page_title: Old Strathcona
section_title: Blue Mile
hierarchical_section_title: Old Strathcona / Whyte (82) Avenue / Blue Mile
caption_attribution_description: Edmonton Oilers fans celebrating on Edmonton's Whyte Avenue during the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs.You're in oil country now!
context_page_description: Old Strathcona is an historic district in south-central Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Once the commercial core of the separate city of Strathcona, the area is now home to many of Edmonton's arts and entertainment facilities, as well as a local shopping hub for residents and students at the nearby University of Alberta. Many of the area's businesses are owner-operated but, chains have also made inroads. A good proportion of Edmonton's theatres and live-performance venues are also in the area. The district centres on Whyte Avenue and has shops, restaurants, bars and buskers.
context_section_description: The Blue Mile or the Copper Kilometre is the name given by the local media to the Old Strathcona District's Whyte Avenue during the Edmonton Oilers 2006 Stanley Cup playoff run, since it closely resembled the events which took place on the Red Mile in Calgary two years prior.
  Following the Edmonton Oilers upset victory over the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the 2006 playoffs, several thousand Oiler fans flocked to Whyte Avenue and turned the district into a hockey party strip, as Oiler fans walked the streets cheering, chanting, high-fiving, horn-honking, and flag-waving for their team. Others surfed the crowd in a grocery-shopping cart, and still others climbed trees and traffic lights.
  Whyte Avenue in Edmonton gained national attention for its level of violence in May 2006. The arrests at the Blue Mile are estimated at least 350 people through the Oilers Stanley Cup playoff run, including breaching the public peace, assaults, impaired driving, mischief, and alcohol-related offences. This rowdy behaviour led the mayor of Edmonton, Stephen Mandel, to threaten to close down the strip: "I hope this doesn't come down to having to shut down Whyte completely...but this will not be tolerated going into the final series."
caption: Oiler fans, unable to enter the jam-packed Rexall Place, celebrate on Edmonton's Whyte Avenue during the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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