CITY| LIFE| STYLE| CALGARY
SEPTEMBER 2019 | $4.95 AVENUECALGARY.COM
FALL MOUNTAIN GOLF TRIPS
Take the last swings of the season somewhere special
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LUXE LAYERS Indulgent looks for cooler days and endless nights
NEW DINING ROUNDUP to try 6 places around the city
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Around The World With Urban Fare Last April, Urban Fare opened its only location outside of B.C., and it’s right here in Calgary. Situated on the western edge of Mount Royal, this urban, upscale market is a haven for food-lovers. “It’s a grocery store, wine lounge and food court, all under one roof,” says head chef Michael Montredmond, who oversees an in-house kitchen team that serves up an array of freshly prepared, globally inspired grab-and-go dishes, ranging from colourful curries and Ocean Wise sushi to succulent leg of lamb and traditional porchetta. Here, Montredmond shares some of his top picks for customers on the go.
Chef Michael Montredmond
In-Store Pairings Featuring Canadian wines and local craft beers on tap, Urban Fare’s Wine & Charcuterie Bar is a must-visit. “We source the very best,” says Montredmond. Enjoy a variety of fine European meats and cheeses paired expertly with wine, beer or bubbles.
Tex-Mex Perfection Colourful Curries Selections at the hot buffet and fresh salad bar change daily, with Indian cuisine taking the spotlight twice a week. “The rogan josh is my favourite curry,” says Montredmond. “It’s a Kashmiri lamb dish with about 20 different herbs in it. It’s spicy, but not overpowering.”
Great as a meal or savoury snack, the chicken quesadillas are packed with flavour. “Three kinds of peppers go in there, along with a tiny bit of fresh chili, pulled chicken and three different cheeses,” says Montredmond.
British Classic The lamb shank is another of Montredmond’s favourites. “It’s a classic. Slowly cooked in red wine, with lots of fresh rosemary, garlic, and a few new touches to make it a little more unique.”
A Taste of Hawaii
Italian with a Twist
Poke bowls are handcrafted throughout the day. Opt for a pre-made bowl or create your own, choosing from a variety of sushi-grade seafood, tropical fruits, tofu and chef-created marinades.
Artisan pizzas, created with authentic Italian “double zero” flour, are topped with traditional and locally-inspired ingredients. Try the Smoked Salmon Pizza, featuring a yogurt and cream cheese base and toppings that include grilled asparagus, smoked salmon, capers and lemon juice.
Canadian Original “Our turkey quinoa meatballs sell incredibly well,” says Montredmond, who points out that Calgary shoppers tend to be quite health-conscious. “Turkey is a healthier meat, less fat.” That, coupled with the protein-rich quinoa and a barbecue sauce glaze, make these an easy choice.
American BBQ Barbecued baby back ribs are made fresh every morning. “We marinate them for two days, then slow roast them for about four hours,” explains Montredmond. “And we use a smoke barbecue base, which gives them a bit of a woody depth.”
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18 Spirit Ridge Lane SW, Calgary, AB
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224133 Hwy 546, Rural Foothills County, AB
BED: 3 BATH: 2 1,567 SQ.FT. FABULOUS NEW 3 bedroom condo in the Royal. This outstanding condo is in the Sky Collection with lavish upgrades, with 1,567 sq.ft. of contemporary open concept layout.
BED: 4 BATH: 3/2 3,924 SQ.FT. MLS C4257231 Backing onto NATURAL RAVINE! This timeless transitional styled home is minutes from Aspen Landing and coveted private and public schools.
BED: 7 BATH: 6 3,317 SQ.FT. ALTADORE Sophisticated multi-generational home in an amenity rich location. Built in 2007.
BED: 6 BATH: 6/1 3,056 SQ.FT. MLS C4257954 EXQUISITE custom-built home offers 5370 sq. ft. of finished living space. An active B&B/retreat overlooking the surrounding valley & creek.
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Jacqueline Thorogood Barb Richardson
Renata Reid
Calley Erickson
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403.909.8766 403.613.8737
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$1,289,000
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3751 Logan Crescent SW, Calgary, AB
132 Glyde Park, Rural Rocky View County, AB
BED: 5 BATH: 3/1 2,335 SQ.FT. MLS C4258928 LAKEVIEW Prairie Modern home situated in the beloved neighborhood of Lakeview has soaring 10' ceilings w/ gourmet kitchen.
BED: 4 BATH: 4/2 3,325 SQ.FT. MLS C4258108 Spectacular 2018 built masterpiece on a premium lot in Elbow Valley West with no homes behind, offering a fresh contemporary sensibility with premium quality finishings.
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403.613.8737 403.650.4353
$875,950
33077 Range Road 40, Rural Mountain View County, AB BED: 4 BATH: 3/1 2,680 SQ.FT. MLS C4248362 33 acres along Little Red Deer River with 3/4m frontage. 5,324 sq.f t.home, shop, out buildings grazing riding area.
Dylan Cadman Shannon Cadman
403.466.9874 587.434.1808
2252 Longride Drive SW, Calgary, AB BED: 4 BATH: 3 1,700 SQ.FT. NORTH GLENMORE PARK Sunny west back yard backing onto beautiful green space. Excellent 4 level split home.
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BED: 5 BATH: 4/1 4,581 SQ.FT. MLS C4241349 Situated backing on to the Lake in Heritage Pointe, with a stunning view of an islet, one may only imagine the Muskoka lifestyle!
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Saturday October 19 , 2019 Calgary TELUS Convention Centre | 120 9th Ave. SW Join us as we celebrate 97 years of connecting lives! Purchase your tickets online at:
F E AT U R E S
contents SEPTEMBER 2019
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Future Buildings There are numerous large-scale institutional building projects underway, under consideration and under review right now and all promise to enhance the city’s cultural fabric in significant ways. But these projects also come with significant price tags, so the decision of what to build and what not to build is about more than bricks and mortar. By Colin Gallant
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Fall Fabulous Cooler weather calls for luxe fabrics and layers, layers and more layers, creating striking looks for days and evenings.
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Made In Alberta Awards
By Shelley Arnusch, Meredith Bailey, Colin Gallant, Jennifer Hamilton, Nathan Kunz, Amber McLinden, Sara Samson and Alana Willerton 12
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SEPTEMBER 2019 | $4.95 AVENUECALGARY.COM
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FALL MOUNTAIN GOLF TRIPS
The (First-time) Buyers’ Market
Take the last swings of the season somewhere special
LUXE LAYERS Indulgent looks for cooler days and endless nights
NEW DINING ROUNDUP to try 6 places around the city
Overall Winner of the 1st Made in Alberta Awards
O N THE C OV E R
OLIVE SNOWBOARDS PLUS 30 MORE WINNING PRODUCTS MADE RIGHT HERE
PM# 40030911
Our inaugural celebration of the amazing things being crafted here in our province. See the winning products across seven categories as decided by expert judges, learn more about the makers and artisans behind them, and find out who was deemed to be the cream of the crop (the overall winner, that is).
CITY| LIFE| STYLE| CALGARY
Randy Jespersen, founder of Olive Skateboards + Snowboards in the Olive manufacturing facility in Spruce Grove. PHOTOGRAPH BY Jared Sych
Over the past year, the real-estate market in Calgary has swung heavily in favour of buyers, allowing many first-time homebuyers to forego the starter condo and jump straight into detached dwellings in mature neighbourhoods. By Julia Williams
FIND YOURSELF AND A PARKING SPOT DOWNTOWN. COMPLIMENTARY VALET SERVICE AND FREE PARKING ON EVENING AND WEEKENDS AFTER 3 PM. FOR FULL PARKING DETAILS VISIT CORESHOPPING.CA.
FIND US IN THE HEART OF THE CITY AT 8TH AVENUE SW BETWEEN 2ND & 4TH STREET
AvenueCalgary.com
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D E PA RT M E N T S
contents SEPTEMBER 2019
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Style Statement Physics teacher Sarah Waters is almost too cool for school with her modernvintage mash-up.
18 EDITOR’S NOTE 20 CONTRIBUTORS 98 WORK OF ART
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Food & Drink A look at some of the new and new(ish) additions to the dining scene in Calgary, from the vintage-cool Lulu Bar on 17th Avenue S.W., to the swanky Chairman’s Steakhouse out in Mahogany’s Westman Village.
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Decor A couple builds a mid-century-inspired home on a piece of property that has been in the family since the actual midcentury, creating a brand-new build with heritage at heart.
Detours Hot-air balloons take flight in High River. Plus, the launch of the fall arts season brings a bevy of choice across all disciplines. Find your ideal theatre match with our hypothetical speed-dating circuit featuring six local stage companies, meet the new artistic director of the Calgary International Film Festival, and find out how to take what’s billed as nothing less than The Most Beautiful Art Tour in Alberta. 14
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Mountains Fall is an ideal time to play golf in the mountains. These three epic courses in Invermere, Kimberley and Kamloops, B.C. are all worth taking a road-trip to play before the snow falls.
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The List Furniture and design maven Emily Sissons on her favourite places in and around Calgary to taste wine, work out, shop, eat and relax.
A NEW LEVEL OF LUXURY IS WITHIN REACH Empire Custom Homes is pleased to present a signature collection of healthy homes designed exclusively for Valour Park in Currie. Inspired by our history of architecturally signiďŹ cant residences, the Valour Park Collection makes Empire quality more attainable than ever before. Act fast to take advantage of this limited opportunity to own a home beyond your expectations in spectacular Valour Park.
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avenue RedPoint Media & Marketing Solutions 100, 1900 11 St. S.E. Calgary, Alberta T2G 3G2 Phone: 403-240-9055 Toll Free: 1-877-963-9333 x0 Fax: 403-240-9059 info@redpointmedia.ca AvenueCalgary.com Facebook: Avenue Magazine — Calgary Twitter: @AvenueMagazine Instagram: @AvenueMagazine
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A DV ERTI S I N G I N QU I R I E S Phone: 403-240-9055 x0 Toll Free: 1-877-963-9333 x0 advertising@avenuecalgary.com AvenueCalgary.com Published 12 times a year by RedPoint Media & Marketing Solutions. Copyright (2019) by RedPoint Media & Marketing Solutions. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Canadian Publications Mail Agreement No. 40030911.
We acknowledge the traditional territories and the value of the traditional and current oral practices of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut'ina and Stoney Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.
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Publisher Joyce Byrne, jbyrne@redpointmedia.ca Editor-in-Chief Käthe Lemon, klemon@redpointmedia.ca Executive Editor Jennifer Hamilton, jhamilton@redpointmedia.ca Senior Art Director Venessa Brewer, vbrewer@redpointmedia.ca Executive Editor, Digital Content Jaelyn Molyneux, jmolyneux@redpointmedia.ca Senior Editor Shelley Arnusch Associate Art Director Sarah McMenemy Assistant Editors, Digital Content Alyssa Quirico, Alana Willerton Editorial Assistant Colin Gallant Staff Photographer Jared Sych Production Designer Austin Jansen Contributing Editors Andrew Guilbert, Sara Samson Top 40 Under 40 Intern Amber McLinden Editorial Intern Nathan Kunz Digital Interns Andrea Fulton, Stephanie Joe, Mariah Wilson Fact Checker Jennifer Friesen Contributors Meredith Bailey, Aldona Barutowicz, Jared Bautista, Kara Chomistek, Elizabeth Chorney-Booth, Jennifer Friesen, Andrew Penner, Nickol Walkemeyer, Julia Williams, Katherine Ylitalo Land Acknowledgement Advisors Elder Edmee Comstock, Elder Reg Crowshoe, Elder Rose Crowshoe Print Advertising Coordinator Erin Starchuk, production@redpointmedia.ca Sales Assistant Robin Cook, rcook@redpointmedia.ca Director, National Sales Lindy Neustaedter Account Executives Elsa Amorim, Liz Baynes, Janelle Brown, Melissa Brown, Jocelyn Erhardt, Deise MacDougall, Anita McGillis, Chelsey Swankhuizen Production Manager Mike Matovich Digital Advertising Specialist Katherine Jacob Pickering (on leave) Digital Advertising Coordinator Silvana Franco Audience Development/Reader Services Manager Rob Kelly Printing Transcontinental LGM Distribution City Print Distribution Inc.
Avenue is a proud member of the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association and Magazines Canada, abiding by the standards of the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors. Paid circulation is audited by BPA Worldwide. REDPOINT MEDIA GROUP INC. President & CEO Pete Graves, pgraves@redpointmedia.ca Operations Manager Terilyn Lyons, tlyons@redpointmedia.ca Business Development Strategist Anita McGillis, amcgillis@redpointmedia.ca Client Relations Manager Natalie Morrison, nmorrison@redpointmedia.ca Events & Marketing Coordinator Angela Chios, achios@redpointmedia.ca Senior Accountant Marienell Lumbres, mlumbres@redpointmedia.ca Office Manager Anna Russo, arusso@redpointmedia.ca
NEXT ISSUE
October
2019
Our annual list of the very best takehome items to eat and drink in Calgary right now. Join us in October for our Best Things to Eat Market, where you can shop from vendors from this and previous years’ lists.
D E AT H A N D T H E C I T Y The City of Calgary is on the verge of opening a new cemetery, one that takes into consideration the myriad of cultures and faiths that live here now. It raises some interesting questions — including what are we even allowed to do with human remains and why do we want perpetual memorials?
S I LV E R L I N I N G S When tragedy strikes, many people find a way through their grief by creating a positive legacy. A look at some of the ways Calgarians have used a senseless loss to make life better for all.
AvenueCalgary.com
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EDITOR’S NOTE
CITY| LIFE| STYLE| CALGARY
SEPTEMBER 2019 | $4.95 AVENUECALGARY.COM
FALL MOUNTAIN GOLF TRIPS
Take the last swings of the season somewhere special
LUXE LAYERS Indulgent looks for cooler days and endless nights
NEW DINING ROUNDUP to try 6 places around the city
Overall Winner of the 1st Made in Alberta Awards
OLIVE SNOWBOARDS
Made by Albertans
PLUS 30 MORE WINNING PRODUCTS MADE RIGHT HERE
PM# 40030911
G E T AV E NU E O N YO U R TA B L E T! To get the tablet edition, go to avenuecalgary.com/tabletedition
N
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Käthe Lemon Editor-in-Chief klemon@redpointmedia.ca
MA D E I N ALB E RTA AWA R D S
Our celebration of Alberta makers isn’t just inside the pages of the magazine — join us Sept. 20 for our conference and awards celebration at SAIT and Sept. 21 for our Made in Alberta market at Southcentre. You'll also find us at the Calgary Fall Home Show Sept. 19 to 22 at the BMO Centre. Find out more at MadeInAlbertaAwards.ca.
pop-up market on Sept. 21, where you will find products for sale from many of the Made In Alberta finalists, runners up and winners. From September 19 to 22 you'll also find a showcase of finalists from our Furnishings and Decor category at the Calgary Fall Home Show in the BMO Centre. And next month you'll find us at the Inglewood Community Association hall on October 26 for our pop-up Best Things to Eat market showcasing even more great local products. Many Alberta-based companies make their goods elsewhere for a variety of reasons, including lack of access to certain types of manufacturing processes. Several of our Made in Alberta Awards judges, for example, run companies that create their products in Ontario, the U.S. and Asia — Tara Cowles’ AW03 Maquillage cosmetics line is manufactured in an labs in the U.S. and Canada while Marie Bertrand’s Aliquote Skin products
are produced in the U.S. and Walker McKinley’s Fat Frames are made in Korea. While we will continue to celebrate the successes of amazing Alberta companies that make products elsewhere, with our Made in Alberta Awards we wanted to shine a special light on those companies producing their goods inside the province. Beyond the Made in Alberta Awards, in this issue we also shine a light on the arts and cultural institutions that are being built or proposed in the city right now, from the multi-sport field house to the Contemporary Calgary gallery. Editorial assistant Colin Gallant found that what we think about these projects depends a lot on our vision for the future of the city. We also have a striking fall fashion shoot and an update on the dining scene. No matter what you’re looking for in this city, we are happy to help celebrate it and bring it to you.
Photograph by Jared Sych
o matter where you are on the political spectrum, the idea of supporting local makers, producers and business people seems to be an ideal that everyone can get behind. Buying local goods from shops in your community supports Calgary’s economy, employs your neighbours and, arguably, ensures higher commitment to quality and ethical treatment of the people who make the things you use. You may spend a bit more, but more of the money you spend stays where you live. However, other than at craft fairs and farmers’ markets, it’s not always easy to find local products. This was one of the main reasons we decided to launch our Made in Alberta Awards. We were overwhelmed by the response. There were so many strong entries in every category we had a tough time combing through them all. Our Made in Alberta Awards team had the difficult task of winnowing the entries down to short lists, that were sent to our judges for each category. The judges then had the even harder task of choosing which products would be celebrated in our online lists of finalists and in the pages of the magazine. Avenue usually focuses on people and companies operating in and near Calgary, but with these awards we decided to go province-wide for three main reasons: we wanted to have a clear and easy-to-explain border for eligible products, we wanted to include the amazing makers in rural areas, and we wanted to share the coverage with our sister publication in Edmonton and bring even more attention to the winners. Almost every one of our Made in Alberta Awards winners does a robust e-commerce trade. If you want to find them online, you can look them up on our MadeInAlbertaAwards.ca site or go directly to their own sites, which are listed in the stories about them in this issue. This is not to say that you shouldn’t seek out shops that support local makers — one of our mandates at Avenue has always been to highlight and celebrate local bricks-and-mortar shops. In fact, we have partnered with Southcentre to create a one-day
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ON THE WEB
CONTRIBUTORS JARED BAUTISTA Jared Bautista is an award-winning fashion photographer and a recent gym addict. He spends his time between Calgary, Portland, New York and Los Angeles. His work has appeared in local and international publications including Vogue Italia and Freq Magazine, and for brands such as Buffalo Jeans, Nike and Soul Cycle. Bautista is currently expanding into brand and editorial creative-directing. See more of his work at jaredbautista.com or on Instagram at @shot.by.jared.
Inside Myntex’s two-storey office with bunk beds and a giant slide.
NATHAN KUNZ Nathan Kunz is a Calgary-based journalist with a particular interest in all things out of the ordinary. His writing has
OFFICE SPACE A look inside some of Calgary’s most interesting work spaces.
appeared in Maclean’s, the Calgary Herald, the Revelstoke Review and Avenue, where he was recently an editorial intern. In addition to writing, Kunz plays drums in two local bands, In Search of Sasquatch and The Night Terrors, both of which sound much scarier than they really are.
AvenueCalgary.com/city-life/ office-space/
/avenuecalgary @avenuemagazine @avenuemagazine
SARA SAMSON Sara Samson is an editor and writer specializing in travel, fashion and lifestyle. She has worked at RedPoint Media for more than six years and is currently the senior editor of WestJet Magazine. For this issue of Avenue, Samson contributed as an editor on the inaugural Made in Alberta Awards. When she’s not rushing to catch a flight, you’ll likely find her cruising local boutiques, rowing on the Glenmore Reservoir or teaching journalism at SAIT.
Subscribe to our weekly Food, Style and Weekender newsletters to get the latest restaurant and store openings, advice on what to eat and where to shop, and our picks for the best things to do in Calgary.
ALANA WILLERTON Alana Willerton is an assistant digital editor at Avenue, where she writes online content about Calgary, assists with digital strategies and runs the social media channels for the magazine’s Made in Alberta Awards. Along with Avenue, her work has appeared in publications including WestJet Magazine, Western Living and Vue Weekly. She has a soft spot for
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brunch and always reads the spoilers for TV shows and movies before watching them.
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DETOURS Hounds, Hares and Hot Air
A
Photograph courtesy of Heritage Inn International Balloon Festival
fter the 2013 floods devastated High River, hot-air balloonist Jamie Kinghorn asked a few of his fellow balloon enthusiasts to participate in a small event to lift people’s spirits. Since then, the Heritage Inn International Balloon Festival, which Kinghorn chairs, has grown from a local affair to an event that draws balloonists from as far away as Europe and the United Kingdom, and has attracted crowds of more than 30,000. One of the highlights of the festival is the hare and hound race. In this event, the “hare” pilot takes off with a 10-minute head start, navigating different winds and altitudes across town before landing and putting out a large X on the ground. The “hound” balloons must chase after the hare and drop a beanbag from their balloons to try to hit the target. Whoever gets their beanbag closest to the centre of the X, without their balloon touching the treetops or the ground, wins.
“As a hare pilot, I’ll try to fly into winds that will take me the furthest away from the other balloons and I’ll do different steering tactics to make it challenging,” says Kinghorn. “[Hound pilots] will have to fly almost exactly the same current winds to get themselves right over top of my target. In a worldclass competition you’ll see 60 or 70 of those beanbags all within six inches of the centre of the X. It’s a real art.” Kinghorn has seen pilots toss beanbags from 3,000 feet in the air and has watched as high winds carried one-pound bags right next to the target from more than 500 metres away. He has even seen the occasional glove or shoe tossed by unfortunate competitors who forgot their beanbags on the ground. In addition to the hare and hound race, festival attendees can walk among the grounded balloons, observe spectacular “night glow” flights, purchase rides and check out High River’s Show ’n Shine car show happening in town at the same time. —Andrew Guilbert The Heritage Inn International Balloon Festival runs Sept. 25 to 29, heritageinninternationalballoonfestival.com
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DETOURS
A Date with the Theatre
The Wedding Party.
Lunchbox Theatre Lunchbox Theatre is always the first to show up to the party and takes care to ensure everyone feels welcome and comfortable. Whether preparing sandwiches or chilling beers, their attention to their friends’ needs is unmatched. In group settings, they know when to take the lead and when to play a supporting role, but they never shy away from the big conversations, diving into discussions with compassion and positivity, even if just for a short time (Lunchbox shows are oneact plays with run times of about 50 minutes). Season Opener: The Pink Unicorn, Sept. 14 to Oct. 5. Faced with her daughter’s announcement of identifying as genderqueer, a small-town Texas widow finds her worldview challenged as she comes to terms with her child’s truth. Where: Lunchbox Theatre, base of the Calgary Tower. Cheap date: On the first Tuesday of each performance run, if you bring a friend who has never been to a Lunchbox show you each get half-priced tickets. And on the first Thursday of the month, tickets are just $10. —Nathan Kunz lunchboxtheatre.com 509.
Season Opener: 509, Oct. 9 to 18. Caught between the living and the spirit world, the central character in this show revisits memories of his life while awaiting the guidance of Napi, a trickster in Blackfoot ideology. The story is based on a real moment from the life of artistic director Justin Many Fingers “Mii-Sum-In-Skim.” Where: The Grand, 608 1 St. S.W. —C.G. makingtreaty7.com
Morpheus Theatre Morpheus Theatre will pleasantly surprise you. With a focus on growing the skills of developing local professionals, you’ll always meet someone new when you’re with Morpheus. Season Opener: Lend me a Tenor, Sept. 27 to Oct. 5. Due to a series of mishaps culminating in a double dose of tranquilizers, theatre assistant Max masquerades as worldfamous tenor Tito Merelli — a scheme that leads to chaos as Merelli awakens and attempts to take the stage. Where: Pumphouse Theatre, 2140 Pumphouse Ave. S.W. Cheap date: A three- or four-ticket flex pass can be used in any combination for any show — go to multiple shows on your own or take a date along. Any way you slice it, you’ll save up to 20 per cent off regular ticket prices. —N.K. morpheustheatre.ca
Alberta Theatre Projects Alberta Theatre Projects is like that person who always seems to know more about current events than you. They’re fiercely true to their school and in tune with the city they call home. Their passion verges on gushing but you can tell they get over-excited for good reason. It’s their enthusiastic, ever-imaginative storytelling that ultimately makes you fall for them. Season Opener: The Wedding Party, Sept. 11 to 29. For this comedic romp about an outrageous wedding, ATP transforms the Martha Cohen Theatre into a cabaret with cocktailstyle seating. Cast members each play multiple roles throughout the show. Where: Martha Cohen Theatre, Arts Commons. Cheap date: ATP offers a pay-what-you-can (PWYC) performance for each production. This month’s PWYC show is on Sept. 11. —Colin Gallant albertatheatreprojects.com 24
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Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society This Indigenous theatre company questions assumptions and strives for authentic representation through reimagining what theatre is and who it is for. It’s a bit like going on a date with someone who defies your expectations at every turn, inspiring the kind of endless discussions that thump along at a manic pace and probe all the places we tend not to go in our day-to-day conversations. They’re like that friend who has a million hidden talents that come to light when you least expect them to. Themes surrounding the trickster archetype pervade their 2019/20 season.
Noises Off.
Theatre Calgary This venerable institution has gravitas and experience but it’s also down to earth and able to connect with everyone. As a jack-of-all-trades and master of many, Theatre Calgary delights in conversations on everything from comedy, to social justice, history and music. Season Opener: Noises Off, Sept. 10 to Oct. 5. Following the behind-the-scenes hilarity from
The Wedding Party photograph supplied by Alberta Theartre Projects; 509 photograph by Elizabeth S. Cameron; Noises Off photograph courtesy of Theatre Calgary
T
he bulk of the 2019/20 theatre season opens this month, to the delight of stage fanatics around the city. Since attending a live-theatre show is a commitment akin to a date, we set up a speed-dating circuit of six local theatre companies to help you find your best match. Fortunately, in the case of theatre companies there's no need to commit to just one.
From the first toast to the final bite, relish every moment and meal.
Cooking. Refrigeration. Dishwashing. Calgary Showroom • 1245 – 73 Ave SE Calgary, AB T2H2X1 • 403-297-1000
AvenueCalgary.com
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DETOURS
Indroducing
THE NEW
last-minute rehearsals to closing night, a cast and crew navigate the chaos of bringing the “playwithin-a-play” Nothing On to the stage in this legendary British farce. Where: Max Bell Theatre, Arts Commons. Cheap date: The five mainstage productions have a limited number of “pay-what-you-can” tickets to the matinee on the first Saturday of the run. Tickets are available at the box office from one hour before the performance starts on a first-come, first-serve basis. —N.K. theatrecalgary.com
5 Things to Know about Brian Owens, the Calgary International Film Festival’s first artistic director.
T
he Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) celebrates its 20th anniversary this month and is now looking at what the next 20 years may look like. Last year, the festival hired its first-ever artistic director, Brian Owens, to help plan that vision. Here are five things to know about him. He has a serious track record of success. Owens founded the Indianapolis International Film Festival in 2004 and quadrupled its audience in the five years he spent there. He then moved on to the Nashville Film Festival, doubling the atten-
MAIN FLOOR
dance of that already-established event. After a decade in Nashville, he set course for Calgary in 2018.
NEW CAFÉ & WINE BAR
He wants you to know the programming you already love isn’t going anywhere. Owens says part of the reason he took the job here is the strength of CIFF’s programming team. While he is personally
NEW GRAB & GO MARKET
programming some headlining selections, he predominantly wants to offer vision-level oversight and showcase themes from the programmers’ selections.
He’s focused on making CIFF a stronger yearround presence. One of Owens’ first major moves
NEW DELI SALUMI & FORMAGGI
as artistic director was the new Music on Screen documentary series (MoS Docs). Screenings held in
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May and June came just eight tickets shy of being completely sold out. MoS Docs fits with his goal to
Vertigo Theatre
take CIFF beyond an annual 12-day event. “You
With its resolute focus on one genre (mystery theatre), Vertigo Theatre may seem old-fashioned, but once you break through that mysterious demeanor, you find they’ve kept up with the times. While not hesitant to break out an old story, they pick ones you don’t mind hearing twice, adding lively twists and turns to keep you captivated. When the time is right, they’re sure to bring you along for new adventures, taking the lead on intriguing escapades, while always making sure you’re right there with them. Season Opener: Strangers on a Train, Sept. 14 to Oct. 13. Spurred by casual conversation in the dining carriage of a train, a murderous agreement between two men results in thrilling — and fatal — consequences. Where: Vertigo Theatre, base of the Calgary Tower. —N.K. vertigotheatre.com
don't want to keep reinventing the wheel,” Owens says. “It’s about what more can you do with the other 353 days to keep us at front of mind.”
He’s a movie-lover (obviously). “I was a film studies major in college, which means I spent a decade bartending after college,” Owens jokes. A few of his personal favourite films are The 400 Blows, Seven Samurai, 8 ½, the Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese oeuvres and the Toy Story films. You can find his top-20 favourite Canadian films at calgaryfilm.com.
There’s more to him than movies. When he’s not working, you may find Owens cheering on his favourite soccer team, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, or hanging out with his partner and their 14-year-old miniature pinscher. —C.G.
The 2019 Calgary International Film Festival runs Sept. 18 to 29, calgaryfilm.com
Vertigo Theatre image by Citrus Photography
NEW BREAKFAST & LUNCH MENU
Strangers On a Train.
This just in: Say aloha to Maui on the Dreamliner. Maui’s vast beauty, incredible beaches and endless rainbows will leave you breathless from the moment you arrive. Experience new heights and fly non-stop from Calgary to Maui on our state-of-the-art 787 Dreamliner. From lie-flat seating in Business to touchscreen entertainment throughout all cabins, everything about the WestJet Dreamliner is designed to offer you an exceptional journey.
Book today at westjet.com or call your travel agent.
787 Dreamliner service is available on select flights from Calgary to Maui starting October 31, 2019. Inflight offering may vary and may be subject to change. WestJet also offers scheduled service on other aircraft types to Maui, O’ahu, Kaua’i and the Island of Hawai’i. Seasonal start and end dates may apply. Schedule subject to change. See westjet.com for details. AvenueCalgary.com
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DETOURS Embrace meaningful, captivating Fine Craft. From Alberta artists to you.
How to take The Most Beautiful Art Tour in Alberta Calgary
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Millarville
Okotoks 1 2 3
glass sculptures by Keith Walker
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Alberta Craft Gallery 1721 - 29 Avenue SW. cSPACE King Edward www.albertacraft.ab.ca | @albertacraftcouncil
Turner Valley
T Visit the Made in Alberta Awards Showcase at the Sept 19 –22
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Black Diamond
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Exhibitions & Shop
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5
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he Most Beautiful Art Tour in Alberta takes place throughout the foothills southwest of Calgary. Three times a year, galleries and studios in the region open their doors to visitors. Around 10 galleries and studios are part of the next tour, happening Friday, Sept. 27 to Sunday, Sept. 29 to coincide with Alberta Culture Days. Here’s our sample itinerary for a self-guided Most Beautiful Art Tour road trip on Saturday, Sept. 28, with stops for food and attractions as well as art. Start your day with breakfast at the café at the Saskatoon Farm near Okotoks (1), followed by a stroll through the garden centre (if you miss the official breakfast serving from 9 to 11 a.m., you can still get all day-breakfast items huevos rancheros and Dutch waffles. Then, head into Okotoks to check out Lineham House Galleries (2), an art gallery and collaborative space inside a 110-yearold historic home. Your final stop in town is the Okotoks Art Gallery (3), a Class A facility located in a historic Canadian Pacific Railway Station opened in 1929. From Okotoks, head to Black Diamond and saddle up to the 90-year-old Black Diamond Hotel (4) to experience its rich history as a saloon and town landmark. Browse for a while
at the eclectic Bluerock Gallery (5) in town before heading to Firebrand Glass Studios (6). Then detour slightly south of Black Diamond to Eversfield Ceramics (7), where you can appreciate the majes-tic beauty of horses alongside sculpture, pottery and ceramics. (Eversfield is one of our Made in Alberta Awards recepients — learn more on page 37.) Next, head into neighbouring Turner Valley, where you can do a spirited tour of Eau Claire Distillery (8) and pick up a four-pack of EquineOx Mules to toast the end of your day of culture. If you’re hungry, stop by the Chuckwagon Cafe and Cattle Co. (9) next door for a next-level burger, before meandering into the nearby studio spaces of painters Mady Thiel-Kopstein and Susan Kristoferson (10). Make sure to save time and energy for the final stop on your tour: the sprawling 80-acre Leighton Art Centre (11) near Millarville. Tour through the Centre’s art gallery and historical museum celebrating the legacy of painters A.C. Leighton and Barbara Leighton, before making the final drive back to Calgary. —C.G. For more information visit themostbeautifularttourinalberta.com.
WHERE WERE YOU IN 1989? 30 YEARS AGO, BANKERS HALL BECAME AN ICONIC ADDITION TO THE CALGARY SKYLINE. JOIN US THIS FALL FOR SOME 30TH ANNIVERSARY DEALS AND SURPRISES. SEE REFINETODAY.CA FOR DETAILS.
BANKERS HALL30 refinetoday.ca
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2019-08-05 2:50 PM
It’s sure to be one wild setting for your Let’s meet at next corporate event. the zoo. BOOK NOW calgaryzoo.com/events/corporate-events
AvenueCalgary.com
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O W E N
H A R T
P R O U D L Y
F O U N D A T I O N
DETOURS
P R E S E N T S
Openings COMERY BLOCK Specializing in West Tennessee-inspired barbecue, Comery Block serves mouthwatering trays of brisket, pork ribs, turkey, pulled pork, hot links and chicken. Wash your meal down with one of the nearly 150 whiskies on the menu.
JERRY SEINFELD S O U T H E R N A L B E R TA J U B I L E E AU D I TO R I U M Tickets available at:
638 17 Ave. S.W., 403-453-7636, comeryblock.com
PORCELANOSA Calgary’s Porcelanosa showroom has found a new home in the Manchester area. Visit the sleek new space to peruse
2 SHOWS
custom kitchens, tiles, bathroom acces-
OCTOBER18TH 6:00PM & 9:00PM
sories, vanities and more. 16, 6325 11 St. S.E., procelanosacalgary.com
this month
MU S I C CCMA COUNTRY MUSIC WEEK SEPT. 5 TO 8 The Canadian Country Music Association Awards are back in town for the first time in 14 years. The ceremony is at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Sept. 8, with both fan and industry events taking place in the days leading up to the big show. Various venues, ccma.org
MU S I CA L T HE AT R E RENT SEPT. 10 TO 14 The beloved musical about New York artists finding their path while navigating the HIV/AIDS crisis runs
Sticky Rice Mochi Ball at Sugar Lips.
VIP Reception Partner:
do to
for five nights, with matinees on the Saturday and Sunday. This production of the Tony- and Pulitzer
In Support Of
Prize-winning work celebrates its 20th year of tour-
Produced By:
ing in 2019. Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, 1415 14 Ave. N.W., calgary.broadway.com
Community Supporters:
SUGAR LIPS Crispy yam mochi balls, coconut sago, Media Partners:
curry fish balls — this is just some of the tasty Hong Kong-style fare that awaits at this new restaurant in Crescent Heights. 910 Centre St. N., sugarlipsdessert.ca
Blazing Lilies at Beakerhead 2018.
YARDARM
Celebrity Online Auction
www.hartauction.com please place your bids!
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at this 32-seat cocktail lounge, which
FE S T I VAL BEAKERHEAD
offers cocktails, canapés and live jazz
SEPT. 18 TO 22
piano performances on Friday and
Art and STEM collide in five days of fun experiences
Saturday nights.
and experiments for kids and adults alike. Plenty of
107, 535 8 Ave. S.E., 403-453-3762,
events are free and many are held outdoors.
yardarmyyc.com
Various venues, beakerhead.com
Head to East Village for a night out
Sugar Lips photograph supplied by Sugar Lips; Beakerhead photogrpah by David Kotsibie
Community Partners:
Join us to celebrate Alberta makers at these upcoming events! Conference and Awards
Market and Showcase
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 SAIT, Heritage Hall
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 Southcentre Mall in Calgary 9:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
For more information and to purchase your tickets visit,
MadeInAlbertaAwards.ca/events
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 Kingsway Mall in Edmonton 9:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Visit the Made in Alberta Awards Showcase at the Calgary Fall Home Show September 19 - 22, 2019 at the BMO Centre.
PLATINUM SPONSOR
VENUE SPONSOR
BRONZE SPONSOR
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS AvenueCalgary.com
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BE A
MADE IN ALBERTA. HELPING MAKERS SUCCEED SINCE 1916. Whether you’re looking to develop skills to run your business or hone your craft, we’ve got a course for you. SAIT offers a wide variety of full or part-time, evening and weekend entrepreneurship classes for the inspired maker in you.
• Culinary Entrepreneurship
• Applied Project Management
• Entrepreneurship • Business Administration
• Graphic Communications and Print Technology
• Construction Trades Start-up
• Graphic Design
Get the skills you need today, visit sait.ca/MadeinAB
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• Professional Service Advisor • Business Administration – Automotive Management
With artisanal makers across the province creating amazing wares, buying local has never looked better.
A
lbertans love supporting local businesses. We love shopping the booths at craft fairs and farmers markets, the shelves at an increasing number of storefronts dedicated to local makers, or surfing around the province online. In order to shine a brighter light on the very best of these creations, we started the Made in Alberta Awards to celebrate and share the stories of local producers. Our judges combed through entries from across Alberta to select the winners in each of seven categories for our first-ever annual awards. They looked for entries that demonstrated the utmost quality and craftsmanship and had strong Alberta roots and stories. The overall winner, category winners and runners up are all here, but that’s not all: you can also find many of our winners and finalists at our two marketplaces at Southcentre in Calgary (Sept. 21) and Kingsway in Edmonton (Sept. 28) our showcase at the Calgary Fall Home Show, or join us for our gala awards and makers conference on Sept. 20 at SAIT. The competition for the winners was very stiff and there were far more local products we wanted to highlight than we could fit into the pages of the magazine, so you’ll find even more great local products online at MadeInAlbertaAwards.ca website, where we will continue to celebrate Alberta ingenuity and craftsmanship with stories about our entrants all year long.
BY Shelley Arnusch, Meredith Bailey, Colin Gallant, Jennifer Hamilton, Nathan Kunz, Amber McLinden, Sara Samson AND Alana Willerton PHOTOGRAPHED BY Jared Sych
33 AvenueCalgary.com
Former pro snowboarder Randy Jespersen (L) and business partner Geoff Kramer in their workshop.
Overall Winner MADE IN ALBERTA AWARDS OVERALL WINNER AND GAMES AND LEISURE CATEGORY WINNER
SNOWBOARDS
BY OLIVE SKATEBOARDS + SNOWBOARDS $300 TO $1,500, MADE IN SPRUCE GROVE oliveskateboards.com
A
s a snowboarder in the early 1990s, Randy Jespersen competed at the international level in events across North America, riding for sponsors including Joyride and Sims before injuries ended that career path for him. But instead of leaving it behind entirely, he decided to take his first-hand experience and design the kind of boards he wanted to ride. “I was giving ideas to the companies that I was riding for, making their product better,” Jespersen says. “Seeing the industry relying on some of my ideas to push itself forward, I was just like, ‘well, why don’t we just do our own thing?’”
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Jespersen and a friend, Matt Davis, teamed up to launch Olive Snowboards in 1993. While they originally outsourced their manufacturing, they soon moved production to Alberta where it has remained ever since. A long-time skateboarder as well, Jespersen added skateboard decks to Olive’s product catalogue in 1998. Today, Jespersen runs Olive Skateboards + Snowboards with Geoff Kramer, who joined the business in 2009 (Davis and Jespersen had long since gone their own ways). The pair work out of a 3,700-squarefoot manufacturing facility located on the Jespersen family dairy farm, Spruce Park Dairy, in Spruce Grove, west of Edmonton. While a former calf barn may not seem like an obvious place to run a snowboard and skateboard company, Jespersen has spent the last 25 years collecting and rebuilding automated equipment to make Olive's boards from start to finish right here in Alberta. Olive snowboards come in several different models: all-mountain snowboards, powder surfers, backcountry split-boards, snow skates, youth boards and custom boards. The process of crafting a snowboard starts with it being conceptualized, drafted and output to the various formats required for components and templates.
WHILE OTHER LOCAL SNOWBOARD COMPANIES HAVE TRIED TO MAKE A GO OF IT OVER THE YEARS, OLIVE IS ONE OF THE FEW TO PERSEVERE. THE COMPANY IS CELEBRATING THE 25H ANNIVERSARY OF THE RELEASE OF ITS FIRST SNOWBOARD COLLECTION THIS FALL. This primary phase is also when they decide on graphics for both the base and the top sheet. Some Olive boards feature artwork by Kramer, or other Canadian artists. Past graphics have depicted everything from a cat-and-unicorn image to a bull’s-eye target. The graphics are sublimated onto the base material and top sheet. The base is then cut to shape and edges are attached. Olive produces its snowboard cores in-house using poplar wood from Canadian mills. “It’s a lightweight material that has very long grain strength and that is clean,” Jespersen says. They then add layers of fibreglass, Kevlar and carbon fibre and press everything together with epoxy and heat in a snowboard form. Once cooled, the snowboard is trimmed, finished, stone-ground, waxed and then packaged. It takes a minimum of three hours to make a standard board, start-to-finish, Kramer says, though custom boards and other models take longer. Jespersen and Kramer say people are usually surprised to learn Alberta has a local snowboard- and skateboard-manufacturing company — even if they’re already familiar with the Olive brand. Olive boards have received rave reviews in snowboarding
magazines internationally. The online publication Mountain Weekly News, based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, named their “Numbchuck” splitboard (a backcountry touring snowboard that separates into skis for ascending and traversing through terrain) one of the top 10 on the market for 2018, commenting that “what sets Olive splitboards apart from every other splitboard on this list is the construction.” Kramer believes the company’s small size and dedication to making the boards locally is part of what differentiates them. “We’re small, we’re fleet and we’re not tied to anything,” he says. “It’s the two of us. If we want to produce something, we look at each other and say, ‘well, are we going to do it or not?’ So that has given us opportunity to be quicker and take on projects that a typical bigger company couldn’t take.” In addition to sponsoring local up-and-coming snowboarders, the Olive team has also made snowboards for some notable names. Michelle Salt, a former Paralympic snowboarder based in Calgary, rode for Olive for three seasons. They also collaborated with former Olympic snowboarder Mark Fawcett on a signature series of powder surfers. While other local snowboard companies have tried to make a go of it over the years, Olive is one of the few to persevere. The company is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of its first snowboard collection this fall with a special showcase planned on its digital and social-networking platforms of past boards, former riders and other important milestones. Olive will also offer reissues of graphics from former boards that can be put on new models and will formally launch the option for custom board graphics as a standard feature going forward. While Jespersen is modest about hitting the quarter-century milestone (“I’m just stoked to still be doing it,” he says), Olive’s reputation for high-quality, handcrafted boards and skateboard decks year after year makes it no surprise that this exciting Alberta business has succeeded for so long. —A.W. AvenueCalgary.com
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GAMES AND LEISURE RUNNERS-UP Made-right-here products for enjoying the great outdoors. BIKE BINDERZ
BY BIKE BINDERZ $199 (USD) AND UP, MADE IN CALGARY
bikebinderz.com Kick-started by a love of the sport and a desire to blaze his own path, owner Ashley Hildebrand founded Bike Binderz to better haul motocross bikes from home to the track and back again. The strapless tie-down systems anchor bikes and snow-bikes to beds of trucks, trailers and other transport means, without putting unwanted pressure on the bikes’ front suspension systems. Designed to evolve with the rider as bikes get bigger, Bike Binderz are a long-term solution to the often tangled and messy bike-packing problem. Currently welded in Hildebrand’s garage, the lightweight aluminum systems offer a “roadto-load” time of less than one minute.
TEARDROP TRAILER BY GNOME HOMES
$13,700 TO $26,000, MADE IN SHERWOOD PARK
gnomehomesinc.com Gnome Homes Teardrop Trailers are a meticulously designed and crafted middle ground between tossing and turning on the forest floor and luxury RV lodging. The sleek aluminum exterior of these handcrafted trailers holds a vintage charm that belies all the modern conveniences they contain. At just five feet high, the trailers are compact while offering surprising storage space in their handcrafted Baltic birch cabinetry hidden in the back end and interior (the Yukon model can be upgraded to maple or cherry cabinetry). Gnome Homes Teardrop Trailers are able to navigate beyond the backwoods limitations of other trailers and allow you to skip the setup, leaving you to focus on truly enjoying the outdoors.
THE TREEHUGGER
BY TREELINE OUTDOORS $69, MADE IN TURNER VALLEY
treelineoutdoors.com As Albertans, we’ve all heard (or told) tales of waking in a tent on the May long weekend to find our camping gear buried beneath a fresh blanket of snow. For Treeline Outdoors, this inspired “The Treehugger” — a gear cache designed to keep hatchets, bear spray, fishing rods, kitchen equipment and other essentials organized and off the ground. Made of 100-per cent PVC-coated polyester, the Treehugger attaches easily to trees between one and two feet in diameter, and folds into itself when the time comes to stow it away and move on to the next adventure. —N.K. 36
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Craft These products exemplify the idea of craftsmanship and are created by a single maker. Many of them tell stories about the land and landscape. The degree of quality quickly distinguishes these artisans from hobbyists. CRAFT WINNER
MINERAL COLLECTION SHAVING TOOLS BY RATTLESTICK
$1,100 TO $1,600 PER SET MADE IN THE FOOTHILLS rattlestick.ca
R
attlestick’s painstakingly handcrafted wares ask the user, “what if one of the most mundane parts of your day could be made extraordinary?” The Mineral Collection shaving-tool kits are oneof-a-kind treasures designed and crafted on a family acreage in the Foothills. Inspired by the mountains, proprietors Deb Rowlands and Butch MacPherson emulate the landscape by using semi-precious stones, including amethyst and black tourmaline, as well as minerals such as aragonite and blue quartz. Nearby Calgary is represented by burl wood rescued from a Ramsay-area box elder tree and stainless-steel end pieces machined by Aaron Machine Shop. Only 25 sets (approximately) have been produced for the Mineral Collection, components of each brush and razor hilt requiring woodturning, stabilizing in a vacuum chamber, baking, curing and crushing before being cast, pressurized, polished and water sealed. Each kit comes with a story written by Rattlestick, to help make the “connection between one’s inner self and their inner wild.” The pieces would be easier to mass-produce if Rattlestick was interested in making something quickly and with detachment. Put simply, the company is anything but interested in taking that direction. In fact, when Rowland and MacPherson’s previous company was robbed of its entire stock in 2016, the two decided that a rebirth worth having would be done their way, no compromises. “We are not content pushing large volumes of ‘safe’ pieces,” says Rowland. “We are interested in making truly amazing and creative works of functional art, something that inspires awe and wonder when you hold it.” The Mineral Collection accomplishes that goal. The dazzling colours, impossibly smooth finishes and golden-hour refraction of light of the pieces are likely to make you more excited to shave than you previously imagined possible. —C.G.
CRAFT RUNNERS-UP
WEEKENDER BAG
BY JBLEATHERSUPPLY $395 TO $565, MADE IN CALGARY
jbleathersupply.com Handcrafted from start to finish by founder Jason Brown, each JBLeatherSupply Weekender Bag is a perfect travel companion. Constructed with Kodiak oil-tanned full-grain fine leather or waxed duck canvas, this bag is built to outlast others on the market. Brown uses YKK zippers and heavy-gauge thread to ensure you can tote your heaviest travel items without worry. Available in 75 colours, the Weekender is made for the traveller who values quality and function. And it’s even made to fit in the overhead bin.
STRATA VESSELS
BY EVERSFIELD CERAMICS $50 TO $400, MADE IN BLACK DIAMOND
eversfieldceramics.com Potter David Barnes has undertaken a lifelong search to recreate the intricacies of rock strata, (layered sedimentary rock) with his pottery. He has achieved this goal with his Strata Vessels, made using techniques he developed himself. The Eversfield Ceramics Strata Vessels use approximately nine different clays that Barnes puts through an extruder to produce coils that he forms into shape on a pottery wheel. The pieces are then biscuit-fired to 1,000°C, glazed with metallic oxides and re-fired in a reduction atmosphere of 1,210°C. All that work produces these complex and distinctive pieces that speak both to the hard work of Albertans and the landscape that shapes them.
PRESSED FLOWER ARTWORK BY OXEYE FLORAL CO.
$80 TO $600, MADE IN CALGARY
oxeyefloralco.com Oxeye Floral Co. grows, collects and presses many of the flowers for its artwork in-house with the rest supplied by local florists. Founder Ayla Graham was inspired by her grandmother’s love for gardening and penchant for pressing flowers, and so uses flowers in her own artwork to convey a deep appreciation for nature. Each success, challenge and failure contributes to the pieces Graham produces. Oxeye also does custom work, including pressed-flower artwork for newlyweds from their wedding bouquets. —A.M.
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Winning combination: Eau Claire Distillery collaborated with Annex Soda Mfg. on the EquineOx Mule, a premium canned cocktail which features Annex’s ginger beer, a runnerup in this category.
DRINK WINNER
PRICKLY PEAR EQUINEOX
BY EAU CLAIRE DISTILLERY $50, MADE IN TURNER VALLEY
eauclairedistillery.ca
W
Drink
Relaxations to AGLC regulations have encouraged a blossoming of breweries and distilleries, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the majority of the products that most impressed our judges were alcoholic beverages. The winners also used local and even native ingredients in new ways and established a strong tie to the province’s agricultural heritage.
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ho knew prickly pears were an indigenous species in southern Alberta? The field-to-glass folks at Eau Claire Distillery in Turner Valley, that’s who. These spiky treasures known for their large paddles and bright fruits are ubiquitous in Mexican food, drinks, medicines and beauty products — there’s even one in the middle of the Mexican flag. But around here, practically nothing was made from prickly pears until master distiller Caitlin Quinn and her team, inspired by spring’s arrival on the Prairies, decided to experiment with distilling the flesh of the cacti into a spirit. The result: a naturally sweet, barley-based alternative to gin or vodka that is intensely fruity, floral and fresh, with hints of watermelon and bubblegum. “I love how unique the EquineOx is,” says Julie Van Rosendaal, drink category judge and cookbook author. “I love its complex floral aroma, and it works in so many cocktails, from a mojito to a French 75. It’s delicious in prosecco, or just straight-up — on the rocks, or with a splash of soda.” EquineOx was a seasonal release when it debuted in the spring of 2015 under the name Spring Equinox. But it proved so popular that the tipple is now available year-round. The namechange pays homage to the horse and oxen used in Alberta farmers’ traditional farming methods — methods that Eau Claire Distillery still uses in its horse-farming practices today. With its unique and delicious flavour and its high level of commitment to local ingredients, the Eau Claire Distillery EquineOx is one spirit that deserves a spot in every Alberta bar cart. — J.H.
DRINK RUNNERS-UP
GINGER BEER
BY ANNEX SODA MFG. $2.50 TO $4 MADE IN CALGARY
annexales.com Annex Ginger Beer was inspired by a desire to elevate the sullied reputation of sodas, and create a delicious alternative to artificially flavoured pops. The completely natural craft ginger beer is made with cane sugar, lemon juice and fresh-pressed ginger, culminating in a spicy soda that drinks perfectly in a Moscow mule or on its own. Since the first batch in 2017, the beverage has quickly built a good reputation, with countless breweries, bars and restaurants across Alberta stocking the flavourful creation. And Annex has doubled down on soda, opening an Annex Soda Mfg. bar within its Annex Ale Projects space last month.
HONEY LIQUEUR BY BURWOOD DISTILLERY
$38 PER 375 ML, $50 PER 750 ML, MADE IN CALGARY
burwooddistillery.ca Enjoyable either sipped straight or added to a cocktail, Burwood Honey Liqueur is a versatile sweet liqueur that pays homage to its Eastern European roots. Burwood marries fresh raw honey from the distillery’s hives in Chestermere with a single-malt barley base, resulting in an Alberta tribute to Croatian medica, a traditional honey liqueur. The distillery recommends pairing the liqueur with desserts to further complement the honey flavour, or to include a shot with chamomile tea during steeping to create a complex and soothing nightcap.
BARREL-AGED WILD BEER
PURPLE COW SASKATOON BERRY CREAM LIQUOR
RAW PEPPERCORN GIN
USUALLY $18 TO $30 MADE IN CALGARY
$33.50 PER 750 ML MADE IN EDMONTON
rawspirits.ca
establishmentbrewing.ca
hansendistillery.com
Each of Establishment’s barrelaged wild beers undergoes a long journey. Establishment starts with a “typical beer” and ferments it again in used oak wine barrels. Guided by flavours picked up from the barrels, the brewers then add fruits or blend to balance acidity before a third fermentation. The whole process takes from three months to three years before the beer is bottled. Establishment’s first beers, Hibiscus Brett Saison and Dry Hopped Brett Saison, were completed in January 2019, and more than 30 additonal barrels are currently fermenting behind the scenes.
Simple in approach and delicious in execution, Hansen’s Purple Cow Saskatoon Berry Cream Liquor is one of the Edmonton craft distillery’s top sellers, and for good reason. The creamy liqueur lists only three ingredients — Hansen’s Barn Owl Gold Vodka, fresh squeezed Edmonton-area Saskatoon berries and a cream base. Sweet but not cloying, the resulting pastelpurple elixir is worthy of sipping on its own or adding to a cocktail. Serve it on ice, in chai tea or poured over vanilla ice cream to kick dessert up a notch.
BY THE ESTABLISHMENT BREWING COMPANY
BY HANSEN DISTILLERY
BY RAW DISTILLERY $46 PER 750 ML, MADE IN CANMORE
Raw Peppercorn Gin is made to boldly burst forth from every cocktail. While “peppercorn” occupies a prominent space in the name, the Tellicherry peppercorn is not alone in adding character to this complex spirit. Raw Distillery crafts each bottle with 100-per cent Alberta rye grain, distilling the gin with a bouquet of botanicals that includes green cardamom, lavender, juniper and coriander to add notes of citrus and fruit to the lingering pepper flavour. The gin’s boldness is made more impressive by its versatility, allowing it to shine in a Caesar or play a central role in a dry martini. —N.K.
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Beauty Entries in this category are keeping us all well-groomed and smelling great.
BEAUTY WINNER
PEPPERMINT TEXTURIZING SHAMPOO AND BLACK PEPPER MATTE STYLING PASTE BY MAST HAIR
$23 AND $25 MADE IN CALGARY masthair.com
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fter years of cutting and styling men’s hair out of his Edmonton-based salon, Mast House, Rob Gaspar realized there was a huge gap in the market for hair products not just targeted at men, but specifically designed for men’s unique hair needs. Since men’s hair styles are traditionally much shorter than women’s, conditioner isn’t usually necessary and the hair is easier to work with when it has a bit of grit and texture. With this in mind, Gaspar partnered with International Labs Canada in Calgary to develop his own line of men’s hair products, the Peppermint Texturizing Shampoo and the Black Pepper Matte Styling Paste. Mast Hair’s innovative blends include ingredients such as peppermint and jojoba oil (shampoo)
and glacial clay and bark extract (paste). Both products smell amazing, with more masculine, long-lasting scents than typical products. The products are available at Gaspar’s salon or customers can order from the Mast website using the convenient subscription model, meaning new product automatically arrives every few months. The unique, recyclable packaging is also convenient, as the slim, squeezable pouch design means it can easily slip into a briefcase or even a jacket pocket. “The packaging is great, especially for a man who travels a lot. It is modern, clean and manly,” says Tara Cowles, beauty category judge and founder of AW03 Maquillage. “The line is so simple, and goes for what most men really need and use. It’s a different approach.” —S.S.
BEAUTY RUNNERS-UP
ALL NATURAL LUXURY OIL BLENDS
CHRISTOPHER BRADLEY RAZOR
SIGNATURE BEER SOAP SIX PACK
$35 TO $80, MADE IN CALGARY
$99 TO $200, MADE IN EDMONTON
$45, MADE IN EDMONTON
jenniferjoan.ca
karveshaving.com
wildprairiesoap.ca
The lavish look of the dark, elegantly designed bottles of Jennifer Joan Skincare’s All Natural Luxury Oil Blends is reflective of the ingredients inside. Using only non-synthetic fragrances and vegan, non-toxic, cruelty-free ingredients such as frankincense, eucalyptus and cocoa, it’s easy to put this product on a pedestal (and all over your body). The oil is premium and organic, sourced from the best of Canada’s boutique farmers. The line includes products for face, body and beard to level-up your skin-care routine.
Karve Shaving Co.’s Christopher Bradley Razor combines beautiful form with incredible function. The razors are built from solid brass, stainless steel or alumnium and can be customized through varying levels of razor plate aggressiveness. The handle is decorated with an intricate pattern inspired by the centuries-old guilloche technique, giving it beautiful hand-feel and grip. The handle is also available in different lengths, and Karve sells replacement parts and a stand to make sure your razor stays in pristine condition. You won't find another razor as durable and elegant as this.
Beer in the shower might seem a long way from a sophisticated beauty regimen. But in fact, beer contains amino acids that help moisturize, soften and soothe skin. Wild Prairie Soap Company’s Beer Soap features ingredients from Calgary’s Last Best Brewing, Edmonton’s Situation Brewing and Red Deer’s Troubled Monk and the six pack comes in a cheeky box made to look like a “stubby” bottle. Combined with the other ingredients, such as olive oil, coconut oil and essential oils, you get a soap that’s great for your skin and hair, supports local breweries and smells amazing. —A.M.
BY JENNIFER JOAN SKINCARE
BY KARVE SHAVING CO.
BY WILD PRAIRIE SOAP COMPANY
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Furnishings and Home Decor
Handcrafted quality and ingenious design set these pieces apart.
FURNISHINGS AND HOME DECOR WINNER (TIE)
SAM MALOOF-INSPIRED ROCKING CHAIR BY GARAWOOD
$4,400, MADE IN CALGARY garawood.com
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he late Sam Maloof was an American master woodworker and furniture designer, revered for his philosophies on letting the wood “speak for itself.” The idea that wood is more than just a simple building material, that it has inherent beauty and soul, has bred countless acolytes, among them Dallas Gara, who pays homage to Maloof in both name and form with the furniture pieces he crafts out of his garage workshop in the innercity Calgary community of Richmond. Gara’s appreciation for the aesthetics and character of wood pre-dates his discovery of Maloof, however, going back to when he was a 10-yearold kid growing up in a small town, who found himself captivated by the wood grain on his skateboard decks. He has carried that wonder with him into adulthood as the creator of custom rocking chairs and other furniture items. “There’s something about [a piece of furniture] being handmade, handcrafted. It’s not perfect, you’ll find little goofy flaws, silly little things when you make something by hand, but I think there’s something to that,” Gara says. His clients think there’s something to that as well. “They’re looking for things that are real and tangible and that will last, and that’s what I want to do. I want to build things that mean something,” he says. “The rocking chairs I make are meant to be heirloom items; I build them with the intent of them lasting for 100 years.” —S.A.
FURNISHINGS AND HOME DECOR RUNNERS-UP
‘R5’ COFFEE TABLE BY ADRIANMARTINUS $5,000, MADE IN CALGARY
adrianmartinus.com AdrianMartinus turns thrashed skateboard decks into fine furniture, with the ‘R5’ Coffee Table representing the crowning achievement of its reclamation craft. The L-shaped table is topped with a sheet of veneer produced from recycled skateboard decks, which cascades to the ground. Accented by a handcrafted walnut leg and trim carefully segmented to ensure grain flows down the “waterfall” end, the ‘R5’ displays the painstaking attention to detail given by Adrian and Martinus Pool, the brother-builder duo behind AdrianMartinus. —N.K.
FURNISHINGS AND HOME DECOR WINNER (TIE)
IMPRESSION SERIES GLASS BOWLS BY JEWELNOTES GLASSWORKS
$200 TO $800, MADE IN CALGARY jewelnotes.ca
G
lass sculpture can be a look-don’t-touch artform, but Michelle Atkinson has taken the opposite approach with her Impression Series glass bowls. Working out of her garage studio in the Calgary community of Bowness, Atkinson creates her pieces by melting sheet glass in a kiln and then molding it into striking forms using, as she puts it, “time and gravity.” She embellishes the bowls with impressions of organic materials such as wood grain, tree bark, fir-tree needles and prairie grasses, before sandblasting and oiling the glassworks to produce a texture akin to leather. “You’re not quite sure if it’s glass, so you want to touch it and it creates that whole community around the piece,” Atkinson says. Atkinson finds her artistic inspiration in the Alberta landscape, both in the form and colour palette of her work, which references the rich turquoise blues of the prairie sky and rusty reds of weathered barns. The idea for the Impression Series came to her during a stay on a working ranch — in 2015, Atkinson was one of a small group of contemporary artists selected to take part in the Calgary Stampede’s Artist Ranch Project. The annual residency, held at a ranch in Longview, facilitates the interpretation of Western heritage through art. “As a city girl out on the prairie, surrounded by stunning vistas and the rough, yet grounded way of ranch life, I am inspired by the commonalities between rural and urban living,” Atkinson says. “This work brings together textures and shapes from the Alberta landscape like the patches of a quilt.” —S.A.
LAST HOUSE BY FLAT FURNITURE $1,500 TO $2,500, MADE IN CALGARY
flatfurniture.ca Avenue staff and the furnishings and decor category judges were more than a bit taken aback to find that a coffin had been submitted in the “furnishings” category. But it quickly became clear that the beautiful workmanship and innovative concept of the Flat Furniture Last House made it too unique and intriguing to not include. Custom-fitted to the deceased, the coffin consists of eight simple flat-packed plywood components coated in beeswax and bound by organic cotton rope. Rope crossing along the top creates a fastener for mementos and flowers. The Last House reimagines what a coffin can be, offering a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to a product most of us don’t think about, but will need at some point. —N.K.
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Food
Our judges looked for the tastes of the province, from sweet to savoury, with strong emphasis on new uses of local ingredients, high-quality production and of course, incredible flavours.
FOOD WINNER
BLACK GARLIC
BY FORAGE & FARM
$12 TO $15 MADE IN FOOTHILLS COUNTY forageandfarm.com
F
orget everything that comes to mind when you think of garlic, because the black garlic produced by Forage & Farm has a completely unique flavour. The beautiful ebony cloves are like little umami bombs, conjuring flavours of soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, with nutty, smoky undertones. The cloves are creamy soft and make a perfect aioli when puréed into mayonnaise. They’re so versatile, you can rub them on chicken or fish, add them to practically any pizza or incorporate them into potato-based soups, pasta, stir-frys — even chocolate cake. Forage & Farm is owned and operated by Cheryl and James Greisinger (James is also a blacksmith). The Millarville couple specialize in growing a variety of gourmet garlics, producing 20,000 organic bulbs each year using sustainable, ethical methods, including planting, weeding and harvesting by hand. They make the black garlic — a foray into fermentation — by heating the whole bulbs for several weeks. Through the magic known as the Maillard reaction, the cloves turn an inky black and take on a sweet, savoury earthiness without the strong odour associated with raw garlic. “Forage & Farm black garlic represents the innovative work our Albertan farmers are doing,” says Michael Allemeier, one of the category judges and a culinary instructor at SAIT. “This ingredient takes skill, time and patience to produce well. Fermentation is the darling in all kitchens these days. We value the nutritional elements of this technique, but more importantly we value how delicious fermented foods are!” — J.H.
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FOOD RUNNERS-UP WHISKY CAKE
ASSORTED BONBONS
TWO STEP CHEESE
PARK WHEAT FLOUR
$40 MEDIUM, $70 LARGE MADE IN CALGARY
$3 EACH OR $59 FOR PACKAGE SHOWN, MADE IN CALGARY
USUALLY $8 TO $11 PER 150 GRAMS, MADE IN ACME
$10 PER 1.6 KG, MADE IN STURGEON COUNTY
albertawhiskycake.com
cochu.ca
dancinggoatsfarm.com
goldforestgrains.com
Since 2010, Alberta Whisky Cake has been making and selling one of the only whisky-infused cakes on the Canadian market today. Perfectly moist and light — but not too light — the cakes are soaked in rye-whisky glaze made with spirits from Highwood Distillers in High River. The Alberta Whisky Cake is available in two delicious flavours: chocolate and maple, made with Canadian maple syrup. To live up to the beauty of the cake itself, each one is packaged with an art card featuring the work of a local artist.
The Assorted Bonbons from Cochu Chocolatier taste as good as they look. Handmade using multiple production techniques, the bonbons, which have won numerous national and international medals in the past few years, are chocolate shells filled with flavoured caramel or ganache. Fillings can also include things like nuts or sponge toffee and many have local ingredients such as Eau Claire Distillery Cherry Gin, Phil & Sebastian coffee beans and Drizzle honey. Each bonbon is hand-painted by the Cochu chocolatiers with tempered cocoa butter. They are almost too pretty to eat. Almost.
Using milk from its own herd, Dancing Goats Farm creates goat cheeses that have become the darling of foodies and are on the menus of numerous Calgary restaurants including Rouge, Deane House and Thomsons’ Kitchen and Bar. A recent addition to the lineup of cheeses with dance-inspired names, Two Step is a semi-firm, six-week-aged cheese washed in Blacksmith ale from Calgary’s Village Brewery to create a dark-brown rind and a subtly bitter flavour. The creamy goat cheese melts beautifully on pizza and hamburgers and goes just as well by itself as a snack or on a charcuterie board.
Gold Forest Grains sows its own wheat in spring, grows it in certified organic fields, harvests in the fall and mills the wheat in its own stone mills on the farm — all of that care and attention so that you can make the perfect bread, biscuits and scones. Unlike most of the industrial whole-wheat flours that you’ll get at the grocery store, because it is produced locally in small batches, the Park Wheat Flour is always fresh, avoiding any rancid bitterness. Your baking will be so amazing it might just convince your kids (or you) to eat whole wheat.
BY ALBERTA WHISKY CAKE
BY COCHU CHOCOLATIER
BY DANCING GOATS FARM
BY GOLD FOREST GRAINS
FINOCCHIONA
BY VDG SALUMI $10, MADE IN CALGARY
vdgsalumi.com VDG Salumi’s Finocchiona is a traditional small-batch salami made with highquality pork shoulder, fennel seed and fennel pollen. Created by VDG Salumi’s team of trained chefs, this salami is cured and then dry-aged for four-to-six weeks. VDG Salumi works with local Alberta farmers, but the company’s knowledge of curing meats comes all the way from Italy, where founder Stuart Kriton spent time learning to cure with traditional methods. VDG’s wares are authentic enough that they are carried at the Italian Centre Shop in Calgary, in addition to a number of other specialty food shops around the province. —A.M.
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Fashion Alberta designers are crafting pieces for a range of looks and occasions.
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FASHION WINNER
elicate and feminine, Joanna Bisley’s handcrafted jewellery and hairpieces have a timeless quality to them, and that’s by design. “My style is modern classic,” Bisley says. “I don’t chase the latest looks.” For the past 12 years, the self-taught artisan has created full-time out of a small studio space in her home in northwest Calgary. Using pliers, wire snippers, files and stone-setting tools, she handmakes pieces with sterling silver or 14-karat gold fill that include twinkling Swarovski crystals, delicate sprays of freshwater pearls and semiprecious stones. Brides, as well as others looking for pieces for a special occasion, can shop from Bisley’s online store, find her work at 18 boutiques across Canada, or work with her directly to create something custom for their big day. Bisley often finds inspiration from a bride’s dress. “The gown tends to lead where the design goes,” she says.
HANDCRAFTED HEIRLOOM BRIDAL ACCESSORIES BY JOANNA BISLEY DESIGNS
$50 TO $475, MADE IN CALGARY
joannabisleydesigns.com
“When I do a custom piece for a bride it often becomes part of my collection, and I’ll always name it after her.” Bisley employs one other contractor to help fill orders but does all of the design and crafting herself. Her designs are made with long-standing techniques, such as wire wrapping, where gold or silver wire is hand wrapped around other materials to make a chain or wrap, and silk knotting, which involves hand-knotting pearls onto silk. Both processes are labour-intensive — an intricate hairpiece can take a whole day to craft — but these age-old techniques create durable designs meant to last. “These are heirlooms,” Bisley says. “I want to create something a bride wants to keep so that she can pass it down, whether it’s to a niece, a daughter or godchild, and the pieces can continue to be worn again.” —M.B.
FASHION RUNNERS-UP
MILITARY MOTORCYCLE JACKET
BIRD’S NEST RING
GROW WITH BABY CARDIGANS
$1,190 AND UP, MADE IN CALGARY
$4,000 AND UP, MADE IN CALGARY
$45 TO $85, MADE IN EDMONTON
annekeforbes.com
evstenroos.com
mysunshinecreations.com
Inspired by a family member who was a motorcycle messenger during the Second World War, Anneke Forbes designed her military motorcycle jacket with heirloom use and family history in mind. The jacket is available in ready-to-wear sizes extra-small through extra-large, but because Forbes makes each one by hand, she can customize to fit clients exactly. Interested customers can get a fitting, choose from 61 colours of suede, 133 colours of lining, six colours of hardware and even 15 styles of zipper tabs. The incredible attention to detail and craftsmanship in each handmade piece is what puts this jacket above others. The buttery-soft suede helps, too.
The unique design of the Bird’s Nest ring by EVStenroos is at once bold and delicate, combining interwoven strands of metal, including the client’s choices of yellow and rose gold and platinum, with diamonds as well as precious and semi-precious stones. Stenroos crafts each custom ring and often uses gems clients have from jewellery they no longer wear, breathing new life and use into heirloom pieces. While each Bird's Nest ring is unique, they share a distinct look inspired by the beauty of nature and the wearer’s life.
Kids grow faster than you can buy clothes for them, but the Grow with Baby Cardigan is at least one piece that will stay in their closets for an extended period of time. The cardigan does exactly what its name implies: the smallest size fits a six-month-old baby and will still fit at two years old. With three sizes, kids can wear these cardigans through to age six. The stretch of the super-soft cotton-Lycrabamboo fabric and the design is what gives the cardigans their range. The pieces feature adorable prints created in collaboration with local artists, meaning they are truly unique fabrics you can only get from My Sunshine Creations. —A.M.
BY ANNEKE FORBES
BY EVSTENROOS
BY MY SUNSHINE CREATIONS
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MARIE BERTRAND
TARA COWLES
KELLY JUBENVILL
MELANIE LOVE
JESSIE RADIES
SKINSCIENCE
AW03 MAQUILLAGE
SCALING DOWN
MORE FRONT ROOM
EDMONTON NORTHLANDS
@theskinscientist
@taracowles
NAOMI LE BIHAN
DR. TERRY ROCK
JULIE VAN ROSENDAAL
JUSTINE BARBER
LOUISE DIRKS
UNDRCARD
PLATFORM CALGARY
DINNER WITH JULIE
@naomilebihan
@rockster
@dinnerwithjulie
POPPY BARLEY
GRAVITYPOPE
@justbarber
@gravitypope
MICHAEL ALLEMEIER
TONY AND PENNY MARSHALL
WALKER MCKINLEY
ALYKHAN VELJI
BRETT BACON
HIGHWOOD CROSSING
BURKART ARCHITECTS & FAT FRAMES @walker.mckinley
ALYKHAN VELJI DESIGNS
BEAUTY
DRINK
FOOD
SAIT CULINARY
@chefallemeier
BEAUTY
DRINK
FOOD
@highwoodcrossing
CRAFT
DRINK
FURNISHINGS AND HOME DECOR MCKINLEY
CRAFT
FASHION AND ACCESSORIES
FURNISHINGS AND HOME DECOR @alyvelji
CRAFT
FASHION AND ACCESSORIES
GAMES AND LEISURE SWIMCO
@bbacon88 Learn more about our judges by visiting MadeInAlbertaAwards.ca/judges
JAY BARDYLA
JOYCE BYRNE
BRIANNE LARSON
KÄTHE LEMON
DRAWN TO COMICS BOOK FAIRS
REDPOINT MEDIA
SOUTHCENTRE MALL
AVENUE MAGAZINE
GAMES AND LEISURE
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OVERALL WINNER
OVERALL WINNER
OVERALL WINNER @kathelemon
Melanie Love photograph by Grant McAvoy – Image Werx Photography; Jessie Radies photograph by Dale MacMillan; Terry Rock photograph by Willis Tat; Justine Barber photograph by Jillian Schecher; Louise Dirks photograph courtesy of gravitypope; Walker Mickinley photograph by Jamie Anholt; Joyce Byrnes and Käthe Lemon photograph by Jared Sych
Judges
Made in Alberta, made for the world. Congratulations to the TAP Calgary participants who were nominated for the Made in Alberta Awards:
Thinking about expanding your business beyond our borders? Learn how to realize your global business dreams at:
tapyyc.com
Ellie Bianca Burwood Distillery RAW Distillery Black Cloud Bitters Fiasco Gelato
Submitted By: SAIT Ad Name: Congratulations to all SAIT finalists Publish Date: September, 2019 Colour: Full colour Size: ½ Island (5.1875 x 7.3125)
Congratulations TO ALL SAIT FINALISTS We are proud of the SAIT graduates, instructors and employees who have been recognized in this year’s Made in Alberta contest. You represent some of the best talent in our community – true makers who are building success with your skills, innovation and creativity.
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A number of major cultural institutions in the city currently have proposals out to be renovated, expanded or built. But does the cost of moving them forward outweigh the cost of delaying — or not moving forward at all?
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As the city weathers an extended downturn and faces ver the last five years in Calgary, many of the the emerging idea that this might be the “new normal,” city’s cultural institutions opened new and we may wonder how more proposed capital projects for renovated buildings, from Bella Concert Hall arts and entertainment institutions makes sense. But the in 2015 and Studio Bell and Decidedly Jazz creation of cultural institutions is literally how cities are Danceworks’ headquarters and performance built — so the question may also be: can we afford not to space in 2016, to last year’s New Central Licontinue developing? Ultimately, we need to ask how our brary. Going back a bit further, Festival Hall not-insignificant concerns for the present should shape opened in 2013, the Grand Theatre (now The how (and how fast) we build the city of the future. Grand) redevelopment was completed in 2006 You could say this is a historic threshold for and the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium the city, as many of the buildings proposed went through a major renovation between go hand-in-hand with and are part of the 2004 and 2005 (with a further $9.3 million BY Colin Gallant larger redevelopment of the Rivers District pledged by the former NDP provincial linking the Stampede Grounds and East government last year). And yet, the calls for Village into a cohesive area that also extends further new and renovated cultural spaces seem to downtown and Inglewood. This is the time to only to have grown louder and more numerous. take stock of where we stand and where we want The City recently approved a new Event Centre, and to be. The development of cultural, entertainment and is contemplating an expanded and renovated Arts recreational buildings could be a way to lead the city to Commons and a multi-sport field house, while work future growth, but you’ll have to decide for yourself if has already started on renovations to the Centennial the major proposals on the docket are the right way to Planetarium to house Contemporary Calgary as well as shape the future of Calgary. a doubling in size of the BMO Centre at Stampede Park.
Hall F will keep the BMO Centre usable during the expansion.
BMO Centre Expansion What: Expansion and redevelopment of the BMO Centre convention hall space. Where: Stampede Park. Status: Underway and fully funded; set to be completely open by summer 2024.
Contemporary Calgary photography by Gerard Yunker; BMO Centre construction photograph courtesy of CMLC
Contemporary Calgary What: Public contemporary art gallery. Where: The former science centre and planetarium. Status: Partially open now, fully open by 2023.
B
y 2023, Contemporary Calgary will open in its fully realized form at the Centennial Planetarium, following a building redevelopment to the tune of $82.5 million. The gallery will be the first large-scale facility dedicated to contemporary art in Calgary. In June, 2018, Contemporary Calgary signed a 25year lease for the Centennial Planetarium with $24.5 million of City funds in hand. As of this past May, the non-profit has opened a small public area called Temporary Contemporary where visitors can engage with a limited selection of programming and offer input on what they want from the future of the organization. This fall, Contemporary Calgary intends to open its North Shed gallery in the space that was formerly the Creative Kids Museum, back when the planetarium was home to the Science Centre. The final phase of the redevelopment will be construction of a Class A gallery space, a designation given to galleries with adequate environmental controls to accommodate fragile touring shows. That stage is expected to cost $50 million. Contemporary Calgary will likely be the first cultural institution construction project from this list to be completed. Located in the downtown West End, it is not part of the cultural and entertainment district proposed by the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation in Victoria Park.
The BMO Centre will double in size from 500,000 to nearly one million square feet by June, 2024. The $500-million project has been funded in equal parts by the federal, provincial and municipal governments. Construction has already begun on Hall F, a 100,000-sq. ft. facility that will be available throughout construction on the rest of the expansion. Hall F is anticipated to be finished by next spring. The fully expanded BMO Centre will be the third-largest conference centre in the country after the Enercare Centre and Toronto Congress Centre, both of which are in Toronto and tied for first place with slightly over one million sq. ft. of space each. Calgary’s tricked-out beast of a conference centre will be another step toward the Stampede becoming a year-round destination. Proponents of this plan currently consider Calgary a tier-two convention city (for national-level conferences) and believe this will boost us to the tier-one level. A tier-one conference is usually an international gathering of 10,000 or more people. But what makes a tier-one conference city can actually be quite subjective.
There is no universal definition of what qualifies a city’s tier, nor an accepted list of cities and their corresponding ranks. The Meeting Magazines trade website outlines that 54 per cent of cities classified as tier-one have convention centres with at least 500,000 gross sq. ft. of exhibit space, which the BMO Centre already has — that said, having the bare minimum of space in a competitive environment probably isn’t going to cut it. Cities are also assessed on things like non-stop national and international flight access, a minimum of 10,000 hotel rooms (Calgary has more than 13,000 hotel rooms, with more than 4,000 located downtown), and less quantifiable traits like “reputation for world-class services and amenities.” One large convention centre does not a tier-one city make, but Calgary has secured the Rotary International conference based in part on the BMO’s expansion. In 2025 the Rotary International conference is expected to draw 20,000 to 40,000 attendees. Calgary is also hosting the World Petroleum Congress in September, 2023, though that event will precede the project’s completion.
The fully expanded BMO Centre will be the thirdlargest conference centre in the country.
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The Victoria Park Event Centre will be the defining feature of the Rivers District.
Event Centre What: A new 19,000-seat arena and event centre that will be home to the Calgary Flames and more. Where: North of Stampede Park. Status: Fully funded and expected to break
ground in 2021.
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Arts Commons Transformation What: A new building
to expand the space and a top-to-bottom renovation of the existing facility. Where: Arts Commons. Status: Pending funding approval. Arts Commons has proposed a two-phase revitalization that would begin with the construction of a new building to expand its capacity and house its residents, while existing facilities receive a tip-to-tail renovation. The new North Road House would include three theatres with 100, 250 and 1,200 seats and cost $208 million to construct. The City of Calgary has identified $71 million in “critical lifecycle [sic] and accessibility” issues inside the existing Arts
Commons facility. These are must-do maintenance and upgrades to the building, including windows, heating, ceilings, plumbing and other fundamental elements. However, Arts Commons is asking for a total of $204 million in order to construct a new, openconcept facade and improve technology and amenities. Colleen Dickson, internal relations and interim co-CEO of Arts Commons, says her organization has been working hard to make sure the existing building doesn’t fall apart. “We’ve been focusing on the big items that will shut the whole building down if something goes wrong with them … but what that leaves is some of the back-of-house items and venue technology that is way beyond life.”
Event Centre images supplied by Event Centre; Arts Commons images courtesy of Arts Commons
A deal reached between Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) and Calgary Stampede for a new Event Centre in Victoria Park was approved by City Council on July 30. The 19,000-seat structure will be funded in equal parts by the City and CSEC at a total estimated cost of $550 million. The City will retain full ownership of the building and land while CSEC will be granted a 35-year lease on the conditions that it allows the City a portion of earned revenues through fees and keeps the Calgary Flames NHL Club in the city for the lease’s duration. CSEC will also make payments to local community sports and community engagement. The City expects its returns to total $400.3 million, not adjusted for inflation. While the Flames will be the Event Centre’s anchor tenant, Ward 6 Councillor Jeff Davison, who led the project committee, says the Centre will look to serve a much richer variety of events than just hockey. And though there has been tittering about the term “Event Centre” being used disingenuously to rebrand the already-rejected idea of a publicly funded NHL arena, Davison says “The Event Centre is what [will] actually unlock the ability to develop the Vic Park option for us.” The Saddledome will almost certainly be demolished to make way for the Event Centre at an additional cost of $12.4 million — of which the City will pay 90 per cent and CSEC will pay 10 per cent. The old arena’s limitations have become increasingly scrutinized as arena tours skip Calgary for Edmonton’s shiny new Rogers Place with increasing regularity. Calgary missed at least five major tours in 2018 and will miss at least nine in 2019. Davison also points out that the Saddledome will become increasingly expensive to keep around. “If we were to try and get it through the next 30 years, you’d be looking at a minimum of a couple hundred million dollars’ worth of renovations. So, arguably, the cost doesn’t provide the benefit,” he says.
The Multi-sport Field House What: An indoor multi-sport facility with space for 10,000 spectators. Where: Foothills Athletic Park near the U of C. Status: The City has pledged $19.8 million for initial design work.
Field house image supplied by the City of Calgary
Arts Commons says it needs to fix its insufficient capacity as well as crumbling infrastructure.
Indeed, the City assessment doesn’t include things like updating dimmers and audio systems that co-CEO Greg Epton says are so antiquated that Arts Commons can’t compete with modernly equipped venues. The dimmer in the Max Bell Theatre alone, for example, cost around $1.7 million when it was replaced. Despite its issues, Arts Comons is in high demand. Epton says they turn away around 600 revenue-generating rentals per year, simply because the facilities are booked up. Adding the North Road House would address that capacity concern in the long term. In addition to the six resident companies at Arts Commons, between 174 and 315 partner organizations also run events there each year. Dickson and
Epton argue that both phases of the Arts Commons Transformation are necessary, not only to satisfy unfulfilled market demand, but also to meet current demands by the community, as the extent of renovations required for the existing spaces would leave both residents and community partners without venues to create and perform works. A tenant such as Theatre Calgary could hypothetically couch-surf at other venues during construction (as was the case with the Jubilee's renovations), but it’s hardly an ideal situation for such an active cultural organization. As for the new facade, it would replace one that is literally crumbling — scaffolding and netting were installed on the building following a shower of loose debris in 2016.
A multi-sport field house has once again been proposed for construction in Calgary. Proposals for a field house date back to a 1967 report titled “Indoor Amateur Sports Centre Feasibility Study.” More recently, part of the City’s nixed Olympic bid included construction of a field house. A funding proposal from the Foothills Athletic Park Redevelopment Advisory Committee submitted to council last May seeks to build a field house in a renovated Foothills Athletic Park near the U of C. City administration says it would take fourand-a-half years to build once the project secures funding of at least $235 million. So far, $19.8 million has been pledged by the City for early design work. Foothills Athletic Park already has four regulation-size soccer fields, a little league baseball diamond, a 400-metre running track, long-jump pits, pole vault, discus, javelin, shot put and eight public outdoor tennis courts. McMahon Stadium, Foothills Aquatic Centre and Father David Bauer and Norma Bush hockey arenas neighbour the park. Cumulatively, these facilities make for a pretty impressive sports environment, but lack the year-round usability and versatility a field house would provide for field- and court-based sports. The current proposed field house would feature infrastructure for track-and-field sports, baseball training, tennis, basketball, volleyball, badminton and other activities as well as seating for 10,000 spectators. While committee chair Ward 5 Councillor George Chahal has said that Calgary is the only major Canadian city not to have a field house, the term is fairly ill-defined and a survey of field houses in other major cities reveals that no two offer the exact same amenities. The Tsuut’ina Nation opened a new sportsplex and field house in the spring of this year. The 228,000-sq.-ft. Seven Chiefs Sportsplex is open to Tsuut’ina residents and non-residents alike, and offers two NHL-sized indoor rinks (with 2,000 and 500 seats, respectively), along with a covered outdoor rink, four basketball courts and a multi-purpose field house that can fit, for example, eight volleyball courts with four metres of space between each. The Seven Chiefs Sportsplex has seating capacity for 5,000 spectators and houses a fitness centre, running track, dance studio, concession and office spaces. The entire Seven Chiefs Sportsplex cost around $56 million and took less than three years to build.
The proposed field house would feature infrastructure for track-andfield sports, baseball training, tennis, basketball and other activities, as well as seating for 10,000. AvenueCalgary.com
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Overall Vision Over Individual Projects
J
Is Calgary ready to capitalize on the future these new builds represent?
ust how these projects might cumulatively shape the city depends on who you ask. To hear it from Councillor Davison, this isn’t a list we should be choosing winners and losers from. By Davison’s estimation, and that of Clare LePan, CMLC vice-president marketing & communications, in transforming the Rivers District and putting the right pieces in place around it, we are investing in the whole city’s future, not just individual buildings. The vision of the Rivers District includes the creation of inviting public space around and between developments in the area, plus the Green Line, and the construction of a 5th Street underpass, the BMO Centre expansion and the Event Centre buildings, of course, but also the Arts Commons Transformation and layering in the critical piece represented by private development. As far as an event centre or arena is concerned, Davison believes in building something that isn’t simply four walls housing events. “One of the biggest things we learned through our committee work was that the areas around the event centre, or adjacent to the event centre, would be just as important as the facility itself,” he says. Davison and LePan both say we need to remember that this is a 20-year master plan, not an overnight building project. Redevelopment at this scale requires faith, patience and cooperation. For LePan the best example for Calgarians trying to wrap their heads around what that kind of longterm investment looks like is East Village, which CMLC also developed. “When you look at where East Village has come in the past 10 years, it’s now recognized as one of the leading inner-city communities that’s highly identified by its public spaces like Riverwalk, and then more recently by anchors like the new Central Library and Studio Bell,” she says. “Major attractions like that, and community building projects like the library, are examples of 56
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how they can transform how a community functions. East Village has become as much of a destination for people across the city as it is for those who live there.” We may start to see that vision in as little as five years. CMLC is acting as the development manager for the BMO Centre expansion and LePan expects that by Stampede 2024, the project will be completed, as will the redevelopment of the Victoria Park CTrain station and the extension of 17th Avenue into Stampede Park. Not everyone is seeing the same vision for Calgary’s future, though. Dr. Beverly Sandalack, past associate dean and current professor at the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, agrees that the issue in question is a matter of vision rather than individual projects. However, she cautions that focusing on monument-like buildings risks missing the point of what makes for good urban development. She believes we need to think big — but that in certain ways we need to act small. Sandalack also agrees there are excellent ideas in the Rivers District Master Plan and that East Village is one of the best examples of urban design we have in Calgary. Like LePan, Sandalack believes that CMLC’s decision to launch the Riverwalk component of East Village first was exactly the right way to go. Starting with an inviting, walkable area for gathering is significantly more important than any mammoth attraction in the area. “Cultural buildings are really good attractors but they need to be in the middle of an urban fabric,” she says. That is the very reason Sandalack feels that modern development in east Victoria Park is off to the wrong start with its focus on super-sized condo towers and large-scale institutions. She also doubts the plan will live up to sophisticated mixed-usage principles. “What I’m worried that Calgary hasn’t learned to do well yet, is to develop these things
in a comprehensive enough way that you really improve the whole urban condition,” she says. “Calgary is too conventional for our context.” Richard White, urban critic, columnist and author of The Everyday Tourist blog, has doubts of a more brass-tacks nature. “When Calgary’s oil-and-gas industry is booming, we are driving an eight-cylinder car, and we hit above our weight,” he says. “But in a recession, we go back to a four-cylinder car, and we need to drive slower and be more economical in our thinking.” White points out that East Village was conceived under vastly different economic conditions than we face today, and he thinks some of the buildings proposed now don’t have the potential to attract the level of investment their proponents say they do. While he isn’t confident the Arts Commons Transformation or an Event Centre will pay dividends, he says the BMO Centre expansion is a well-calculated development. In general, White is much more in favour of renovations and expansions than new builds. “BMO has tourism potential, it has economic potential. Bringing trade shows and conventions to Calgary is part of how you introduce Calgary to new people,” he says. White also says that Calgarians should consider the Tsuut’ina Seven Chiefs Sportsplex as a potential alternative to another new field house. Though the two critics have their own reasons to doubt, their concerns seem to converge in two simple questions: Is now the right time for this? And is Calgary ready to capitalize on the future these new builds represent? For their part, citizens have been calling for more responsible spending by civic government in the wake of significant loss of downtown property tax, skyrocketing business taxes elsewhere, massively unpopular public art projects and nearly $7 million spent on the failed Olympic bid. As of March, 2019, $1.5 billion had been allocated toward the future of Arts Commons, the field house, an event centre and the BMO Centre. Today only the latter two have received full greenlight and funding so far. If you have thoughts on the remaining projects and how they could shape the future, write your councillor, attend a meeting and vote when the next municipal election takes place in October, 2021. It’s fair to assume that Calgarians are not against the growth of the city, but as citizens, we have every right to demand that expenditures be smart investments in a future that benefits us all.
Is now the right time for this?
* * *
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PHOTOGR
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Greta Constantine jacket and pants from Ooh La La Womenswear (prices available on request); Smythe top, $325, and BP earrings, $35, all from Nordstrom. OPPOSITE PAGE Narces dress, $2,995, from Echo Evenings & Bridal; Mizuki diamond earrings, $18,150, Ray Griffiths white topaz earrings, $2,300, J. Vair Collection black diamond signet ring, $6,300, and Champagne diamond ring, $12,850, all from J. Vair Anderson Jewellers; ChloĂŠ shoes, $1,095, from Holt Renfrew; socks, $15, from Simons. AvenueCalgary.com
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Wolford turtleneck, $400, Nanushka leather pants, $595, and leather buttonup shirt, $510, Ganni leopardprint raincoat, $385, Rick Owens puffer coat, $2,460, all from Holt Renfrew; Michael Michael Kors booties, $298, from Michael Kors.
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Alice and Olivia pants, $385, and top, $295, Smythe coat, $895, Jimmy Choo shoes, $795, BP bangles, $45 each, all from Nordstrom; Ray Griffiths 18-karat gold earrings, $3,125, from J. Vair Anderson Jewellers; Michael Kors cross-body bag, $298, from Michael Kors; Dior sunglasses, $515, from Holt Renfrew.
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Akris blazer, $1,790, trousers, $645, and houndstooth cape, $5,190, Valentino sweater, $3,160, ChloĂŠ purse, $2,410, Prada shoes, $1,205, all from Holt Renfrew; Burberry scarf, $230, from Nordstrom.
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Strapless gown, $2,895, by Paul Hardy; Dolce & Gabbana floral blouse, $1,495, Miu Miu earrings, $480, and purse, $2,050, all from Holt Renfrew; Paraiba pear halo diamond ring, $15,750, and ruby pavĂŠ signet ring, $4,900, both from J. Vair Anderson Jewellers. 64
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Unttld jacket, $1,950, and pants, $1,400, acquired directly from designer (Montreal); Dolce & Gabbana blouse, $1,495, Alexander McQueen shoes, $805, from Holt Renfrew; Stella and Ruby earrings, $52, from Nordstrom. 66
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SOURCE FASHION PAGES 58 TO 66 Echo Evenings & Bridal, The Core, 403-453-0013, echoevenings.com Holt Renfrew, The Core, 403-269-7341, holtrenfrew.com J. Vair Anderson Jewellers, 409 3 St. S.W., 403-266-1669, jvairanderson.com Michael Kors, The Core, 403-264-4981; CF Chinook Centre, 403-537-0093; Southcentre, 403-225-1943, michaelkors.ca Nordstrom, CF Chinook Centre, 587-291-2000, nordstrom.ca Ooh La La Womenswear, 1575 7 St. S.W., 403-245-6900, oohlalawomenswear.com Paul Hardy Design Inc., 3638 Manchester Rd. S.E., 403-966-2268, paulhardydesign.com Simons, The Core, 403-697-1840, simons.ca Unttld, atelierunttld.com Location: 209 Pinnacle Ridge Place S.W., Rocky View County, Alta. For information contact Vivienne Huisman, sales associate, Sotheby’s International Realty Canada.
CO NT ENT S PA G E Greta Constantine dress from Ooh La La Womenswear (price available on request); IcĂ´ne turtleneck, $29, tights, $19, both from Simons; Jimmy Choo shoes (worn under tights), $775, from Nordstrom; Miu Miu earrings, $482, from Holt Renfrew. AvenueCalgary.com
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Buyers’ Market Market conditions are making house ownership more accessible for firsttime buyers.
BY Julia Williams PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jared Sych
Regan Fraser recently purchased her first home, a bungalow, that came equipped with many features tailored for its previous 91-year-old owner.
A 68 avenueSEPTEMBER.19
fter three months as a homeowner, Regan Fraser has torn out the shag carpet in her Haysboro bungalow and painted the walls, but there are still some issues. The walk-in tub, perfect for the 91-year-old former owner, is less suitable for a woman of 39 (same goes for the window dressings) and it’ll be a while before Fraser, a long-time apartment dweller, stops feeling spooked by her basement. Still, the place is starting to feel like home. Fraser is mildly surprised to be a homeowner at all. The art director considered investing in a place of her own in 2017 but abandoned the search when she couldn’t find anything suitable in her price range. Family and friends had been urging her to take the leap, saying it was a smart investment. “Everyone says you should own. You’re older now, stop wasting money, basically,” Fraser says. “But when you get into the actual numbers, you realize you can’t afford that much.” Fraser considered a more affordable option like a condo but didn’t want to be
burdened with fees and regulations. Anyway, she needed space for her mother to stay when she visited from Regina. In 2019, during one of those maternal visits, Fraser looked again and discovered that many properties were being sold for as much as $40K below list price. That’s when she realized buying a house had become a possibility. “I could afford a whole house by myself for the same amount I was paying in rent,” she says. If settling into her new house has been a bumpy process, the purchase itself could not have gone more smoothly. Fraser’s offer was accepted immediately without any pushback. The house had only been on the market for four days. Her realtor jokingly declared the negotiation process “the most boring bargaining feud ever.” Fraser’s story isn’t unusual in Calgary’s formerly overheated housing market. If the city’s economic downturn has a silver lining, perhaps this is it: for the first time in years, first-time homebuyers can find and afford well-maintained detached houses in innercity communities.
Jeffery Sulima and Becky Salmond’s new home suits their lifestyle as musicians.
Jeffery Sulima has been a Calgary realtor for five years; at age “WITH THE 44, he’s also a recent homebuyer. Though he has been involved in MARKET home purchases before as an investor along with his mother, who DOWN, is also a real estate agent, this is the first time his name has been on IT MADE the title. Why was now the right time to buy? Partly, it was a matter SENSE TO of space. Sulima and his partner Becky Salmond are musicians, and BUY UP. the couple and their cat had been squashed into 700 square feet -Jeffery Sulima with several keyboards, drum kits, guitars, amps, a trombone and an accordian. “We were living in a shoebox,” Sulima laughs. Elbow room aside, Sulima knew that investing now was smart. “I’ve worked with several first-time buyers lately and they’ve done well. I’ve seen a lot of sellers become more realistic about pricing,” he says. He has watched houses drop from higher to lower price categories. “With the market down, it made sense to buy up,” he says. The market is definitely down and current conditions can be traced back to the sudden, drastic drop in the price of oil at the end of 2014. Unemployment has risen in Calgary, pushing some homeowners to downsize and prompting a small exodus of energy sector workers from the city. At the same time, development projects have kept moving ahead, slowly flooding the market with new condos and houses. In economic terms, demand collapsed in the Calgary
market at the same time that supply was rising. The housing market is a notoriously sluggish beast, slow to adjust to altered economic circumstances and the lag has created a housing market that currently favours buyers over sellers. For a start, the imbalance between supply and demand has pushed home prices down. James Cuddy, senior analyst for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), says that in June, 2018, Calgary home prices were down 3.6 per cent (controlling for inflation) compared to June, 2016. Statistics from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) suggest the trend has continued: the MLS Home Price Index for Calgary in May, 2019, was down 4.29 per cent from the previous year. There are also more properties to choose from. The CMHC reported a sudden increase in active listings in mid-2018, which helps explain why Fraser found more and better options the second time she took up her home search. “The likelihood of a buyer finding a home they liked in late 2018 was much higher than in 2016 simply because there were a lot more listings, particularly of single-family dwellings,” Cuddy says. “The other part of the story is that demand [as of spring 2019] is still low, so while there are a lot of listings, there isn’t a lot of competition.” AvenueCalgary.com
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Eric and Alison Timmins found the market had turned in their favour when they resumed their house hunt at the end of 2018.
Eric and Alison Timmins’ homebuying experience doesn’t “THAT FIRST entirely bear out this final observation — the couple had four NIGHT IN houses sell before they could even get in for a viewing, and one OUR NEW property sold while they were preparing their offer. Otherwise, HOUSE, their experience closely parallels Fraser’s. Like her, they abandoned HAVING their house hunt a couple of years ago when they couldn’t find IT SINK IN anything suitable and affordable and, like her, they found many THAT WE more prospects when they started searching again in late 2018. OWNED “We honestly didn’t think a single detached house was an option for us because there weren’t any in the market in our price range,” THIS PLACE, THAT WAS says Eric. “What was available changed drastically in those two FUN.” years.” The couple, in their late 20s, hoped to find a well-maintained -Eric Timmins starter home in a vibrant, walkable inner-city neighbourhood close to their downtown workplaces — an ambitious goal for people just entering the market. Fortunately, their timing was perfect, and in January, 2019, the Timminses took possession of a 100-year-old character home in Mount Pleasant. Far from a fixer-upper, the house had a number of aesthetic upgrades and a new roof, furnace and water tank. What’s more, their mortgage payments were no higher than their rent was. “That first night in our new house, having it sink in that we owned this place, that was fun,” Eric says. It may be easier than usual to find a home to buy in Calgary right now, what with the plethora of attractive, affordable options that also include condos and houses in new communities. But the challenges of the actual purchasing process — reading the small print, paying the side costs and bearing the suspense — 70
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What Makes a Buyers’ Market?
The 2014 oil price drop and ensuing economic downturn didn’t halt the influx of new houses and condos to the market. Five years later, supply and demand remain imbalanced in Calgary’s housing market, pushing home prices down and creating market conditions in which people who want to buy houses have bargaining power over those who want to sell.
are unchanged. The Timminses had plenty of good advice from friends and family, but it was easily the largest and most complex purchase they had ever made. Eric says the five-week period between having their offer accepted and actually closing the sale was extremely stressful. “There’s a moment of elation and then you realize there’s still a ton of work to be done,” he says. They needed to arrange a home inspection, meet a real-estate lawyer and secure their financing with the bank, which needed to conduct its own appraisal. “There is a significant list of things to do and you need to do them quickly and in sequence, and they all cost money,” Eric says. Now, he advises friends entering the realestate market to put aside a few thousand dollars to cover this process and to arrange what they can in advance. Even for Sulima’s partner Becky Salmond, a supply chain consultant, this period was intense. A first-time homebuyer at 32, she had the benefit of Sulima’s expertise, but lacked his experience-borne pragmatism. Salmond had already imagined a whole life in the Glendale bungalow she and Sulima were trying to buy. Waiting to close the deal was intense and emotional. It was a 1955 house in an older neighbourhood; any number of deal-breaking issues could have come up in the inspection, from asbestos in the walls to tree roots in the sewer pipe. “It was extremely stressful,” Salmond says. “Your heart is set on something, but ultimately a lot of it is out of your control. I did a lot of pacing in my office.” Fortunately, the house was in good shape, the sale closed and they moved in (cat, keyboards and other instruments in tow) in the summer of 2018.
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Go Underground
Most buyers know to hire a professional home inspector for a structural assessment, but most don’t think about the sewer system. Realtor (and recent homebuyer) Jeffery Sulima says when buying in an older neighbourhood, consider hiring a professional to send a camera down the main sewer and check for punctures or obstructions. A few hundred dollars for a sewer inspection could prevent you from contending with unexpected crap (literally) in the future and save you tens of thousands of dollars in repairs.
Greg Conley and Katie Radke bought their first home from people they knew socially.
Katie Radke and her husband Greg Conley, first-time homebuyers in their mid-30s, managed the entire process without a realtor, and that’s not all they skipped: they never even went house hunting. They simply put the word out that they were looking, and in March, 2019, a couple they knew socially called Radke and Conley to ask how serious they were. The following month they went to view the house, a character home in Renfrew that they had visited once before. They made up their minds at the viewing. “We decided that we were going to go for it,” Radke says. “Unless there was some deal breaker in the inspection, there was no reason not to.” Without a realtor, the learning curve was steep. The couple worked with a mortgage broker who was a family friend. He connected them with a lawyer, explained everything about fees and budgeting and went through every single line of the contract with Radke and Conley to make sure they understood exactly what they were signing. They had to place a lot of trust in the sellers, but they were comfortable walking away from the deal if necessary. “I did a lot of Googling ‘nightmare stories of buying houses from people you know’,” Radke laughs. “If it worked out, it worked out, but if it didn’t, there are other homes out there.” 72
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“I DID A LOT OF GOOGLING ‘NIGHTMARE STORIES OF BUYING HOUSES FROM PEOPLE YOU KNOW.’” -Katie Radke
Fortunately there were no issues, and Radke and Conley moved in in July, 2019. Because the sellers are their friends, Radke and Conley enjoyed the rare perk of being allowed access to the house all spring to work on the garden and plant seedlings. Radke is delighted with the yard (as is her cat), is enjoying the community and is happy to be investing in her own space after years of renting. But it’s a life she doubts she could have accessed without a co-buyer. “It’s hard to buy a place in Calgary if you’re on a single income,” she says. Radke works in Calgary’s non-profit sector and Conley has been an electrician since transitioning careers about three years ago. It wasn’t until the couple married in 2017 and pooled their resources that the idea of home ownership became a possibility. Even so, buying a house has been a considerable financial adjustment. Their mortgage is double what they were paying in rent, and they both had to look carefully at their salaries and make future projections to be sure they could afford the commitment. Still, they’re confident it was a smart investment. Radke believes the property they bought will hold its value or appreciate with the expansion of East Village and the Green Line LRT project.
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UP
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MARKET
Mark your calendar! The Avenue Pop-Up Market is back.
SHOP AND SAMPLE CALGARY’S BEST EATS AT OUR ONE DAY MARKET
Saturday October 26th
10 am to 4 pm
Inglewood Community Hall
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In April, 2019, the month Radke and Conley made their offer, the average home price in Calgary was $460,000. A minimum down payment in Canada is five per cent, which means a person looking for a mid-range house would need $23,000 in the bank just to get started. Even half that amount would put a dent in a typical household income. According to the 2016 Census (the most recent Census data available), the median after-tax income for a household of two or more people in Calgary was $99,210. For a one-person household, that number was $44,516. The downturn may have created the current buyers’ market, but it has also pushed Calgary incomes down and raised unemployment, creating barriers to homeownership for some, even as it has created opportunities for others. Fraser bought her house on her own, but she was priced out of the most desirable inner-city communities. She works downtown but she knew any neighbourhood less than a 15-minute commute away would be out of the question. Nor would her budget afford her an upgraded, meticulously maintained property: her house needs about $10,000 of structural work in addition to the aesthetic changes Fraser wants to make. “Everyone says, just paint that! Just take down that wall! And then you figure out that any change is a huge investment,” she says. Still, Fraser is satisfied with her decision. “I got what I got because that’s what I could afford. But I think I did well, timing and price-wise and quality. I don’t regret it,” Fraser says. The buyers’ market in Calgary won’t last forever. The market is moving (sluggishly, but still) toward a more balanced state. Month over month in spring of 2019, home sales trended upward and new listings slowed down. While it lasts, many first-time homebuyers are still finding excellent opportunities, and these opportunities are changing their lives. Choosing a rental unit is usually a matter of filling a short-term need, but choosing a home to buy necessitates a long conversation with your future self. What really matters to you? Where do you expect to be in 10 years? In 25? How do you want to live your life? Eric and Alison Timmins have found the lifestyle they’d hoped for, exploring their walkable community and enjoying the city. They’re considering adding a dog to their household, which was never an option when they were renting. Salmond and Sulima now have living space as well as music space. Radke and Conley have a thriving garden to putter in and plan to add more pets to their life. Radke can walk to work, which is important to her, and they’re attending community events and getting to know the area. All the buyers are happy to no longer be putting money and effort toward someone else’s investment. As for Fraser, she says that when she was thinking of buying a home, her uncle advised her to choose a bungalow so that when she dies, she can do so in her bedroom. “Because no one wants to die in the living room,” he said. She did choose a bungalow. “I have a place to die now!” she laughs. Morbid jokes aside, home ownership has enriched Fraser’s life. When she lived in a downtown apartment, she seldom saw birds or heard children play. “To smell freshly cut grass was special because it was so rare,” she says. Now, she’s planting vegetables in her own garden beds and watching irises and peonies bloom in her beautifully landscaped yard. “It’s a matter of pride and ownership and independence,” Fraser says. “I’m excited to go home.”
CHOOSING A HOME TO BUY NECESSITATES A LONG CONVERSATION WITH YOUR FUTURE SELF. WHAT REALLY MATTERS TO YOU? WHERE DO YOU EXPECT TO BE IN 10 YEARS? IN 25?
Tips for First-time Buyers
Even inexperienced homebuyers can avoid unpleasant surprises. Cody Battershill, a realtor with 15 years of experience in the Calgary market, says it’s mainly a matter of performing your due diligence. Here are his top tips:
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Think long-term. Make sure the property you’re buying is going to have the same desirability for a future buyer. Spend time in the property. Where will you put your shoes? Is there enough storage? What’s the view like? How’s the commute? What’s the light like at different times of the day? Is future development planned for the street? Watch your finances. Buy within your means and don’t just budget for the house, budget for related expenses including legal fees and a home inspection. Ask questions. Talk to a mortgage specialist, interview home inspectors and realtors and check everyone’s credentials.
Meet Tanya. Meet Tanya. She’s been one of Calgary’s top selling Real Estate Agents for years. She has valuable experience working within Calgary’s Inner City Real Estate market, and she understands every client is as unique as their home. Tanya takes the time to listen; to understand your wants and needs. She doesn’t expect your trust, Tanya earns it by consistently remaining honest, accessible and tenacious. That’s what sets Tanya apart. The Tanya Eklund Group was founded on Tanya’s principles. The professionals within her group don’t work for Tanya – they work for you, the client. They provide unparalleled expertise, skill and service to Calgary’s inner city. And their clients know it.
www.tanyaeklundgroup.ca Direct (403) 863-7434 “Connect with me today — about your real estate needs for tomorrow”
Each office is independently owned and operated.
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Whether you would like your teeth whiter, straighter, a different shape, or even closer together, if you’ve been wanting to change something about your smile, now is the perfect time to ask your dentist about Digital Smile Design (DSD). What is Digital Smile Design? DSD is a diagnostic treatment and planning tool that lets you “test drive” your smile makeover before you commit to any dental work. Dentists who offer DSD use a combination of photos, videos and 3D mock-ups to gain a more comprehensive view of your teeth, gums, mouth, and facial features. With these digital assets, you and your dentist work as a team to design a smile that fits the natural shape of your face — and suits your personality. Here’s How It Works Your DSD smile makeover begins with an aesthetic and functional evaluation of your entire mouth. The dentist takes high-resolution photos and videos of your smile in order to assess your mouth, understand the relationship between your lips, gums, and teeth, and determine where your teeth need to be in order to best align with your facial features and your desired look.
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Brought to you by The Aurum Group of Companies. We work with your dentist to give you the smile of your dreams. 76
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DENTISTRY SHOWN COMPLIMENTS OF DR. VIOLET NEWMAN, LAKEVIEW DENTAL CENTRE.
BY Elizabeth Chorney-Booth PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jared Sych AND Mariah Wilson
FOOD & DRINK
Lulu Bar
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ulu Bar on 17th Avenue S.W. is often described as the “little sister” of the very popular Bridgette Bar. Lulu and Bridgette do indeed share a lineage: they’re both part of the Concorde Group of restaurants and are helmed by a similar team, including director of operations Dewey Noordhof and Concorde’s senior culinary director JP Pedhirney. But while there is overlap in the excellent quality of the food and the vintage-cool decor (both rooms are the work of local firm Frank Architecture), Miss Lulu definitely has a personality of her own.
Lulu Bar. AvenueCalgary.com
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Whereas Bridgette’s menu leans into the Mediterranean, Lulu Bar’s chef de cuisine Joseph Sokoloff opted for a Pacific set of influences: rather than branding the restaurant as, say, “Hawaiian,” he kept the parameters loose so that he could employ flavours from Asia, Oceania and the west coasts of B.C. and California as he sees fit. Similar to Bridgette, the menu features a mélange of bar snacks and other small dishes as well as larger mains and sides, which can be used to construct individual meals or shared amongst the table. While the menu will change with the seasons, early favourites have already emerged — particularly the tiny house-made cocktail wieners (they’re actually made with char siu pork) stuffed into bao and topped with pickled mustard greens and banana ketchup, and the nearly translucent steamed lobster dumplings swimming in a glistening puddle of basil and chili soy. And since no restaurant can reference Hawaii without putting Spam on the menu,
Sokoloff serves slabs of it on skewers with toasted nori and ginger dill pickles (don’t worry, it’s house made — no rectangular cans of meat will be found on the premises). Oh, and there are also desserts, including an outrageous hybrid of a baked Alaska and Kauai pie called the “baked hula.” Putting the “bar” in Lulu Bar, one of Calgary’s favourite drink masters, Stephen Phipps, who previously dreamt up drinks for Concorde properties like the Bourbon Room and Ricardo’s Hideaway before developing the very solid cocktail program at Two Penny and the Tea House, is responsible for Lulu’s playful island-inspired cocktails. Serious three-ounce tiki drinks like the bobcat (bourbon, peach liqueur, lemon, coconut, Curaçao and smoky ginger ale served in a cat-shaped glass) and a flaming mai tai are best enjoyed on the patio or just inside Lulu’s open garage-style doors. You’ll (almost) be able to imagine an island breeze coming through. 510 17 Ave. S.W., 403-519-0444 (text messages only), lulubar.ca
Allora Everyday Italian
W Lulu Bar’s bao stuffed with house-made char siu cocktail wieners. 78
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ith its big outdoor patio and expansive lowerlevel dining room, the Redwater Rustic Grille in Aspen Woods was one of the most impressive restaurant spaces in the ’burbs. After closing the Aspen Redwater, Calgary’s Vintage Group knew that the room still had plenty of potential and quickly converted the space into Allora, a neighbourhood Italian joint. Overseen by Vintage’s VP of culinary Justin Labossiere and executive chef Thipphakune Xaykasem, the Allora kitchen takes an “if it isn’t homemade or locally sourced, it’s imported straight from Italy” approach. All of the pasta (gluten-free and otherwise), for example, is made fresh in-house with a topof-the-line Italian pasta extruder. While that pasta is Allora’s signature, guests can also dine on plates of imported Italian salumi, chicken or veal Parm, or Italian-style pizzas. And while Canadians most often associate Italian food with wine (Allora has plenty of that), the restaurant also boasts a nifty cocktail list with creative drinks made with traditional Italian liqueurs, including house-made limoncello.
114, 326 Aspen Glen Landing S.W., 403-686-6731, allorarestaurant.com
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Allora’s interior has a neighbourhoodItalian vibe. Pasta for dishes such as spaghetti carbonara is all made inhouse. Artwork in the Allora space.
Chairman’s Steakhouse
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he deep-southeast neighbourhood of Mahogany may not seem like a logical spot for what just may be Calgary’s ritziest new restaurant, but Jay Westman, the developer behind Mahogany’s Westman Village, figured that if he built it, steak lovers would come. Chairman’s is a high-end steak house that focuses on refined food and refined service: waitstaff are formally dressed in tuxedostyle uniforms and the decor (by Hribar Design Group) draws on Rat Pack glam with some elegant nods to Alberta cattle country. Operated in partnership with the team behind Vintage Chophouse, the food falls into the mid-century luxury category, with bites like truffle deviled eggs with caviar, tiger-prawn cocktails, oysters Rockefeller and, of course, Prime steaks cooked to order. Fancy food calls for fancy drinks and Chairman’s wine cellar boasts 4,000 bottles (plus another 1,000 on racks outside the cellar) at varying price points, as well as a list of old-timey cocktails and well-curated Scotches and other spirits. 2251 Mahogany Blvd. S.E., 587-291-9898, chairmans.ca
Chairman’s Steakhouse.
LEFT The interior at Hawthorn, designed by Frank Architecture.
Carrots with labneh and gremolata, from the sociable menu at Hawthorn.
Hawthorn
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ost of us are familiar with the Fairmont Palliser’s opulent lobby and classic guest rooms, but while the Oak Room bar definitely had its devotees, most Calgarians hadn’t exactly made a habit of dropping into the hotel’s now defunct Rimrock Room for dinner over the last few decades.
Clearly, management knew it was time for something new — the hotel hadn’t launched a new restaurant concept in over 60 years — so when it came time to develop the brand-new Hawthorn restaurant, it pulled out all the stops. Frank Architecture (the design firm of the moment, it seems) not only totally revamped the former Rimrock dining room but also built a new lounge in the east half of the lobby. The old Oak
Room has been converted into a banquet room (much to many patrons’ dismay), but the classy lobby bar fits in so seamlessly it’s actually hard to remember what the lobby looked like without it. If you happen to find yourself sitting in one of the plush swivel chairs, be sure to order a cocktail made with the hawthorn berry gin created exclusively for the restaurant by Eau Claire Distillery. The dining-room side looks just as timeless. Original touches like the hotel’s original fireplace and Charles Beil’s 1962 cowboy-themed mural the Heraldic Badge were incorporated into the tasteful retro design. The food, however, is what makes Hawthorn feel current. Like most modern chef-driven restaurants, emphasis is on local and seasonal ingredients, which mostly come in the form of rotating “sociable” share plates featuring fresh veggies and rich proteins like raw oysters or tartare. The kitchen also serves a small selection of larger format plates (also meant to be shared) showcasing things like lamb sirloin or roasted chicken with chimichurri. In order to serve hotel guests, Hawthorn is open late into the night as well as in the early hours of the morning, meaning it serves solid breakfast, brunch and lunch items — something we can all take advantage of, even if we’re not staying in the hotel. 133 9 Ave. S.W., 403-260-1219, hawthorndiningroom.ca AvenueCalgary.com
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Waalflower Kitchen & Cocktails
FOOD & DRINK
Spinach “Bene” with pink prosecco Hollandaise on a waffle base, served with salad and waffle-style potato hashbrowns at Monki Breakfastclub & Bistro in Inglewood. BELOW The interior at the Inglewood Monki is much more spacious than the original Beltline location.
24 4 St. N.E., 587-349-9008, waalflower.ca
Monki Breakfastclub & Bistro
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ith its laid-back vibe and lots of street-front shopping, Inglewood is one of those neighbourhoods that pairs perfectly with eggs, pancakes and hashbrowns. After The Fine Diner on 9th Avenue S.E. (Inglewood’s main drag) closed earlier this year, the owners of Monki Breakfastclub & Bistro in the Beltline decided that space would be ideal for a second location. The tiny Beltline Monki is ultra-tight and it can be difficult to get a table there. The new Inglewood location is twice as big and roomy enough to be comfortably navigated by wheelchairs and strollers. The food is the same classic Monki menu: savoury hash skillets and hashbrowns, sweet pancakes and French toast, and the signature dessert-for-breakfast fondues, featuring up to three different kinds of chocolate (the Earl Grey is highly recommended). As with the original location, Monki is all but guaranteed to have a wait on weekends, but management has made hopping in an online queue easy, either through Google, Yelp or a handful of other apps. Put yourself in line, have another cup of coffee at home, and work up an appetite for the hearty breakfast that awaits you. 4, 1420 9 Ave. S.E., 403-453-7131, monkibistro.ca 80
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The gardener’s tonic cocktail at Waalflower.
Waalflower photograph by Mariah Wilson
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fter the corner unit in the de Waal building in Bridgeland switched from Il Sogno to Whitehall to Elwood and The Rabbit in a relatively short time span, it became clear that the space was no longer suited to fine-dining. This past spring, the room got a more casual makeover and opened up as Waalflower, a new spot that aims to be community-minded and familyfriendly, while still serving thoughtful chefdriven food and killer cocktails. Chef Jason Chen created a menu that makes use of local and sustainable ingredients without being too precious. He uses the restaurant’s hefty forno oven to make pizzas dressed with gourmetesque toppings like beef merguez and halloumi, or white anchovies and onion jam. Chen’s menu also offers a selection of pastas, a burger and some Mediterranean-inspired small plates, all of which pair nicely with the gardener’s tonic, a fresh vodka and gin cocktail that changes colour right before your eyes. It’s just one of the many surprisingly creative cocktails you can try from the Waalflower bar.
TOP 40 UNDER
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DO BUSINESS. WELL.
Class of 2019 Join us to celebrate the best and brightest Calgarians at Avenue’s Top 40 Under 40 Gala Don’t miss your chance to network with the Class of 2019
Monday, November 4, 2019 Jack Singer Lobby, Arts Commons
Dena Dixon, The Ranchmen’s Club President
The Ranchmen’s Club Your Club of Choice Alberta’s only Platinum-ranked private business and social club. Where innovation, leadership, tradition and vision have come together since 1891.
Get your gala tickets at
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M O U N TA I N S
Want to get one more golf trip in before winter? These three mountain courses (plus three more if you have another round in you) are worth putting on the highway miles to play. BY Andrew Penner
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sk most seasoned golfers and they’ll tell you: flat-as-a-pancake courses are boring. Most golfers crave some drama. Some elevation. Terrain that doesn’t just lull you to sleep. Playing golf in the mountains certainly ups the ante. The ball goes further and the scenic views — especially when autumn colours are in full effect — are like medicine, in that they certainly dull the pain when you’ve just shanked four in a row and missed a three-footer for nine. There are dozens of awesome mountainous golf courses that you can drive to from Calgary, so why not round up a few good friends and make a proper trip of it? Of course, if you’re going to drive all that way, you want an epic course waiting for you at the end of the line. Here are three in B.C. that are well worth the time and effort it takes to get there. 82
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Greywolf at Panorama.
Trickle Creek.
GREYWOLF
Greywolf photograph by Andrew Penner; Trickle Creek photograph by Henry Georgi
Panorama, B.C.
The town of Invermere on the Lake, located three hours west of Calgary in the Kootenay Rockies, has long been a second home for Calgary hackers. If you include nearby Radium Hot Springs, there are over half a dozen great courses in this area. But the cream of the crop? That’s easy. It’s Greywolf. Parading through the pines and curling alongside the creeks at Panorama Mountain Village, Greywolf is (in my humble opinion, anyway) one of the top mountain golf courses in the country, if not the world. Designed by architect Douglas Carrick, Greywolf is famous for its cliffside greens, daring drops and numerous go-for-broke shot options. It’s one great hole after another. The beautiful collection of par-threes (including, of course, the one and only “Cliffhanger” hole) are worth the green fee alone. ANOTHER ROUND?
In Invermere “proper,” a second round at Copper Point makes an ideal curtain call. The original course at the resort, The Point, is by far the tougher, but The Ridge course is arguably more
ALL THE FALL COLOURS If you’re heading to Panorama during the fall, time your trip to coincide with one of the colourful Summit Ridge Walks. The all-day excursion starts with chairlift access up into the alpine zone. From there, participants choose one of three guided hikes (based on difficulty factor), then ride the chairlift back down to the Summit Ridge Walk at Panorama.
resort base. This year’s walks are scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 14 and Saturday, Sept.
fun. Wide fairways and generous greens mean that even so-so players will have a few birdie chances on the par-62 layout. And, because there are no par-fives and only a handful of par-fours, the round goes extra fast, allowing for more time at the 19th hole: with its view of the snow-dipped Purcell Mountains, the patio overlooking the ninth green on The Point is one of the best in the Kootenay Rockies.
21. Tickets ($109 for ages 13 and up, $79 for six-to-12) include a packed lunch with snacks and an après-hike drink. Kids younger than six can join the walk, but their lift tickets do not include snacks, lunch or après. —Shelley Arnusch AvenueCalgary.com
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M O U N TA I N S
TOBIANO Kamloops, B.C.
True, it’s a bit of a drive to Kamloops (approximately seven hours from Calgary under ideal highway conditions). However, the golf feast awaiting you there is delish. Besides boasting one of the longest playing seasons in the country, the region offers a variety of courses that all have something special — you could play a new one every day for a week if you were so inclined. Of course, from a visual standpoint, there is no course in Canada (except perhaps Cabot Cliffs in
ANOTHER ROUND?
Nova Scotia) as stunning as Tobiano. The Thomas McBroom-designed masterpiece features glorious green corridors that snake along bluffs high above Kamloops Lake and serve up panoramic views, while the many ravines and infinity greens that hang above the shimmering waters are more candy for the eyes. It’s definitely difficult, especially if there is wind, but even so, Tobiano is a bucket-list course that every avid golfer in Canada should experience.
Approximately an hour east of Kamloops along the Trans-Canada, near Chase, B.C., Talking Rock Golf Resort is mountain golf, lakeside golf and parkland golf all rolled into one. The layout sprawls through pristine land owned by the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band. It’s a mature, beautifully flowing course that ends with a riveting run along the lake. If it’s a hot day, you can putt out on the 18th green, stumble 10 steps to the beach and do a swan dive off the dock.
Holes three, five and six at Tobiano.
ALL THE FALL COLOURS You’ll see shades of gold, amber and yellow as you drive eastward from B.C. into Alberta during the fall months, but if you want to see reds, detour off the highway into downtown Revelstoke, where each year, a row of maple trees along Mackenzie Avenue (Revelstoke’s main street) turn a stunning shade of veloping mountain scenery, it’s all so darn lovely you just might spontaneously break into Oh Canada. —S.A.
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KNP photograph by Kent Goodwin; Tobiano photograph courtesy of BCGMA Agency
crimson. Set against the en-
Kimberley Nature Park.
TRICKLE CREEK Kimberley, B.C.
The kitschy Bavarian-themed marketing schtick that Kimberley, B.C., used to put forward is a thing of the past now, which is a good thing. These days, you’ll find Kimberley playing to its strengths as a mountain-adventure hub. The hiking and mountain-biking trails there are stellar and the golf options, Trickle Creek in particular, are about as sweet as it gets. Trickle Creek is a spirited mountain track on the slopes of Northstar Mountain. After you get through the rather ho-hum start, it’s an edge-of-your-seat ride that hits hard and fast. The awesome back nine section dips and dives, giving you all the drama you can handle. The beautiful par-three 11th hole, with its perched tee and a green protected by steep slopes and mean bunkers, is certainly a highlight, but Trickle’s true character is found in its many swooping doglegs and pine-framed holes that careen through the forested terrain. ANOTHER ROUND?
If Trickle Creek leaves you wanting an encore, take a spin around Bootleg Gap, a brawny Les Furber-designed course that rambles along the St. Mary River. With no development on the course, Bootleg offers an in-nature experience with an out-there aura that typifies what the best courses in the Kootenay Rockies are all about. If you only have time for nine, or you want an easier test, the saucy little Rec 9 — a par-34 course with just one par-five — is the ticket. ALL THE FALL COLOURS To see larch trees in all their golden glory and learn more about the natural area around Kimberley while you’re at it, join up with one of the guided hikes at the Kimberley Nature Park, a community nature preserve and trail area managed by the Kimberley Nature Park Society. There are organized hikes happening this year on Sunday, Oct. 13 and Sunday, Oct. 20 for optimum larch viewing. You can always just hike the park trails independently, too. —S.A. AvenueCalgary.com
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S T Y L E S TAT E M E N T STORY AND PHOTOGRAHY BY Aldona Barutowicz
Describe your everyday style. I typically wear very feminine pieces with vintage inspiration. It’s rare that I’m not in a skirt or dress. I like to mix different eras of fashion rather than just sticking to one.
Describe this outfit and why you love it. It’s a great mix of vintage and modern. The skirt is authentically vintage from Velour Clothing Exchange and I love pairing it with these ’60s-inspired white Kenneth Cole boots from Nordstrom Rack. The top and jacket are both from Simons — I love that they also walk the line of being currently trendy and enduringly timeless. My earrings are Vancouver-based brand Tink from Market Collective, and my bag is one of my favourite vintage purchases ever! What
or who is your style inspiration? I definitely draw inspiration from many classic women of Old Hollywood and from fellow bloggers on Instagram. However, my biggest inspiration is everyday people who express themselves through clothing. I love seeing people who have the courage to take risks and wear what they love, not necessarily what is trendy. What’s your favourite current thing to wear? My white boots! I love these so much. I have a soft spot in my heart for mid-sixties mod, and these boots fit the bill perfectly. What is your favourite local clothing store or designer? Velour Clothing Exchange — it’s a great place to find vintage clothing and great accessories. Favourite
accessories line? Tink. Jenny Campbell makes some of my favourite earrings. Favourite local
restaurant? Workshop Kitchen + Culture in The Grand. I’ve never actually had to choose my food order there, I just go for no menu Mondays, or order
Sarah Waters
High school physics teacher for the Calgary Catholic School District and Instagram style blogger @sigmaofsarah. 86
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the Workshop improv kitchen-inspired tasting menu, and it’s always phenomenal. What are you currently reading? A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. What is your greatest extravagance? A great bottle of French red wine with a decadent meal. Drink of choice? Coffee, preferably a latte.
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DECOR Flexibility is the name of the game in the living-room/ dining-room area. Moveable laser-cut metal screens create different-sized rooms, while the lighting over the dining-room table is on a track, so it can be extended over the length of the full table when leaves are added for large parties.
BOTH SIDES NOW, AND THEN
BY Käthe Lemon PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jared Sych
A new build with a strong sense of family history represents the best of both worlds for its owners.
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The floating staircase has a metal substructure that allows it to be cantilevered over the stairwell and, as such, not attached to the wall. The meticulous alignment of the tile, wood and glass panels creates a sense of balance and precision, and Trypp, the bichon frise, makes the space even more welcoming.
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DECOR
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he home of Bonny and Ken Black is a brand-new build that exudes the sense of welcome that you get from older heritage homes. In fact, this mid-century-inspired home does have deeper roots than other brand-new homes: it was built on the site of a previous bungalow that had been in the family since the actual mid-century. But while the Blacks’ home borrows some elements from what came before, it is an entirely new creation. Thoughtful design from the outset has resulted in a home created to be useful today, as well as into the future as its residents age. It is a large home but also very functional with no wasted space — all of the rooms (with the exception of the guest bedrooms) are used on a daily basis. At every turn, the design and execution of this home displays meticulous attention to detail and thoughtful references to family history. Some of the details might not be immediately noticeable until pointed out by the delighted homeowners, such as the way the baseboards have been inset to be flush with the drywall, necessitating an entire change of building procedure and laser-level precision. Careful calibration of materials selected in the foyer has ensured that the geometry of the floor tiles, glass stairwell and the grain of the walnut panelling are in perfect alignment, adding up to a sense of balanced calm in the two-storey gallery space. “There are a lot of strong, sharp lines in the architecture, but there is also a lot of softness in materials and shapes incorporated,” 90
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says interior designer Monica Stevens, who worked on the home from its conception. The property, one of several lots sold by the Canadian Pacific Railway, was purchased by members of Ken’s family in the 1950s, and retaining some elements from his late aunt’s original bungalow was important to both Ken and Bonny. Graduate architect Robert Ollerenshaw, principal of Section 23 Developments, is a family friend of Ken’s since childhood, and he had visited the original home when Ken’s aunt was still living there. The build team managed to harvest much of the Rundle stone from the original fireplace and repurpose it for the Blacks’ outdoor fireplace. The former foyer chandeliers were also reused, and the original door chimes, although no longer functional, hang alongside other pieces of Ken’s aunt’s artwork on the main floor. The central stairwell features clerestory windows — one of the signatures of Ollerenshaw’s architectural designs. The clerestory provides natural light and also creates a sense of even more height in the centre of the home. The stairwell acts as a natural divider in the home, with the public areas of the kitchen, dining room and living room on one side and the private spaces, including the offices and powder room, on the other. “This is really two houses connected by the clerestory,” Ken says. One thing that may not be fully appreciated at first glance is the incredible feat of architecture and engineering of the open staircase.
Changes in the ceiling height create a sense of drama and define the space. This also allows for the drapery track to be hidden, creating a cleaner line.
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DECOR LEFT The balcony off of the main bedroom features a gas fireplace and moveable screens with adjustable louvers, allowing the Blacks to extend patio season into the spring and fall. BELOW The home is painted almost all one colour, with a slightly different shade used in the main-bedroom suite. “When [the colour] is right, you just flow through the space and the colour envelops you,” says interior designer Monica Stevens. BOTTOM Clerestory windows in the central staircase allow natural light to flood the home, a signature of graduate architect Robert Ollerenshaw’s work.
Ollerenshaw’s vision for the architectural design was very open and airy, and having a solid central staircase in the home completely went against that idea. “To get it to be open was very challenging,” says Ollerenshaw, with typical understatement. Instead of being attached to the wall at any point, the walnut stair treads sit on top of a metal frame substructure that is cantilevered over the stairwell. This allows the stairs to seemingly float in space. At the same time, the engineering of the structure ensures that the stairs feel completely stable, without even a hint of give when you step on them. “It took about 10 people to carry in each support,” Ken recalls. After a severe car accident, Bonny had been told she might never walk again. While she has since recovered her mobility, designing the home to accommodate aging in place — without sacrificing the sense of style — was forefront in her mind. As such, the front door is fully accessible by ramps disguised by thoughtful design, the doorsills throughout the home are low profile and an elevator allows access from the basement-level parking up to the second floor. The first floor was also built to be easily reworked for one-level living, should the Blacks ever need it, and the bathrooms have the proper wood backing for adding grab bars. “It makes you feel good to know that the design is not just about beautiful aesthetics, but that it’s functional,” says Stevens. For the Blacks, employing thoughtful design for now, and for their future, has created a home of comfort and ease. As Bonny so succinctly put it: “We love this house.” 92
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three that they understand what
quality in the home of Ken and
expertise each has to offer, and
Bonny Black goes much deeper
through this they are able to get
than the surface results. This
the best work out of each other.
is in great deal due to the true
McAllister points out that the
teamwork of graduate architect
Blacks were also integral to the
Robert Ollerenshaw, interior
process. “The clients that Rob
designer Monica Stevens and
brings to the table are always
contractor Dan McAllister of
involved,” he says. “You don’t
Heritage Custom Builders. The
reach this kind of a product if the
three have worked together on
client isn’t as involved as Ken,
many projects over a 15-year
and especially Bonny, were. And
period, and their friendly cooper-
they were great to work with.”
ation and deep respect for each
ABOVE Rundle stone from the original bungalow was harvested and repurposed for the outdoor fireplace. RIGHT Laser-cut panels over the eavestroughs keep debris from plugging the eaves and provide a decorative element that is visible from the balcony.
It is clear in speaking with all
The commitment to detail and
Even now, five years after
other’s work is demonstrated
the home was completed, all
by the results they are able to
of the design-and-build team
get. “It’s a really good team,”
members are still involved,
says Ollerenshaw. “We ended
to a certain degree.
up working so well together,
“We didn’t build a home
we just go together from one
looking for friends,” Ken says,
project to another.”
“but that’s what we got.”
GET THE LOOK BY Sarah McMenemy
Art of Glass Style-forward accessories inspired by the home of Bonny and Ken Black. 1.
2.
3. 1. Martha Sturdy Boulevard Tray, $840, from Domaine Furnishings & Design, 8, 7130 Fisher Rd. S.E., 403-301-2339, domainefurnishings.com 2. Val St. Lambert crystal hand-blown glass lamp, $650, from Circa Vintage Art Glass, 1226A 9 Ave. S.E., 403-290-0145, circa5060.ca 3. Orbit glass ball, $75, from Metro Element, 1221 Kensington Rd. N.W., 403-257-7588, metroelement.net
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Tray photograph courtesy of Martha Sturdy; lamp photograph by John Gaucher, JG Images; orbit glass photograph courtesy of Torre & Tagus, provided by Metro Element
A TEAM THAT WORKS
SOURCE DECOR PAGES 88 TO 94
Architecture by Robert Ollerenshaw, Section 23 Developments, 1717 9 St. S.W., 403-252-1234, section23.com; interior design by Monica Stevens Interior Design (MSID), 403-245-0338; construction by Heritage Custom Builders Inc. 2808 12 Ave. N.W., 403-830-3833 Floor tile throughout from Stone Tile West Ltd., 4040 7 St. S.E., 403-234-7274, stone-tile.com Living-room screen cut by Metal Alloy Fabricators, 6060 86 Ave. S.E., 403-279-8958, metalalloy.com Dining-room chairs designed by MSID; fabricated by Arthur Greenwall Fine Furniture Designs to the Trade, 2121F 39 Ave. N.E., 403-291-1082, arthurgreenwall.com Pendant light from Vektra (agent supplier of lighting) Credenza custom-designed by MSID; fabricated by Northmount Industries Ltd., Unit 110, 2800 107 Ave. S.E., 403-243-0200, northmountindustries.com Countertop by Pacific Stone, Granite & Marble, 10510 46 St. S.E., 403-238-1100, pacificstone.ca Art from Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art, 730 11 Ave. S.W., 403-266-1972, newzones.com Lamp from Circa Vintage Art Glass, 1226A 9 Ave. S.E., 403-290-0145, circa5060.ca Plant pot from Kit Interior Objects, 725 11 Ave. S.W., 403-508-2533, kitinteriorobjects.com Lounge chairs and ottomans custom-designed by MSID; fabricated by Arthur Greenwall Lounge fireplace surround custom designed by MSID and Section 23; with granite fabricated by Pacific Stone, Granite & Marble Fireplace inserts from Hearth & Home Fireplace, 5740 1A St. S.W., 403-258-3732, hearthandhomefireplace.com Rug from Colin Campbell, 5832 Burbank Rd. S.E., 403-245-9222, colin-campbell.ca Stairs fabricated by Metal Alloy Fabricators; treads from Northmount Industries Ltd.; glass from House of Mirrors & Glass, 5555 2 St. S.E., 403-253-3777, houseofmirrors.com Stairwell wall panelling by Northmount Industries Ltd. Teal glass art from Rubaiyat, 722 17 Ave. S.W., 403-228-7192, rubaiyatcalgary.com Living-room chairs, couch and ottoman designed by MSID; fabricated by Arthur Greenwall Living-room credenza and coffee table designed by MSID; fabricated by Northmount Industries Ltd. Pendant light by Vektra Art over credenza by Linda Anderson Stewart from Gust Gallery, 112 Waterton Ave., 403-859-2535, gustgallery.com Martha Sturdy bowl from Rubaiyat Lamps and glass art from Circa Vintage Art Glass Side table from Kit Interior Objects Bed frame, chairs, ottoman designed by MSID; fabricated by Arthur Greenwall; side tables designed by MSID; fabricated by Northmount Industries Ltd. Lighting from The Lighting Centre, 1002 14 St. S.W., 403-245-3396, lightcentre.ca Backyard fireplace by LMent Stone, 403-988-5538, lmentstone.com Outdoor furniture from Patioline Forever Outdoor Furniture, 6227 Centre St. S.W., 587-316-1595, patioline.ca
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THE LIST AS TOLD TO Jennifer Friesen
1
Succulents from Plant “The staff are amazing and walked me through which succulents would thrive in which areas of my house. Going there on a rainy day is like a breath of fresh air, the greenery lifts your spirits.”
2
Children’s Activities at Signal Hill Library “I love reading and I always bring my daughter here. They have activity stations set up for kids, so it’s great for parents to engage with their kids or enjoy a coffee and browse the bookshelves.”
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Sproutz & U-Turn Consignment “I’ve been trying to Marie Kondo my life, so consignment is a frequent thing. They have an adult section and tons of great stuff for kids. It’s perfect for those seasonal items that kids grow out of lightning-fast.”
7
Glamorgan Bakery’s Cheese Buns “These cheese buns are amazing, and definitely a go-to in our household if we want to have a stick-to-your-ribs dinner. And just the smell walking in there! It’s the smell of heaven to me.”
3
Tortellini Romanoff from Il Centro “My family has been going to this mom-and-pop shop for years, and the tortellini Romanoff is the one thing we order every time. It’s delicious and the ingredients are so fresh.”
4
Kananaskis Nordic Spa Outdoor Pools “I could spend a whole day sitting in those pools. They’re outdoors, but it’s secluded, and you get a beautiful robe and an exfoliating scrub with essential oils. You just feel like jelly after.”
5
Gifts from Steeling Home “This store has a great mixture of items [such as the Zoku stainless steel pocket straw pictured here], so you can shop for your whole family. I always find an item that practically screams the name of the person I’m shopping for.”
Wine Tasting and Pairing Nights at Truvé Wines “I recently went to Truvé for a tasting of French wines paired with macarons for a friend’s birthday, and it was such a nice find. It was so authentic and engaging, and the interior is beautiful.”
9
Stampede City Stamps “It’s dorky, I’ll admit, but I really enjoy collecting postage stamps, and this is such a cool place. It smells like an old book and they have stamps from all places and every decade.”
10
Running the Signal Hill Stairs “It’s where I go for a good glute-and-leg burn, and the fresh air and view from the top is incredible. I go to clear my head — and get some really great exercise.”
Succulent photograph by LightFieldStudios; tortellini photograph by Jared Sych; Zoku straw photograph courtesy of Zoku; Truvé photograph courtesy of Truvé Wines; stamp photograph by Ken Brown
8
Emily Sissons Home decor has always been a part of Emily Sissons life. Her grandparents bought McArthur Furniture more than 70 years ago and her father later took over as owner. Even when she was really young, Sissons was constantly rearranging her bedroom. Years later, after finishing her bachelor’s degree in interior design, she joined her father and her brother in opening Domaine Furnishings & Design. Domaine carries investment pieces for every room from furniture makers across the world and also offers design services. As Domaine’s director of design and sales, Sissons says, “it’s about making people comfortable in their own homes.” Here are 10 of her favourite things in the city.
6
Galleria Inglewood sells Made in Alberta artwork, pottery and handcrafts by more than 450 artisans.
Representing Alberta artists for more than 40 years.
907 - 9th Ave SE | galleriacalgary.com 403.270.3612 Galleria.Calgary
THANK YOU for supporting the 2019 Avenue Dinner Series. Partial proceeds from the 2019 Avenue Dinner Series will be donated to The Alex Community Food Centre and the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
STR ATEGIC
more information ForFor information on next and year’s to purchase tickets, visit Avenue Dinner Series, sign up AvenueCalgary.com/ to become an Insider at
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WORK OF ART CURATED BY Katherine Ylitalo
Grey Green Crowd #2
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TITLE: Grey Green Crowd #2, 1991. ARTIST: Chris Cran. MEDIUM: Oil and acrylic on canvas. SIZE: Seven feet by five feet.
LOCATION: Mount Royal University School of Communication Studies (entrance to classroom O-222).
a fragment of a newspaper ad showing a crowd of people, already out of focus, capturing a small section of the faces. Using a slide projector, he painted the projection on the canvas with black and dragged a wide brush lightly through the dots from top to bottom. He then removed the tape to reveal the green stripes that disrupt the image. As a result of a phenomenon known as simultaneous contrast
NOTES: This work is part of the City of Calgary Public Art Collection and an image of it can be seen at the 19th Street N.E Max Orange shelter as part of the BRT Shelter Project. Nickle Galleries at the U of C is staging an exhibition of Cran’s work Sept. 20 to Dec. 14. He is represented in Calgary by Trépanier Baer Gallery.
there was an added perceptual twist: the proximity of green makes the feathered black edges appear reddish. Grey Green Crowd #2 is worth the visit to MRU to experience Cran’s handiwork up close and consider that, at this stage of his long career, he was already an artist at play in the fields of painting and photography, fully engaged with illusion, perception and sheer mischief.
Photograph courtesy of City of Calgary Public Art Collection; gift of the Calgary Allied Arts Foundation, 1991
T
he halls of Mount Royal University’s School of Communications Studies are a fitting setting for this painting, as so much depends on your perspective. From various angles, a tug-of-war plays out between what you see and what you think you see. Approach from the side and you see a black-and-white photograph of a crowd of about 12 people. Head on, you see an abstraction constructed of two main elements: a screen of crisp, thin stripes and a photographic image (a fragment of a half-tone photograph, perhaps?) that seems to slip out of focus. Close up, the building blocks of the painting dominate: stripes, dots and swaths of black and white. Grey Green Crowd #2 is the work of Calgarybased contemporary artist Chris Cran. A graduate of the Alberta College of Art (now Alberta University of the Arts) in 1979, Cran produced this painting at the dawn of the 1990s, when he was well into his stride as an artist, making a splash with exhibitions across the country. Today, Cran is one of the best-known artists to come out of Calgary, with a major solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada under his belt. Cran accompanied me on my excursion to view the painting at MRU. “What I was interested in, especially then, was that when you are close, you can’t tell what it is. Distance provides intimacy,” he said. Not one to keep trade secrets, he talked me through the steps he took to make the painting back in 1991. Methodical, low-tech processes are part of the appeal of this work. First, a layer of white gesso, then another of pale green. Then strips of quarter-inch sign-painter’s tape placed vertically with a system of weights, matte medium to seal the tape and another layer of white gesso over all. Cran used a macro lens to photograph
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