Calgary’s quintessential experience?
Recently a newcomer to Calgary, who was having some friends visit, emailed me asking “What is Calgary’s quintessential experience?” She said she didn’t want to just take them to Banff and the mountains, but to show off what Calgary has to offer.
Downtown Calgary is like a mini Manhattan with 100+ office towers, as well as a major shopping centre, three department stores, a large performing arts centre, public art gallery and museum, a historic Main Street, Olympic Plaza and 100+ public artworks..
I immediately asked, “What are their interests?” Are they history buffs, maybe fashionistas, or culture vultures, perhaps food fanatics, architectural addicts, possibly walking wanderers, crazy cyclist or looking for some family fun? I sent her a bunch of past blogs and she thanked me, saying she had more than enough information.
However, the question “What is Calgary’s quintessential experience?” continued to a haunt me. Merriam-Webster defines “quintessential” as something that is particularly typical or representative of a particular kind of person, thing or place.
I asked myself, “Is their one specific thing to see or do that you could say that is Calgary!” The immediate answer might be the Calgary Stampede, but that only happens for 10 days, I am thinking a quintessential experience should be something you can do almost anytime. So is it a museum, a place, a street, a park?
Be sure to read to the end as I think my final answer on Calgary’s quintessential experience will surprise you. But don’t cheat!
Calgary: The City of Parks, Pathways & Public Art?
Is it Downtown/Stephen Avenue Walk?
Calgary has a unique downtown for a city its size. It is like a mini-Manhattan with 100+ office, hotel and residential towers within 50 blocks. The 300 block of Stephen Avenue (Bankers Hall block) has 220+ floors of offices in 5 towers and one heritage building.
Two blocks of Stephen Avenue are a National Historic site, with 30+ buildings dating from 1880s to 1930s – the Sandstone Era. For those who love shopping it has a flagship Hudson Bay department store, an upscale Holt Renfrew, the only Simons store in Calgary and The Core, is a three-storey indoor shopping center with a glass roof the extends over the entire two blocks.
No trip to Calgary is complete without a trip to top of the Calgary Tower (older than the CN Tower in Toronto and taller than Seattle Space Needle), where you get a unique perspective of the city.
If you are looking for a downtown adventure you can take visitors on a tour of the a-mazing +15 walkway with its 86 bridges, connecting over 100 buildings to create a 16-km indoor walkway (maze). If visitors are culture vultures or architectural addicts you would want to take your visitors to the National Music Centre, Central Library or Contemporary Calgary, maybe checking out some of the 100+ public artworks and murals along the way.
Perhaps there is a concert or play they might enjoy at Arts Commons, which by the way is one of North America’s largest performing arts centres in North America. With five performance spaces and 3,200 seats, it is larger than New York City’s Lincoln Centre.
History buffs will not only want to wander down Stephen Avenue but also The Glenbow (currently closed), Fort Calgary and perhaps wander over to Memorial Park to see Alberta’s oldest library and Calgary’s first park.
Is it our Rivers?
Calgarians love their rivers (Bow and Elbow), especially in the summer when they can wade, float, paddle and fish in them. They are home to several pebble and green beaches where people love to picnic and play next to the river.
While Vancouver has its Sea Wall Trail, Calgary has its SoBow Trail that extends from Edworthy Park to the Harvie Passage next to the south shore of the Bow River. Along the 12-km trail you will walk by a Douglas Fir Forest, one of the world’s largest skate parks, a river surfing site, the Peace Bridge, Prince’s Island Park, along the edge of downtown, Chinatown, Sien Lok Park, East Village, to Fort Calgary (National Historic Site), into Inglewood and the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary before arriving at Harvie Passage (look for kayakers playing in the rapids).
One of the green beaches along Calgary’s Bow River.
The Glenmore Dam on the Elbow River creates a huge reservoir in the middle of the city. It is both a source of drinking water and a playground for non-motorized water activities.
Is it a Park /Pathway experience?
Calgary is home to 7,000+ parks. No Calgarian is more than a 5-minute walk to a green space. Nose Hill and Fish Creek Parks are huge, both are way bigger than New York City’s Central Park or Vancouver’s Stanley Park. Calgary has an amazing array of parks, including one’s specially designed for handicapped children and one underneath a downtown overpass. Every Calgarian has their favourite park.
In the summer the Reader Rock Garden and the Silver Springs Botanical Garden are special places to visit.
Dog lovers, love Calgary as it has 150+ off-leash dog parks, many with spectacular views of the city. River Park is perhaps the quintessential experience for dog lovers, as its kilometer long promenade attracts thousands of dogs and people every day, unless there is a blizzard then it is only perhaps a hundred or so.
A walk along the Crescent Road NW provides visitors not only with a spectacular view of Calgary’s downtown, Bow River Valley and the mountains, but also some of the city’s historic and contemporary mansions. At Stampede time, a walk along Salisbury Ave SE aka Scotsman’s Hill, provides the quintessential view of downtown with the pageantry of the Stampede, Saddledome in the foreground and the city’s ever-changing skyline in the background, but this only happens 10 days of the year.
Nose Hill Park
Calgarians love their 1,000+ km multi-user pathway system that connects Calgarians to its rivers, parks, green spaces and downtown.
Is it Inglewood?
Inglewood is home to Calgary’s original main street - currently 9th Avenue SE, but originally called Atlantic Avenue. Today it is home to three blocks of heritage buildings with a mix of boutiques, cafes, restaurants and live music venues. Some of the unique shops includes Recordland, Smithbilt Hats (cowboy), Crown Surplus Store and Nerd Roller Skates.
Speaking of restaurants, food fanatics would love to dine in one of the three heritage buildings that have been converted into world-class restaurants. Dean House, built in 1906 for Captain Richard Burton Deane, the last serving Northwest Mounted Police Superintendent in Calgary. National Hotel a three-storey wood frame building featuring yellow cladding and red brick arches over the window built in 1907, is now THE NASH restaurant. The A.E. Cross House was built in 1891 and acquired eight years later by Cross a prominent Calgary rancher, brewer, oilman and entrepreneur. He was one of the “Big Four” who established the Calgary Stampede. Today it is home to Rouge restaurant, which has its own vegetable/herb garden in the backyard and has been ranked in the past as one of the top 100 restaurants in the world.
Inglewood is home to two of Calgary’s premier live music venues the Blues Can and the Ironwood, both have live music seven days a week. Calgary bluesman Tim Williams hosts a Blues Jam at the Blues Can every Saturday afternoon. Recordland has one of the largest collections of vinyl in Canada.
Inglewood is also home to the spectacular Esker Foundation art gallery (free admission) on the top floor of the Atlantic Avenue Art Block (look for the building with the wavy roof), as well as several smaller commercial galleries.
The Ironwood Stage and Grill is one of two live music venues along Atlantic Avenue. Inglewood is Caglary’s arts district with numerous bookstores, galleries and design boutiques located along its Main Street.
Cold Garden Beverage Company is perhaps the most bohemian place in Calgary.
Wander Inglewood’s residential streets and you will be treated to walk back in time to the early 20th century when Calgary was in its infancy.
Is it Fort Calgary or Heritage Park?
After all Fort Calgary is where the city started. The original fort isn’t there but there is a bit of a replica of the fort and its buildings. You can wander the site, check out the museum and imagine what it must have been like when the first settlers arrived. You can walk to the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers, where indigenous people have been gathering for centuries.
Perhaps it is Heritage Park (127 acres on the Glenmore Reservoir) with is collection of prairie buildings and exhibitions that recreate early 20th century life on the prairies. It is Canada’s largest living history museum by number of exhibits. You can take a vintage train ride from the parking lot to the park and then a vintage boat ride on the Glenmore Reservoir.
Heritage Park historic village
Heritage Park’s Gasoline Alley Museum
Fort Calgary
Is it our recreation experiences?
Calgary is home to some amazing recreation centres. From the northwest’s Rocky Ridge YMCA (second largest in the world) that looks very futuristic, to the SETON YMCA the largest in the world in the south. Calgary is home to several other mega recreation centres – Genesis Center, (NE), VIVO (north), Westside, Cardel, Southland, and Trico (south). Calgary is home to two wave pools – Village Square and Southland. And let’s not forget the Repsol Sports Centre, one of the busiest aquatic centres in North America, with its wonderful white turtle shaped roof.
Perhaps skating at the Olympic Oval on the University of Calgary campus is Calgary’s quintessential experience. It is billed as the fastest ice in the world as many world records have been set there. There is even a chance that while you are skating there will be Olympic speed skaters not only from Canada but other countries training right beside you.
Or you could spend a day at Canada Olympic Park skiing and snowboarding in the winter and mountain biking in the summer. While you are there you should also visit Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. Also nearby is the Calgary Climbing Centre Rocky Mountain that features an outdoor climbing wall on the side of the building, but only for experienced climbers.
If you are cyclist, you will want to challenge yourself to complete the Rotary/Mattamy Greenway a 138-km continuous multi-use pathway that circles the city. Or perhaps cycle around the Glenmore Reservoir. Both are part of the 1,000+ km of multi-user pathways in the city.
You can even sail and row in the Glenmore Reservoir. A visit to the Calgary Rowing Club on the reservoir is an enlightening experience. Or perhaps the quintessential experience is a visit to one of Calgary’s Lake communities for skating in the winter and swimming in the summer. Did you know that Lake Bonavista, was the first man-made lake community in Canada? Today Calgary is home to a dozen lake communities.
Calgary is home to 10+ major recreation centres strategically located around the city. They are the meeting place for people of all ages and backgrounds living in the communities nearby.
Calgary has a very active lawn bowling community
Is it the Calgary Zoo + Telus Spark?
Calgary’s Zoo is not only the second largest in Canada, but it is perhaps the only major zoo located in a City Centre, on an island. It has nearly 1,000 animals, from penguins to hippos, gorillas to tigers, with 100+ being unique to the Calgary Zoo. It even has a Prehistoric section with life size replicas of some of the dinosaurs that used to roam the city.
The Calgary Zoo shares its parking lot and LRT Station with the TELUS Spark Science Centre located in a strange looking grey building with a façade that consists of multiple angular shapes all fused together. It looks a bit like a rock crystal, especially at night when lit up different colours. Inside are several exhibitions and activities for kids and an Infinity Dome theatre for 360-degree viewing.
For families, I am thinking a day at the Zoo and Science Centre could be the quintessential experience, especially if you add a ride on the C-Train to get there. What kid doesn’t love a train ride?
The Calgary Zoo and Botanical Gardens is located on St. George’s Island in the middle of the Bow River, just east of downtown.
Final Answer?
On my walk today I was reminded of something else that might in fact be Calgary’s quintessential experience. Six times during my walk cars stopped to let me cross the street. There are not many major cities in the world where drivers will routinely stop to let pedestrians and cyclists cross the road even if it isn’t a designated crosswalk.
I remember when I first arrived in Calgary and a car stopped for me while I was waiting to jay walk. I just stood there. I had never seen this before. Finally I cross the street with a courtesy wave to the driver.
It is surprizing this tradition has continued, given Calgary’s population growth for the past 50+ years has been mostly from people moving here from other parts of Canada and the world who know nothing about this tradition - but fortunately they quickly learn and adopt it.
With 1,000 km of pathways, a 16-km downtown indoor skywalks, 7,000+ parks, 150+ dog parks, 200+ pedestrian bridges and cars that routinely stop for pedestrians, cyclists and runners, perhaps Calgary’s quintessential experience is simply taking visiting family and friends for “for a walk, a run or a bike ride” in your favourite part of town.If you like this blog, you will like these links:
FYI: If you are thinking of visiting Calgary and are interested in private small group or couple guided tour, Alberta Blue Sky Tours might interest you. Use code "everydaytourist" to receive a 10% discount on your tour.If you like this blog you will like these links:
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