The city of Calgary stands at the point where the
vast Canadian prairie meets the
jagged, snow-capped peaks of the
Rocky Mountains. Its
young,
glittering skyscrapers rise out of older suburban neighborhoods and seem oddly superimposed on this breathtakingly diverse western landscape, as though dropped from the sky onto the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers.
Accordingly, the land is never far from the minds of the people of Calgary. The
oil that lies beneath it drives the city’s vibrant economy; the distant mountains attract legions of
skiers and
snowboarders during the chilly winters; and, during
balmy summers, cattle roam the flat expanse of grassland, marking this out as
cowboy country.
As well as being the
gateway to the Rocky Mountains, Calgary has grown into a tourist destination in its own right. Visitors flock to take in the city’s
burgeoning cowboy culture, expressed in July every year in the
Calgary Stampede (held formally for the first time in 1912).
The
Rocky Mountains and, in particular,
Banff National Park, attract thousands more who are drawn by the park’s stunning alpine beauty and its famous hotels - The Banff Springs Hotel and the Chateau Lake Louise. As the popularity of
winter leisure sports (such as downhill skiing and bobsleighing) have increased, so has Calgary’s own popularity, all culminating in the city’s hosting of the
XV Olympic Winter Games in 1988.
Many have likened the Calgary of today to a
Canadian Dallas, a comparison that is not without merit. Like Dallas, Calgary is a
confident, often brash cowboy town that grew wealthy on oil, where they play
country and western music in noisy taverns and eat thick and juicy
steaks in the restaurants.
As an image, however, this captures only a small part of what the city and its people are actually like. Calgary is also a city of
diverse and vibrant neighborhoods, where its citizens relax in
cafes, stroll the
scenic streets or take in the
opera, although they are just as likely to head off to the
great outdoors.
Today Calgary is known as the New West, a casual, oil-rich, vibrant city growing faster than its infrastructure can keep pace with, expanding its cultural life as new blood follows its prosperity. Technology and production industries have grown immensely as oil and gas production has increased, propelling this one-time, one-horse cowboy town into a radically evolving 21st-century city.
The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
Related Alberta Content
The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
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