I’m still here, and my site is still alive, but how can that be with no posts for over two years? I’m still interested, I have more to share, but I have an ineffective work process. It’s not a relaunch, but I want to adapt to working on short impulsive posts. It’s a personal challenge to myself, with a refocus on experiences.
Tompkins Park
Sitting here on a summer’s day with the vibrancy of 17th all around is the best. It’s a small park with plaza space, I call ground-zero for 17th ave. The area comes alive with little events every Saturday throughout the summer. (or without COVID it did)
Thomson Family Park
It’s already been five years since this park underwent a complete teardown and rebuild. Inner city parks can get a bad reputation, but this one is always filled with local kids. Here we chat with our like minded neighbors while our kids play together. I wish there was never litter around, but it comes from the hundreds that use the park every day. The city is active with it’s maintenance and any wear is looked after weekly. In summers there’s fountains and outdoor ice in winter. In the planning phase there was talk about food trucks making it a stop, but that’s only happened twice in separate years.
East Village River Walk
In summer our city’s love of the river isn’t any more obvious than along the East Village’s River Walk. Morning brunch at Charbar with coffee in hand, blue sky overhead while looking out at the river is my happy place. Ending a river rafting trip at St Patrick’s island is the perfect occasion to walk back along the river pathway to Prince’s Island.
17th Avenue
I believe 17th Avenue is Calgary’s focal point for walkable urban living. I’m lucky that this last stretch before arriving home isn’t something I have to “get past” but a collection of our family’s favorite places to get out and experience festivals, dining, parks, walks, shopping and attractions. My expectation is that I can go for a walk, take in the sights, grab a coffee, pick up fresh bread, buy dishwasher pods, look at the latest tablets and pick up a birthday gift all without starting the car.
YouTube video from user notenufwow during the 2016 Zoo Lights: Link
Expect lines, but remember there are ticket kiosks at both the main entrance and inside at the train station entrance
The grounds of the Zoo along with the Enmax Conservatory are transformed with 2 million lights into a Christmas wonderland. Beginning in 1997 running from the last weekend in November to the first in January, each night the Zoo closes at 6pm and then reopens with a Christmas Light show like no other.
Promotional video from the Calgary Zoo, this does not belong to me
For the first fourteen years I lived here I never went to Zoo lights. I’d just pictured Christmas lights and didn’t think much of it. Well when our daughter was born we were starting new traditions for us and her. Zoo lights has become a tradition for us like many other Calgary families. We always go two days before Christmas regardless of if its a cold year or a mild year. Parking can be crazy but the Zoo has a well designed lot and no matter where you park it’s not too far to the gates (because of it’s fan like layout).
I like to think this is a festive Ogopogo
First off this isn’t just some lights thrown around, there is a lot of effort made for presentation and artistic display. There are also fire pits to enjoy hot chocolate by, ice skating inside a giant tent to protect you from the potential winds. Next at the conservatory is Santa Claus along with a themed exhibit. One year that was a sugar plum forest, complete with fairies.
This year the Zoo has an all new exhibit …
“”Wander both indoors and out with the ENMAX Conservatory activities and displays featuring Snow White, the evil queen and the seven stewards of the forest. Throughout our magically decorated topical oasis and surrounding gardens, you’ll find a Giant Gingerbread House, an Enchanted Forest, an Apple Wishing Tree, our Sustainability Factory with craft stations and Santa himself.”
Note: These were not the real penguins dressed up with electric lights
If you go remember your mittens or gloves, dress in layers and expect it to be busy with lots of strollers (we’ll be with one of them). There will likely be Zoo Lights themed merchandise to buy along with the regular gift shop being open.
Have you been to the new Central Library? Will you be going? Do you think we needed a new library? Or do you think there was a road interchange somewhere that we could have spent the money on?
Main entrance approach from 3rd St SE
On November 1st the new Central Library opened. It was a four-year construction project totalling 245 million dollars, with unique location-based challenges (it was built over operating C-train tracks). Our new Central Library makes quite the impression, it’s welcoming with bright open spaces, an extensive use of wood, gentle curves and slopes everywhere. Of course, it’s not just the building, it’s the variety of its contents. Libraries have changed from endless aisles of books to collaboration spaces with classes and of course the books. Our new library is 240,000 sq ft, containing 450,000 titles, 30 free to use community meeting rooms, an audio and video studio and a 340 seat theatre.
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On Saturday November 3rd we joined thousands who flocked to see the city’s newest civic investment. To be honest with you when I originally heard about the new library being built in the East Village I didn’t think much of it. The location made sense but I thought little else. Now after following its construction for years, both physically by sight and online through sites and forums, I’m more than interested. I haven’t had a library card in years, saying I enjoy the atmosphere of bookstores to libraries. Well, thanks to the new Central Library I’m ready for that to change.
On the opening weekend there were performances going on all day. From the seats here you could enjoy singing, choirs, and musicians.
Here at the entrance are the new arrivals, holds and returns.
All the book shelves have integrated lighting making the book attractive. Also, the signage is clear and easy to locate.
We took the train from our end of downtown to the other, getting off at city hall. What an impression it makes, the Library is another landmark site in the East Village’s transformation of an end of downtown that was once far from desirable. The whole area is one of optimism and progress, however this is not luxury condos, high-end dining, or a boutique hotel. Because this is a place for everyone and anyone to enjoy. My wife and I remarked how the travel space from “downtown” to “the east village” is now gone. There is no space one has to “get through”. Once the tower at 5th & 3rd is complete with Loblaws City Market, then it won’t matter the direction you approach from either. Third street behind the municipal building is no longer a cold barren no man’s land. Instead it’s a welcome walk with both buildings’ staircases making the height of the buildings feel human and approachable.
The building is filled with captivating angles for sights and perspectives.
Approach we did with twenty thousand of our neighbours to see this grand place. On the west side of the building opposite city hall is a 2000 sq ft cafe called LUKES. This is a collaboration between Gareth Lukes, the third generation owner of Lukes Drug Mart in Bridgeland, and Eric Hendry, former chef of Model Milk and now Bar Von Der Fels. (LUKES is accessed from the outside on the west side of the building) We did not get a chance to check out LUKES on this visit but I’m sure we will soon. After all, there’s little our family loves more than coffee shops.
In the kids area the shelves are sized appropriately and interestingly for them.
Following stairs or a ramp leads from the street level plaza up and under the structure’s overhanging entrance. This can then be used as a passageway coming down the other side to the East Village. The entrance ceiling of the overhang is built with curved wood planks, like floorboards, a theme that is used throughout. Coming in the main entrance you first find new works of fiction. I liked that everything about the library is spacious, but space wasn’t wasted with some kind of grand lobby, no the books start right away.
Some of the many self serve checkouts.
Part of the move away from a lobby and checkout desk is that there are self-serve checkout desks all over the place. I’d read about this before our visit, it’s a move away from library staff “hidden” behind desks, and instead adds to the open and interactive nature of the library with staff moving throughout the building helping visitors.
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I imagine regularly the library will be simple to get around, but on that day, everything took a while, as we all herded around.
All the floors of the building can be accessed from the grand central staircases with natural wood throughout and lit by the skylight up top. In addition the first two floors can be gradually traversed by a walkway that slowly ramps along the perimeter of the whole structure.
Even on that busy day, you could get around quickly by moving along the perimeter.
Roughly halfway up the first floor is the site’s second restaurant, also called Lukes. This smaller site serves coffee and sweets. You can even enjoy the same soft serve that Lukes Drug Mart is famous for, the plan is for the flavours to change monthly. When you visit, give yourself some time to spend here, just to take a seat and enjoy the great view of all the developments in the East Village.
Normally I’d wait in line for a coffee
Then find a place to sit, relax and take it all in.
But on that day it felt like waiting around at an airport.
Our daughter liked the place, the whole experience. (Actually, she wanted a balloon animal and I dragged her away from the line to keep looking and take more pictures, she’s sitting here in defiant anger.)
Moving past and around the corner is the kid’s library, this I also read about in advance. Rather than a kids section in the back or the basement as you would have found years ago, this is centrally located and as grand as anything else. Kids books are arranged by age group and later by genre. The area is visually filled with colours and areas to read, but also with a play structure.
The kid’s library starts with books for the littlest first.
I’ve heard that some feel a play area for kids has no place in a library. Well as a parent I welcome it. I look forward to years of coming to the library as a family, it’s filled with something for everyone and we’ll easily spend hours there. However, when kids are just little they get restless with sitting, or “looking around”. A play area is perfect it allows them to reset or balance out and then be ready and patient for a change of pace again. At least this is what I can see my kids doing.
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The second floor continues with the extensive fiction collection as well as special collections for the visually or hearing impaired.
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This is an Electronic magnifier and a text to speech reader
The darkened rooms here are some of the free to use bookable meetings spaces
Peeking into one of those meeting rooms
The third floor has a digital focus, here is where the audio and video studios are. If you have a project you need to work on but lack the equipment it’s all here for your use. You can borrow Chromebooks and take them to a cubicle or meeting room. The floor also contains the teen lounge, here there are board games and video games. Teens can find novels and book series focused on them while they can also learn about robots and programming, use an old typewriter or learn to sew. There are also music and movie collections that can be taken out just the same. It’s a true space for teenagers.
Board Games
Larger meeting/collaberation space
Magazine area
Movies
More Board Games
Space to lounge and read
Video game station
Space to lounge and read
Learn to Sewing
Foreign films collection
The fourth floor contains reference volumes with a huge section on local history and interest. Lastly is the great reading room. This reminds me a little of an old world library space, yet modern and very calm a perfect retreat.
This has everything you could ever want to know about our great city, from early settlers to early oil days
Entrance to the “TD Great Reading Room”
Inside the Great Reading Room
The Great Reading Room from afar
On that opening weekend it was insanely busy, imagine Chinook Mall two days before Christmas, and you’d be right. There were lines to get everywhere, lines to look at everything, and strollers parked everywhere. Yet mixed in with the crowds just coming to look around like ourselves, there were already people reading and studying.
Public Computers
Great spaces for everyone
Cubicles for working
Despite the huge open welcoming areas, there are still sit down spaces for small groups and individuals everywhere. There are rows of computers and printers for everyone to use and great meeting rooms for groups. There are classes going on where you can learn new skills, take a history lesson, or hear a local author speak, all for free.
More computer spaces
But don’t think that a visit to simply pick up a book will occupy more time than you have, because right off the entrance are the holds for pickup, and returns. Ensuring you don’t need to take the time to explore, except when you have it.
Our daughter saw me working on this post and asked when we are going back to the library. I hope her enjoyment and appreciation of public spaces never ends
This new library is a beautiful addition to our city, to the downtown and the East Village. I don’t believe for a second that the money should have been spent elsewhere, there will always be other demands on our tax paying dollars. But to live in a city with no community, no great spaces of expression, no unique and local spaces is not a city I want to live in. This library is free to all, for every income level, for our oldest citizens and our youngest, for those newest to our country and those who’ve never left our city.
Visitor guides containing this map are located everywhere
I’ve heard criticisms about its location, being realistic it is down the street from the drop in centre and shares a sidewalk with the salvation army. But it’s also across the street from Bow Valley College, sharing 3rd street with the future City Market, and a close neighbour to Studio Bell. It is near everything, in a neighbourhood where everything is changing.
Looking east down the steps into the East Village
I’m sure that a trip to the Library via the C-Train would bring my family into contact with more of our city’s homeless than a car trip to Chinook Mall. Does that mean I will want to keep my children away from its location? Not at all. First off people everywhere are different, and different isn’t to be feared. I want my children to experience life, not to be held up in some sheltered environment. If that means that we see someone less fortunate at the Library trying to change their circumstances, then that’s the way the real world is. If that means we see someone sleeping on the steps of that nice new plaza, well that’s a little uncomfortable. That would create some questions, which I would try to explain, and to teach them how to handle such situations. Yes I want to protect my children from things in life that would make them uncomfortable, but really I want to teach them to see and understand situations. If that means seeing a mixture of things in our day to day experience, well that’s living where everything isn’t always the best, but it isn’t a reason to stay away from things and places where things happen.
I love the River Walk
I’ve had some of my best times in our city in the East Village. In the summer I call sitting along the River Walk my happy place. This area is more than up and coming it is filled with growth and positivity. I like visiting the area because that energy is infectious. It is the perfect location for the new Central Library and many family outings to come.
I wish this was everyday
I wanted to share more pictures of some of the other rooms and features that I couldn’t fit into the article.
What Stampede means to me? An expression of city spirit and western heritage.
It’s the middle of this year’s Stampede, and I haven’t been to the grounds, nor do i intend to. You might assume I don’t like Stampede, or that I’m one of the folks who only talks of leaving town during the annual event. However, this wouldn’t be true at all.
I moved to Calgary in ‘99 not knowing much about it. “The Big Four” didn’t mean anything to me. The historical ties to the CP Rail, I knew nothing about. Oil booms going back nearly a hundred years and the impact on the cities prosperity I had no knowledge of. I’m from the interior of B.C. where it’s all about Gold, Silver and Coal mines. Ghost towns are all over B.C. and the signs of busier times.
My first Stampede I didn’t go to the grounds and resisted the overflowing spirit around the city. I’m not one for “Western” culture, I’d only been on a horse twice for a total of a half hour. However history does interest me, especially history I can see. How did things come to be the way they are, there’s always a story. The history of Calgary is about pioneering a new way of life. That can be said across Canada, and even North America. However I don’t live across the continent I live here, so here is where I can see history’s influence on today. The more I learned about my new home’s history the more I was caught up in that pioneering spirit, and I believe it still resides here today. To me the Stampede represents a glamorous romanticized version of our history.
You can tell me the Stampede is only about partying and drinking. You can tell me the Stampede only represents cruelty to animals. You can tell me it’s a fraud to western culture with urban city folk pretending me be cowboys for ten days. You can also tell me Stampede is just an overblown and overpriced grab for tourists. I’ll agree with every one of those statements, from a certain point of view. But I’ll also say you’ve only experienced one aspect of the Stampede. It represents so many different things, to different people and different industries. You can be a big fan and not know all the aspects to it.
For me, it is an expression of city spirit and western heritage. We celebrate it to say this is where we come from and that spirit is still alive here. So does this mean I’m a big fan of the Stampede? Do I go to the grounds every year? Nope. But I do like what it represents. Coming from a small town, civic pride was important. We as a community took pride in our town, what it represented, where it came from, who built it, and what we had achieved. It was only natural to have city events and celebrations. You can have a city celebration to commemorate a city’s founding. Why don’t we just do that? Because, we’re celebrating more than our city’s history, it’s a collective history of the west.
In 2012 the Stampede celebrated 100 years of Stampeding. Technically it has only been running annually since 1924, but it’s origins can be traced to 1886. It was begun by the Calgary and District Agricultural Society, to promote Calgary, western expansion and agricultural ingenuity. I think that is still something to celebrate together as a city. Don’t complain to me that traffic is bad during Stampede, that hotels are expensive, or that all tourists are bad drivers. People are celebrating our home, any city in the world is going to be busy when it hosts a major event. I’m proud to have an event to host for the world. Proud that we have more than the Stampede to be known for, but that the Stampede is how we celebrate our city.
Stampede spirit isn’t confined to the grounds of the Stampede in Victoria Park it’s all around. When I see the first Stampede decorations going up at the end of June I smile because that’s our city spirit on display. There are families with long standing traditions of watching the parade together. For others it’s all about the midway rides, of the grandstand show. I’ve never yet seen the chuckwagon races live but I will. Why? I have no history or connection to agriculture or cattle. But it’s where I live, where I choose to live, where I’m proud to live. I like the Stampede, I look forward to the city’s expression of it, the unity of common experience, I love what it represents to so many.
When you’re new here it may not mean anything to you, but it likely will, especially if you can get past the county music.
Events that make up the Stampede
Parade – Held the first Friday in July and kicking of the event is the Stampede Parade
Rodeo – Technically this is what it’s all about. One of the largest of its kind in the world covering six major events, bull riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, saddle bronc and bareback riding – and four novice events – junior steer riding, novice bareback, novice saddle bronc and wild pony racing.
Rangeland Derby – This the chuckwagon race perhaps the most iconic event of the Stampede.
Grandstand Show and the Stampede Showband – Held each night on the grounds this is world class entertainment with song and dance to acrobatic performance ending with a nightly firework display.
Exhibition – The agricultural exhibition began in 1886, made up of 50 farm and ranch displays and competitions.
Midway – The midway is what most people talk about when they say “the grounds” with a mixture of rides and carnival games. There are two concert areas. Nashville North, a huge party tent (with lines even longer) is a country music venue. Next is the Coca-Cola stage, where there’s family entertainment during the day and rock and pop acts at night. Lastly, the Saddledome host headline acts.
Market – Located in the BMO center it’s 410,000 sq ft of retail space with vendors selling everything imaginable, with a featured area called the Western Oasis.
After a winter like that Summer is finally here. We’ve been out visiting our favorite parks and spent nearly two hours at one close to home. Our daughter is happy to not be wearing giant coats and boots, but she’s not the only one. We want to box up our winter clothes, then put those boxes in a trunk and then store that trunk in someone’s garage in the suburbs.
4th Street overflows with our city’s biggest festival. From 13th Ave all the way to 26th Ave. Lilac Fest is this Sunday 10am – 6pm.
Lilac Fest returns to 4th street in Mission this weekend! We’ll be going down as a family with a goal of more than walking around. Our daughter has been every year since she was born, but this year I hope we can hear some bands and enjoy more than just a hotdog.
Road construction on 17th resumed, from May 1st to Stampede. Then breaks for Summer and picks up after labor day. The Current phase sees the avenue ripped up from 4th St to 7th St.
Meanwhile construction of 17th resumed at the beginning of May and will go hard until Stampede begins. We’re visiting all of our favorites places like Steeling Home, Analog Coffee and 1410. Of note we were at 1410 for brunch on a hot Sunday where the rooftop patio was 19 degrees at 10:30am. That day my father was in town and we took a walk from Mission along the Elbow River to Ft. Calgary and the East Village. The pathways along there are far from busy but it’s a walk I’ll enjoy taking again.
Stock photo of 1410’s showing 1410’s excellent rooftop patio.
The was April the 28th, by far the hottest day we’d had yet! Try the French Toast.
In other 17th Ave happenings, Butter Block bakery opened back in February. Situated in the Devenish building, they are a proper Bakery offering treats for pickup. It took us a few months to make it over there, and when we did it was late in the day with few options left. We will be back on a less busy Saturday morning.
Butter Block is located here, in the historic Devenish building.
Roosevelt is gone, I’ve added them to my list for a future article about places you should have tried before they disappeared. (It’s a long list with some outstanding places on it) In its place is Hostel. Is it still a 933 Group restaurant? I have no idea. My daughter and I visited Hostel last Thursday, while it’s interior is not my style in the least they have of course the same patio. Here you’ll find all food items are $10 and drinks are $5. Check them out and I hope to fill you in on our experience shortly.
The patio at the new “Hostel” “So now that we’re on the Patio what do we do?
With Summer upon us, we’ll be enjoying all our usual urban spots but also venturing out to new places near and far from the core. Our daughter is at the perfect age for Calaway Park so you can bet we’ll be there. At the opposite end of the spectrum is our favorite Riley Park, we plan on being there a great deal this Summer.
This was taken on my third trip to Calaway, and our daughter’s first. All have been fun visits but this was the first time I was a Dad.
Riley Park, two previous years we visited this oasis once a year, then last year it was six visits.
Summer means Ice Cream, I feel a future article coming on, “ Urban Ice Cream” or “Choosing Rocky Road”. Another visit for our family with be the Zoo and the new Panda exhibit. We’ll be there soon, but not really in a hurry, we’ll wait for the initial crowds to lessen. If that’s even possible.
Typical ice cream line at “Made by Marcus” day or night.
Look forward to some future posts, I’m working on an article about playgrounds in the inner city, and parks & pathways and of course highlighting restaurant experiences.
I hope to have an article about our city’s large parks in the coming weeks. This is at “Pearce Estate Park” in Inglewood.
Have you tried your luck at the track? Make your way to Century Down Race Track and Casino. We visited last year on an open house day with a tour and our daughter saw many cool things.
Skyline Luge wasn’t nearly as scary as someone worried. I’ll have an article about our adventure later this Summer.
East Village Junction’s Pop-Up Retail Park has returned for another year. Open Monday from Noon till 8pm, and Sat & Sun 10am till 6pm. Check it out at 439 8th Ave SE. Expect entertainment and food trucks, check their site for scedules.
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Kid Friendly: No High Chairs, No Specific Kids Menu, Large Washrooms include a Change Table
We will be visiting Granary Road further to continue to add to this article.
Granary Road is more than a Farmer’s Market, it’s an attraction.
Situated south of 22X it is outside of the city allowing lots of space for its “Active Learning Park”. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, first it’s a farmer’s market. As a farmer’s market it’s gorgeous, there has been some serious money spent here. It presents its upscale vendors in surroundings with concrete floors and wood finished walls. There are high vaulted ceilings and large windows letting in lots of natural light, as well as roll up doors along the front and back. The building is long with the market extending out to both ends with “The Loft Kitchen” in the center.
This is a fast casual restaurant with soups, sandwiches and pastries. Upstairs is a lounge for local beers and enjoying the view from the 40ft windows looking out over the park.
We visited Granary Road on August 27th, this was the first weekend that the Market, Loft Kitchen and the Park were all open together. We left our comfort zone of downtown and ventured far south past 22X essentially next door to Spruce Meadows. Granary Road makes an impression, it is big with lofty goals and lots of potential.
The parking lot has a separate entrance and exit, which I see as good planning for the days to come. However the parking lot is unpaved, not an issue in August but maybe later, and I don’t think it’s large enough. It was a little chaotic when it was busier and we were leaving. Still when your large parking lot isn’t large enough for all of your guests, it’s a great problem to have.
We arrived at 11am, and were hungry. We intended to look around and take in the park, however food first. Considering how far we were from any other options I thought that expecting to have a breakfast/brunch like meal at 11am wouldn’t be a surprise. However it was, all that was available were sandwiches and soups. Even the variety was limited as many items were marked with “Coming Soon”. There was lots of seating, both inside and out. Given the upscale enviroment I was expecting dishes to take my food to a table. Not so, the three of us took our sandwiches to a table in brown cardboard takeout boxes. We tore them down to make eating easier. It felt odd to sit at a table in such nice surroundings with torn down takeout boxes. However when I looked around it was what everyone was doing. It looked like they were equipped to make something more substantial. I would have loved anything with eggs and ham, however it wasn’t offered yet. The upstairs wasn’t open, and roped off marked “staff only”.
Now the prices. I ordered a latte, in a paper cup ($4.25), a happy planet juice ($4.75) for my daughter, a ham and cheese croissant ($4.75) also for my daughter, lastly a salami and cheese sandwich ($12.75) for myself. The total with taxes $27! Now my sandwich was on a baguette, it was Gruyere cheese and Genoa salami. However the sandwich was not worth $12.75, it was good, but not that good. I don’t have a problem with higher prices, however market appropriate. The latte was fine, the croissant with ham and cheese, even reasonable. Perhaps I’ve lost track of where Happy Planet’s prices are because 4.75 feels high. It’s my large and tasty sandwich which left the impression of high prices. Want to purchase a banana bread to take home for later? Sure $15, not bad. Want a slice now with a coffee, sure $3. Given the math I’d make that $2. I do want to back off on my attack of the pricing and food options. It just opened, and pricing things out isn’t easy.
Let’s run it through my usual criteria, it was good, and the place was wonderful to be in. Let’s give it some months to shake things down. Adjust the menu for what people are asking for. When I make plans to spend a significant part of my day there, I intend for that to include breakfast, but perhaps I’m alone in that.
They have a beautiful patio with tables and umbrellas (and fabric umbrellas make a big impression on me, larger than they should). After shopping in the market, I want an afternoon coffee and cake. I did see an excellent looking cake from one of the market’s vendors, reasonably priced. However I wasn’t about to carry it out and eat from a box. They’re building an experience, I’m trying to have an experience, let’s deliver it all the way. Don’t hear me wrong, we will be back, but it’s early days for Granary Road.
The Market. I’ll get this out of the way, where is the produce? It’s ok, I’ll go else where for vegetables, if it’s not part of Granary Road’s vision. But then I won’t drive all this way and visit them for sausages and cheese. Reason? Well the first place I went for my tomatoes has that as well. Now again, let’s cut them some slack they just opened, and it’s August. Not late in the season, but later than farms may have wanted to commit to something. Again next year will be a better gauge of their total offerings. That being said right now they have some excellent vendors. The one that caught my eye the most was Urban Butcher, yes the very same as in Mission. The walk area did get hard to move in at its busiest, but they are plenty wide enough, it was just busy.
Take a look through our further pictures of the market. For a complete listing follow this LINK to the market’s vendor listing on their own site.
Lastly let’s talk “Active Learning Park”. This is 36 acres of play and learning in themed interactive areas. Everything looks great! This area is wonderful. I’d like some more trees for shade, but again they just opened. What I’d really like to see is a few more interpretive staff. However those we did see were friendly, knowledgeable and really added to the experience.
Once passing through the gates you follow a path to 11 exhibits and themed play areas. Most of these areas have climbing structures with slides and ropes. Everything had great sights to behold. There are interpretive signs detailing the areas and explaining the themes and learning aspects of the play.
My daughter really enjoyed each area and we had to keep reminding her there was more to see and do. I felt there are too many signs saying to not climb on things. Sure the giant mushrooms aren’t meant for climbing, but then don’t have them where you want kids to come and play. The petting zoo was great and again my daughter really enjoyed it. There wasn’t as much “petting” as some may want, but we were fine with that.
At the market building there’s even a gift shop.
Here is a LINK to their site’s listing about the park.
The last element I must bring up because people are all over their Facebook and Google pages talking about it. Admission price. It’s too high.
Children 0-2: FREE
Children 3 – 14: $13.00
Adults 15+: $17.00
Seniors 60+: $15.00
Let’s be clear the park is for kids. Meaning it’s not much for adults, expect to walk your kids around and watch them. To Granary Road, don’t burn the parents goodwill with high prices to watch their kids play. We spent $47 to walk around and watch our daughter play. Then another $40 on food when we arrived. Unfortunately we didn’t spend anything in the market to support the vendors, because our budget was spent and we felt a little burned on $17 admission each.
As far as I’m concerned, $10 per kid with adults being free is what I’m looking for. But if you really want, leave it at $13 for kids and make it $5 for parents. Remember you’re charging me to follow my kid around.
There’s great potential in every area of Granary Road. Everything off-putting isn’t deep rooted in their operation. These are just first impressions of a very new venture and something of this scale has a lot of growing to go through. We will be back, but not this year. We don’t leave downtown often, so we’re not your target audience. However next year I expect pricing to be trimmed up, restaurant food options to be expanded on, and proper dishes.
