Forget the \u201cBlue Sky City!\u201d Forget Stampede City!\u201d Forget \u201cBe part of the energy!\u201d Calgary\u2019s motto should be \u201cKeep Calgary Quirky!\u201d<\/p>\n
How fun would it be to live, play and work in a quirky city? We already have lots of quirky things we can promote. Think the \u201cgiant blue ring<\/a>\u201d on the side of a road near the airport that kinda looks like a huge engagement ring with a tiny diamond. And what about the big White Head<\/a> on the plaza of the Bow office tower shaped a bit like a banana downtown. And let\u2019s not forget the two bobbing tubby sculptures in front of our Central Library.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Head out to the suburbs and you will find aa quirky purple balloon dog in Seton. Kensington does the funky chicken on 14th Street in front of Chicken On The Way.\u00a0\u00a0 Our colourful Lego-like Children\u2019s Hospital designed in consultation with children is definitely quirky too.\u00a0 <\/p>\n How about our quirky festivals. The \u201cHigh Performance Rodeo<\/a>\u201d which in neither a rodeo, nor Formula One car race, but a theatre festival, where I expect more than one performer is \u201chigh.\u201d I think Bottlescrew Bills still has their annual Testical Festival \u2013 enough said! \u00a0And the Sled Island music festival doesn\u2019t happen in the winter or on an island, but is a spring music festival in the city centre. But the \u201cBlock Heater\u201d music festival does happen in the middle of winter as the name would suggest. <\/p>\n And what about \u201cBUMP\u201d a quirky acronym for \u201cBeltline Urban Mural Project\u201d which has populated Calgary\u2019s city centre with100+ murals. And back in the year 2000, Calgary\u2019s downtown was invaded by 100+ colourful cows in what was called the \u201cUdderly Art\u201d project.\u00a0 Today can still find 10+ quirky cows in the Udderly Art Pasture<\/a> in the +15\u00a0 hallway of the Centennial Parkade. <\/p>\n I am sure newcomers to Calgary find it quirky that our freeways are called \u201ctrails,\u201d and that drivers routinely stop to let pedestrians cross the road. And what about their quirky names \u201cCrowfoot Trail\u201d and \u201cDeerfoot Trail.\u201d Does the city have foot fetish? And \u201cShaganappi Trail\u201d has a quirky inuendo.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Calgary is a young city without a lot of history, so we just create some quirky history artifacts, like the rock formation in Strathcona Park near the Olympic Heights School, that dates back to the early 1980s when the developer wanted to create a unique sense of place. Thinking this was a good idea the developer of Nolan Hills created the ruins of a castle that never existed at the entrance to the new community founded in 2011.\u00a0 FYI: There is a Nolan Castle in Ireland – and yes, it is in ruins.\u00a0 <\/p>\n And what about our +15 bridges, a quirky name for what are called skybridges or skywalks in most cities. A definite nod to Calgary being the \u201cengineering capital\u201d of Canada, which means no sexy names, we must be practical and call them what they are – bridges that are 15 feet above ground. <\/p>\n It is also quirky that our LRT (aka Little Ralph\u2019s Train) is anything but rapid as it passes through downtown. Sometimes I think you can walk faster. <\/p>\n It is kinda odd that Calgary is blasted by urbanist for its low density development, yet our city centre is one of the densest in North America. It is also ironic that a car dependent city also had one of the world\u2019s most extensive pathway networks for cyclists, runners and walkers. Yep over 1,000 km of pathways. \u00a0And one of the busiest LRTs in North America. <\/p>\n Some might find it quirky Calgary has not one but two of the largest urban parks in Canada – Fish Creek Park and Nose Hill Park. But then, we pride ourselves on being over achievers. <\/p>\n