Edmonton's 'Church Street' set to host thousands of worshippers for Easter weekend
At the First Christian Reform Church on 96th street, parishioners hung black curtains over the stained glass windows ahead of their Good Friday service, to create a sombre mood as they reflect on the story of Jesus' crucifixion.
But by Sunday, the congregation will be greeted by a different scene.
"On Saturday, unbeknownst to many people, we'll be back in this sanctuary space," said Pastor Bernhard VanderVlis. "We'll take the black away and replace it with a lot of white and flowers. So when they come back on Sunday morning, when we celebrate life and resurrection, the space will look bright," he said.
The church is just one of many preparing for the Easter weekend, in a small area of McCauley, a historic central Edmonton neighbourhood.
There are 10 churches operating along a six block stretch of 96th Street between 112 and 106th Avenue known as "Church Street," along with four others in the nearby neighbourhood.
All of the churches host congregations of different Christian faiths, making Easter weekend their busiest time of year.
"The greatest challenge we face is parking," said Father Mark Blom, the associate pastor at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of the First Peoples.
When most of the historic churches in this area were built, people typically walked to church from nearby neighbourhoods, but now people drive there from all over the city, which can cause congestion, he said.
"The two busiest churches on this whole street are right across the street from each other," said Blom.
Blom said Sacred Heart, which became a First Nations, Métis and Inuit parish in 1991, continues to grow with more attendees.
The church also hosts Eritrean Eastern Rite Catholic service on Sundays and is next door to the Rhema Chapel, a parish of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, a Pentecostal church founded in Nigeria.
The chapel is expecting about one thousand worshippers to arrive on Sunday, according to Shola Olisa, an administrator with the church.
"Definitely it will be a very merry day, there will be lots of singing, lots of dancing, lots of praises, worship and rejoicing," Olisa said.
And it will be well anticipated by members of Rhema Chapel who chose to fast for 100 days this year, longer than their typical 40-day period of Lent.
Blom is also expecting jubilation on Easter Sunday.
"There will be people all dressed up in their finest across the street and people coming here in their ribbon skirts and it's a busy festive place," he said.
While several historic churches in the area have closed or expanded to newer neighbourhoods, several more recently established churches have continued to choose the central area to gather their communities.
The 96th Street area became a place for many immigrant communities to build community churches in the early part of the 20th Century when McCauley was one of the first neighbourhoods established in the city.
The First Christian Reform Church was started in a tent on Jasper Avenue as a gathering place for the local Dutch community. It moved to its current location in 1914.
The Nativity of Mary Catholic Church was built in the 1980s on 98 street, two blocks from Church Street to establish a central gathering place for Edmonton's only Croatian church.
Father Matija Zugaj moved from Croatia at the end of 2023 to lead the church, and continue their custom of holding mass in the Croatian language.
He said he sees families in Edmonton maintaining many of their traditions from Croatia. On Palm Sunday, people had lunch at church and brought their palms home to share with their elderly and sick friends and relatives who couldn't attend on that day.
"I'm full of joy when I see people from all around Edmonton, from Sherwood Park, from Spruce Grove, even from Spring Lake come here for Sunday mass," Zugaj said.
"This will be my second Easter celebration in the parish, in this community, and I'm really looking forward to it because parishioners are really working together," he said.
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