Page 48 - 2022-2023 Travel Guide to Canada

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Special Events
JANUARY
• ICE MAGIC FESTIVAL, LAKE LOUISE
• SNOWDAYS FESTIVAL, BANFF
JANUARY – FEBRUARY
• ICE ON WHYTE ICE CARVING FESTIVAL,
EDMONTON
JUNE
• SLED ISLAND MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL,
CALGARY
• WATERTON WILDFLOWER FESTIVAL
JULY
• BIG VALLEY JAMBOREE, CAMROSE
• CALGARY STAMPEDE
• CANADIAN BADLANDS PASSION PLAY,
DRUMHELLER
• EDMONTON INTERNATIONAL STREET
PERFORMERS FESTIVAL
• K-DAYS, EDMONTON
• VUL-CON, VULCAN
JULY – AUGUST
• CANMORE FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL
AUGUST
• EDMONTON INTERNATIONAL FRINGE
THEATRE FESTIVAL
NOVEMBER
• AGRI-TRADE EQUIPMENT EXPO, RED DEER
www.travelalberta.com/ca/
things-to-do/events-festivals
museum in western Canada (www.royal
albertamuseum.ca). The meandering North
Saskatchewan River cuts a steep swath through
the city north of downtown, and can be
explored by canoe or raft (www.edmonton.ca).
The “Festival City” boasts more than 90
events a year. Its long winters are cause for
several events including the Ice on Whyte
winter festival in January/February. Summer
offerings include the Fringe Theatre Festival,
the Folk Music Festival, K-Days and Heritage
Festival. North America’s largest indoor
shopping complex is like a self-contained
mini-city. West Edmonton Mall spans the
equivalent of 48 city blocks, has 800+
retail/food outlets and the year-round World
Waterpark. Fort Edmonton Park along the
North Saskatchewan River showcases the fur
trade and Gold Rush eras.
Calgary’s office towers, which contain the
majority of Canada’s oil and gas company
headquarters, were built to showcase the
Rockies on the western horizon. Nearby
Chinatown segues to the Bow River pathway
WEST EDMONTON MALL • SHUTTERSTOCK/JEFF WHYTE
and the redevelopment of the East Village
has revitalized this historic section of east
downtown.
The city has preserved much of the
sandstone buildings along Stephen Avenue
Walk, where many great restaurants and
shops are found, along with the Olympic
Plaza and the Calgary Tower. Numerous retail
stores and eateries are also part of The CORE
complex (www.visitcalgary.com). The
architecturally striking Calgary Central
Library is adjacent to the popular National
Music Centre, east of downtown’s office
towers. The library’s features include a public
art exhibit, a performance hall, community
meeting spaces, Indigenous Place Making
and early learning centres (www.calgary
library.ca).
Residents are devout nature lovers,
flocking to the city’s network of river
pathways as well as the inner city Prince’s
Island Park, Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, and
Bowness Park and its pretty lagoon, where
families can skate in winter and canoe and
paddleboat in summer. Just west of City
Hall, Olympic Plaza is a busy festival and
performance venue that hosted the 1988
Winter Olympic ceremonies. The Calgary
Zoo is renowned for its conservation
initiatives while, south of the city, Spruce
Meadows attracts equestrians to several
international show-jumping competitions
each summer.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Head for the hills from summer to fall for a
guided multi-day backcountry pack trip on
horseback. Sleep under the stars and listen
to coyotes howl in a riverside tent camp in
Dinosaur Provincial Park, home to some of
the planet’s largest fossil beds and fantastic
interpretive programs. Or scramble up the
Via Ferrata (Italian for iron path), a rope
and cable-assisted mountain journey at
Mt. Norquay near Banff. Should winter be
your season, abundant ice-climbing, skiing,
fishing, snowshoeing and ATV journeys can
be found across the province.
Explore the snow-caked Spray Lakes valley
on dogsled. Drive the winter ice road to Fort
Chipewyan, Alberta’s oldest First Nations
community north of Fort McMurray, or
photograph wildflowers among the alpine
lakes at Sunshine Village resort west of Banff or
the Plain of Six Glaciers trail near Lake Louise.
HERITAGE AND CULTURE
The province’s history is just over a century
old, but the First Nations heritage dates to
prehistoric times. Métis Crossing, northeast
of Edmonton, offers a taste of the musical
culture created by the melding of First
Nations Peoples with European settlers in the
19th century. Fort Edmonton tells of the city’s
Gold Rush era, when these same voyageurs
paved the way for the fur trade. Calgary’s
Heritage Park Historical Village overlooks the
calm waters of the Glenmore Reservoir—
where dragon boat racing and other water
sports are held. History is also chronicled at
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, one of the
UNESCO sites in Alberta, or Blackfoot
Crossing—a modern interpretive centre built
into the Bow River bluffs east of Calgary.
Explore transportation history at the
Remington Carriage Museum at Cardston or