at Sanderson & Looby Blacksmith shop

1905 Street

• Smell the flowers in the gardens
• Streetcars are fun to ride but can be quite loud
• Visit the horses at Henderson farm
• Smell tea at Reeds Tea Room
• Visit the fire engines and help us keep them shiny! 
• Ring the bell at St. Anthony’s Church
• Play in the sand at Gyro Park

1920 Street

• Ring the telephones at the Alberta Telephone Exchange
• Enjoy the music at the Capitol Theatre and  learn to dance
• Relax in the peony garden and smell the beautiful flowers
• Visit the animals at Mellon Farm
• Try the swing at Mellon Farm
• Ride on the midway rides and try your hand at the games
• Vintage Automobiles may drive by and honk their horns
• Hear the hum of the bees at Mellon Farm

Find a map of Fort Edmonton Park here.