Energy. Excitement. Everyone. Edmonton.

A giant letter "E" has been added to Churchill Square — and it's up to you to decide what it stands for.

The Big E is the result of a paired effort by the city and its downtown partners — including MacEwan University, Norquest College and the Downtown Edmonton Community League — to get Edmontonians excited about all the changes happening in the city's centre.

"Basically [the goal was] to create a visual icon or identity that we could … use to engage and excite Edmontonians about all the construction, all of the transformational projects that are happening in our downtown," said Mary Ann Debrinski, the city's Director of Urban Renewal.

The city approached Jordan Tomnuk, a local design engineer and custom furniture-maker, about the Big E-dea last month, asking him to come up with a mobile and eye-catching design that people would be able to physically look through.

The result: an eight-foot tall, powder-coated aluminum capital "E" designed to withstand a little wear and tear. It's also been fitted with LED lighting capable of running for 10,000 hours between charges.

"It's been kind of a whirlwind to build it, but it's a pretty exciting project," Tomnuk said of the challenge. "Any time I get a chance to work on something like this it's always a fun learning experience."

Now, Tomnuk hopes that the "E" will get people talking, and says he's happy to see that already people are taking and sharing their own pictures with the giant letter using the hashtag #YEGdtBigE.

Big E draws mixed reviews

So far, response to the Big E has been generally positive, albeit a little perplexed.

<a href="https://twitter.com/MarkConnollyCBC">@MarkConnollyCBC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCEdmonton">@CBCEdmonton</a> love it! Need to pop downtown and see it at night when it's lit. I didn't know anything about this campaign. 😳 —@kala75

<a href="https://twitter.com/MarkConnollyCBC">@MarkConnollyCBC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BigE?src=hash">#BigE</a>: Could be worse...say, like a pair of big socks. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Southgate?src=hash">#Southgate</a>. —@wanderwoman10

<a href="https://twitter.com/MarkConnollyCBC">@MarkConnollyCBC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCEdmonton">@CBCEdmonton</a> So would Ice District reside inside Big E? Or are they adjacent, Ice to E? —@mattdance

Others, though, aren't in favour.

<a href="https://twitter.com/MarkConnollyCBC">@MarkConnollyCBC</a> Epic fail. Lived in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/yeg?src=hash">#yeg</a> for 48/49 yrs never heard it called "the big E" —@f_dougster66

<a href="https://twitter.com/MarkConnollyCBC">@MarkConnollyCBC</a> Good lord is this why my taxes are going up? —@1average_bear

Edmonton AM put the issue to a debate Wednesday morning, inviting Rapid Fire Theatre's Julian Fair and Kory Mathewson to argue for and against the city's newest landmark.

Debrinski says the "E" is only one of the ideas the city-downtown partnership came up with; others will be rolled out over the coming years.

In the meantime, the Big E is already scheduled to make appearances at several upcoming city events, including the ITU World Triathlon, Tour of Alberta and the Downtown Campus Block Party.

The total cost for the Big E is $7,800.