Browsing “Parks & Recreation”

Becoming a runner isn’t easy. If you are going to partake in the self-inflicted suffering that sometimes comes with becoming a runner, you might as well do in the best environment possible. Let me count down the top five reasons why I think that the Bow River Pathway is the best place to go for a run in Calgary.

5. The options:

If your morning run takes you through St. George’s Island and also has you cross the bridge over the Bow River in Edworthy Park, there is a good chance you just ran a half marathon. Congratulations. You are officially a super-human, or possibly a liar. Either way, for those of us who can’t pound out an easy 20k every morning there are multiple different loops to consider. The Peace Bridge to Crowchild and back is about 6k. Extend the east leg of that loop through Eau Claire, cross the river at the 4th Street Bridge and you’ve got yourself a 10k. The Bow River pathway is a great place to fit in among a wide spectrum of newbies and seasoned joggers.

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It’s gardening season in Calgary! At least I think it is. A quick google search for “when to plant seeds in Calgary” or “Calgary gardening tips” returns a lot of complicated results. Some say I should test the pH of my soil; others require me to know what “moon-favorable dates” are. Listen internet, I grew a lima bean plant when I was in grade 3. How complicated could planting a vegetable garden in my backyard really be? The answer is apparently: “very complicated”.

It is amazing how region and season specific gardening knowledge is. While there are a few great online resources for gardening and even a handful of helpful guides that are specific to Calgary, not every answer you are looking for can be found with a quick internet search. Even once you’ve done all of your homework and prepared your garden to the best of your ability there is still so much that could go wrong along the way. A true gardener accepts this fact, learns from his or her mistakes and patiently waits to try again the next season. This is what makes gardeners so awesome.

To get a better idea of how to start my very first vegetable garden, I spoke with Kath Smyth, the in-house horticulturist for the Calgary Horticultural Society…

Calgary is Awesome: Are there any specific resources that you would recommend for Calgarians who have never planted a garden before?

Kath Smyth: The Community Garden Resource Network, which is ran out of the Calgary Horticultural Society’s office is a great place to start. The Community Garden group runs  all sorts of get-togethers and have some really great discussion nights. Some of the seminars they offer are quite valuable. Honestly, what I would do is look for a community garden in your neighbourhood and just go over and chat with whoever is working in the garden. You would learn quite a bit about what they do this way.

Personally, I believe in going to one of the major garden centres and reading the seed packets. I love reading the packets from the standpoint of a plant fanatic, but I also learn something new every year from reading the packets.

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Could you survive in a lifeboat with a tiger? It’s a strange question, but one that the Calgary Zoo would like to help you answer.

Life of Pi, a film based on Saskatchewan author Yann Martel’s novel of the same name – and filmed almost entirely in Montreal – has been nominated for 11 Oscars. The story follows the protagonist, Pi, as he travels from his family’s zoo in Pondicherry, India, to Canada. The ship is caught in a storm, and capsizes, leaving Pi behind on a lifeboat with a tiger named Richard Parker.

The story is rich in magical realism, but taken at face value the question is intriguing. Would you truly be able to survive on a lifeboat with a tiger?

As part of their school programs, the Calgary Zoo is hosting a discovery class for Language Arts students from grades 7 – 12 that aims to answer that question. The program examines the natural history of tigers, discusses animal husbandry and training, and how the Pondicherry Zoo compares to the Calgary Zoo. The class runs for 90 minutes, and is available from September through April. There’s more information available on the Zoo’s website.

The Calgary Zoo is currently home to six Amur, Siberian tigers. They’re the largest cat in the world, and unfortunately due to hunting and habitat loss there are only about 450 left. Calgary has three adult Amur tigers, named Baikal, Katja, and Kita. Three cubs were born to Katja in March, 2012. Two males, Samkha and Vasili, and a female, Kira.

If you’re trying to weigh your odds on a lifeboat, they might be better with Samka, Vasili, or Kira, than with one of the grown ups. The average adult Siberian tiger weighs about 400 lbs. When deer and boar populations are low, tigers have been known to prey on wolves, keeping their population negligibly low, and sometimes even bears. However, the Bengal tiger (such as Richard Parker) has historically been a man-eater much more frequently than the Siberian tiger. So what are your chances of surviving while stranded at sea? You might have to sign up your kid for a Discovery Class to find out.

I grew up dreaming the Olympic Dream. As a competitive swimmer, there are no draft picks, Grey Cups or World Series; there is the Olympics. Granted there are many stops and milestones along the way, but the Olympics are always the true dream.

When I finally ‘retired’ from swimming in my third year of university, I knew I had given enough hours of my life to early morning practices, and that the Olympic Dream wasn’t mine to fulfil. While I no longer consider myself an elite athlete, there is nothing that inspires me more than the Olympics. I have been counting down for months, so looking forward to watching the opening ceremonies, and to getting up at 5:00 am MT to watch my friend swim in the men’s breaststroke heats. I’m very glad that we have two TV’s in our apartment, as one will be tuned only to Olympic coverage for the next two weeks.

There are lots of places to join in the comradery of watching and cheering for Team Canada in the coming days and weeks, though there is one place that I find the most inspiring of all. If you have yet to visit the new and beautiful Canadian Sports Hall of Fame at COP, you really must go. The only national museum outside of Ontario, this amazing interactive space showcases Canada’s greatest sporting achievements and people, in every sport and season. I loved trying to ski jump (virtually, I’d never make it off a real jump!), and pretending to be a sports broadcaster!

Photo Courtesy of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

Bridget Cox, Manager of Marketing and Communication at Canada’s Sport’s Hall of fame is quick to note what a great and inspirational experience the hall is for any Canadian. Canada’s Sports Hall of fame is “committed to promoting the importance of sport and the life lessons it teaches, to inspire Canadians to achieve their best in sport and in life.” Well, I for one left totally inspired.

With over 95, 000 artifacts safely stored at the Hall’s new location at COP, there will always be something new to see, whether you happen to visit during the Olympic games or not.

For more information about the hall, including info on admission and hours, visit www.sportshall.ca. They will be broadcasting live Olympic coverage for the duration of the games, so if you’re like me and don’t want to miss any amazing moments in the next couple of weeks, it’s still safe to visit.

There are so many vacant lots in Calgary that it can be a little bit sad to see as you walk through your neighbourhood. Wander anywhere on 17^th Avenue, Inglewood, the Beltline and more and you will come across abandoned spaces of dirt and derelict that sit empty day after day, year after year. The recent potato-gate incident in Scarboro is just one example of how people want to invest in their communities to make it vibrant and lively. Unfortunately, it was a case of illegal potato-planting and trespassing that caused the project to fail.

On the flip side though, an interesting public/private sector collaboration has emerged between Molson Canadian, Victoria Park and Cowboys Calgary to beautify our city through an initiative called Project Red Leaf.  The group is looking for volunteers to join in the creation of a pocket park in the Victoria Park area. You’ll be able to get your hands dirty, help build a park and work side-by-side with other community members. As a thank you, all volunteers will also be rewarded with a concert ticket to the sold-out Sublime with Rome show taking place at Cowboys. Sounds like a win to me!

If you’re interested in making our city a little better this Canada Day long weekend, sign up for Project Red Leaf here. The day-long initiative will take place on July 2^nd with two different shifts at 8:30am and 11:30am. Get a group of friends together and help build some awesome in Victoria Park.

Project Red Leaf isn’t only taking place in Calgary. The Molson-led initiative has a number of environmental park projects taking place across the country. Check out the full list of projects here to find a park project near you.

Stop by Millennium Park between 4 pm - 7pm on Thursday, June 21 for Go Skateboarding Day

It’s no secret Calgary has an amazing skateboard scene; a plethora of great (free!) parks, stores and of course skaters, that we should celebrate the YYC scene, if for not one day a year. This Thursday, drop your TV, put down that tennis racquet and throw away your boring Magic Cards because it’s GO SKATEBOARDING DAY.

If you’re the kind of person who’s adverse to ‘social causes’ but picks one thing a year to get involved in, here’s your one thing. I’m just sayin’ that if you’re of the GenX through to Millennial Generation, then these are your people, and you should support them.

According to the official Go Skateboarding Day website, the Day was started on June 21, 2003 by the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC), as as way to “give passionate skateboarders as well as those who are simply inspired by skateboarding, the opportunity to drop everything and get on a skateboard.” Now how poetic is that?

The truth is skaters deserve it! Between fighting stupid tickets, advocating for parks and falling face first at high speeds on concrete, the least we can do is give them a day. The Calgary Association of Skateboarding Enthusiasts (CASE) is hosting this year’s Go Skateboarding Day event at Millennium Park with all kinds of super fun activities. And most importantly: SKATEBOARDING. Not rollerblading, SKATEBOARDING.

It doesn’t matter whether you prefer bowls to stairs, or long boards to curbs, grab your deck and we’ll see you there.

With the weather officially turning nice this weekend (and hopefully staying this way – knock on my fake wood coffee table), it’s a great time to get out and about on Calgary’s many pathways and bikeways. Calgarians are lucky to have the largest urban network of bikeways and pathways in North America. To find your way among these numerous routes, download The City’s Pathways and Bikeways mobile app to take with you on your runs and walks.  What’s your favorite path to take? Send us a tweet or post on our wall to let us know!

Winter has officially arrived! This weekend’s brisk temperatures have many Calgarians scrambling to acclimate while continually hoping for another chinook to roll in. There are even some of us who will take the black-capped Chickadee approach, and eat steadily throughout the day. Then, when it’s too cold to move around, these individuals will enter into a state of mini-hibernation that may last hours or even a few days.

But if the Chickadee approach doesn’t seem like the right fit for you, perhaps embracing the next few months is the best remedy? Snow sports is just one of the many options we have for coping with winter, and for all the snow sports and outdoor enthusiasts in the city, what could be better than a full day of product demos, clinics, instruction and safety services?

How about all of that…for FREE!?!!

Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) Calgary’s Snowfest is a celebration of all things winter, minus the warming up your car and sidewalk shoveling, part. Head down to MEC today for a family-friendly festival that has something for everyone, including a place to swap your old snowsports equipment and find that perfect pre-loved-by-another item to add to your backpack. Learn to wax your Cross Country skis, or how to use Avalanche safety equipment in an emergency. Listen to CBC Extreme Canada host, Paul Karchut, provide advice on the art of winter packing or get a chance to check out the latest products from K2, BCA, Kastle, Atlas Snowshoes, Black Diamond and SPOT.

Of course, Snowfest is also a great place to connect with the Calgary snowsports community and find snow-passionate, like-minded individuals to trek and travel with. A cornucopia of exhibitors will be on hand throughout the day to talk gear, help you connect with trip partners, spice up your backcountry safety knowledge, and make sure you get the most out of winter this year.

Canadians, and particularly Calgarians, have always embraced winter and the many activities and events that make the colder months of the year that much more enjoyable. Yes, it’s cold, but not that cold…

Snowfest is today, November 20th, 2011 beginning at 11am:  830 – 10th Ave SW.

A brief schedule of the days events:

11:30am – 12:30pm

Alpine Touring and Cross Country ski comparison by K2

Atlas Snowshoes  demo

Winter Cycling by MEC

Packing for Winter by CBC Outside’s Paul Karchut (Calgary-based, CBC ski and outdoor journalist)

Avalanche Forecasting by the Canadian Avalanche Centre

12:30pm – 1:30pm

Cross Country ski waxing by the Canadian Association of Nordic Ski Instructors

Choosing your Ice Climbing gear by Yamnuska Mountain Adventures

Mountain Rescue by Kananaskis Country Public Safety

Hands on Avalanche Rescue Tools by Back Country Access

2:30pm – 3:30pm

All About Alpine Touring Skis – materials, construction and choice by Kastle

All about Snowshoes by MEC

Winter Running by MEC

Intro to Winter Camping by Rob Owens

Avalanche Forecasting by the Canadian Avalanche Centre

3:30pm – 4:30pm

Cross Country ski waxing my MEC

Ice Climbing Technique and Gear by Black Diamond

SPOT Satellite Messenger by SPOT

Introduction to Avalanche Safety by Yamnuska Mountain Adventures

No pre-registration is required, and the events also include an all-day kids craft table and snowshoe track, lunch with prizes and giveaways, and a gear swap (Call MEC @ 430-269-2420 to reserve a table).

Get this winter started on the right foot with MEC Snowfest!

Come down this Saturday and check out the new RiverWalk plaza in East Village. They have put so much work into making the river fun, accessible, and TOTALLY beautiful! Market Collective is excited to join with them for this sweet outdoor event!

Saturday, July 30 · 12:00pm – 4:00pm
Along the River outside of the Simmons Building- 610 5th Ave SE

Bring your bike, bring your family, bring your party pants and be prepared to enjoy a beautiful day in the East Village!

For more information, check out the Facebook invite, or visit the East Village Website.

Cycling to work in Calgary, at least for me, has always been pretty easy. Over the past 5 years I’ve been fortunate to live within a 7km radius of my workplace. I’ve moved twice, and have had to adapt my routes to ensure I’m still on time, but for the most part I’ve found this city’s drivers and cyclists are very accommodating to each other.  Navigating the city streets and designated pathways has been and continues to be, relatively painless. I’ve heard all the horror stories of course, which is probably why I’m so much slower than the vast majority of cycle commuters.

Yesterday, when the Calgary Cycling Strategy report was released to city council, I was intrigued by the number of individuals interested in the topic and spent a little time researching the plan and overall opinions. In particular, after reading some of the comments in Jason Markusoff’s Calgary Herald article on the topic of a Cycling Strategy, it became obvious the issue of spending taxpayers money to make our city safer for cyclists, is a controversial one. Read more