A Destination Loved By Locals: Bowness Park

Many residents of Calgary love spending time at Bowness Park all year. With beautiful scenery and many great activities, this is a popular place for singles, couples, families and groups of friends. Spend time walking the many paths, enjoy a family picnic or discover one of the many other great uses for this park.

Activities found at Bowness Park include:

• Paddle boating
• Cross-country skiing
• Playground
• Paths for biking and walking
• Spay Park
• Water Fountains
• Outdoor ice skating

You can find the park between Stoney Trail and 85 Street N.W. It’s located near the Bow River, which helps add to the amazing scenery. A lagoon is found on the southern edge, as well. If you want to spend time on the river, you can with the paddleboats or you can just enjoy a picnic with the river providing soothing sounds and scenery.

Redeveloped and Returned Even Better

The park underwent some recent renovations and redevelopment with the goal of making the visitor experience better. Funds were provides to improve many things including:

• A new wading pool
• Parking was moved to a central location
• New concessions
• New cafe building
• Restoration of the river edge
• New parking lots on the west end
• Old entrance bride replaced

Since the park was seeing more visitors than it had in the past, the city decided this was an important project. The redevelopment isn't completed just yet, but is scheduled to finish in 2015. Once this is complete, the new buildings for the cafe and the concessions will provide a better experience for visitors, along with easier access to the lagoon, better parking and better signage.

If you plan to visit the park before the redevelopment is finished, make sure you check the park website for details on current redevelopment projects. This will help direct you to the right place for parking and let you know if any areas are closed for renovations.