Avenue May 2018

DOGS IN THE MOUNTAINS

How to do Banff and K-Country with your canine companion

WE CELEBRATE MOTHERS’ DAY WITH SPRING FASHIONS AND FUN GIFTS

Styling Moms

THE ARCHITECTURE ISSUE

New homes for new families, modern-heritage hybrid office buildings and inside Studio North’s laneway house

PLUS GORDON ATKINS: THE VALUE OF VISION

Photographer and makeup artist Libertee Muzyka with son Oscar

LIKE THE MOST GRATIFYING MEALS, THE SUB-ZERO AND WOLF SHOWROOM APPEALS TO ALL OF THE SENSES.

Taste, touch, and see the true potential for your kitchen. From appliance test-drives to chef-led demos, we invite you to explore our products with all of your senses engaged.

bradleedistributors.com

CONDOS »

#801 690 Princeton Way SW, Calgary, AB

BED: 2 BATH: 2 1,939 SQ.FT. MLS C4167602

Located in Princeton Hall, This very open bright layout has been RENOVATED and UPGRADED.

Heather Waddell 403.471.0467

SINGLE FAMILY HOMES »

« CONDOS

$5,999,900

352248 Pine Ridge Road, Bragg Creek, AB

BED: 7 BATH: 4/1 MLS C4176320 60-acre recreation ranch near Bragg Creek. 9,700sqft walkout bungalow, guest house, stocked pond, cabins, stables & more.

Dennis Plintz 403.608.1112

$649,900

#106 201 Quarry Way SE, Calgary, AB

BED: 2 BATH: 2 1,612 SQ.FT. MLS C4175317

Upscale living in Champagne - a stunning French inspired concrete luxury condo residence in Quarry Park.

Dennis Plintz 403.608.1112

$410,000

#740 720 13 Avenue SW, Calgary, AB

BED: 2 BATH: 2 1,506 SQ.FT. MLS C4170286

Luxury lifestyle in the Estate, in the heart of the Beltline with an amazing location & ample amenities.

Dennis Plintz 403.608.1112

$199,900 - 349,900

2815 17 Street SW, Calgary, AB

BED: 2 BATH: 1 MLS C4164220

Fully renovated 1 & 2 bed townhomes in the heart of Marda Loop. Ownership available starting at $890/ month.

Dennis Plintz

403.608.1112

916 Elizabeth Rd

$1,950,000

45 Slopes Pt Sw, Calgary, AB

BED: 4 BATH: 4/1 2,819 SQ.FT. MLS C4165105 This Executive Walk-Out Bungalow has breath taking mountain views, every inch of this home has been detailed with loving care and custom hand finishing.

Myrna Higgs 403.827.8680

$3,987,000

2202 13 Street SW, Calgary, AB

BED: 5 BATH: 5/1 2,432 SQ.FT. MLS C4166232

An EXECUTIVE MOUNT ROYAL ESTATE HOME located on a huge lot with sweeping skyline views

Heather Waddell 403.471.0467

$3,750,000

$1,478,000 256133 194 Avenue W, Priddis, AB

SQ.FT. MLS C4172633 With sunset views over the Rocky Mountains, this custom built Brad-Mar home on 165 acres is second to none.

Dennis Plintz 403.608.1112

$1,495,000

2016 44 Avenue SW, Calgary, AB

BED: 4 BATH: 3/1 2,480 SQ.FT. MLS C4165191

Located in the sought after community of Altadore, this contemporary home offers functional family living.

Dennis Plintz 403.608.1112

$1,390,000

7028 Bow Crescent NW, Calgary, AB

BED:6 BATH: 3/1 2,477 SQ.FT. MLS C4142904

A remarkable Bowness walk-out home on a 100' x 362' lot backing onto the Bow River with triple garage.

Dennis Plintz 403.608.1112

$1,850,000

83 Cranbrook Lane SE, Calgary, AB

BED: 3 BATH: 2/2 3,964 SQ.FT. MLS C4175271

Natural beauty surrounds this former 2016 Hospital Lottery home, contemporary finishings, backing south onto the Bow River

Kym Barton 403.369.1185

Barb Richardson 403.613.8737

3033 7 Street SW, Calgary, AB

BED: 5 BATH: 3/1 2,786 SQ.FT. MLS C4173574

Ample upgrades in this elegant Elbow Park home set on a 75' x 125' lot with a sprawling West backyard. Dennis Plintz 403.608.1112

« SINGLE FAMILY HOMES

$949,900

4925 20 Street SW, Calgary, AB

BED: 4 BATH: 4/1 2,308 SQ.FT. MLS C4174992

Modern architecture and design in the stunning Altadore home offering a bright and elegant interior.

Dennis Plintz 403.608.1112

IT AIN’T OVER WHEN THEY HAND OVER THE KEYS

Dennis Plintz

403.608.1112

Plintz Real Estate | plintz.com

Dennis Plintz is a third-generation Calgarian whose team has been building relationships for more than 15 years.

“We aren’t just people who sell homes,” he says. “We’re here to do everything possible to make one of the biggest, most stressful transactions in life a little easier and a lot more fun. We make sure that the home-owning experience is the best it can be for first-time buyers and multi-generational clients, and for some of the most luxurious homes in Alberta.” Dennis is also the author most recently of Positively Sold: Buy Smarter, Sell Higher & Push Your Real Estate Agent to Hustle Harder, available at Shelf Life Books, Amazon.ca and other local booksellers.

They say those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. But what about the folks who live in gorgeous custom homes built thoughtfully with a whole lot of passion? The only thing they need to throw is a housewarming party.

Celebrating home ownership is a huge part of what the Plintz Real Estate team does. “We help people buy and sell their homes,” says Dennis Plintz, Realtor® with Sotheby’s International Realty Canada. “But more importantly, we help them own their homes. We stay connected long after we hand over the keys. We help with housewarming parties, home maintenance, anniversary celebrations, and always handwritten cards.” Since the beginning, about 1,000 sales ago, Plintz and his team have been building long-term relationships. Not just with clients, but also with their extended service teams. For the past several years, that has included custom-builder Braemyn Homes.

great one, all the way from the initial visioning session through to executing on that vision. “People are putting their dreams into our hands and we’re tasked to bring that to fruition,” says Neufeld. “The relationship can grow quite strong through the process. That’s very rewarding.”

“Journeying through that whole process and then at the end of it being friends and having great relationships and seeing that customer being excited about the home that we built for them… that’s just awesome for me,” says Schartner.

very rewarding.”

“Matt and Brent at Braemyn Homes are totally hands-on,” Plintz says. “Not only can they do it all— they do it all on time and on budget. They’re deeply involved during the build and long after you move in.”

You’ll probably find Matt Neufeld and Brent Schartner in work boots and Carhartts, whether they’re on a job site or in a business meeting. The men are committed to making the homebuilding journey a

It’s an intimate journey that Plintz knows well. “We first worked with them many years ago and we’ve never looked back, right through to them building our family home and those of some of our closest family members and several clients. They care immensely.”

Both Braemyn and Plintz’s teams are focused on doing exceptionally high-quality work. It’s about making sure the end result is deeply satisfying, never just “good enough,” Plintz says.

“The downturn caused us to double down for our clients on marketing and client services without substantially increasing the number of properties we are marketing,” Plintz says. “We want to be the most reliable and responsive group of realtors you could possibly work with. If we can do that, the rest is easy.”

ABOUT BRAEMYN HOMES:

Matt Neufeld and Brent Schartner bring a combined 49 years of experience to Braemyn Homes. Neufeld began in construction as a framer and holds a degree in economics. Schartner takes on the administrative aspect of the business along with years of experience in the construction aspect of the business. Brent and Matt started working together nearly two decades ago as framers and now, about a million nails later, having built some of Calgary’s most beautiful homes together, they continue to also build lasting relationships with their clients.

These home building and real estate pros are playing the long game, the tall game, a BIG game, a game they are winning with service.

“People are putting their dreams into our hands and we’re tasked to bring that to fruition. The relationship can grow quite strong through the process. That’s

–Says

Matt Neufeld

TOO BIG TO BEAR

They say big things come in small packages. Buy your membership today and see the pandas first! Public opening is May 7. CALGARYZOO.COM/PANDA-PASSAGE

FEATURES contents

Fusion Buildings

Something old, something new — heritage buildings expanded with new design elements represent how to create modern commercial spaces without sacrificing historic character in the process.

By Fabian Mayer

Styling Moms

ON THE COVER

Photographer and blogger Libertee Muzyka, one of five moms we celebrate in this issue, with her son Oscar.

PAGE 56

PHOTOGRAPH BY LUC WILSON

42 Dynamic City

As the city’s population grows and diversifies, the concept of what makes a family home is changing in response, something that both established and emerging architects in the city say is a positive sign.

By Jennifer Allford

48

Killing Us Softly

Even though it’s the second most common cause of lung cancer, most of us remain blissfully unaware when it comes to the levels of radon gas in our homes. Local researchers hope to change that.

By Colleen Seto

LARGEST WATERMARK AT BEARSPAW LOT SIZE

200’ x 200’

GO BIG & GO HOME

AVG. CALGARY ESTATE LOT SIZE

50’ x 120’

A PLACE YOUR FAMILY WILL NEVER OUTGROW

Growing up is all about running around and exploring. And Watermark at Bearspaw’s 46 acres of parkland, three playgrounds and many other outdoor amenities offer plenty of opportunities. Plus, with average lot sizes of 1/4 to 1 acre in size (our smallest lots are almost twice as big as an inner-city estate lot), there are countless adventures to be had in your own backyard. When it comes to giving your family more space to experience and grow, bigger is certainly better. WatermarkAtBearspaw.com

DEPARTMENTS

27 Detours

When storm clouds are brewing around these parts, the Prairie Storm Chasers are there to drink up the action. Plus, an elegy for heritage buildings in Calgary that have fallen to the wrecking ball and Alberta Ballet artistic director Jean Grand-Maître on his new Tragically Hip production.

52 Gordon Atkins

One of Calgary’s most decorated architects reflects on how he got into the business, how he stuck to his guns on contentious projects and why he keeps his Massey Medal in a bag at the back of his closet.

56 Mothers’ Day Fashion

ON THE COVER

Warm-weather style modelled by Calgary moms and their kids.

66 Breaking the Fast

Observing the holy month of Ramadan means refraining from eating or drinking during daylight hours. However, the traditions that practicing Muslims employ when it comes to breaking the fast also make it a celebration of food, flavours and family. We look at the shops and dining spots where Calgary’s Muslim community is known to gather when the sun sets.

72 Eat This

Olive oil has been part of a healthy diet since ancient times.

We round up the extravirgin essentials for the modern kitchen.

74 The Pour

Are you blushing? Because rosé wines have come a long way, baby, since their eighties heyday.

76 Mountains

For dog owners, hiking in the mountains with your best canine friend is one of life’s great pleasures. If you’re heading out to the mountain parks this summer, here’s what you should know about leashes, trails, ticks and pet-friendly places to stay.

87

Decor

The innovative laneway home by local architecture and design firm Studio

North serves as a showpiece for what this forward-thinking format can achieve.

82 Workout

With the local fitness community in her corner, spin and Lagree instructor Jessica Janzen Olstad is creating hope from heartbreak.

94 The List

Graham Sherman, co-owner of Tool Shed Brewing Company, talks about his favourite things in Calgary.

96 Style Statement

The highbrow-lowbrow, bohemian-chic street style of Marcy Krafft and Tony McGrath.

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Contributors Jennifer Allford, Aldona Barutowicz, Elizabeth Chorney-Booth, Tom Firth, Jeremy Fokkens, Sarah Francis, Christina Frangou, Jennifer Friesen, Taryn Gee, Phaedra Godchild, Brenna Hardy, Fabian Mayer, Leigh McAdam, Harry Sanders, Kimberley Seibel, Colleen Seto, Luc Wilson, Kathering Ylitalo

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City Builders

Over the past 40 years, life in this city has changed in many ways. The population has more than doubled and has diversified in every conceivable manner. The number of women working outside of the home has increased exponentially. The Millennials have come into the workplace as the Boomers have started to leave it. “Sustainability,” “transit-oriented” and “walkable” have become watchwords for developers.

Families have changed as well, as many immigrant groups have brought with them their own ideas of what family life should look like and many long-term Canadians are finding new living arrangements that work better for current realities. While the nuclear family may still be a norm, far more people are living alone and more people are living in multigenerational groups.

In this issue we talked to several local architects, including Jeremy Sturgess as well as Dustin Couzens, Frank Kaspar, Mark Erickson, Matt Kennedy and the eminent Gordon Atkins. If there is a common theme among their comments in the various stories, it is that both the homes and office buildings we create reflect our ideas of an ideal city and, as such, are shaped by the changing ways in which we want to live and work in them.

If there were ever cookie-cutter families living in cookie-cutter homes, or cookie-cutter workers toiling in cookie-cutter office cubes, that is no longer the case. Increasingly, our city’s developers and architects build new communities, homes and buildings with an eye to diversity.

However, on the subject of diversity, we did find one continuing problem — a comparative lack of diversity in the voices and visions creating

Käthe Lemon Editor-in-Chief klemon@redpointmedia.ca

those buildings and communities. There are very few female sources in our stories about architecture and very few visible minorities, and that is a shame. There are talented women working in architecture and design, but they often are not go-to sources unless we set aside a space specifically to talk to and about women. There are a variety of reasons for this, including problems with how we and the media at large choose experts and with how architecture works. But regardless of the cause, the result is unfortunate because the voices and experiences that we amplify through both our media and our built landscape matter, and a city is better as a chorus than as a solo.

On that note, we hope that you will add your own voice to the city in one way or another.

FAST FOOD

May 15 is the beginning of Ramadan. Read more about this religious tradition that includes a month of daytime fasting and fast-breaking meals, starting on page 66.

As our ideas about life and family change, the shape of Calgary changes with them.

Photograph by Jared Sych; jewellery supplied by Brinkhaus. For information, turn to page 93.

June 2018

BURGERS

Nothing goes better with a great local beer than a great local burger. Find out where to get the city’s best.

ALBERTA BEER AWARDS

Something has certainly been brewing in the craft beer scene in Alberta. We look at the best of local beer from Calgary and around the province.

PATIO PARTY

Calgary’s patio season is short but oh, so sweet — especially on one of these great spots. Whether you’re looking for a patio for a hot day or a cool evening, for great people watching or a secret hideaway, we reveal our top picks for alfresco dining.

SARAH FRANCIS

Sarah Francis’ approach to makeup artistry is rooted in her fine arts education. With a deep understanding of shade, colour and form she tailors each look to the client's features. She sees the face as a canvas that is already a work of art and her job as enriching its beauty using creative thought, expert technique and professional products. The application of makeup is more than making something pretty; it is makeup design personalized for one’s features. Francis’ freelancing mostly consists of bridal work throughout Alberta and editorial in both Calgary and Montreal.

LEIGH MCADAM

Leigh McAdam is the founder of HikeBikeTravel, one of Canada's top travel blogs. She long ago abandoned a career as a geologist, dietitian and owner of a successful small business to follow her passion for travel, adventure and the outdoors. Following a multi-year journey across Canada, she compiled the top 100 Canadian experiences to whet your appetite for adventure and authored Discover Canada: 100 Inspiring Outdoor Adventures McAdam loves to spend time in the mountains with her dog Torrie, a rescue from the Caribbean and Rosie, her daughter’s 100 pound Bernese Mountain dog.

STYLEISTA

Helmed by Brenna Hardy and Phaedra Godchild, Styleista is a local team of style experts, fashion stylists and personal shoppers. Based out of Calgary they work both nationally and internationally with the media as well as celebrity, corporate and personal clients. They are regularly seen on CTV, Breakfast Television and Global TV, and their work has appeared in Avenue, Maclean's, Flare and Elle magazines. Together, Hardy and Godchild have more than 25 years experience in the fashion industry. They believe that building authentic relationships is the key to Styleista's success.@styleista_ca

LUC WILSON

Luc Wilson is a Calgary-based commercial and fashion photographer. After receiving a bachelor of design from the Alberta College of Art + Design in 2016, he is now working out of his multidisciplinary studio in the city, shooting model go-sees, editorials, campaigns, lookbooks and more. Fashion is Wilson’s main focus as he continues to build his book and search for opportunities internationally. Find him on Instagram @lucwilson or online at lucdwilson.com, and feel free to drop him a line at lucdwilson@gmail.com

Burger photograph by Jared Sych; Styleista photograph by Phil Crozier

CALGARY PATIO GUIDE

Everything

A THRILLING NEW CHAPTER IN CALGARY’S HISTORY

New Central Library Opens Its Doors On November 1

The New Central Library will realize the city’s vision for a 21st century public space for innovation, research and collaboration at the intersection of Downtown Calgary and East Village. Opening on November 1, the dazzling city landmark was recently selected by Architectural Digest as one of a dozen most anticipated new buildings of 2018.

Designed by international architecture firm Snøhetta and locally-based DIALOG, the NCL will be an inclusive and accessible place for locals and visitors from around the globe to gather and learn, to read and be challenged, to socialize and connect. The story of the New Central Library is just beginning.

Chasing Stormy Skies

The skies begin to change. The clouds are roiling. What would your first instinct be? For most, it would be to seek shelter. For a select few, it’s just the opposite. In 2010, Chris Ratzlaff of Airdrie saw a storm brewing in the distance and jumped into his car to get closer. It was, as he decribes it, “a very dramatic, very beautiful supercell” [a thunderstorm category that typically creates further inclement weather]. “I saw it from my backyard and I drove out a little ways to watch — not terribly far, but a few kilometres. I real-

DETOURS

ized that these are things that I wanted to see more regularly. I had to figure out how I could do that,” says Ratzlaff.

In 2016, Ratzlaff joined the Prairie Storm Chasers, a group that includes Nevin DeMilliano, Braydon Morisseau and Sean Schofer. Along with the thrill of watching the power of nature unfold, the group members see themselves as public educators and early notifiers of potentially dangerous weather. DeMilliano views the team as the bridge between “the official side like Environment Canada” and “the public side that’s just wondering

Photograph by Chris Ratzlaff

DETOURS what’s going on.”

The group uses Twitter to update followers on storms as they are happening. They also notify Environment Canada as soon as they see any drastic developments in order to facilitate the earliest possible alerts to the public.

Both DeMilliano and Schofer say their fascination with extreme weather started in childhood, while Morisseau says he was inspired by both learning about weather in school and the movie Twister — the 1996 Hollywood action film about tornado-chasers in Oklahoma. For Ratzlaff, it’s the aesthetics of tempestuous weather and cloud formations that are the main attraction. “I’ve always been fascinated with the sky,” he says. “I had taken a lot of pictures of interesting clouds and got hooked on the spectacular nature of the storm and all the structure and shape and power a storm can bring.”

Though the Prairie Storm Chasers will chase storms across the Canadian prairies and even into the U.S., Ratzlaff prefers to stay closer to home, mostly chasing storms around the Calgary region. His favourite storms are the ones that develop between Crossfield and Red Deer, an area that tends to produce spectactular visuals.

Nature’s grandeur isn’t the only draw for Ratzlaff. “It’s the beauty of it, but it’s also the science, too. Being able to look at the weather conditions and [determine] where it’s going to be, where it’s going to end up, and go there and see it,” he says. “And then there’s the satisfaction of having it actually do what you anticipated.”

Victoria Lessard

Dancing From The Hip

What comes to mind when you hear The Tragically Hip? If it’s a post-apocalyptic world with warring factions fighting over resources under the shadow of a 30-foot rusted ship in the desert, you’ve got something in common with Alberta Ballet’s artistic director, Jean Grand-Maître.

For Alberta Ballet’s latest production, All of Us, Grand-Maître dove headlong into the discography of The Hip and came out the other side with a story that plays off recurring themes in the band’s songs and what he sees as modern woes. “I was really upset with what I saw in the American elections and the barbarity of nature, the environment, the fires and the floods,” says Grand-Maître. The song “Titanic Terrarium,” in particular, while not used in the ballet, stoked his creative fires. “It’s a post-nuclear apocalypse song about the world living in a bubble — there are just cockroaches left — and it all started to connect. Imagine if we’re hearing these songs 100 years later and the world had been through

Armageddon, the oceans have dried up, there’s almost no water on earth, there are very few people left and they’re scrambling to survive.”

Since his 2007 collaboration with Joni Mitchell, The Fiddle and the Drum, Grand-Maître has created ballets around the work of the popular artists Sarah McLachlan, Elton John and k.d. lang. In spite of his vast experience, All of Us still presented new challenges, such as choreographing for electric guitar-heavy music. “It’s an instrument that is so powerful, that if you have an hour and a half of electric guitar onstage, no dancer could match that,” he says. His solution? Have the heavier tracks represent the story’s “dark clan” and the Hip’s lighter, acoustic fare represent the “light clan,” and alternate between the two.

Grand-Maître had been working on the ballet for about a year when he heard the news that Hip frontman Gord Downie had succumbed to brain cancer in October 2017. “I was glad I finished the script before he passed away,” Grand-Maître says. “The sickness and the cancer is the last chapter of his life, but it’s not all the chapters.”

The ultimate test for the artistic director will come opening night, when the remaining band members will see the ballet for the first time, the group’s first public event since Downie’s passing. “Sitting next to [the artists] is excruciatingly stressful because I start bouncing and dancing along with the dancers,” says Grand-Maître. “At one point, I didn’t realize, I grabbed k.d. [lang]’s knee because the scenery wasn’t coming in where it was supposed to — she said I left an imprint!”

If the band approves, then Alberta Ballet will be able to tour All of Us, however, that’s not yet guaranteed. “It might be a ballet that’s only seen in Alberta, but that’s always the risk” says GrandMaître. “Obviously since Gord passed away the responsibility is even more intense to get it right, and that’s what good art is all about, it makes us work harder.” —Andrew

Guilbert

All of Us runs May 2 to 6 at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.

Photographs by Paul McGrath

PRESENTATION

CENTRES NOW OPEN CONDOS, TOWNHOMES, DUPLEXES & SINGLE FAMILY

YOUR CHANCE TO LIVE IN SETON STARTS NOW THE PULSE OF CALGARY IN THE HEART OF THE SOUTH

The Calgary that Will Never Be Again

One of Calgary’s earliest newspapers, The Morning Albertan, editorialized in 1911 that “some day [sic] in the dim and distant future, Calgary’s people will seriously regret the absence of the relics of the days gone by, such as the old town hall and the like.” The city has had a process in place since the 1970s for evaluating heritage buildings and encouraging their preservation, and while there have been great victories, much has been lost. Imagine crossing Stephen Avenue between twin sandstone turrets, buying vegetables in the old streetcar barns, working in a Gotham City-style skyscraper covered in gargoyles, or re-living the Cold War in an official civil defence bunker. These and other fallen “relics” are the Calgary that will never be.

1. FORT CALGARY

Today’s Fort Calgary bears little resemblance to the original. In 1875, a wooden, vertical-log North-West Mounted Police outpost established Calgary’s permanent non-Indigenous presence. The fort was soon rebuilt, including a barracks built in 1888, but the complex was razed in 1914 to make way for railway yards. The site was reclaimed in the 1970s; the interpretive centre opened in 1978, followed by reconstructions of original buildings. A 2003 fire destroyed the log replicas, but the rebuilt 1888 barracks survives.

2.

ALEXANDER CORNER/ BANK OF MONTREAL

With their matching turrets on opposite sides of 1st Street S.W. at Stephen Avenue, Alexander Corner and the Bank of Montreal helped define Calgary as the “Sandstone City” when they were built in 1889. Both were razed in 1929 for an expanded Hudson’s Bay store and a replacement bank (now a Goodlife Fitness Centre), respectively.

3. HULL’S

OPERA HOUSE

William Roper Hull’s theatre could accommodate more than a quarter of Calgary’s population in 1893. Later eclipsed by grander venues, it was converted into stores and apartments in 1906 and demolished in 1963. The Bow tower’s parkade is now under the site.

4. BURNS MANOR

Francis Rattenbury, the murdered architect behind the Empress Hotel and B.C. legislature buildings in Victoria, designed one Calgary building — rancher Patrick Burns’ 1903 sandstone mansion. The home became part of the Colonel Belcher veterans’ hospital in 1941 and was razed in 1956. The Sheldon Chumir Health Centre stands on the site today.

5. CALGARY MUNICIPAL RAILWAY STREETCAR BARNS

Built in 1909 and later expanded, the barns sheltered the city’s streetcars at night and included cleaning, painting and repair shops. Streetcars were phased out in the 1940s and the barns were subsequently demolished. The site is now a parking lot south of the Big Four Building.

6. CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY STATION

The city’s third CPR station was constructed between 1910 and 1912, and it was pulverized in 1966 to make way for the Calgary Tower and Palliser Square. The stone complex was the point of arrival for countless immigrants and the scene of many sad partings and joyous reunions.

7. SOUTHAM BUILDING/ SOUTHAM CHAMBERS

In 1913, the Calgary Herald’s parent company built two eponymous, gargoyle-clad office blocks on opposite sides of 1st Street S.W. at 7th Avenue. Each, in turn, housed the Herald for a time. Most of the Royal Doulton terracotta figurines were damaged when they were removed from the western building for a 1966 renovation (though most were saved when the eastern one was razed in 1973). The Southam buildings were replaced by the Len Werry Building and Brookfield Place.

8. CIVIL DEFENCE CONTROL CENTRE

In 1954, the city built a command centre under Shaganappi Golf Course to coordinate Calgary’s evacuation in the event of a nuclear attack. The facility couldn’t withstand a nuclear blast, but it did have a kitchen. It was demolished in 1997. —Harry Sanders

All customers are free to purchase natural gas services from the default

or from a retailer of their choice and to purchase electricity services from the regulated rate provider or from a retailer of their choice. The delivery of natural gas and electricity to you is not affected by your choice. If you change who you purchase natural gas services or electricity services from, you will continue receiving natural gas and electricity from the distribution company in your service area. For a current list of retailers you may choose from, visit www.ucahelps.gov.ab.ca or call 310-4822 (toll free in Alberta).

DETOURS

this month do to

MUSICAL THEATRE THE SECRET GARDEN

UNTIL MAY 19

Theatre Calgary’s 50th season comes to a musical end with The Secret Garden. The Broadway musical follows orphaned Mary Lennox. Unhappy in her new home in her uncle’s secluded estate, she becomes fascinated with a mysterious locked garden and learns there’s more to her new home — and the people living in it — than she imagined. Max Bell Theatre, Arts Commons, theatrecalgary.com

Canadian premiere of this exciting mystery that sees iconic private detective Sherlock Holmes brought in to solve the case when Annie Oakley’s brother goes missing in 1887.

The Playhouse, 115 9 Ave. S.E., vertigotheatre.com

MUSIC HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE IN CONCERT

MAY 18 AND 19

Openings

CHAI PANI

This new Indian restaurant in Bridgeland will satisfy your cravings for kati wraps, samosas, tandoori chicken curry, Mumbaistyle chai and more.

126, 38 9 St. N.E., 403-719-0077, chaipani.ca

FOOD AND DRINK CALGARY INTERNATIONAL BEERFEST

MAY 4 TO 5

Join fellow beer-loving Calgarians at this annual festival which has more than 500 featured beers this year. Attendees will have two days to sample (and vote for) beers from around the world and food from local eateries. There will also be beer seminars throughout the festival.

BMO Centre, Stampede Park, albertabeerfestivals.com

FIGURE SKATING STARS ON ICE

MAY 12

They made Canada proud at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Now, some of the country’s best skaters are coming to Calgary as part of the 2018 Stars on Ice Tour. The lineup includes gold-medal-winning ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the bronze-winning pairs team of Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford and ladies bronze medalist Kaetlyn Osmond.

Scotiabank Saddledome, starsonice.ca

THEATRE SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE AMERICAN PROBLEM

MAY 12 TO JUNE 10

Vertigo Theatre presents the

The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra brings the story of “the boy who lived” to life this month. Listen to the orchestra play the score from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone live while the 2001 film about a young wizard’s introduction to the world of magic plays onscreen. Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, 1415 14 Ave. N.W., calgaryphil.com

ESPRESSO CAFE

Pair a latte with the porchetta eggs Benedict or ricotta-and-blueberry pancakes from the all-day breakfast menu at Kensington’s newest café.

273 10 St. N.W., espressocafeyyc.com

NORDSTROM RACK

American retailer Nordstrom Rack has opened its first location in Western Canada, bringing discounted, brand-name fashions to Deerfoot Meadows. Deerfoot Meadows, nordstromrack.com

PIN-BAR SANDWICH CO.

Sandwiches and beer meet pinball and arcade games at this new hangout on 17th Avenue S.W. 501 17 Ave. S.W., facebook.com/pinbaryyc

RED BISON BREWERY

FESTIVAL PANEL ONE COMIC CREATOR FESTIVAL

MAY 26

Local comic collective and nonprofit organization Panel One shines a spotlight on Canadian comic creators at this annual one-day festival that returns for a third year on May 26 with dozens of tables featuring comic creators and other activities.

Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association, 1320 5 Ave. N.W., panelone.ca

You can sip a pint of locally made craft beer in the new Red Bison Brewery taproom, located in the neighbourhood of Franklin. 111, 3016 10 Ave. N.E., redbisonbrewery.com

XO ICE CREAM & WAFFLES

This McKinley Burkart-designed space is a modern take on oldschool ice cream parlours with made-in-house ice cream, waffles, sorbets and takeaway pints. 808, 100 Auburn Meadows Dr. S.E., 403-796-3975, facebook.com/xoicecream

Stars on Ice photograph by Julie LaRochelle; Panel One photograph by Ashley Hartley

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford will be at Stars On Ice.

Panel One.

• Triple

• Mature

Calgary’s oldest NEW BUILDINGS

BY Fabian Mayer

arge white letters on a black background announce the building’s name and at the same time invite speculation: “Biscuit Block.” The six-storey structure’s peculiar moniker, taken from its past function as a cookie factory, compliments its unique look. The lower portion is four storeys of the red brick typical of Calgary’s historic warehouses and the building sports characteristic paired rectangular windows on the front facade and arched windows on the sides. Above, the architectural style leaps ahead a century — brick gives way to glass and steel in cool white and grey tones and five diagonal wood and steel beams support a white overhang that provides cover to a terrace. At the back of the building the modern and historic sections interlock in a neat dovetail that serves to unify the Biscuit Block’s two parts into a cohesive whole.

“The philosophy on that was that we didn’t want to compete with the old building,” says Biscuit Block architect and designer Frank Kaspar of Abugov Kaspar Architecture. “We wanted to highlight the old building and contrast it with today's architectural expression.”

Standing at the corner of 11th Avenue and 4th Street S.E., the original building was erected in 1912 to serve as a warehouse for the Neilson Furniture Company. At the time, many Calgary businesses warehoused goods on the south edge of the city’s commercial core while conducting retail operations along Stephen Avenue.

A 1926 addition to the building made room for one of the growing city’s first biscuit producers, the Independent Biscuit Company, to base its manufacturing activities. The company operated its wholesale trade out of the building as late as 1974. But over the following decades, the historic warehouse fell into disrepair, until the derelict structure caught the eye of Kaspar and his firm.

“We thought the building there was very good as far as showing the industrial history of Calgary and that it should be saved,” says Kaspar. “But in order to do that and get some money back, we had to add more to the building, more square footage, so it would justify the redevelopment.”

Completed in 2013, the renovated Biscuit Block now stands out as one of Calgary’s most distinct office buildings. Developments like it, in which private-sector firms choose to restore and renovate a historic building, often incorporating modern additions, have become more common in recent years. LocalMotive Crossing and the Snowdon Block in Ramsay, and cSpace King Edward in South Calgary all combine turn-of-the20th century buildings with modern extensions of varing forms.

The trend is especially notable given Calgary’s not-entirely undeserved reputation for disregarding the value of historic buildings. Over the past decades many of the city’s historic buildings have been demolished in favour of new construction. (For some notable examples, read Harry Sanders’ story on page 34.) Although architectural protection started to some degree in the 1990s, the economic booms in the 1970s and 1990s in particular brought with them an emphasis on the new, and liberal use of the wrecking ball. The result is an architectural landscape with comparatively few buildings that are more than a few decades old.

For these reasons, Kaspar applauds the new efforts to reimagine historic buildings. “A lot of these buildings have been sitting here for a long time until somebody looked at them and found a new use for them,” says Kaspar. “It’s too easy to knock ’em down and build a new higher density building. I think the character of the city should go a little bit further back than today.”

Clint Robertson, City of Calgary senior heritage planner, says part of the destruction is due to the City’s inability to legally protect heritage buildings easily. Alberta lacks the legislation available to most other North American jurisdictions that allows municipalities to protect buildings without the consent of the building owners. The City asked the province to grant it those powers during the 2017 renegotiation of its city charter, but the province rejected the request. With the municipal government lacking the ability to intervene on demolitions, decisions about what to do with old buildings have often fallen to developers.

But heritage designation can be a doubleedged sword. Had the owners of what is now the

“A lot of these buildings have been sitting here for a long time until somebody looked at them and found a new use for them. It’s too easy to knock ’em down and build a new higher density building. I think the character of the city should go a little bit further back than today.”

—Frank Kaspar, Abugov Kaspar Architecture

Biscuit Block opted to demolish it at any point during its period of dereliction, there is little the City could have done. On the other hand, the building’s rebirth through extensive renovations and its modern addition may not have been possible were it subject to the strict rules that come with official protection.

Kaspar believes it’s important to strike a balance between protecting a city’s history while still allowing for renewal. “Where do you draw the line? At a certain point if a building is modified it doesn’t comply with any of the protection guidelines,” he says.

In the absence of legal powers to protect buildings without the owners’ consent, Robertson and the City’s heritage planning department have found other ways to help preserve Calgary’s historic buildings. City Hall has a variety of programs that encourage developers and building owners to preserve buildings. “In the absence of the ability to regulate heritage buildings you need incentives,” says Robertson.

One such incentive lets owners of designated historic resources in the city centre give up their right to re-develop on that site, and instead sell their development rights. This means that if the site of the building is zoned for a higher building height and density than the current historic building makes use of, the owner can transfer the rights for that extra height and density to

a developer for use on another building. The arrangement allows building owners to get a financial benefit out of the potential of their property without needing to demolish a heritage building to realize it. According to Robertson, around 10 sites have made use of the program over the years.

The City’s powers over zoning can also provide leverage in negotiations over proposed developments. The Arriva condo building in Victoria Park was able to attain its status as the tallest residential building in Alberta when it was completed in 2007 (now surpassed by The Guardian condo towers on the same block) thanks in part to the developer's commitment to restore and preserve the Victoria Park School, which occupies the same site. “That site was zoned for much lower densities and heights, but the school buildings were not protected,” says Robertson. “So we basically said to them, if you're willing to protect these buildings, we'll offer you a different type of land use.”

The paskapoo sandstone Victoria Park School, completed in 1912, was one of the many schools built to accommodate Calgary’s rapidly growing population during the city’s pre-World War I boom. The Edwardian architecture is typical of the historic sandstone schools dotted among Calgary’s older neighbourhoods. The Victoria Park School’s presence in a modern downtown lends it

extra significance. Dwarfed by the massive condo towers that surround it, the school now creates an intense architectural contrast between Calgary’s past and present.

On occasion, the City opts for a more straightforward tactic to help protect or restore a landmark — it hands over cash. Dating from 1911, the C.C. Snowdon Oils Factory and Office on 11th Street S.E. represents one of Western Canada’s first oil manufacturing and refining businesses. In 2013 the City gave the property owners, Heritage Property Corporation, a $260,000 grant to renovate and restore the site, which had suffered significant damage from a 1988 fire. In exchange, the City was able to stipulate certain standards and guidelines for the renovation and the owners agreed to let the property be designated a municipal historic resource. Restored in a style similar to the Biscuit Block, the commercial building also boasts a new glass-and-steel addition on top of the original brick structure.

Robertson is pleased with how the school preservation and Snowdon Block projects turned out and says the City is in the process of creating further incentives to encourage protection of historic buildings. He also hopes other levels of government will step up and create incentives of their own and points to a program in the United States that provides generous tax credits to companies that renovate historic buildings.

cSpace King Edward, South Calgary.

Photograph courtesy of cSPACE

In fact, a bill to introduce a similar program in Canada was first tabled by Peter Van Loan, Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of York-Simcoe, in December 2016. The committee looking at the bill delivered its report to the House of Commons this past December and recommended creating the tax-credit program, but, ultimately, the bill failed to pass.

“It would have been a game-changer. This has been the single most effective tool in retaining heritage sites in the USA,” says Robertson. “These are the types of incentives that really make the rubber hit the road for heritage conservation.”

Though Kaspar and his client did not make use of any of the City’s programs to redevelop the Biscuit Block, he acknowledges that City Hall’s effort to promote preservation has played a role in the renewal many historic buildings are experiencing. More than the government’s efforts though, he believes Calgary and its attitude toward heritage buildings have changed and that is what is making the difference. “I think we have matured as a business community to the point where not everything needs to be knocked down,” says Kaspar.

He points to a general reawakening of interest in the past in everything from the return of retro music and clothing styles to the popularity of DNA tests to discover one’s ancestry. Societal interest has also translated to buildings, Kaspar says, with businesses valuing historic and unconventional office space more than ever before.

That demand is another crucial factor behind the proliferation of developments like the Biscuit Block. The building’s tenants span a wide range of businesses, from law offices and financial advisors, to landscape architects and technology firms. Founded in 2013, app developer and mobile software company AppColony moved into its current Biscuit Block offices in 2015. Senior vicepresident, operations, Darrell Moir says the firm was attracted by the building’s distinct qualities.

“We love the feel of the character space. It’s a really cool spot,” says Moir. “Even though we’re in the basement of the building, we’ve got 13-foot ceilings and natural light coming in.” The seeming incongruity of an app developer — the epitome of a 21st century business — operating out of a century-old former biscuit factory isn’t lost on Moir. “You have both ends of it, modern technology, together with the 100-year-old building,” he says. “It’s kind of a neat mix.”

Moir does admit that there are some difficulties that come with working in a space that has been around since before the First World War

— regulating the temperature can be especially tricky. But despite the climatic drawbacks, Moir says AppColony loves the space.

Kaspar says the site of the Biscuit Block building is just as important to its historic value. He seems genuinely pleased that the former factory in Calgary’s industrial beltline is once again filled with activity and people at work. “There’s a sense of recycling in architecture. Buildings are built for a purpose and then somewhere down the line the purpose changes, because we as people change the way we live and do business,” says Kaspar. “Buildings should go through the same kind of change, where we find new ways of using the same buildings.”

While Kaspar says he appreciates the Biscuit Block’s historic aspects, he is equally excited that the building now has a bright, and above all, certain future. He likens it to a restored vintage car with a brand new engine. “People love old Camaros, but they don’t drive that old engine,” he says. “They put a lot of effort and energy into restoring these vehicles as close as they can, but not exact. That’s kind of what we’re doing here.”

“We love the feel of the character space, it’s a really cool spot ... You have both ends of it, modern technology together with the 100-year-old building. It’s kind of a neat mix.”

—Darrell Moir, senior vice-president, operations, AppColony

The Snowdon Block, Ramsay.

LocalMotive Crossing, Ramsay.

Victoria Park School, Beltline.

Photographs by Jared Sych

D Y

NAMIC HOUSING FOR A D Y NAMIC C ITY

BY Jennifer Allford PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jared Sych

When the Calgary Tower (then the Husky Tower) opened in June, 1968, newspaper headlines declared its “demanding might” and marveled that the 190-metre tower was more than double the height of the next tallest building downtown, Elveden House. You could take a ride to the top of the new tower — $1 for adults and 50 cents for children — and look out over the “pulsating city” of nearly 370,000 people.

By the mid-1970s, almost 85,000 more people had moved to Calgary. Jeremy Sturgess was one of them. The young architect had moved back to Calgary in 1974 and decided to work here because he liked what he saw as the city’s egalitarian nature and the sense that he could get a meeting in any corner office provided he had a good idea. As Sturgess started getting those meetings, developers were scrambling to build cul de sacs full of houses for the people flooding into the boom town.

One of the new communities the people were moving into was Ranchlands, a neighbourhood just off Crowchild Trail established in 1977. That’s where Dustin Couzens’ parents bought a starter home on one of the hilly streets. “The difference between us and our next-door neighbour was maybe a change in stucco colour,” says Couzens, a principal with the architecture firm MoDA (Modern Office of Design + Architecture). “It was exactly the same layout.”

Back in the 1970s, those “cookie-cutter” houses reflected a sort of cookie-cutter view of what a family looked like — husband, wife, couple of kids, maybe a dog. As Couzens grew up learning about space by building forts and playing with Lego in his northwest Calgary bedroom, Sturgess was designing houses for people who wanted to live closer to the core. “We went through hurdles of everybody saying, ‘Oh no, you can’t do that here,’” Sturgess says. “The developers didn’t get urban housing; they only got suburban housing.”

ThechangingnatureofhousinginCalgaryreflects thechangingwaysCalgarianswanttolive.

“Sustainability is absolutely number one for millennials and younger. Older than that, it’s still a choice. But for the younger people it’s not a choice, it’s an absolute.”

—JEREMY STURGESS

Architect Jeremy Sturgess at home.

Architect Dustin Couzens at the MoDA offices.

DOWNTOWN AS A MAGNET

For many years, Calgary was the model of a North American suburban city, with residential growth happening on the periphery mainly through single-family homes with grassy lawns. But Sturgess saw something else that attracted him when he started his career here more than 40 years ago. The contained island of land downtown that delineated and limited the outward growth of the core made for a natural scarcity of space amid the endless plains. “The jewel in that suburban city was its physical nature of downtown being sort of an island, with the Bow River to the north and CP Rail tracks to the south,” says Sturgess. These strong boundaries forced downtown to grow up rather than out and limited access, making downtown space scarce and desirable. “It was always the magnet that gave the city potential to be an urban city.”

As Calgary kept growing, shooting past the million mark by 2007, that potential started to turn into reality and the magnet started pulling people in.

“Like any growing movement I don’t think it’s ever just one thing that pushes it. It’s kind of a tipping point of many things,” says Kate Thompson, vice-president, projects at Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), a wholly owned subsidiary of the City of Calgary. CMLC is the master developer behind East Village, which includes the New Central Library and a number of other projects that are transforming the inner-city neighbourhood.

That transformation started more than a decade ago, with a change in thinking followed by changes in policy. The City’s 2009 Municipal Development Plan calls for accommodating half of the city’s population growth by adding more housing to existing communities rather than just building new communities on the edges. That “intensification” of older neighbourhoods includes condo towers near CTrain stations and more apartments, infills and townhouses among the single-family houses.

The shift toward more density — building up instead of just out — started as commutes were becoming a bigger drag, the cost to the City of services for new communities was growing and sustainability was becoming a bigger concern. “Sustainability is absolutely number one for millennials and younger,” says Sturgess. “Older than that, it’s still a choice. But for the younger people it’s not a choice, it’s an absolute.”

Millennials began moving out of their parents’ houses and wanting to move in to the inner city. As the list of things to do in those communities grew — from taking the kids for ice cream in the Beltline to taking a date through Studio Bell and strolling along the River Walk — other demographics took notice as well.

The idea of having the city as your living room began catching on here as it had elsewhere. It’s a concept that’s popular in places like New York and London where people are accustomed to living in small spaces and using public spaces for recreation and entertaining.

“We’re used to the picket fence; we’re used to the big backyard; we’re used to the massive homes and not utilizing 50 per cent of that,” says Couzens. “Why don’t we look at smaller spaces that are not as burdensome from a payment perspective — or they might cost the same but you’re right in the thick of things?”

In the last decade, more people — from newly launched 20-somethings to their parents who want to have their empty nest downtown — want to live in the inner city. And developers are giving Calgarians what they want.

“There’s way more demand for living in the inner city,” says developer Alkarim Devani, president and co-founder of Rndsqr. Devani grew up in northeast Calgary and moved to the Beltline as soon as he left his parents’ house.

Rndsqr is working with MoDA on Grow and Village, two awardwinning multi-family housing projects in Bankview. “When we first started 10 years ago, infill-style housing was still just for the affluent; it was still pretty expensive,” Devani says. “But the inner city is for everybody and we’re trying to find a way that these different demographics can live in the inner city, which is a more sustainable option.”

Back when Thompson moved to Calgary in 1999 to take the masters of architecture program at University of Calgary, the only talk of living downtown was in lecture halls and architecture magazines. “It’s become more mainstream to talk about urban living and a walkable neighbourhood and having amenities nearby,” she says. And some suburban home builders are also “dipping their toes” into more innovative, sustainable and urban housing, says Couzens. “There are really tangible benefits to living in a smaller footprint with all this infrastructure around you, versus having a 45-minute commute every day,” he says.

“This isn’t hype; this isn’t someone taking a crazy risk. It’s heralding the fact that Calgary is moving from its adolescence. It’s maturing; we are growing up.”

DUSTIN COUZENS

BETWEEN THE TALL GLASS TOWERS AND BIG BACK YARDS

Innovative forms of housing aren’t just going up in the core, either. Changing families are just that, changing, and more Calgarians want more options. It’s not so much that everyone is changing from wanting a single-family home to wanting an inner-city condo, as it is that changing social dynamics mean that people want different configurations of homes and a variety of options.

Mixed-use housing is popping up all over the city. Condo towers are going up near train stations in the suburbs. Developers are creating new complete communities with multi-family housing, public spaces and room for commercial and retail businesses. One of these complete communities, the University District, is being built across from the 1960s-era Varsity. And across the river, next to 2000-era West Springs, the West District is planned as an “urban centre” with all kinds of options for working, shopping, having fun and, of course, living in varied housing.

“There’s more diversity starting to develop in terms of type of product,” says amery Calvelli, cofounder and executive director of the Design Talks Institute (d.talks), a group that hosts a series of events about architecture and design in Calgary. “The type of housing style is more mixed-use and multi-family buildings and not relying simply on the condo tower or the single-family house,” she says. “There’s more breadth starting to happen in between, which is really great. I think it’s a super-positive move.”

As the idea of cookie-cutter families living in cookie-cutter homes is now obsolete, the options of where to live have become more diverse, along with the city’s population. “We have really great influences from inside and outside Calgary,” says Thompson. “People have moved here with different perspectives and backgrounds, which I think helps shape the city.”

And Calgary is being influenced by housing trends that are moving across North America and the world — sustainability is a watchword for developers around the globe these days. More sustainable cities aim to bring transit to the people who live at its outer reaches. Sturgess Architecture is designing 14 stations for the first phase of the Green Line CTrain expansion, which will eventually run from the far north to the far south of the city. The station

Inner City Growth

Over the past 10 years, many inner-city neighbourhoods have experienced significant increases in population. In particular, the Beltline, East Village, Sunnyside, Hillhurst and Chinatown each experienced population increases between 12 and 38 per cent during that time, according to City census data. While a few communities, including Eau Claire and the Downtown West End had residential population decreases, for the most part Calgary’s inner-city communities are becoming more and more densely populated.

designs are inspired, in part, by the steam engines that once brought trainloads of people to new lives on the prairies. Generations later, the little settlement at the confluence of the Bow and the Elbow is beginning to embrace urbanism.

“When I started my firm, we were the only ‘Young Turk’ firm for about 20 years. Now there’s more than half a dozen of them,” says Sturgess. “There’s a real culture developing and that will benefit the people who build houses, housing and people in the city. I am going to be 70 soon and I’ve spent my whole life working on urban housing and building for the city. As I fade away into the sunset, the answer will be we’ve made some progress.”

Couzens predicts that we’ll see more plenty more progress, creativity and innovation in housing in the next 20 years. “It isn’t conjecture; this isn’t hype; this isn’t someone taking a crazy risk. It’s heralding the fact that Calgary is moving from its adolescence,” he says. “It’s maturing; we are growing up.”

In 2018, 1.4 million people live in Calgary. By 2041, estimates suggest there may be as many as 2.4 million. We come from all over Canada and the world. Some of us want to live in big houses in the suburbs and throw a Frisbee in the back yard. Others prefer to plant a stake in the core, where, if the mood strikes, you can walk to the Calgary Tower, roll out $18 to get to the top and gaze out at skyscrapers, condo towers and at the city stretching out beyond your view.

“It’s evolving and it’s wonderful to see,” says Thompson. “We are a really young city and we are just at the beginning of what we can be.”

A model of inner-city Calgary made by MoDa.

BY Colleen Seto ILLUSTRATIONS BY Taryn Gee

Killing You Softly

Despite causing 3,200 deaths in Canada annually as the second leading cause of lung cancer, radon gas is relatively unknown. The naturally occurring, colourless and odourless gas is produced from the radioactive decay of uranium in rocks and soil. It is extremely prevalent in the Canadian prairies and enters homes through cracks in walls, floors and foundations, and through floor drains and sumps. And once inhaled, radon gas causes DNA mutations that lead to cancer.

Two years ago, I had never even heard of radon. But since then, my husband Jason and I found ourselves embroiled in a sordid affair with the deadly gas. And we aren’t alone — either in being unaware of radon, or in having it in our home. According to a recent University of Calgary study, one in eight Albertan homes tested over 200Bq/m3 [becquerels per metre cubed, a unit of measurement for radiation], Health Canada’s maximum acceptable radon limit. Because radon is colourless and odorless, testing your home is the only way to determine how much of this dangerous gas you might be exposed to.

We tested our home using a radon detector after our neighbours found out they had radon levels in the 500Bq/m3 range, with a couple of readings as high as 800Bq/m3. While a neighbour having or not having high radon doesn’t necessarily indicate that your home will, it kind of lit a fire under us to do the testing ourselves. Our level fluctuated in the 300 to 400s — well above the limit. Still, we weren’t very concerned. We’d already been exposed for seven years and counting. What was the harm in shelving it a while longer? Significant, as it turns out. The more we learned, the less we could ignore the risk, especially since we have two young kids.

Dr. Aaron Goodarzi, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary’s Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute and the lead author for the U of C study says that despite the Health Canada limit, research by the World Health Organization (WHO) has shown an increased risk of cancer at 100Bq/m3. The WHO uses the 100Bq/m3 limit as their action level. “At over 100Bq/m3, we advise to strongly think about mitigation, especially if you have young children,” says Goodarzi. “Kids breathe more and faster. Plus, little lungs are

growing, and growing tissue is fundamentally more susceptible to the negative health consequences of radiation.”

Parental guilt definitely spurred our decision, but radiation is bad for everyone. From 2013 to 2016, Goodarzi and his researcher team tested radon levels in 2,382 homes in Calgary and surrounding communities. Nearly half tested with radon levels over 100Bq/m3. The WHO estimates the average lifetime risk of lung cancer increases by 16 per cent for every 100Bq/m3 of chronic radon exposure.

What you don’t know about radon might be killing you — it’s the leading cause of non-smoking related lung cancer.

Because radon is colourless and odourless, testing your home is the only way to determine how much of this dangerous gas you might be exposed to.

So, we had to mitigate. Typically, the cost to reduce radon in a home can range anywhere from nothing to $3,000. It usually involves sealing out the gas and installing a vent system to draw the gas out of the home. We contacted Radon West, the company that brought our neighbours’ radon levels down to 50Bq/m3.

Renata MacQueen, Radon West’s director of field operations, came to assess our situation. She experienced radon first-hand when she discovered her Cochrane home had a level of 2,400Bq/m3. Now she’s a fervent champion for radon awareness, testing and mitigation.

“I was dedicated to giving my kids a healthy start,” says MacQueen, “but they spent their first six years in levels 12 times Health Canada’s maximum guideline because I didn’t know to test.” She wants to help other families avoid the same mistake.

Our A-frame home doesn’t have a full basement, rather it sits on top of a dug-out crawlspace that we have jokingly referred to as the “Blair Witch basement.” After emerging from our crawlspace, MacQueen broke the bad

news. Most mitigations are straightforward. Ours would prove to be anything but. Because the crawlspace was full of loose dirt and debris, there was no easy way to seal off or vent the area. We had a few options, none of them uncomplicated or cheap. We researched, consulted experts, flipped and flopped, and ultimately, we opted to dig out the crawlspace, pour concrete and add a vent system. That would come with a much heftier price tag, but at least we would get storage space and add equity to our home as well as peace of mind.

Then we hit another snag — no concrete company wanted the job. Many contractors came, but we never heard from them again. Weeks went by until Jason, who thankfully is handy and relentlessly hardworking, took on the grunt work himself.

With MacQueen’s guidance, Jason sawed a gaping hole in our living room floor, and spent nearly six months of his spare time crouched down in our home’s dark underbelly, digging, shovelling, securing pipes and posts, laying gravel, roughing in a vent system and covering

5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT RADON

1. Radon typically comes into a home through the basement, so levels there are usually higher. However, the gas is pumped through your whole house through your heating and ventilation.

2. Even if neighbouring homes test low for radon, yours could still have high levels.

3. Radon doesn’t accumulate in the body like lead. Results may not be

seen for years, but the damage to your DNA is immediate.

4. As newer homes seem to be at higher risk for radon than older homes, the government has mandated new home builds must now have mitigation rough-ins.

5. Mitigation is typically very easy and can be as simple as increasing air intake and cleaning your vents.

it all with plastic sheeting in preparation for concrete. A vacuum truck came out twice to suck out more than 30 cubic metres of dirt. Finally, the concrete was poured, and our radon level dropped to 120Bq/m3.

Radon can move through concrete so we still need to complete the venting system, but for now, we can breathe in relative safety. Simply put, mitigation works. In fact, Goodarzi equates radon testing and mitigation to cancer-prevention programs. “More than 300 Albertans were told last year they have lung cancer even though they never smoked. That’s attributable to radon,” he says. “Radon is one of the most solvable causes of one of the most unsolvable cancers. It’s a Class 1 carcinogen — in the same category as asbestos.”

MacQueen notes that there is also a lot of misunderstanding about the danger that radon poses. “Radon is not something that builds up in your body,” she says. “The damage to your DNA is immediate — right that second. [But] people believe it’s a long-term risk because it could take 10 to 20 years or more for this DNA mutation to become radon-induced cancer.”

The U of C study also found that newer homes — those built in the last 25 years — tend to have higher radon levels than older ones. Goodarzi and his colleagues are collecting home metrics in the next phase of their research (evictradon.ca) to determine exactly why. They have nearly 8,500 additional homeowners province-wide participating, and the research group hopes to eventually look at long-term health effects. “Nobody is doing this kind of radon work yet,” says Goodarzi. “Alberta has gone from a desert of radon awareness to a quantum leap in three years.” He hopes increased findings will help inform policy and make a difference. And it already has.

This past December, the Alberta Legislature passed Bill 209 — the radon and awareness testing act — making it a government priority and testing mandatory for childcare facilities. The bill aims to raise public awareness, specifically among real estate buyers.

“Radon is a growing issue locally as more awareness and testing reveals some reason for concern,” says Steven Hill, a realtor with Sotheby’s International Realty Canada. “For a buyer with any concerns, they should have a property independently tested. If a seller were to perform testing, it will not necessarily add any monetary

value to the property, but will contribute to buyer confidence. That is a different kind of value-add, especially in this soft market.”

Since November 2015, Alberta’s new home building codes require protections against radon entry as well as a mitigation rough-in. However, for existing homes, it’s all up to homeowners. And mitigation doesn’t typically involve months of backbreaking labour down a hole in your floor. Many effective remediation techniques are simple and cost very little. You can increase the air intake on your HVAC system, clean your vents, fix leaky sump pumps, seal up holes and ensure basement supply registers bring in fresh air.

As for us, despite the cost, stress and physical exertion on Jason’s part, we successfully ended our toxic relationship with radon.

If you’re still wondering if you should test, MacQueen puts radon exposure into perspective: “If your levels are averaging 200Bq/m3 annually, that is almost the same as 360 dental X-rays a year. I shake my head that I didn’t know to test my house for radon, but worried about my children getting one dental X-ray.”

“More than 300 Albertans were told last year they have lung cancer even though they never smoked. That’s attributable to radon. Radon is one of the most solvable causes of one of the most unsolvable cancers. It’s a Class 1 carcinogen — in the same category as asbestos.”

— Dr. Aaron Goodarzi, radon researcher

BY Andrew Guilbert PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jeremy Fokkens

Gordon Atkins

Back in the 1960s, young architect Gordon Atkins was sitting in the outer office of a potential employer, awaiting a job interview. From his vantage, Atkins could overhear the man talking on the phone. Eventually, he decided to leave.

The man caught up to Atkins in the hallway and when asked why he left, Atkins replied: “I’ve listened to you for 15 minutes; I don’t want to work here.” Atkins’ recollection of the rest of the exchange implies a great reversal of roles, with the employer asking to see his work and then having to convince the young architect that he should accept the job. Atkins eventually agreed — albeit on the condition that the two of them wouldn’t interact over the course of an architecture competition they would be entering. He got the job.

Atkins’ strong personality colours many of the stories the 81-year-old has to tell. In the late 1960s, the Alberta provincial government’s cultural department sent writers and photographers to profile 30 artists and architects in order to create a one-man show about each. One half of the pair assigned to Atkins wrote that she found him very arrogant at first. “Then, by the fifth day, she said it wasn’t arrogance at all, it was confidence,” says Atkins. “My son says, no, she had it right the first time.”

Atkins was born in Calgary in 1937, though his birth parents divorced shortly afterward and he moved with his mother to Cardston, Alberta, a town of roughly 2,200 people at the time, whose only architect-designed building was a Mormon temple (the first built in the British Commonwealth). Atkins’ perspective on the role of architecture has been formed through decades of experience but

may also draw from this background. He believes the role of the architect is to provide a functional, spiritual, threedimensional experience at a level that will bring out positive interactions with the user of the space. “It’s the refined experience translated to people who otherwise would not be able to have that experience,” he says.

A lifelong Mormon, Atkins would go on to twice serve as a bishop of the church in adulthood, however, his religious upbringing didn’t prevent him from getting into trouble as a youth. His early life is peppered with stories like his fall from a 50-foot grain elevator, only to land safely in a pile of grain. “There are at least five times that I should have been dead. Each of those things taught me some real lessons, but I also came to think that with that many opportunities to die, there must have been some reason for me to be around,” he says. “I always have that in the back of my mind, that there must have been something [I was] supposed to do.”

An early proclivity for sketching, and a conversation with his high school principal, helped him decide that calling might be architecture. “The minute [my principal] mentioned architecture — I knew nothing about it, there were certainly no architects in my experience in Cardston — it just clicked, and all I had to do was decide to be, and prove that I could be, one.”

After receiving his bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Washington in 1960, Atkins worked for a few smaller firms in Winnipeg, Seattle and eventually Calgary. He started a firm in Calgary with partners in 1961 and left two years later to go solo.

In 1966, at only 29 years old, Atkins became the first Albertan to win the Massey Medal for the Melchin Summer

One of the first great architects to emerge from the Canadian prairies, Gordon Atkins’ uncompromising vision throughout his career has given him numerous awards and just as many stories to tell.

“THE REALLY GOOD ARCHITECTS ARE SPECIALISTS IN GENERALITIES, BECAUSE ONCE THEY CLAIM TO BE A SPECIALIST, IT REALLY MEANS THEY’VE STOPPED THINKING ABOUT THE PROBLEM.”

Gordon Atkins

Calgary architect Gordon Atkins at Mayland Heights Elementary School, one of about 25 buildings he designed over his career. Built in 1967-1969, the building was unique at the time in that the height of amenities like drinking fountains and chalkboards were scaled to the students, rather than to the adults.

Homes, a pair of lakeside vacation residences in Windermere, B.C. The medal, a beautifully engraved piece of solid silver given out by the Governor General between 1950 and 1970, was the most prestigious architecture award of its time. Atkins keeps it, along with a number of his other awards, in a bag behind his shoes at the back of his closet. “Obviously the first Massey medal in Alberta was important to me as a young architect,” says Atkins. “But I’ve never been a very good person for displaying things on walls.”

The Melchin homes were only his third project and though his career garnered him a literal bagful of awards, Atkins produced a relatively small body of work — a total of 25 built structures — prior to his semi-retirement in 1995 (the year he stepped away from active architectural practice, though he

says he has never stopped working entirely). This number belies the excellence of those projects, however. As architect Graham Livesey writes in his 2005 book Gordon Atkins: Architecture, 1960-95: “The outstanding quality of [Atkins’] work makes it among the most significant work built in Canada from the mid-1960s to the mid 1980s.”

This concentration of quality over quantity seems to stem from his convictions, which led him to leave or reject a number of projects because they would not allow him to practice his trade as he saw fit. When a client told him that, though they liked a design he’d spent two years on, they weren’t going to build it and wanted him to come up with another, he flatly refused. “I said, ‘what you’re saying is that, the last two years of my life, when every moment of my thinking has been focused on this project, you want me to tell myself that I’m wrong about all that, and I should go back and do it again, but not with a new program, not with new problems, but just different, and it’s not possible.’”

Atkins’ concept for the Stephen Avenue open-air pedestrian mall, commissioned by the City in 1968, is another example of the many disputes he had to mediate during his career. In preparation, Atkins spent a month and a half touring and researching similar malls in North America, finding, among other things, that the typical mall surface was an expensive, inflexible tile, not suited to the Calgary project. His solution was to use three-foot, sandblasted, pre-cast concrete slabs, each supported by four adjustable steel jack posts that would be lowered into trenches dug two feet into the existing surface. The elevated slab sidewalks would allow for a hidden heating system to melt snow, facilitate rain runoff and accommodate electrical and mechanical components for future displays or businesses.

These plans immediately raised eyebrows, notably of John Ivor Strong, then chief commissioner for the City of Calgary. According to Atkins, when the business association initially voted in favour of Atkins’ proposal on a Friday, Strong called one business owner and said he’d reverse the direction of 7th Avenue and get rid of their store’s entrance unless they flipped their vote. The following Monday, the concept was voted down.

Other aspects of Atkins’ pedestrian mall were eventually approved — but with a red-brick surface instead of his original concept. Atkins wrote a letter to the City administration saying that he would proceed with the red-brick surface, but refused responsibility for it. He foresaw issues from laying the brick directly on the asphalt, concerns echoed by one of Strong’s own engineers.

TOP Gordon Atkins. ABOVE Gordon Atkins: Architecture, by Graham Livesey.

Ultimately, the architect had the last laugh. “They did it anyway and after it was done it started to move,” he says. “The doors of the shops along there wouldn’t open because the brick was moving up and down.” When a city commissioner wanted to sue him, Atkins’ letter ensured that had they ended up in court he would have been bullet proof.

The rest of the mall as Atkins designed it was wholly replaced by the late 1980s — one of the many ghosts of his work in Calgary. By his own count, around 20 of his structures are still standing. Of those remaining, he says “there aren’t many that have not been altered in ways that are most unfortunate.” Even Atkins’ former home

UNTTLD FROM THE RUNWAY TO YOUR WARDROBE

in Mount Royal, which he had used as a sort of test subject, was demolished in 2013. His son jokes that having the Gordon Atkins name on a structure indicates its imminent demise.

In hindsight, Atkins’ visions for the city offer a tantalizing “what if” scenario — many of his ideas were years ahead of their time. He’s the second-most-mentioned architect in Stephanie White’s Unbuilt Calgary, a book detailing Calgary projects that almost were. Of his 1963 critique of a proposed downtown freeway, where Atkins suggests the City instead transform 7th Avenue into a transportation corridor for buses, streetcars, the continental railway, taxis and bikes, White writes, “what is surprising is how prescient Atkins was and how strong was his vision of a centralized, compact city that used public transit to keep its edges close.”

One of the many stories Atkins has from his working years is about how he had been hired to design a home for a client who contested a number of features that eventually were included, at Atkins’ insistence. Years later, his judgement was vindicated when the client called him up one Sunday. “He said, ‘I’m just laying here on the bed and looking up at that clerestory window that we fought about. Now I see what it is you were trying to tell me, and I love it,’” recalls Atkins. “And so, there are some of those stories that make you think, well, maybe I’ve been right a couple of times.”

“I DON’T THINK WE CREATE, I THINK WE INTERPRET, AND I THINK OUR INTERPRETATIONS ARE THE RESULT OF ALL THE VISUAL AND ACTUAL EXPERIENCES WE GO THROUGH.”

Gordon Atkins

If the shoe fits. Win one of three $500 shopping sprees.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT May 10, 2018

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to mothering. Any difference that you can think of — whether in ethnicity, spirituality, ability or sexuality — is embodied by moms in this city, and we are all the richer for that diversity. Beyond simple greeting-card platitudes, Mothers’ Day is a day of empowerment; a tribute to mothering in all its ways, shapes and forms. For our own Mothers’ Day celebration we present five Calgary moms and their kids modelling breezy fashions ideal for a special brunch or lunch or other springtime outing, along with a variety of gifts, all locally available and all perfect for saying “thank you for being amazing.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Luc Wilson STYLING BY Brenna Hardy AND Phaedra Godchild (STYLEISTA)

MAKEUP BY Sarah Francis HAIR BY Kimberly Seibel (HEDKANDI)

Chaitali Dave

Cooking instructor, artist and at-home mom

On Chaitali Backless tunic, $460, and pants, $480, both by Nonie; Everleigh earrings in onyx, $95, from Hillberg & Berk; shoes, $79, from Nine West. On Shravan Jeans, $115, and T-shirt, $9.99, both from Simons; shoes, $31.50, from Gap Kids. On Neysa Skirt, $39, and tunic, $29, both from Simons; shoes, $39.90, and backpack, $29.90, both from Zara Kids; sparkle ball stud earrings in amethyst, $80, from Hillberg & Berk. Gift Coffee beans, mugs, canvas tote bag and lattes to-go from Monogram Coffee.

Tanya Eklund Realtor, Tanya Eklund Group

On Tanya Alice & Olivia dress, $1,120, from Saks Fifth Avenue; shoes, $150, from Nine West; Miu Miu bag, $2,640, from Miu Miu Calgary Holt Renfrew. On Ruby (baby) Dress, $75, from Culla Clothing; tank top, $24.95, from Baby Gap; sandals, $19.95, from Gap Kids. On Ophelia Dress, $34.99, from Marshalls; bomber, $29.99, and sandals, $19.99, from H&M; hair bows, $7 each or $19 for a set of three, by Abby Girl.

Gift Sweet treats from Mari Bakeshop.

NEW BEGINNINGS HAVE NEVER LOOKED SO STYLISH

YORKVILLE, LAUNCHING JUNE 2018

• Variety of home choices from Urban Townhomes, Duplexes, and Single Family Homes. Featuring exclusive Brownstone Colonial and Georgian Colonial Architectural Styles.

• Future community amenities include a central park area with an interactive art structure, park area with playground, reflective pond with bridge, connecting pathways, and much more. Residents will also enjoy two future school sites and access to both future and immediate commercial amenities.

• Picturesque beauty nestled into the rolling hills – adventure never felt or looked so stylish, or so easy.

Register now for sales information and event launch details.

SHERIFF KING STREET AND 194TH AVENUE SW

MATTAMYHOMES.COM/CALGARY

Artistic Rendering – Brownstone Townhomes

Brenna Hardy Stylist, co-founder, Styleista

On Brenna Ulla Johnston dress, $820, from Holt Renfrew; shoes, $117, from Nine West; necklace, $360, by Neshka. On Parker (middle) T-shirt, $14.90, and pants, $35.90, both from Zara Kids; shoes, $24, from Joe Fresh. On Preston (far right) T-shirt, $9.90, and pants, $35.90, both from Zara Kids; shoes, $24, from Joe Fresh.

Gift Chocolate roses (available in one-dozen or half-dozen gift boxes) from Cococo Chocolatiers.

Celebrating what it means to be a teacher: Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

For the last 100 years, The Alberta Teachers’ Association has supported and celebrated our teachers and the essential contributions public education provides to Alberta.

I’m Greg Jeffery, President of the Alberta Teachers’ Association. For everything our teachers do, each and every day to make a difference, I’d like to say thank you. Let us continue our work together as we learn from the past and inspire the future.

Greg Jeffery, President THE ALBERTA TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION

FASHION

Galien Johnston Hattori

Co-founder and director of ballet, Hattori/Williamson School of Ballet

On Galien Chloé dress, $532, from Nordstrom; Steve Madden boots, $190, from Steve Madden; Miu Miu necklaces, $1,050 to $1,310, from Miu Miu Calgary Holt Renfrew; Sofie pavé rose-gold-tone smartwatch, $465, from Michael Kors.

On Luka T-shirt, $10.94, from Old Navy; sweatpants, $14.99, from H&M; Nike sneakers, $29.99, from Winners.

On Mae Overalls, $54.95, and T-shirt, $24.95, both from Gap Kids; boots, $59, from [pre]shrunk; Miu Miu headband, $540, from Miu Miu Calgary Holt Renfrew; Lokai bracelet, $36 (USD).

Gift Flowers by Philip Chong Flower Bar.

Libertee Muzyka Photographer, makeup artist, blogger, libertee.ca

On Libertee Malorie Urbanovitch jacket, $695, and skirt, $450, both from Simons; Miu Miu hip pack, $1,060, from Miu Miu Calgary Holt Renfrew; Steve Madden booties, $140, from Steve Madden. On Oscar Onesie, $17.99, and pants, $14.99, both from H&M.

Gift Giant stuffed balloon from Calgary Party 50.

SOURCE

FASHION

PAGES 56 TO 64

Abbygirl, etsy.com/shop/abbygirlco

Baby Gap, multiple Calgary locations, gapcanada.ca

Calgary Party 50, calgaryparty50.ca

Cococo Chocolatiers, multiple Calgary locations, cococochocolatiers.com

Culla Clothing, cullaclothing.com

Gap Kids, multiple Calgary locations, gapcanada.ca

H&M, multiple Calgary locations, hm.com

Hillberg & Berk, CF Market Mall, 403-202-6277, hillbergandberk.com

Holt Renfrew, The Core, 403-269-7341, holtrenfrew.com

Joe Fresh, multiple Calgary locations, joefresh.com/ca

Lokai, lokai.com

Mari Bakeshop, 529 Riverfront Ave. S.E., 587-356-4461, maribakeshop.ca

Marshalls, 7337 Macleod Tr. S.E., 587-293-3485; 145 East Hills Blvd. S.E., 403-273-0248; South Trail Crossing, 587-471-0358, marshalls.ca

Michael Kors, CF Chinook Centre, 403-537-0093; The Core, 403-264-4981; Southcentre, 403-225-1943, michaelkors.com

Miu Miu Calgary Holt Renfrew, The Core, 403-476-7730, miumiu.com

Monogram Coffee, 420 2 St. S.W., 403-975-2203; 4814 16 St. S.W., 587-893-0444; 800 49 Ave. S.W., monogramcoffee.com

Neshka, neshka.com

Nine West, multiple Calgary locations, ninewest.ca

Nonie, Unit 220, 1721 29 Ave. S.W., houseofnonie.com

Nordstrom, CF Chinook Centre, 587-291-2000

Old Navy, CF Chinook Centre, 403-319-0412; CF Market Mall, 403-288-8002; Sunridge Mall, 403-590-9501, oldnavy.ca

Philip Chong Flower Bar,

3441 12 St. N.E., 403-285-0888, philip-chong-flower-bar.myshopify.com

[pre]shrunk, 3615 Manchester Rd. S.E., preshrunk.ca

Saks Fifth Avenue, CF Chinook Centre, 403-440-2100, saksfifthavenue.com

Simons, The Core, 403-697-1840, simons.ca

Steve Madden, CF Chinook Centre, 403-262-6454; CF Market Mall, 403-247-7449, stevemadden.ca

Winners, multiple Calgary locations, winners.ca

Zara Kids, CF Chinook Centre, 403-538-2357; CF Market Mall, 403-202-0520, zara.com

theFast Ramadan

A traditional Uzbek Eid al-Fitr meal at Begim Uzbek Cuisine restaurant of manti (top) and plov (centre) with meat and pumpkin samosas, mohora soup and chak-chak (right), a fried dough dessert.

BY Elizabeth Chorney-Booth PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jared Sych

It may come as a surprise to non-Muslims that the holy month of Ramadan, when many Muslims spend daylight hours fasting, is one of our city’s biggest celebrations of food. It seems counter-intuitive, but the 29 or 30 days of fasting are a particularly foodfocused time of the year within Islamic communities. Those who observe the fast — which shifts back by a little over a week every year in accordance with the Islamic calendar and falls on May 15 to June 14 this year — need to abstain from any eating, drinking, sex, smoking and even gum-chewing while the sun is shining. But once it gets dark, Calgary’s Muslim homes, Islamic centres and halal restaurants are full of family and friends sharing special meals and revelling in each other’s company. The holy month may be about self-control and regulation, but Ramadan is far from being a joyless (or non-delicious) affair.

Ramadan Basics

Albert Elkadri, chairman of the Muslim Council of Calgary, estimates that about 80 per cent of Muslims in Calgary fast during Ramadan. Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam — along with faith, prayer, charity and pilgrimage — but those who are less strictly religious or exempt from the fast because of age or health reasons may choose to opt out.

“This is the month when Muslims take a step back from the daily grind and put more focus into the five pillars of the religion,” says local media personalityShiva Jahanshah who produced a short documentary about Ramadan in Calgary called Journey of Faith. “The purpose of it is to bring more perspective to what’s going on around the world and people who are suffering — what it’s like to be thirsty, what it’s like to be hungry. It’s very difficult to do and it’s kind of an hourly and [minute by minute] reminder of your faith.”

While going without food during daylight hours may not seem like it would be that difficult (who hasn’t skipped lunch before?), the real challenge for many Muslims seems to be giving up water for the whole day — especially when Ramadan falls in the summer months or for those with particularly demanding jobs, such as being the mayor of Calgary.

“When, over the last few years, Ramadan coincided with the Stampede, I could easily have 20 to 25 public events in a typical day,” says Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who personally observes the fast. “For me, the hard part of that is standing outside doing a lot of speeches and wearing cowboy boots, and it wasn’t the not eating, it was not being able to drink water. That can be very challenging.”

Breaking the Fast

After sunset, those observing the fast say a prayer and begin nourishing and hydrating themselves. Traditionally, fasts are broken with an odd number of fresh dates and some milk or water and then fasters indulge in what is known as iftar — the main meal of the Ramadan day, often enjoyed with family, friends or neighbours. Observers also rise early to hydrate and have a light and less-celebratory breakfast called suhoor before the sun rises in the morning.

Since Muslim Calgarians come from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and culinary traditions, there is no universal iftar dish that would be equivalent to a Christmas turkey or a Passover brisket. Also, since the observant need to get through 29 or 30 days of iftar dinners, every individual is going to celebrate in different ways throughout the month.

“As the world shrinks, people become more familiar with one another and there is more of an understanding of other cultures and religions,” says Yousef Traya, owner of the Bridgeland Market, who has been fasting during Ramadan since he was six or seven years old. “You’ve got everyone from people from the Middle East to punk-rock white kids who have converted [to Islam] observing Ramadan, so Muslims have global tastes. I grew up Lebanese, but I like to eat different things during Ramadan.”

Depending on one’s constitution, eating a huge amount of rich food during Ramadan isn’t necessarily a great idea. Despite being hungry at the end of the day, experienced fasters know that overindulging can result in stomach issues, especially in the first few days, or debilitating thirstiness the next day.

“I like to eat bread and light foods like soup,” says Elkadri, who, in addition to his role at the Muslim Council of Canada, owns and operates the Desert Pita & Grill. “If you eat too much meat or rice you can get really thirsty. So usually, I’ll have some yogurt or salad. If you eat something salty, you’re going to be thirsty all day. Dates

are traditional, but they also kill your thirst and curb your appetite and have a lot of fibre in them.”

That said, much more elaborate iftar dinners do go on throughout the city. Neighbours walk dishes representing the best from their kitchen (cooked with only their noses to guide them, as there’s no tasting allowed for diligent home cooks who spend the day preparing food) to the homes of other Muslims on their block. Families gather around traditional or simple meals, Islamic centres host meals and restaurants offer special meals and buffets timed to serve customers who come in to break their fasts. Desserts, like fruity Indonesian kolak, Middle Eastern stuffed pancakes known as qatayef and kunafa, a sweet combination of shredded phyllo pastry and cheese, are also, typically, a key part of a formal iftar dinner.

“Desserts are very popular during Ramadan,” Elkadri says. “After fasting all day, you need a reward. The desserts we do are very appealing and very different than what you’ll find other times of the year.”

RIGHT Khoresht sampler from Atlas Specialty Supermarket & Persian Cuisine.

BELOW, RIGHT Tabouli salad from Desert Pita & Grill.

The Final Feast

After a full month of iftar dinners that so often include family and friends, by the time Eid al-Fitr, the celebratory feast that marks the end of Ramadan comes, many Muslims are ready to go back to their regular routines. Those who have spent the month dining on traditional Persian, Lebanese, East African or South Asian dishes with family are often ready to take a break from falafel or chapati and indulge in a more typically Western meal. Elkadri says that the line-ups at chain restaurants like Red Lobster, the Olive Garden and Swiss Chalet in Calgary neighbourhoods with significant Muslim populations often go out the door. Traya remembers a similar tradition from when he was a kid.

“All families have their traditions. My father used to take us to Phil’s Pancake House after prayers when Ramadan was over,” Traya says. “Now, I like to travel after I’m done fasting. I’ll go and enjoy some really good meals somewhere else.”

For others, Eid eating is steeped in tradition. Fareen Jadavji-Jessa, a local food blogger, doesn’t observe the fast herself, but her family does and they have long celebrated with a dinner centred around biryani (a mixed-rice dish) with other special-occasion treats like homemade samosas and, for dessert, sweet and sticky deep-fried jalebi. “We go for prayers and we always have a family dinner biryani and we always have jalebi,” she says. “It’s a celebration dish — so when people have babies or even if their kids start walking we celebrate with jalebi.”

While Mayor Nenshi admits that, thanks to his busy schedule, his iftar dinners tend to entail grabbing something quick on the way home from work, he does have an Eid tradition that he shares with his colleagues in the mayor’s office. “I love to go to a little place called the Village Pita Bakery in Short Pants Plaza in the southeast,” he says. “They have the best pita pies. I make sure on Eid I go there and get pita pies for the whole office.”

Food Markets

Serving a special iftar or Eid meal at home? These stores can help you get prepared.

Bridgeland Market

This welcoming community grocery store attracts people of all religious and cultural backgrounds, including those who observe Ramadan.

Since owner Yousef Traya fasts himself, the market is a good place to find fresh dates and other iftar-worthy items.

1104 1 Ave. N.E., 403-269-2381, bridgelandmarket.com

Calgary Produce Market

With a vast selection of halal meats and other ingredients used in Indian and Pakistani cooking, this store also features a take-out counter in the back serving up curries, biryani and desserts.

4774 Westwinds Dr. N.E., 511, 403-275-2414, calgaryproduce.ca

Green Cedar’s Food Mart

An International Avenue mainstay, this neighbourhood grocer caters to a number of cultural backgrounds with imported spices, tea and other foodstuffs from the Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa, as well as an array of halal meats and other deli items.

4710 17 Ave. S.E., 403-235-9983

Jimmy’s A&A

Both a shawarma shop and a small market, the Jimmy’s location in the northwest is open until 10 p.m. (8 p.m. on Sundays), making it perfect for those looking for quick iftar takeout. The shop also sells Middle Eastern spices and ingredients like rosewater.

1401 20 Ave. N.W., 403-289-1400, jimmysaanda.com

Nile Supermarket

Specializing in items of interest to Calgary’s East African community, the Nile Supermarket is also home to a bakery and café, serving up Somali specialties like hearty stews and malawah, a sweet pancake.

4002 17 Ave. S.E., 403-244-1909

LEFT Jalebi from Five Rivers Indian Cuisine.

The pita pies from Village Pita Bakery are a favourite of Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

Ramadan if you’re not Muslim

Not Muslim, or Muslim-but-not-fasting? While Ramadan certainly is a sacred time of the year for your Muslim neighbours, co-workers and friends, there’s no reason to tiptoe around them while they’re fasting (though practicing courtesy and not flaunting the take-out you brought in for lunch is a good idea). Non-Muslims can participate in iftar dinners, which must be served after sunset and can not include any pork, alcohol or other forbidden foods.

“A lot of our non-Muslim customers will be hosting people for Ramadan and they’ll say, ‘Hey, can you help me out here? I’ve never done this before’,” Traya says. “They’ve invited their work colleagues over for dinner and don’t know what to make, and don’t know what they should or shouldn’t do, and we’ll help them out in those situations. You just have to be respectful. If you don’t know, ask.”

Charity is another pillar of Islam and those who can’t or choose not to fast may instead donate money to pay for meals at a local mosque or Islamic centre or to a food-based charity. The Calgary Food Bank participates in a nation-wide initiative called Give 30, which encourages supporters of all faiths to donate money during Ramadan. Since 2013, the Food Bank has raised over $17,000 through Give 30, in addition to other Ramadan donations not connected to that particular campaign.

Where to Eat

This is just a sample of Calgary restaurants that either serve halal food or specifically mark the holy month of Ramadan.

Atlas Specialty Supermarket & Persian Cuisine

Specializing in Persian dishes such as rich khoresht stews, kabob wraps and fresh salads, Atlas is a busy spot during Ramadan, offering light soups to help observers gently break their fasts in addition to its regular menu. 100, 1000 9 Ave. S.W., 403-230-0990, atlascalgary.com

Begim Uzbek Cuisine

Calgary’s only Uzbek restaurant, Begim serves halal dishes such as a rice pilaf called plov, beefstuffed peppers and chak-chak, a fried-dough dessert, which is an Eid favourite. 4413 17 Ave. S.E., 587-353-4413, begim.ca

The Casbah Restaurant

Another busy choice for family iftar dinners, this Moroccan restaurant offers a finer-dining take on halal cuisine with savoury bastella pastries and tagine stews. 720 11 Ave. S.W., 403-265-9800, casbahrestaurant.ca

The Desert Pita & Grill

Run by Albert Elkadri, chairman of the Muslim Council of Calgary, this friendly café serves shawarma, falafel and mezze, with a special sunset buffet and complimentary dates for Ramadan. 3912 17 Ave. S.E., 403-248-6688, desertpita17.com

Five Rivers Indian Cuisine

This northeast restaurant serves Punjabi-style Indian food as well as North American-style pizza. Vegetarian menu items are prepared and cooked in a separate area with specially designated knives, utensils, pots and pans and cooking oil.

11 Castleridge Blvd. N.E., 403-258-1111, fiveriversindiancuisine.ca

Indonesian Kitchen

Drawing from Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern and European cuisines, Indonesian food employs flavours of hot peppers, coconut, lemongrass and turmeric. Visit the adjacent market to create an Indonesian iftar dinner at home. 3917 17 Ave. S.E., 403-272-7234, indonesiankitchen.org

Zaika Biryani House

Biryani is an iftar and Eid standard and Zaika serves up several varieties along with halal curries and fresh naan. During Ramadan, the restaurant adds several extra items to its already popular buffet. 3220 5 Ave. N.E., 403-457-2525, zaikabiryanihouse.com

LEFT Beef behari kabob and mango lassi from Zaika Biryani House.

We’ve got you covered with more ways to make the most of every summer weekend. So get out there and eat it up.

EAT THIS

BY Jennifer Hamilton PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jared Sych

Olive Oil

A kitchen staple of mythic proportions.

Legend has it that when Athens was being built, the people of the new city were looking for a deity to watch over them. Athena, goddess of wisdom and warfare, wanted the job, so she gave the city an olive tree and, based on this gift, which bore little green fruits that produced oil, the people chose her as their protector.

Indeed, olive oil has quite the history; Hippocrates called it “the great healer” and Homer “liquid gold.” For thousands of years it has been the basis of the Mediterranean diet and modern science can now back up what the ancients knew intuitively — that olive oil helps decrease the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes and tackles a host of other health problems.

As with wine, the key to choosing a good olive oil is knowing how to read the labels. “Extra-virgin” is the highest designation given to olive oil, meaning it has undergone minimal processing so the flavours and aromas remain intact. Beware the word “pure;” ditto the label “light.” Oil is, by definition 100-per cent fat, so what “light” really means is that it has been processed to strip away colour, odour and flavour.

Unlike wine, olive oil doesn’t improve with age, so look for one that lists a harvest date and don’t buy anything older than two years. Store it in the dark as exposure to light and heat will cause it to deteriorate quickly. And disregard the myth that you shouldn’t cook with olive oil because of its low smoke point. It’s actually the impurities in the oil that tend to smoke, so as long as you’re using extra-virgin olive oil, it’s a healthy choice. Just don’t use your most expensive, estate-bottled, fruitiest or most pungent for cooking — those should be for finishing dishes, drizzling on salads or soaking up with fresh bread.

VEZORLA SIERRA DE CAZORLA ROYAL

Peppery and delicate, this organic Spanish oil was grown, picked, produced and bottled in the Cazorla region.

$39.99 for 500 mL at Lina’s Italian Market, 2202 Centre St. N.E., 403-277-9166, linasmarket.com

DOMENICA FIORE OLIO RESERVA

A fruity, medium-bodied organic finishing oil from Umbria, Italy, it’s lovely drizzled on fish or grilled meat.

$22.98 for 250 mL at the Italian Centre Shop, 9919 Fairmount Dr. S.E., 403-238-4869, italiancentre.ca

UNCLE LUIGI

This estate olive oil from Calabria, Italy, is a longstanding Calgary favourite, for its peppery bite and connection to the local Caracciolo family.

$45.95 for 1 L at Mercato, 2224 4 St. S.W., 403-263-5535, and Mercato West, 5000, 873 85 St. S.W., 403-263-6996; mercatogourmet.com

TERRA DELYSSA

This delicately flavoured organic oil hails from Tunisia and is excellent for everyday cooking, plus it comes in a functional and sustainable package.

$21.99 for 2 L at Calgary Co-op, select locations, calgarycoop.com

BUTTER-INFUSED OLIVE OIL

Use this creamy oil anywhere you’d use melted butter — on popcorn, shrimp or crab, or mashed potatoes. It’s healthier and a good conversation starter. $14 for 200 mL at Soffritto, four locations, soffritto.ca

All products shown here are extra-virgin olive oil.

BY Tom Firth

BY Jared Sych

Blushing Beauties

Pink isn’t just for millennials.

Pale, perky and pretty, it’s as easy to love rosé as it is to pass it by. Whether you call it rosé, rosato or just simply “pink,” these wines bridge the colour gap between white and red wines, and their versatility at the table is nearly unsurpassed. While rosé wines have a history that is surely almost as long as wine itself, they’ve long been at home in the hotter, drier regions in Europe

PAIRINGS CASSIS

Provençal rosé and lunch

Every time I’ve had lunch at Cassis, I’ve enjoyed a glass of rosé. Try matching up the very reasonably priced (and delicious) L'Opaline rosé ($10 by the glass, $50 for the bottle) with the flavours of the salade Lyonnaise

BRIDGETTE BAR

Languedoc rosé and fish

on the menu

Domaine Montrose, a mediumbodied dry rosé ($11.50 for the glass, $49 for the bottle) is a versatile wine that can stand up to big flavours, like wood-roasted ling cod with Dungeness crab, green chili and white-bean ragu

ONE18 EMPIRE

Loire rosé and buttermilkfried-chicken sandwich

Chateau de la Targe ($13 by the glass) is a stunning, sparkling rosé from the Loire made from cabernet franc. Super versatile, it’s divine with fried chicken, especially One18’s buttermilkfried-chicken sandwich. Maybe get two glasses.

such as Spain or the south of France. But blush wines really became fashionable in North America in the 1980s with the rise of white zinfandel. Once it finally hit the mainstream, consumers couldn’t quite get enough of this pale, sweet, vinous nectar.

The staggering enthusiasm white zinfandel achieved with North American consumers eventually created a backlash where you almost

PHOTOGRAPHY

Domaine Montrose rosé paired with the wood-roasted ling cod dish at Bridgette Bar.

couldn’t give away a glass of pink wine. Consumers were tired of candy-like sweetness and had come to equate pink with cloying. However, perhaps contrary to many wine drinker’s perceptions, most rosés are actually quite dry, rather than sweet.

These days, the younger you are the more likely you are to drink pink wines. This goes beyond the millennials’ penchant for the colour pink. Younger wine drinkers are looking for wines that are ready to drink, fun and affordable, without sacrificing quality. This dovetails nicely with restaurants less likely to work with extensive inventories in their cellars, but who also focus on by-the-glass offerings and rapidly evolving wine lists.

There are a few ways to make rosé. One way is by blending white and red wines together to get something in the middle, though this is generally not done for premium wines. Most wine grapes have clear, or colourless flesh, meaning that all of the colour and most of the flavour comes from the grape skins. The Saignée method only allows the juice to spend a short time with the skins after pressing before being run off or transferred — the amount of time generally correlates to the depth of colour in the finished product.

A few grapes have coloured flesh and, once pressed, produce a naturally pink wine even without skin contact. A few white grapes, such as pinot gris, can also make a wine with a pinkish hue when left on the skins long enough. These wines need to have balance — no wine should taste syrupy or flabby — so a little acidity is needed to make a good rosé.

Rosé wines should generally be served at least slightly chilled, though too cold and the wine might become a bit unbalanced. For the most part, the sweeter the rosé, the more chilled it should be. Personally, I like to keep them in the fridge and have them in a chiller resting on some ice when serving.

These wines are pairing all-stars — not only do they work well with seafoods and salads, but also cured meats, salty appetizers and chicken or lamb dishes. On their own is just fine, too.

EMILIANA 2017 ADOBE RESERVA ROSÉ, RAPEL VALLEY, CHILE

Organic and very well priced, look for softer, summer berry fruits, a touch of spice and a long, dry finish. I’d serve this warmer rather than cooler. It’s beckoning for grilled seafoods, salty appetizers, or lightly dressed salads. $15

ROUBINE 2016 LA VIE EN ROSE CÔTES DE PROVENCE, FRANCE

GABRIEL MEFFRE 2016 “GM” ROSÉ, CÔTES DE PROVENCE, FRANCE

Another well-made, delicate (and well-priced) rosé to sip on the deck or patio. Very pale with softer cranberry and strawberry fruits, and a crisp, dry palate blessed with a mild spiciness and tart finish. Bring out the appetizers. $20

Very pale, almost coppery in the glass, the standout characteristics are of dried flowers and herb with softer, cherry-like fruits. With a bare touch of sweetness, this is a very easy-to-quaff rosé — no food required, but try lighter seafood dishes, if you must. $21

CULMINA 2016 SAIGNÉE, GOLDEN MILE BENCH, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Based around merlot with cabernet franc and malbec, this pale rosé shows a restrained softness to the fruits, yet some very pleasurable herb and citric flavours. Don’t serve it too cold. Try it paired with cured meats or salmon. $38

TAITTINGER ROSÉ, CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE

Perhaps it’s something for more of a special occasion, but Taittinger’s rosé is rife with pure and generous fruits, a fine balance of toastiness and tartness leading into a sweet-leaning finish. Before you know it, that bottle is gone. $94

PLANETA 2016 ROSÉ, SICILY, ITALY

A slightly unusual rosé of nero d’Avola and syrah grapes. Pale, almost ethereal in the glass with the barest hint of colour, look for leaner summer fruits, a touch of rock-candy and wildflower aromas. Soft but very ripe fruits and some spiciness on the palate. Perfect for calamari or sushi. $23

BY Leigh McAdam

Wanna go for a walk? In the mountains?

For outdoorsy dog owners, going hiking with your best canine friend is one of life’s great pleasures. Here’s what you need to know about enjoying the mountains parks around Calgary with your dog.

Make no bones about it; Calgary is a dog-loving city and few of us dog owners want to leave our best friend out when hitting the trails. And really, who better to hike with? Unlike friends and family, with dogs, there’s no need to pause for yet another selfie and they’ll never start the hike hungover. Keenly observant, they just might even warn you of approaching wildlife and save your life.

That said, not all dogs are well trained or well behaved enough to be good hiking companions. Even with docile dogs, instinct has a nasty habit of kicking in under certain circumstances (cue the wafting scent of a wild animal). Dogs are programmed to love the thrill of the chase without concern for the consequences of bounding back to you with a coyote, cougar, or even a bear in hot pursuit.

Both Banff National Park and the provincial parks in Kananaskis Country have similar regulations in place to avoid the negative effects of dog and wild-animal interactions. While there are no official off-leash areas in Kananaskis Country, there is one in Banff at Hawk Avenue near the entrance to the industrial district. Otherwise, dogs must be leashed at all times,

including at campsites. Both K-Country and Banff have regulations on leash length (though parks officials don’t run around with tape measures) of no more than two metres in K-Country and three-metres in Banff. Don’t expect a warning if your dog is caught off-leash. Do, however, anticipate a significant fine (fines start at $200 and can be as high as $25,000, though maximum fines are rare.)

Doggie doo-doo is another big concern, with its own set of rules and regulations. Banff National Park asks that you dispose of your dog’s waste in a bin. Bring thick plastic bags that won’t burst if dropped, as you’re required to pack out your dog’s waste no matter where you are on a trail. (Hint: before hitting the trail, walk your dog for 100 m or so, as often they’ll “perform” right after a car ride.) In K-Country, once you’re on the trail, follow the “leave no trace” guidelines that go for humans as well, burying the poop in a hole a minimum of 15-to-20-centimetres deep by 10-to15-cm wide and at least 50 m (or around 70 adult paces) from water, a trail or a campsite.

Respect and consideration for the non-doggie people you encounter on a hike is also very important. A well-mannered dog is a treat to be around while out-of-control dogs are most

definitely not. The fewer negative experiences people have, the less likely they’ll be to complain to the authorities and the more likely it is that trails will stay open for everyone — human and canine — to enjoy. It’s best to socialize your dog before taking them out on a mountain trail, perhaps at an urban off-leash park, of which Calgary has plenty. If they’re not relaxed or they’re aggressive around other people and dogs, choose less-travelled trails or better still, leave your dog at home.

Just like you, your dog will appreciate a hiking experience all that much more if they are in shape. It’s best to avoid taking your dog on an epic hike without building up to it (have you ever tried carrying 50 pounds of dead weight for even one km?) Be choosy about the trail you pick. Hiking near streams, rivers and lakes means your dog can cool off and stay hydrated. If you’re worried about your dog contracting giardia (a.k.a. beaver fever), carry water from home for them along with a collapsible bowl. Shade is helpful. Sharp rocks on delicate paws are not. Research the hike thoroughly before you go and beware of trails like Mount Yamnuska with lots of exposure or rockscrambling sections. It can be nerve-wracking for both of you.

Canine hikers on the Nihahi Ridge trail in Kananskis Country.

Photograph from ThinkStock

MOUNTAINS

Once the warm weather hits, you should also be concerned about ticks, with low brush and grassy meadows prime areas for pets to pick up these nasty parasites. A tick bite is not life-threatening for a dog, but to avoid lyme disease, and for peace of mind, it’s best to spend a few minutes at the end of the hike or once you get home running your fingers through your dog’s fur and feeling for anything unusual. Combing is also a good idea. If you find a tick, remove it with tweezers as you would for a human and pay a visit to the vet if you can’t get the whole tick out. It’s also possible to vaccinate your dog against lyme disease, which is undoubtedly a good step to take if you’re planning to be out there a lot during the spring, when tick season occurs.

As far as trail closures go, dogs and humans are in the same boat when it comes to bear activity, particularly during the height of berry season. But even if your favourite trail is among those closed on account of bears, there are several thousand kilometres of alternate hiking trails across Banff National Park and K-Country for you and your dog to explore together. In spite of the occasional hiccup of hiking with your dog, the fun and companionship tend to outweigh everything else.

To keep dogs cool on summer hikes, choose a trail with a water source, such as Mistaya Canyon in Banff National Park.

Even small-breed dogs can handle mountain hikes on shorter trails such as Troll Falls in K-Country.

Mistaya Canyon photograph by Noel Hendrickson; bottom photograph by

Marissa Gruenke

Where to stay with your dog

As more and more people travel with their pets, hotels have evolved to suit their needs with pet-friendly rooms — albeit in limited numbers. In Kananaskis Country, the two major hotels, Mount Engadine Lodge and Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge welcome pets for an extra charge of $20 and $40, respectively, per night. In Banff you have a terrific amount of choice including the Fairmont Banff Springs, the Moose Hotel & Suites, Rimrock Resort Hotel, Juniper Hotel, Canalta Lodge, Buffalo Mountain Lodge, Hidden Ridge Resort and Irwin’s Mountain Inn, just to name a few. All charge extra for the privilege of bringing your dog, with prices ranging from $20 to $40 per pet, per night. Few, if any, ask for a damage deposit. Some hotels limit the size of dog and most allow a maximum of two dogs per room. Many of the hotels ask that you don’t leave your pets unattended or, if you do, that they’re housed in a kennel. In Banff there’s also the option to have your pets looked after or walked by myhotelsitter.com for an hourly fee.

TOP The Juniper Hotel in Banff can provide dog beds, water bowls, treats and cleanup baggies.

ABOVE Canine guests Jasper and Louie (a.k.a. the Canadian Bros) at the Canalta Lodge in Banff.

Juniper Hotel photograph by Kelly MacDonald; Bear photograph courtesy of Fairmont Banff Springs; Canalta photograph by Rodson Garcia, canadianbros.com

MEET THE FAIRMONT DOGS

One of the most popular staff members at the Fairmont Banff Springs these days is Bear, a two-and-a-half-year-old black Labrador retriever and the “official dog” at the historic hotel. As a graduate of the Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind program, he’s well mannered, always agreeable and a big hit with guests — even those who are normally uncomfortable around dogs. Bear can usually be found working the floor by the VIP concierge desk between the hours of 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., offering a wagging tail, a shake of the paw or a cuddle. Guests can even arrange to have Bear join them on an adventure. He’s delighted to be your surrogate dog, if even for an hour.

Bear’s counterpart at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, a yellow Labrador named Marcus, holds the very official-sounding title of Director of Pet Relations, though these days he’s semiretired on account of his age. Unlike energetic youngster Bear, Marcus prefers a quieter approach with visiting guests, especially during the summer when there are larger numbers of people around. If you’re lucky to see him during slow periods, stop to shake his paw and give him a gentle scratch behind the ears.

Bear on home turf at the Fairmont Banff Springs.

WORKOUT

BY Christina Frangou PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jared Sych

Jessica Janzen Olstad

Back in the fall of 2016, in the sunroom of a Calgary hospice, a young mother was punching boxing pads held out by her girlfriends. Sweating and crying, Jessica Janzen Olstad then returned to holding her terminally ill four-month-old son, hoping for a miracle.

The miracle that Janzen Olstad was hoping for didn’t come; Lewiston Olstad died that November, just shy of six months old. But those days in the hospice also marked the beginning of Love for Lewiston, a fundraising campaign borne of tragedy that has been taken up by the local fitness community — a community that counts Janzen Olstad, a spin and Lagree instructor, among its own. Now, she believes “the miracle is that our little boy has changed people’s lives for the better.”

Though her story is a heartbreaking one, Janzen Olstad still wants it told. “You can ask me anything. I’m an open book,” she declares. And so she is. Over the course of our interview, she talked freely about Lewiston, but also about her relationship with exercise and how it has changed over six difficult years. She reveals struggles with body image and weight gain, mental health and grief, but also the happiness and stress relief that she has found in physical activity. “Coming out of such dark days, exercise is probably one of the key pieces that really saved my life,” she says.

Janzen Olstad arrived in Calgary from Winnipeg in 2006, eager, effusive and, at nearly 200 pounds, keen to lose weight. Ironically, her weight gain had happened while she was managing a fitness club — the long hours she put in meant she rarely had time for exercise herself, and she often catnapped in the facility’s turned-off tanning beds. In Calgary, she set about changing her

body and became one of the first instructors at the spin studio One Cycle.

Janzen Olstad’s openness in person matches the openness she has long displayed on her Instagram account, which has more than 13,000 followers. She first started posting in 2012 — a basic shot of glasses mid-toast. That same year, the first photos of a man nicknamed “Hot Ronnie” also started showing up on Janzen Olstad’s Instagram feed. The duo met as co-workers in the head office of Jugo Juice and cycled through an on-again-off-again relationship for months as he struggled to break his addiction to drugs and she dealt with their breakups by immersing herself in exercise.

In the fall of that year, a grinning Janzen Olstad was seen wiggling her fingers to show off an engagement ring while on a trip to New York City. Over the following year she posted pictures of Ronnie and her at the doorway to their new house, then a wedding at her parents’ farm in Manitoba. Throughout, other photos show Janzen Olstad teaching spin and Lagree, a muscle-burning workout that combines Pilates, cardio and strength training. At one point, she was teaching between seven and 10 spin and Lagree classes per week.

In 2014 Janzen Olstad announced via Instagram she was pregnant. Around that time, she also began fundraising to support a pair of young siblings, Ishan and Shanaya, both suffering from a disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Janzen Olstad had previously worked as a caregiver for the siblings. Through her efforts, she was able raise $50,000 for a wheelchair-accessible

van for the family and also used the opportunity to educate her followers about SMA, a disorder occurring in approximately one out of every 6,000 births.

Later that year, the Olstads’ daughter Swayzie made her first Instagram appearance. Just nine months later, Janzen Olstad announced she was pregnant again with a photo of Swayzie next to a pair of tiny boots shaped like footballs. “[I]s it gonna be crazy having 2 babes a year a part [sic] .... But we do crazy,” the caption read.

On May 25, 2016, Lewiston arrived, weighing seven pounds, three ounces. “Health, happy and beyond blessed,” Janzen Olstad wrote in her post announcing the birth.

Over the following weeks, Janzen Olstad’s Instagram feed showed the family on vacation in

Manitoba and figuring out life as a foursome. A smiling Janzen Olstad appeared holding a crying Lewiston, whom she described as having ongoing issues with colic, along with other normal familylife stuff.

But later that summer, the tone changed. There was a black-and-white photo of Ronnie holding Lewiston in a hospital room and a request for prayers while they awaited a diagnosis. In August, Janzen Olstad reported that Lewiston had SMA type 1, the most severe form, with an expected survival of less than a year. It was a rare diagnosis, made rarer still by the incredible coincidence

“Coming out of such dark days, exercise is probably one of the key pieces that really saved my life.”

After a heartbreaking personal tragedy, the local fitness instructor has found strength in the support of her community and in her resolve to create a legacy for the baby son she lost to illness.

Jessica Janzen Olstad at Lagree YYC in Signal Hill where she teaches Lagree fitness classes.

that Janzen Olstad had spent years caring for other kids with the disease.

During Lewiston’s illness and in the year and a half since he died, the fitness community rallied around Janzen Olstad, holding fundraisers for Lewiston and in his memory. Her desire to give her son the best life possible during his limited time meant there were dance parties and costume parties in the hospital and hospice. She continued to post to Instagram almost daily, including on Nov. 22, 2016 — a black-and-white photo of Lewiston and the words that he had passed away peacefully in her arms after his morning bath.

Janzen Olstad went back to teaching spin two months after Lewiston’s death but lacked what she describes as the “oomph and compassion” to be at the head of a class. She took time off and fell into a dark depression. Seven weeks before what would have been Lewiston’s first birthday, she decided enough was enough. “We either have a pity party or we have a dance party,” she said.

She and Ronnie formally launched Love for Lewiston as a non-profit organization in the spring of 2017 to raise funds for SMA research and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation. At their party held to commemorate what would Black and white photograph by Liz

Bourassa of Spruce & Sparrow

The 2018 Love for Lewiston birthday party is on May 25 at Rodney’s Oyster House. For more information, go to loveforlewiston.ca

have been Lewiston’s first birthday, they raised $42,000, and just over $118,000 by the end of 2017. Janzen Olstad hopes to increase that to $200,000 by the end of 2018.

Exercise continues to be a cornerstone of her life. Janzen Olstad is back to teaching Lagree several times a week and is currently training for the Lewiston Ultra, a 50-kilometre solo and relay trail-running race for the Love for Lewiston Foundation taking place Sept. 29 in B.C.’s Shuswap region. She also fits in the odd barre or boxing class and works out regularly at Bold Athlete. Late last year, she recorded a series of workouts for Fit Radio, an app with guided fitness coaching and DJ music. “People probably don’t look at me and think, ‘oh, you must be a fitness instructor,’” she says, indicating her curvy body. “But I’m strong, and being confident in what my body can do makes such a difference. That’s a message I want to share because I know a lot of women struggle with it.”

As with her forthright approach to fitness and body-image, Janzen Olstad believes that being honest about her personal struggles is what has drawn people to her story, and to Lewiston’s, so she plans to continue.

LEFT Lewiston Olstad. ABOVE Ronnie and Jessica Olstad with Lewiston.

6724 Bow Crescent NW - $4,250,000 C4170259

This exquisite custom built home situated on the banks of the Bow River will impress the most discerning buyer offering over 9,600 sq ft of living space, 4+1 bedrooms and pristinely manicured grounds. The main floor presents 10’ ceilings, African oak hardwood floors, formal dining room and living room with wet bar and glass walk-in wine storage. The kitchen will evoke nostalgia from its sundrenched presence to the double islands, granite counters, custom glass cabinetry, high-end appliances and breakfast nook. A main floor master retreat includes a custom walk-in closet and spa-inspired 5 piece ensuite. The second level offers a large media room as well as 3 ample sized bedrooms and 2 baths. The tranquil and private back garden overlooks the Bow River and has been thoughtfully designed for outdoor entertaining including a patio, patterned concrete deck, 10 person hot tub, 65’x35’ sport court/hockey rink, basketball court and firepit.

Modern History

Historical details and ingenious use of space make the Withrow Laneway House the model for laneway homes in Calgary.

BY Victoria Lessard

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jared Sych

Studio North co-founder Matthew Kennedy at the doorway to the laneway home his firm built behind the historic Withrow Residence in the community of Parkdale. Studio North used both cedar planks and dash stucco on the laneway house exterior to tie the design to the main house.

The Withrow Laneway House sits tucked away in an alley behind the historic Withrow Residence in the northwest neighbourhood of Parkdale. The quiet space, protected from the noise of the busy road out front, belies the buzz that has surrounded it since it was finished in the summer of 2017. The house received Honorable Mention in the Mawson Urban Design Award category at the 2017 Mayor’s Urban Design Awards and was featured on the website of the influential homedesign magazine Dwell.

Mark Erickson and Matthew Kennedy, co-founders of the interdisciplinary design and build practice Studio North, were eager to showcase the potential of laneway housing when they bought the Withrow Residence, built in 1911 and named for its first owner Edwin P. Withrow. “We see laneway housing as a way of preserving historic properties because it allows you to add

The side walls in the main living space are shorter (around five-and-a-half feet in height as opposed to the typical eight feet) in order to create a less obtrusive exterior, while still leaving plenty of room inside.

density and development to an established neighborhood while maintaining the original character of the neighborhood,” says Kennedy.

Erickson and Kennedy renovated the Withrow Residence first, finishing it in early 2016. They then focused on building the laneway house, allowing them to create design links between the two homes. “The Residence has these beautiful bellcast eaves with the exposed structure, so we wanted to do the same thing here,” says Kennedy. “We built the roof out of eight-quarter Douglas fir rough-sawn wood, the same timber as the main house, and we have the exposed rafter ends on the outside, the same as the old house, too.”

Although it’s only 850 square feet, the open and airy interior makes the laneway home feel decidedly larger. “We like to think of things not just in floor plans but also in volumes,” says Kennedy. “Having the height here allowed us to put in a loft space and find new pockets for storage

and spaces that are typically wasted and take advantage of them.”

The main wall in the upstairs living space does double duty by dividing the public and private spaces of the home while also providing additional storage. “We wanted to make use of all the stud space — usually that space goes wasted; it’s just hollow,” says Erickson. “So we just thickened it and built in cupboards, shelves and transom windows.”

More surprising than any of the clever uses of space in the home is an entryway feature sure to capture first-time visitors’ attention. That would be the functional fire pole. “We always like to be playful with our projects,” says Erickson. “It’s fun, you know?”

Erickson and Kennedy implemented other personal touches into the design of the house, such as the attached planters on the white metal-mesh railing, which were inspired by

the railing planters in an Airbnb they visited on a trip to Venice. Kennedy also handcrafted a number of furniture pieces and fixtures in the home, including the coffee table in the main living space, the oak light fixture in the entryway and the two plaster light fixtures in the bedrooms.

Erickson and Kennedy see laneway housing as a lifestyle choice that eschews the traditional focus on square footage by emphasizing location. “I feel like families now are more interested in maybe living in a smaller, compact environment, but closer to parks, the river and work, where you’re not spending an hour every day in your car commuting,” says Kennedy.

The combination of imaginative details and exhaustive use of every possible inch of space creates a new type of dwelling, one that exemplifies that it isn’t the square footage that defines a home, but how you use it.

Kennedy made the living room coffee table during his years as an undergraduate at the University of Calgary.

Studio North co-founders Mark Kennedy and Matt Erickson at the custom dining table, which can be expanded to host guests.

DECOR

FIVE THINGS TO THINK ABOUT WHEN BUILDING A LANEWAY HOUSE FROM STUDIO NORTH’S MARK ERICKSON AND MATTHEW KENNEDY

1. Location is Key Since laneway homes are built at the edge of a lot, corner lots can be advantageous. “You get the alley but you also get part of the main street.” says Erickson.

2. Know Your Zoning Having the right zoning for a laneway house is important. To find out more about zoning and what the City calls “backyard suites,” visit calgary.ca.

3. Win Over the Neighbours “Community engagement is really important — that’s usually one of the biggest things [for us], really engaging with your community and understanding what they expect,” says Erickson. Gaining that understanding first will help smooth out any conflicts, should they arise.

4. High-functioning Tight Spaces “Think of a laneway house as you would a boat cabin, where every space has to serve more than one function,” says Kennedy.

5. Prior Experience Kennedy emphasizes the importance of hiring someone who is trained in designing and building laneway homes because there are many specific considerations that come up with laneway builds that don’t occur with other building projects — particularly when it comes to how the home affects neighbouring properties. Among the things that need to be considered, says Kennedy, are “overlooking and overshadowing, sightlines and what your building volume is going to do to your neighbour’s garden.”

For sources turn to page 93.

MAIN IMAGE The fire pole, Erickson jokes, “makes you feel like a design superhero.”

BOTTOM LEFT The landing was expanded to create an additional functional space.

BOTTOM RIGHT Planters outside the bedroom window create the feel of waking up in the middle of the woods.

PRESTIGIOUS PENTHOUSE

Live inside an architectural work of art in iconic Odyssey towers, one of the highest points in Calgary with spectacular views for miles! This 2 storey Penthouse has been completely renovated top to bottom. Enjoy your morning coffee sitting at your table with unobstructed mountain views, or enjoy a glass of wine in the evening on your deck gazing at the stunning Calgary city skyline! On cooler nights you can cozy up to the wood burning fireplace and still see the city lights. Retire upstairs on the 2nd floor in your spacious owners suite with a brand new spa like ensuite! Highrise living in the suburbs close to all amenities. Presented at $724,900.

THE SOURCE

EDITOR ’ S NOTE

PAGE 22

Ruby and diamond pavé ring set in 18-kt white and yellow gold, $10,605; and 9.68-ct oval rubellite pendant set in 18-kt gold and platinum, $21,225, available from Brinkhaus, 823 6 Ave. S.W., 403-269-4800, brinkhaus.com

DECOR

PAGES 87 TO 90

Design and architecture by Studio North, 1221B Kensington Rd. N.W., studionorth.ca

Drywall by Lifestyle Drywall, 403-708-2387, lifestyledrywall.com

Living-room coffee table custom made by Studio North

Appliances from Coast Appliances, 10, 2151 32 St. N.E., 403-717-0548 and 6128 Centre St. S.E., 403-243-8780, coastappliances.com

Plumbing fixtures from The Ensuite, 224 61st Ave. S.E., 403-214-1503, ensuitecalgary.com

Metal railings and plant holders by A & C Metal Works Ltd., 4370 116 Ave. S.E., 403-273-5050, acmetalworks.ca

Window coverings from IKEA, 8000 11 St. S.E., ikea.com

All artwork by daniel j kirk, danieljkirk.ca

Electrical by AC&D Electric, 67 Kinlea Link N.W., 403-614-2287

Stucco by Dezi’s Plastering Inc., 403-472-6729

Roof by Emerald Roofing and Exteriors Inc., 403-324-8181

Built-in storage and play spaces in the Withrow Laneway House by Studio North.

Graham Sherman

The tagline for Calgary’s Tool Shed Brewing Company is “handcrafted beer, best served with a story,” and coowner Graham Sherman has no shortage of either. He’s a man of many fascinations, and he’ll be the first to say he takes his hobbies too far. Those fascinations have led him down many paths — from aviation to coffee roasting to mountain biking to now brewing beer. Sherman, along with his business partner Jeff Orr, brewed his first beer on Feb. 9, 2012, in his backyard toolshed. Now, five years later, kegs and cans of Tool Shed beer are sold all across Western Canada and the brewery took home three medals at the recent Alberta Beer Awards. Here are 10 things in Calgary he can’t live without.

1 Bow Cycle in Bowness

My family is big into mountain biking and this is the only shop we’ll go to. Every square foot is covered in every kind of bike you can imagine.

2 The Camera Store

The greatest customer service I’ve ever experienced. I’m in awe watching how they deal with everyone. And they have all the best toys and know everything about everything.

3 Pig

and Duke Neighbourhood Pub

They have the best wings in the city and 95 per cent of their taps are local craft beer. It’s a really comfortable, warm and cozy pub where you can kind of hide away. It’s my favourite room.

7

There’s a line-up around the block before the doors are even open — on a winter day! The chili goma is one of those real ramen dishes. The thick sesame broth is so amazing.

8 3 a.m. Spring Rolls at Singapore Sam’s At 3 a.m. there’s going to be people dancing on tables and it’s going to be loud, but hot damn is that good Chinese food in the middle of the night.

9 Simmons Building

4 Castle Forbes Shaving

Cream from Kent of Inglewood Being a ginger, I have the most annoyingly sensitive skin. Shaving was the worst thing in the world for me until I found this. Now, shaving is one of my favourite rituals in the morning.

5 Wine Suggestions from Jesse Willis at Vine Arts

Wine and Spirits Jesse goes to Italy and meets the owners of the vineyards and knows every story. He’s gets to know the palates of his customers and knocks it out of the park every time.

6 Spicy Tuna

Sashimi

at Misato Sushi & Grill

Hands-down my favourite thing in all of Calgary. It’s out of control — I dream about it. The spicy sauce is a mix between sesame and miso and is totally different.

To have three cool companies come together and take on a project like this is so exciting. Charbar is unbelievable, I love Sidewalk Citizen, Phil & Sebastian is my favourite coffee in the city and the rooftop has to be the best patio I’ve ever seen.

10 Southland Dog Park

There’s nowhere on Earth where you could see a happier dog than my dog Barley at Southland Dog Park. It’s humongous and right by the river. It’s just the coolest place. Bow

Chili Goma Ramen from Shiki Menya

Cycle photograph by Karin Olafson; Shiki Menya photograph by Erin Brooke Burns; Southland Dog Park photograph by Graham Sherman

STYLE STATEMENT

AND PHOTOGRAHY BY Aldona Barutowicz

Marcy Krafft and Tony McGrath

The married co-owners of business consulting firm Technique Adjustment Consulting.

Describe this outfit and why you love it. M.K. It’s eclectic, I suppose. I’ve combined Dickie’s worker overalls that I’ve had since I was 18 with a tailored jacket, an Hermès scarf and some feminine details. I love it because I’m comfortable, but there’s a bit of thought put into the combination. T.M. Moderncasual. I’ve combined basic jeans and T-shirt with a loud shirt, my favourite John Varvatos boots and Hugo Boss tweed jacket. This outfit makes me feel smart but not stuffy. Describe your everyday style. M.K. Juxtaposition. I am a fan of combining opposites: modern-plus-vintage, highbrow-pluslowbrow, hippie-plus-couture. One of my close friends describes me as a “style chameleon” — sophisticated-shabby with a side of Hepburn. T.M. I like to balance rough and smooth. I like waistcoats, silk pocket squares and vintage watches, but often pair them with jeans and combat boots. Favourite local clothing store or designer. M.K. As I’ve gotten older, the most important thing I wear is my skin and XO Treatment Room is where I go to take care of mine. I love the thoughtfulness and luxury of Paul Hardy’s clothes and I think what PARK is doing is a game changer for local designers. T.M. Marcy’s dad is a tailor and owns a clothing store in Brooks called The Clothes Line. I buy bespoke suits and top-end shoes and cool socks from him.

STORY

CURATED BY Katherine Ylitalo PHOTOGRAPH BY Jared Sych

John J. Bowlen Building Mural

The mural by Ron Spickett in the lobby of the John J. Bowlen Building is a national treasure. Despite almost 50 years of wear, the painting remains a testament to the humanitarian concerns and skill of this revered Calgary artist, who is now 92.

A parade of more than 50 figures takes form within the pulse and colour patches of the painting. Expressive lines define heads, while elongated bodies shift within planes of colour and dissolve. Across the bottom, dark spikes

and red wedges alternate with ivory, cream and grey to set a fast-paced vertical rhythm that dominates the composition. Horizontal bands soften and unify the whole with tonal variation. Gold and pumpkin areas glow on either end amid muted sage and olive greens. In the centre, blues come to the fore along with touches of plum and hazy purple.

Spickett’s interpretation of the theme of “Alberta human resources” divides forms of human endeavour into three sections. On the left, youth engage in exploration. Riders on horses cross the central area. On the right, he predicted computers and headsets in the section on changing technology. Along the way, everyday relationships are finely drawn in depictions of young people playing a game of horseshoes and a girl climbing onto her dad’s shoulders.

The mural points to lesser-known artistic connections between Calgary and Mexico. In 1955, Mexican Jose Gutierrez, founder of one of the first companies to produce acrylic

TITLE: John J. Bowlen Building Mural, 1969

ARTIST: Ron Spickett (Buddhist name, Gyo-Zo)

MEDIUM: Acrylic on wall primed with latex paint.

SIZE: 11-feet-6-inches high by 44-feet long.

LOCATION: John J. Bowlen Building, 620 7 Ave. S.W.

NOTE: To learn more about the artist, read Spirit Matters: Ron (Gyo-Zo) Spickett, Artist, Poet, Lay-Priest (2009) by Geoffrey Simmins, University of Calgary Press.

paints for artists, visited Calgary to promote the new medium, which Spickett would later use for this mural. That same year, Spickett won a scholarship to the Instituto Allende in San Miguel Allende, where he studied the work of Mexican muralists and visited the Mexico City studio of renowned muralist José Clemente Orozco.

Spickett returned to Calgary with high hopes for modern mural painting in Canada, believing it could enhance architecture and engage people in meaningful ways. He taught mural painting at the Alberta College of Art (now ACAD) for a decade and advocated for public art by suggesting Canadian developers and government allocate a portion of construction budgets to art, as was the practice during his time in Mexico. The commission for this mural finally gave Spickett the opportunity to realize his vision on a grand scale. The largest of his public works, it holds a significant place in the history of Canadian murals.

French Art de Vivre

Photo Michel Gibert.

Digital. Sofas, design Gabriele Assmann and Alfred Kleene. Carambole. Cocktail table, end table and pedestal table, design Sacha Lakic. Flag. Floor lamp, design Servomuto. Manufactured in Europe.