Opportunities for recreation are an important consideration for many when they are looking for housing. It’s a far bigger issue in cities though, I am sure. When we purchased property to build on in Riverview, the recreation we had in mind involved trees, a hillside and a relatively quiet road, all of which would play integral roles in our sons’ formative years. Their formal recreation would mean driving to parks in Lister, Canyon and Creston, and we didn’t give the transportation a second thought.
On Saturday afternoon I found myself wandering around Bowness Park in Calgary, where we have been staying to look after our grandchildren. Bowness Park was pretty much destroyed in 2013 when the Bow River flooded, turning the park into what looked like a wide point in the Nile-like river. My visit was spurred by a report from Couns. Jim Elford, another Calgary-raised Crestonite, who told me a couple of months ago about what a great job the city had done in restoring the iconic park of our youth.
I grew up in in Montgomery and our house was a 5.5km walk to Bowness Park (don’t you just love Google Maps?), but the No. 1 bus route took us directly there, too. Occasionally our family would make the drive to Bowness Park for a summer picnic, but not too often, probably because there were too many temptations to spend money, which we didn’t have. The snack shop offered ice cream, hot dogs and other treats, and there was a rental shop where canoes and rowboats were available for use on the large lagoon. A small passenger train took kids and adults alike around the park, for a fee, of course.
I attended Bowness Composite High School for five of my six junior and senior high years, and on a hot spring or fall day we often took our bagged lunches over to park. But my fondest memories are from winter days or evenings when throngs took to their skates to enjoy the huge frozen pond and winding stream that made me feel like I was Hans Brinker. Fires were built near the shore, hot chocolate was the favoured treat, and we would skate until our feet or lungs succumbed to the cold. It was a popular spot for birthday parties for young folks born in the winter.
On that warm last Saturday afternoon, those memories came flooding back as I wandered, watching families in pedal boats, kids crowded onto the train, wedding groups posing for photos, all enjoying the early June sunshine.
I was disappointed not to find ice cream cones available in the snack shop, and settled for a cappuccino, which I took to a bench and became fascinated by a grandfather teaching his grandson how to operate remote-controlled boats. They had just pulled a gorgeous miniature sailboat from the water and launched a battleship. The boy, perhaps 8-years-old, proudly held the remote while his grandpa calmly gave him instructions about how to turn, stop and even put the boat in reverse.
Later, on my way to visit my sister and her family for dinner, I detoured first to Woods Homes, which had been home to an orphaned (I don’t remember how) trio of brothers when I was in junior high, one of which became a good friend. Then I tootled through downtown Bowness, reminiscing about the old Bowness Hotel, where I learned as an 18-year-old that a small round bar table held 40 glasses of draught beer. Then I crossed the new Bowness Bridge, gladdened that the old steel bridge still remains intact. There was a little clearing among the trees on the riverbank right beside that old bridge that was a perfect hangout for high schoolers who skipped the odd class or two to enjoy a hot June afternoon. No booze or dope—just hanging out and shooting the breeze.
Thanks to the efforts of volunteers and local government, Creston does not lack for parks that are creating opportunities for our young people. I hope that 50 years from now they are able to return and have their own fond memories jogged.
