Page 66 - Travel Guide to Canada 2019
P. 66
AB
64
CITY LIGHTS two city blocks. Nearby Chinatown segues
Special Events Alberta’s two major cities off er quite diff erent to the Bow River pathway and the ongoing
JANUARY insights into the province, though they redevelopment of the East Village has revita-
• ICE MAGIC FESTIVAL, LAKE LOUISE share a love of green space, sprawling river lized this historic section of east downtown.
JANUARY – FEBRUARY pathways and tidy, bustling downtowns. The city has preserved much of the
• ICE ON WHYTE ICE CARVING FESTIVAL, The provincial capital of Edmonton is a sandstone buildings along Stephen Avenue
EDMONTON government city with a grand legislature Walk, where many great restaurants and
JUNE building, a thriving arts community and shops are found, along with the Glenbow
• SLED ISLAND MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL, numerous galleries, craft stores and art Museum, Olympic Plaza and the Calgary
CALGARY shops. Most can be found along trendy Tower. Numerous retail stores and eateries
• WATERTON WILDFLOWER FESTIVAL Whyte Avenue or in the downtown arts are also part of The CORE complex (www.
JULY district, the location of the modern Art visitcalgary.com ).
• CALGARY STAMPEDE Gallery of Alberta, the new Royal Alberta Residents are devout nature lovers, fl ock-
• CANADIAN BADLANDS PASSION PLAY, Museum, the Winspear Centre and the ing to the city’s network of river pathways
DRUMHELLER
Citadel Theatre. The meandering North as well as the inner city Prince’s Island Park,
• EDMONTON INTERNATIONAL STREET
Saskatchewan River cuts a steep swath Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, and Bowness Park
PERFORMERS FESTIVAL
through the city north of downtown, and and its pretty lagoon, where families can
• K-DAYS, EDMONTON
can be explored by canoe or raft (www. skate in winter and canoe and paddleboat
• VUL-CON, VULCAN
edmonton.ca ). in summer. Just west of City Hall, Olympic
AUGUST
The “Festival City” boasts more than 60 Plaza is a busy festival and performance
• BIG VALLEY JAMBOREE, CAMROSE
events a year. Its long winters are cause for venue that hosted the 1988 Winter Olympic
• CANMORE FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL
several events including the Ice on Whyte ceremonies. The Calgary Zoo is renowned
• EDMONTON INTERNATIONAL FRINGE
winter festival in January/February. Summer for its conservation initiatives while, south of
THEATRE FESTIVAL
off erings include the Fringe Theatre Festival, the city, Spruce Meadows attracts equestri-
NOVEMBER
the Folk Music Festival, K-Days and Heritage ans to several international show-jumping
• AGRI-TRADE EXPOSITION, RED DEER
Festival. North America’s largest indoor competitions each summer.
www.travelalberta.com/ca/ shopping complex is like a self-contained
things-to-do/events-festivals mini-city. West Edmonton Mall spans the THE GREAT OUTDOORS
equivalent of 48 city blocks, has 800+ Head for the hills from summer to fall for a
retail/food outlets and the year-round guided multi-day backcountry pack trip on
herd of 31 bison was released last July from World Waterpark. Fort Edmonton Park horseback. Sleep under the stars and listen
an enclosed pasture to travel freely through along the North Saskatchewan River to coyotes howl in a riverside tent camp in
a 1,200 sq. km (463 sq. mi.) “reintroduction showcases the fur trade and Gold Rush eras. Dinosaur Provincial Park, home to some of
zone” along the remote eastern slopes of Calgary’s offi ce towers, which contain the planet’s largest fossil beds and fantastic
the Rocky Mountains in Canada’s fi rst the majority of Canada’s oil and gas company interpretive programs. Or scramble up the
national park. Parks Canada is monitoring headquarters, were built to showcase the Via Ferrata (Italian for iron path), a rope
the herd over the next several years to Rockies on the western horizon. An inner- and cable-assisted mountain journey at
determine if it is feasible for the giant city energy hub called the Bow Tower is a Mt. Norquay near Banff . Should winter be
creatures to roam freely long-term. modern architectural skyscraper that covers your season, abundant ice-climbing,
skiing, fi shing, snowshoeing and ATV
journeys can be found across the province.
BANFF NATIONAL PARK • TRAVEL AB/BANFF & LAKE LOUISE TOURISM/PAUL ZIZKA
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 wildfl owers 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, off ers a taste of the musical
culture created by the melding of First
Nations Peoples with European settlers in
th
the 19 century. Fort Edmonton tells of the
city’s Gold Rush era, when these same
voyageurs paved the way for the fur trade.
