A bounty of city mags for Edmonton

Edmonton, which for a time didn't have a "city" magazine at all, now is about to have two. Apparently the much vaunted Alberta energy boom is throwing off benefits to the retail sector on which such "lifestyle" magazines depend heavily.

Edmonton Life launched in May and is put out by the Captive Multi Media Group, which is a successor to the Vogel Communications Group, formerly best known as the publishers of Orbit and Satellite Direct television listings magazines. Captive also is part owner of Modern Dog magazine.

Avenue magazine will launch in mid-August, using the template of Calgary's glossy Avenue , but published under a license to an Edmonton firm Odvod Publishing, an offshoot of Odvod Media, a marketing and communications company.

Ruth Kelly, head of the Edmonton-based Venture Publishing group (Alberta Venture business magazine), was quoted in a recent Edmonton Sun column as having seriously considered a similar publication, but decided to wait this round out. "We'll see what happens," she says.