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Bar eleven years when I returned to the Caribbean to rejoin my previous employers, my family and I have lived in this wonderful city and best kept "secret", Calgary, Alberta since 1980. This blog in no way covers every aspect of life here but is meant to be a teaser.
I remember vividly when we got our first glimpse of our new home in Canada. The aircraft descended from aloft and lined up to approach the city from the south. Slowly and steadily, the lower we went, our corresponding anxiety rose, eyes peering out the windows on either side, each of us wanting to get the first view. It was evening time and the sky had already turned to a dim blue color - Fall had just arrived. Gradually, lights began to come into sight as our plane banked slightly to adjust for its final approach. And there it was!
Sprawling before us was a most wonderful array of city lights. Looking down, traffic crisscrossed a myriad of streets and avenues, red tail lights stretching out in all directions. A soft hue of lights from seemingly well planned communities, spread out as far as the eye could see, twinkling like
tiny diamonds and I recall my remarks then,
"It looks like jewels spread out just to welcome us!" Even today, whenever we approach from the air, Calgary's vast expanse never ceases to amaze me. On the port side of the aircraft, the brilliantly lighted downtown core came into view and quickly receded as our wheels touched down. Excitement filled our hearts as our family began a new adventure of life, one that would transform and open our minds to new horizons and one that we have fully embraced and never regretted. We came to live here entirely by choice and have been blessed beyond measure in the knowledge that, although immersed in our new life, our passionate love for the land of our birth will never leave us .
In those days, our city's population was half what it is today. Urban sprawl continues unabated in all directions and as the population nears one and a half million, high rises litter the now almost unrecognizable downtown with magnificent office towers and luxurious ultra-modern apartment buildings, dwarfing the once dominant Calgary Tower and its rotating restaurant. High-end shops, cafes and restaurants are too many to count. In the last five
years in particular, we have seen an upsurge in construction as the old is razed to the ground and incredible architectural designs spring up everywhere. In the core, office complexes are uniquely joined to each other by "plus level" pathways that keep out the winter wind, sleet and snow. All the major oil companies have their head offices based here. This is the executive centre of Alberta's vital oil industry. The Calgary Tower was once the tallest building but Encana's Bow and its unique curve, majestically signaled the new age of modernity. And there is an even taller one under construction.
I have watched this city change in many ways, producing today a society of tremendous variety as peoples from all over the world flock here, drawn by the magnetism of work and business opportunities and by its unique and often unpredictable weather. This cultural diversity has seen the emergence of great restaurants, a feature it was once largely devoid of but now placing our city
on par with some of the best anywhere in the world - from South Asian, Vietnamese, Thai, European, Middle Eastern and Latin and to the traditional western fare of the greatest Angus beef
in the world, a product of the many ranches of southern Alberta. Once older run-down areas like
Inglewood near the
Bow, which meanders through the city, have now been transformed into high demand and desirable communities with top class restaurants and specialty shops. Often on a Sunday, we sit at our bay window table of a favourite restaurant there, enjoying brunch while people pass to and fro on the side walk. In the next block, on occasional evenings, we sit and take in great music from across North America and elsewhere, at the
Grill at Iron Works, which serves the best
Bison Burghers I know of. One evening, having popped in for a meal and learning that flamenco guitarists from Seville, Spain, one of our favourite European cities, would be performing afterwards, we got excited to stay on for the show. Unfortunately, it had already been sold out.
In recent years an
explosion of culture has blossomed, and I do not mind being challenged on this, turning us into a
premier city of festivals - from the
International Festival of Lights to one from almost every culture there is, also sharing music of every genre - jazz, folk, Latin,
classical and even from the Caribbean. The traditional summer draw has been the great
Calgary Stampede, pitting humans against
bucking horses,
chuck wagon races and other
rodeo activity that is so popular in the west, attracting world class entertainers for the ten-day festival. During that time
free pancake breakfasts may be found throughout the city accompanied by traditional music and dance. Billed as the
"Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", First Nations peoples bring elements of their ancient culture to the fore with brilliant costumes, plumed war bonnets and dance for everyone to admire and enjoy. Like most displaced people elsewhere, relationship differences persist across cultural, economic and social lines, yet the Sioux and other tribes remain a proud and significant part of the country.
Hockey and Canadian Football dominate the professional sports but the city is littered with beautiful parks, soccer, baseball fields and the long standing cricket field at Riley Park. And not to forget our magnificent
world class horse jumping complex that hosts the very best from around the world each year for world championships, amidst an atmosphere of elegance and the superb talent of both horse and man. Standing at the pinnacle of excellence,
Spruce Meadows 
New highrisers now dwarf the Calgary Tower on right.
When we first arrived in Calgary in 1980, the Tower was the tallest building there. Since then the city's core has expanded in all four directions and is almost unrecognizable now.events are a must visit event during the summer. We have a large number of
golf courses in and around the city too and it isn't a long drive to discover many of world class standard. In the city's south lies
Fish Creek, the largest provincial park in Canada with its several trails for biking and horse riding and a large man-made lake on which the young descend each summer to frolic. The city also boasts the
most extensive bike paths in all of North America, adding to the outdoors nature of life here.
Easily visible to the west are the incredibly beautiful and
rugged Rocky Mountains, only about an hour's drive away offering some of the
best skiing in North America. Driving from the city through the foothills one is struck by the awesomeness of this breath-taking panorama. There is a particular crest on the way that, as the car reaches it, laid out before us we find the most alluring and picturesque peaks, often snow covered well past Springtime, that one feels like reaching out to figuratively touch. The lure of the mountains is ever present in Calgary as large numbers flock westward in both summer and
South Health Campus
The most modern hospital in Calgary will form the centrepiece of the "second downtown" as Calgary continues its unrelenting urban crawl. winter. Countless provincial camp grounds litter the area and they are so popular in the summer particularly that one has to be an early bird to ensure accommodation, especially if spending the night. Nestling mere minutes before
Banff is the charming
Nordic-like town of Canmore, an excellent base for skiers and summer enthusiasts alike and site of many of the 1988 Winter Olympic events, most of which were held in Calgary. The atmosphere then was magical. There are moves afoot to host the 2026 games.
Sitting at an elevation of over 1,000 meters/3,438 feet its 848 square kilometers/327.4 square miles makes Calgary one of the largest cities in North America. The climate here is prairie-steppe with usually sunny weather even in the winter when it is very common to have snow on the ground accompanied by clear blue cloudless skies. At times the wind takes the form of a
Chinook, a hot dry type that blasts down from the Rockies. In winter the Chinook can raise the temperature by 30 degrees Centigrade in the space of a few hours, providing great relief from the sometimes bitter though dry cold, making this city surprisingly enjoyable even then.
This is
a modern city where the choices of either urban or suburban living are integrated by an improving light rail system, modern buses and the very popular Car2Go system, which boasts the second largest fleet in North America after Vancouver. The little blue and white cars are often seen scurrying around the city and are an option for car ownership amidst sky-high parking fees in the downtown core. The fleet is being expanded to accommodate the increasing numbers that make the downtown core their home. The choices of community to live in span a wide cross section and all are designed for convenience of shopping and other support facilities so that most everyday needs are generally covered without having to drive too far away. Many of the new areas boast
large man made lakes offering boating, fishing and other activity to its residents. Most communities have tennis courts and hockey rinks as well as a central building for indoor activity. The current average cost of a home here is Can$450,000, ranking after both Toronto and Vancouver as the most expensive in the country. An increasing number of condo high rises are being built throughout the city while some multi-million dollar mansions
occupy almost an entire block, some reaching stratospheric values in excess of $12 Million.
From a home base in this dynamic modern metropolis lie several attractions of significance, none the least of which is
Drumheller, about ninety minutes drive to the north-east. This
Badlands country is often referred to as Dinosaur country and houses a magnificent museum of Paleontology, the
Royal Tyrrell and the spectacular Hoodoos make a dramatic impression. Nearby is the popular
Rosebud Theatre, offering stage presentations after dinner and which also produces seven outdoor presentations of the
Passion of Christ set in the surreal and natural surroundings of these ancient land formations that have been carved by nature for our delight. This is an excellent reason to visit this area.
Exiting the city limits, endless fields of
wheat, canola and other crops extend in all directions and further south the grazing
Angus steers all represent Alberta's vast agricultural industry, interspersed by the occasional distinctive pump reminding us that this is oil country first and foremost. Calgary's fortunes seemingly follow that of the global oil industry and are subject to wide and predictable swings in fortune making living here as financially risky as it is excitingly
opportunistic. And yet, its population keeps growing. Now inching towards the 1.5 million mark, its city planners and developers grapple with its future in a constant battle of dynamic vision. The
new Calgary Next project and it futuristic architecture has become a lightning rod of controversy as the owners of the
Calgary Flames hockey and the Calgary Stampeders football teams seek to create a most impressive development combining the two, that would transform the city's west-end core. The funding of this Billion dollar plus price tag is understandably under severe scrutiny and discussion. Given the spirit of adventurism, entrepreneurship and optimism, my suspicion is that this incredibly attractive project and all its support facilities, would be a huge challenge in the current economic environment to get built but which, if it became a reality, would give Calgary another attractive dimension.
Calgary's multi-Billion dollar international airport extension rivals any terminal worldwide and is an appropriate and necessary thrust of cutting edge travel technology which will enhance our reputation and create the much needed gateway for long-hall, non-stop international travel to the far east and elsewhere.
I will let the snippet of pictures of our wonderful city speak for themselves
by providing a glimpse and invite you to visit us. Life here lies at the pinnacle of sophistication and high technology and provides an excellent atmosphere for any family to live and expand its horizons in.
Calgary Stampede Grandstand show video:
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non-member comment
You'll have a population surge with this descriptive blog! Enjoyed it very much Roger.