Global Calgary is taking the News Hour at 6 on the road to Bowness on Thursday Jan. 28. It’s a close-knit community with a small-town feel – not surprising, considering Bowness used to be a town.
Development in Bowness began more than 100 years ago but didn’t take off until after the Second World War. The community that was once a village officially became a town in 1951. It was annexed by the City of Calgary in 1964.
Many in Bowness haven’t forgotten their neighhourhood’s small-town past.
“Bowness hasn’t lost its small-town feeling because everyone has time to talk to you for a bit,” long-time resident Fred Onofriechuk said. “You meet other people and other places and they are in a big hurry.”
Bowness is a community of just under 12,000 people along the banks of the Bow River in Calgary’s northwest, right beside the community of Montgomery. The jewel of the neighbourhood is Bowness Park.
From our live location next to the lagoon, we’ll look at the history of the park – and its future. Redevelopment of Bowness Park is moving ahead after it suffered extensive damage during the June floods in 2013. The west half of the park reopened to the public in Nov. 2014 and the east half is expected to reopen this summer.
Bowness is also home to some of the oldest businesses in the city – we’ll check out some that have been serving Calgarians for decades.
We’ll also look at how Bowness may be in danger of losing some of its prairie-town feel with plans for a future development that could increase the area’s population by 25 per cent, although Councillor Ward Sutherland says, “we are not looking to change Bowness; we are looking to enhance.”
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