Every time I come back from visiting another city, I can’t help but compare it to what Calgary’s City Centre has, or doesn’t have, to offer tourists, conventioneers, business travellers and even locals. After recent visits to Ottawa and Vancouver, I was struck by the fact Calgary’s City Centre which is dominated by office buildings might seem boring or perhaps bland to many visitors, as well as locals.

Ottawa’s City Centre isn’t the most exciting, but there are several “must-see” museums (as you would expect in a nation’s capital) – National Gallery, War Museum and Canadian History Museum. In addition, there is the Rideau Canal (boating, cycling in summer, skating in the winter). And of course, everyone wants to see the Parliament buildings.

And Vancouver, has Stanley Park, Sea Wall, Robson Street, Gastown and Granville Island that help make their City Centre a tourist attraction.

These tiny ferry boats in Vancouver are a fun and inexpensive tourist experience.

Face Of The City

For most visitors, the City Centre is the face of the city. It where you expect to find a city’s unique sense of place. Its history. And its culture.

It is where you will most often find the signature visitor experiences. Think – New York’s Times Square, Toronto’s Eaton Centre, San Antonio’s River Walk or Nashville’s Music Row aka Broadway aka Honky Tonk Highway.

While Calgary has its modest equivalents, they haven’t captured the imagination of Calgarians or visitors as “must-visit” experiences – The Core for shopping, The Glenbow or National Music Centre for culture vultures or Stephen Avenue for history buffs.

Since getting back from Ottawa, I have been asking people “Is Calgary’s City Centre boring?” and “What would make it more attractive?” Do you take visiting family and friends downtown?

One colleague with 40+ years of tourism experience said to me “the City Centre isn’t boring; it is just you have to hunt for the fun things to see and do!” And therein lies the problem – most visitors or locals aren’t going to hunt for the fun, interesting things to see or do.

A commercial leasing expert with 25+ year experience and who works downtown said, “nobody wants to come downtown as long it has a reputation of being unsafe, especially at night, which it now has.” Several have said “I rarely take visitors downtown, maybe to 17th Ave or Inglewood or Kensington.” Perhaps the most common comment was “most of my visitors come for Stampede, otherwise we go to the mountains, Banff and Canmore.”

Calgary is famous for the Calgary Stampede, but unfortunately it is only 10 days of the year, we need to do something about the other 355 days of the year. Hence the need to expand Calgary’s image/brand beyond the cowboy hat and being the Stampede City.

Caglary’s City Centre comes alive during Stampede but that only lasts for 10 days.

Stephen Avenue Walk Checks All The Boxes

Stephen Avenue combines the city’s historic district with its financial and Olympic Plaza Arts District.

On paper, Stephen Avenue Walk should be one of Canada’s great streets – it checks all the boxes.

It is home to a major museum (Glenbow), eight performing art spaces (five at Arts Commons and Vertigo, Lunchbox and Grand nearby), a major public space (Olympic Plaza), three department stores (The Bay, Holt Renfrew and Simons), a major shopping centre (The Core), 3 blocks of turn of the century heritage buildings including The Palace theatre (live music), dozen of restaurants (with a vibrant patio scene in the summer), an arthouse cinema (The Globe), four major hotels nearby (Palliser, Le Germain, Marriott and Hyatt) and a major tourist attraction (Calgary Tower).

It is a pedestrian only public space 6 am to 6 pm, which is somewhat unique for a downtown core in North America. And it is one block from the busy 7th Avenue transit corridor. It also has 50,000+ people living within a 15-minute walk.

From an urban planning perspective, it has all the elements of a great main street.

As a restaurant row there are several great restaurants along The Walk including the new Major Tom at top of Stephen Avenue Place - named #8 in Air Canada’s enRoute’s Best New Restaurants in Canada.

Dining on Stephen Avenue should be one of the great dining experiences in Canada, but it isn’t.

The Core is a hidden gem with its two-block long skylight and 160 stores. Often I have been asked by tourists standing on Stephen Avenue at Bankers Hall “where are the shops?” There needs to be a more dramatic and inviting signage connecting The Core to The Walk to create a synergy between the indoor and outdoor Stephen Avenue experience.

The Walk is also home to the historic Palace Theatre. When the Flames partnered to re brand the Palace Theatre as Flames Central, I was hoping it would become a popular sports bar, offering big screen sporting action from around the world morning, noon and night (hockey to soccer, from cricket to football). But that didn’t happen. Stephen Avenue needs a good sports bar.

While the Palace offers live music today, it should/could be Calgary’s equivalent to the Ryman Theatre in Nashville, or maybe Massey Hall in Toronto, offering live music of all genres 7 days a week and anchor a vibrant nightlife scene on Stephen Avenue Walk. And a must-see experience for tourists and visiting family and friends.

Calgary is widely thought of as the capital of Canada’s cowboy culture. We need to build on that. Stephen Avenue could use a good “country and western bar as a catalyst to creating nightlife along Stephen Avenue. It could have a huge multi-screen TV featuring the “spills and thrills” of last year’s rodeo, chuckwagon races, midway and Grandstand Show as a means of offering a bit of the Stampede experience year-round.

Calgary has experimented unsuccessfully with several winter festival concept since the 1988 Winter Olympics. The latest being GLOW which morphed into Chinook Blast.

Some people have suggested to me perhaps we should have a zip line or light show like Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas. Not a bad idea. We know Stephen Avenue thrives at night in the middle of winter when when there is special programming. Can we create a permanent weekend winter light and music show rather than temporary? Perhaps at Olympic Plaza?

These are all good ideas, but will they make our downtown a more attractive place for locals and tourists to visit, linger and tell others, “you have to see our downtown!”

For most visitors wanting a shopping experience it means a trip to Chinook Mall, no matter how difficult it is to find a parking spot. For those wanting some street life, restaurants and bars it means strolling “17th Ave SW.” And for those looking to experience some of Calgary’s history it’s fun to wander 9th Ave SE in Inglewood, Calgary’s original main street.

Adding Some Energy to Stephen Avenue

The Calgary Telus Convention Centre will likely become redundant with the expansion of the BMO Centre (when it opens in June 2024, it will be the largest convention/trade show facility in Western Canada), so what if we converted the north and south convention centre spaces into an Alberta Energy and Agricultural Exhibition Centre. It could have not only exhibitions about Alberta’s energy history, but also explain how Alberta will lead energy transition in the future. How agriculture has become a hi-tech industry? How Alberta is helping to feed the world?

FYI: I saw a great exhibition on the history of Canola at the National Agricultural Museum in Ottawa recently. What about an IMAX movie illustrating how the oil sands extraction and refining, gas well and pipelines work? The exhibitions must be dynamic, experiential and always evolving so there is always something new to see and do. Perhaps an immersive experience.

And while we are thinking BIG, perhaps downtown Calgary should have a decommissioned mega Oil Sands Dump Truck downtown amongst the office towers. Could it become an authentic “must see” Calgary attraction. Kids would love it.

Could the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre, become a major downtown tourist attraction by converting it into an Alberta Energy & Agricultural Innovation Centre?

Last Word

While more residents, murals, public art and award-winning architecture will all help to make our downtown more attractive – every city has those these days. We need to capitalize on Calgary’s unique assets. Creating a major Energy & Agricultural Exhibition Centre could be just what the doctor ordered?

In part two, I will look at three other ideas for enhancing Calgary’s City Centre as a fun and attractive place for locals and tourists – Skywalk Park, The Bow River Promenade and Jane’s Villages.

Link: Facing Reality: Is Calgary’s City Centre Boring? Part 2