Tourist Attractions you would like to see in Calgary

[Doug]

Originally Posted by ue

Something that Calgary definitely needs to work on is museums (especially the art museum). The aforementioned market thing is another, as would a better historical museum (a la Fort Edmonton).

Museums are challenging for new cities. The great collections are usually stolen. Calgary, and Canada for that matter, don't have imperial pasts.

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by ue

Agreed. I never got why Calgary doesn't seem to have the urban farmers markets that Edmonton does (City Market, Old Scona Market, 124 Grand Market, and a new second one to open downtown in May). It could use a couple nice, well used, and hopefully year-round market either on Stephen Ave, the East Village, the Beltline, West End, Kensington, etc.
...

I think the success of Food Trucks in the past few years and small farmers markets offer hope for central farmers market in Calgary. The HSCA market on Wednesdays always seems to be packed, as does Sunday flea market. Maybe the Beltline just needs to copy HSCA, and if it is a success, move it indoors and make it permanent. There are lots of good places for at least a Sunday Market.

[ue]

Originally Posted by Doug

Museums are challenging for new cities. The great collections are usually stolen. Calgary, and Canada for that matter, don't have imperial pasts.

This is true. Canadian museums (or their permanent collections, at least) will never compete with American and European museums like the British Museum, the Louvre, the Met, Natural History Museum, etc but it certainly can foster contemporary artists and give a proper platform for Canadian art.

Ottawa's many museums, as well as Musee des Beaux-Arts, the AGO, and even Edmonton's AGA (at least compared to Calgary's Art Gallery) do a good job with this. An international example I guess would be Mexico City, which has tons of world class museums, but they don't necessarily have Monet or Ansel Adams hanging. Instead, they focus specifically on Mexican and Latin American history and culture and have some of the best collections of Aztec artifacts in the world.

[ue]

Originally Posted by RyLucky

I think the success of Food Trucks in the past few years and small farmers markets offer hope for central farmers market in Calgary. The HSCA market on Wednesdays always seems to be packed, as does Sunday flea market. Maybe the Beltline just needs to copy HSCA, and if it is a success, move it indoors and make it permanent. There are lots of good places for at least a Sunday Market.

Every city seems to be on the food truck craze these days (not that I don't like it). Didn't know that Calgary was in on it too, but I'm not surprised.

I don't get why Calgary's main farmers' market is way out in the SE, though, or why it doesn't at least have a competitor in the inner city. The East Village, IMO, would be perfect for a ByWard or Granville or St. Lawrence type market. Stephen Ave, Scarth St, or Kensington would be perfect for a City Market type of market. Stampede Grounds, 17th, Mission, or Bridgeland would probably be more ideal for an Old Scona or Jean Talon type of market. Neighbourhoods like Marda Loop, South Calgary, Inglewood, Bridgeland, and the like could also support a smaller, neighbourhood market a la the Edmonton ones in Westmount (124th), Highlands, and St-Jean (Bonnie Doon), or I guess the Kensington one in Calgary.

[Jimby]

The Crossroads Market is close to downtown and has been going strong for 25 years.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Jimby

The Crossroads Market is close to downtown and has been going strong for 25 years.

Really? How long does it take to walk there from say the Bow?

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by artvandelay

An aquarium would be cool, I think there used to be one at the Calgary Brewery.

This would never get approved, but wondering about an appropriately selected institution for the smack centre of nosehill park. That would be very cool. When you mentioned aquarium (which may not make sense for Calgary IMHO) I though of Stanley Park. Protected, but not desolate.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by suburbia

This would never get approved, but wondering about an appropriately selected institution for the smack centre of nosehill park. That would be very cool. When you mentioned aquarium (which may not make sense for Calgary IMHO) I though of Stanley Park. Protected, but not desolate.

That's a horrible idea. It would mean a road cutting across the middle, and destroying whats left of the natural feeling of being up there.

[nick.flood]

delete

[ue]

Originally Posted by Jimby

The Crossroads Market is close to downtown and has been going strong for 25 years.

Not exactly the same thing. Crossroads may not be far from the core, but it's environment is anything but urban. It's in a suburban industrial stretch of land on Blackfoot Trail. It isn't the same as having a large farmers' market actually in an urban, walkable neighbourhood, like 10 blocks north in Inglewood. Crossroads isn't apart of the fabric of a residential neighbourhood, period, not even a suburban one. Even the Calgary Farmers Market, while a lot closer to a suburban residential community as the crow flies, is still siphoned off from it by a large suburban arterial with the residential area across the street putting up a wall facing the market. Calgary's major farmers' markets are just in really odd locations compared to other cities.

[The Chemist]

I'd like to see a Museum of Science. I know there's the Science Centre (a.k.a. Telus Spark) in Calgary, but I'm thinking more along the lines of the Museum of Science in London or Boston,or the OMSI in Portland, which strike me as being more large scale / ambitious than the Calgary Science Centre.

I'd also love to see a Natural History Museum right in town, though I doubt the town of Drumheller would react very favourably to that.

[Jimby]

All I said was that it was close to downtown. I didn't say it was walkable and I didn't suggest it was in a trendy urban village crawling with hipsters.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

That's a horrible idea. It would mean a road cutting across the middle, and destroying whats left of the natural feeling of being up there.

Actually, you would walk to it from the edge of the park, keeping cars the same place they currently are. True, you'd have to make some accommodation during construction, and then remediate immediately after. Chemist's Natural History Museum, with a solid section on dinos and inland sea would work fantastic there.

What is it with all the people who want to drive everywhere? We don't need a road to each and every place.

[ue]

Originally Posted by Jimby

All I said was that it was close to downtown. I didn't say it was walkable and I didn't suggest it was in a trendy urban village crawling with hipsters.

But my point was that something Calgary should strive for would be to have a large market in the pre-war inner city. Not in a suburban industrial wasteland that just happens to be close to the inner city.

I sense you're not that enthusiastic about it, due to perceived trendiness and hipsterness. A lot of markets have a huge range of people, including yes, hipster-ish types, but also people of all sorts of backgrounds. The areas they are located in also aren't always the coolest of cool (which changes too fast for markets to keep up with anyway).

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by ue

But my point was that something Calgary should strive for would be to have a large market in the pre-war inner city. Not in a suburban industrial wasteland that just happens to be close to the inner city.

I sense you're not that enthusiastic about it, due to perceived trendiness and hipsterness. A lot of markets have a huge range of people, including yes, hipster-ish types, but also people of all sorts of backgrounds. The areas they are located in also aren't always the coolest of cool (which changes too fast for markets to keep up with anyway).

A big ware-housey farmers market if done with at least a bit of pedestrian focused design would do wonders at a dumb but close in part of the city, say 39 Ave Station? Perhaps a bit of renewal and activity could be sparked off of it. Probably easier to build there than in the Beltline.

With that said, I much prefer the Beltline, just with all the development pressures and lack of available land for a permanent location it might be difficult. Best locations are the Sheldon Chumir lot (temporary on sundays for example), along 10th ave between 6th street and 11th St to replace that row of complete garbage would be a nice upgrade as well.

[ue]

^ It might work, but only if the surrounding area was densified. As it stands now, it'd only be a marginally better site for a new large market in Calgary than the existing two.

I'm surprised this wasn't apart of the plan in the East Village, as it'd be the perfect site for it. Stampede Grounds would work, as would much of Victoria Park. The Safeway site in Mission could be redeveloped or the Co-Op site in the Beltline. Maybe Eau Claire or Scarth and 17th, that area looks ripe as well! On the other side of the river, a large market could be incorporated into the ongoing Bridgeland revitalization or perhaps Kensington and 14th NW. Maybe somewhere around Bowness as well. There's also a ton of sites in Inglewood that could work.

[RWin]

I like what they've done with the Kingsland Farmers Market. Not close to downtown but it is within a residential community. You can access it from Kingsland without actually leaving Kingsland. It's walk-to-able if you live there.

So although that doesn't help for downtown dwellers, its good for one community. And since "we" all like to complain about the burbs, I think this one is a step in the right direction.

[Riise]

It would be really neat if Calgary had a Video Game Museum. It wouldn't have to be massive and could be done on a small scale. It could be a part of a collection of small museums that I think would be nice for locals to have and the city to offer to tourists.

There are some good ideas in this thread. In particular, I like the idea of having a Science Museum (I can't remember how many afternoons and evenings I spent at the Science Museum in London) and call for having more High Streets. In regards to the latter, this is definitely something that takes time but the City might want to look into having a Corridors Strategy similar to Toronto's.

Just walking to Rose before the BGP Meeting yesterday I thought of how nice it would be to have a Cycle Share program so I could cruise around Beltline while killing time before the meeting. A Cycle Share program as well as a network of High Streets and Corridors in the Core and Beltline would provide a tourist activity that I have really enjoyed doing in places like Amsterdam and Berlin. I imagine tourist from those locales would find it interesting to learn about our city the way we often learn about their own.

[Jimby]

Originally Posted by ue

But my point was that something Calgary should strive for would be to have a large market in the pre-war inner city. Not in a suburban industrial wasteland that just happens to be close to the inner city.

I sense you're not that enthusiastic about it, due to perceived trendiness and hipsterness. A lot of markets have a huge range of people, including yes, hipster-ish types, but also people of all sorts of backgrounds. The areas they are located in also aren't always the coolest of cool (which changes too fast for markets to keep up with anyway).

The Crossroads Market is located in Ramsay which is pre-war inner city, and is adjacent to Inglewood, Calgary's original neighbourhood.
It is a great use of an old building which used to be a meat packing plant across the street from the site of the former historic Calgary Stockyards.
The second floor is home to the Loose Moose Theatre Company so it also serves as a performing arts venue.
If one is looking for an authentically Calgary experience with a zany cast of characters, then the Crossroads would be the place to go, but it isn't a touristy place. The ambience is not hip. The surroundings are bleak, although the new cop shop is a nice looking building.
Yes it would be nice to have a market right downtown or Beltline or Mission, but that isn't the present reality.

[Spring2008]

Originally Posted by suburbia

This would never get approved, but wondering about an appropriately selected institution for the smack centre of nosehill park. That would be very cool. When you mentioned aquarium (which may not make sense for Calgary IMHO) I though of Stanley Park. Protected, but not desolate.

No, Aquarium should be located on St. Patrick's Island. Multi-level to reduce footprint. Would be ideal.