Ice District swimming pool, airport coach and reverse beer: Edmonton April Fools jokes

CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti takes a look at April Fools stunts pulled by local businesses.

You may have seen some odd, silly or just plain weird things Tuesday that gave you pause before remembering it was April Fools’ Day.

Edmontonians and businesses alike took the time to have fun and give people a few laughs.

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For example, it might only be Tuesday, but those who woke up with a hangover (perhaps still celebrating the Oilers’ victory over the Flames on Saturday) could down a few Uno-Reverso negative non-alcoholic beers.

“Ever wished there was a beer that reversed the effects of your previous beer?” asked Sea Change Brewing Company online.

“Through months and months of R&D, our brew team developed a one-of-a-kind process to reverso-engineer our favourite liquid.”

Ice District also announced with crossed fingers and a sly wink that the outdoor skating rink will be transformed into a public pool area this summer.

Fantasyland Hotel in West Edmonton Mall was pulling your leg with the new submarine-themed room that will be fully immersed in the water by the Phase III ship for summer 2025.

The Energy City Cactus Rats baseball team, which has a porcupine as a mascot, decided to make the mascot’s presence known by releasing 500 actual porcupines throughout the metro Edmonton area.

“Don’t worry, they’re mostly friendly,” the team joked on social media. “First 100 fans to get quilled receive free season tickets!

“No actual porcupines were released in the making of this joke. Please don’t go porcupine searching. Our lawyers made us add this part.”

Even the international airport got in on the fun, “advertising” a new team member Coach, who they said would carry all your luggage, entertain your kids, make sure everyone has plenty of food and water and more.

CTV News Edmonton spoke to a few passengers at YEG who laughed along at the video, but did say that it would be a handy service to have.

Readers above a certain age might also remember the famous North American house hippo from a Concerned Children’s Advertisers campaign public service announcement to encourage media literacy.

The commercial always said they weren’t real animals, but the Edmonton Valley Zoo announced Tuesday that staff had been “discovering a series of small footprints in the staff room,” and tracking missing lunches for the past month.

“Thanks to the tireless efforts of the animal care team in attempting to find the source, they were finally able to capture footage of these creatures, typically only seen sneaking around at night,” the zoo wrote in jest in a social media post.

“After weeks of searching, we were able to confirm the presence of two North American House Hippos.

“Happy April Fools’ Day!”

The tradition of April Fools’ Day has been around for centuries, though the origins aren’t fully known, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

According to Angus K. Gillespie, a professor of American studies with Rutgers University, many historians believe the origin comes from France with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in the 1500s.

In the Gregorian calendar, which is widely used to this day, the new year begins on Jan. 1, but in the Julian calendar, established by Julius Caesar in the 40s BCE, the new year began on April 1.

As news did not travel fast in the 16th century, when people who didn’t know of the implication of the new calendar would declare it was New Year’s Day on April 1, they were mocked as “April Fools,” according to Gillespie.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti