It was only through willpower, creativity and unwavering tenacity they were able not only to survive, but to also establish what is now the thriving city of Calgary.

With a population of more than one million people, Calgary’s residents enjoy all the luxuries of urban living without compromising serenity and privacy. With the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop, Calgarians enjoy a high quality of life with top-notch shopping malls, exercise facilities and restaurants. The arts, culture and heritage are also kept alive with landmarks such as Heritage Park.

To keep pace with this growing, vivacious city, Heritage Park, now in its 44th year of operation, is, at this moment, undergoing a well-deserved makeover worth $65 million. In addition to the four time periods represented at the park currently, the Aboriginal encampment, pre-railway history (1864-75), the post-railway times of the 1880s, and townsite (circa 1914) are all new sections on the horizon.

“Heritage Park tells the story of the settling of western Canada,” says Alida Visbach, president and chief executive officer of Heritage Park. “We started telling it from the European settlers’ point of view, but we’ve added on various components as well. This new development brings us right into the 1930s and ’40s so we can continue telling the story.”

In addition to Heritage Park’s transition from a four-month operation to a year-round facility, a new section to the main entrance called Heritage Town Square will be added with numerous retail shops already open to the public.

Five shops are available on what is now named the Haskayne Mercantile Block: the Park Plaza Portrait Studio, which offers vintage sepia portraits of subjects dressed in their choice of Victorian, Edwardian or wild west costumes; Switzer’s Grocery and Confectionary, which serves up gourmet food products, home-baked goods and a variety of unique kitchen items; Antiques and Collectibles; and the Plaza Mercantile and Corner Emporium, both offering unique vintage items, contemporary products, homemade fudge, and much more.

The Gasoline Alley Transportation Museum and Railway Station, including a café, restaurant, Founder’s Lounge, Big Rock Interpretive Brewery and exhibits, will host their grand openings in early March. The Founder’s Lounge will be an exquisite, gentlemen’s club-style facility for the exclusive use of Heritage Park’s generous donors, and will be modelled after the Bengal Lounge at the Fairmont Empress Hotel in B.C. The Big Rock Interpretive Brewery will allow visitors to learn how to brew their own beer.
Since its inception, Heritage Park has grown from just 12 buildings to more than 200.

“Back when we started in 1964 … the youngest building was 50 years old, so people could connect with that,” Visbach says. “Younger generations could understand that this was how their parents used to live. Now, 44 years later, it’s really a stretch; it’s almost a hundred years that people are trying to get their head wrapped around.”

One of the main goals of the expansion is to appeal to a younger audience, says Visbach, adding that the 18- to 34-year-old demographic is one of the hardest to attract from any museum’s point of view, and that unless people have small children, they don’t necessarily think of enjoying a day at Heritage Park.

One new attraction with the potential to woo a younger audience will be the $6-million vintage car collection available for public viewing. “We were very fortunate to acquire a collection of one-of-a-kind vintage cars, trucks, and gasoline related memorabilia from one collector,” Visbach says. “We needed to have the appropriate context to put those vehicles into and, obviously, 1914 restricted us greatly as to what time period we could have vehicles.”

Plans for the park’s expansion to cover the history from the ’30s to ’40s began about three years ago, during the celebration of Alberta’s centennial, when a decision to revamp the interactive cultural museum coincided with some available government grants and with Ron Carey’s wishes to donate his collection. “There’s been a lot of compelling reasons why the expansion happened,” says Visbach.

Through the “It’s About Time Capital Campaign,” Heritage Park has so far received $12 million in funding from the City of Calgary, $19 million from the provincial government, $3 million from the federal government, and many donations from individuals and corporations.

“Calgarians have been incredibly generous to this project,” Visbach notes. “Our average gift from an individual donor has been about $250,000.”

A three-acre, two-pond wetland, complete with a waterfall, bridge, peninsulas and animals has been created (in partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada) and is also an important addition to educational programming at the Park. Wetland dwellers currently include hares, waterfowl, a family of deer, a rare type of salamander and tree frog. Visiting students receive science kits with items such as a Petri dishes and slides, and also have the chance to research whatever they just dug up in the on-site laboratory. “To my knowledge, there is no other wetland in Canada that has a laboratory attached to it,” says Visbach. “It’s quite unique.”

It’s also unique in that it can be classified as a heritage wetland, which talks about the significance of water to our First Nations settlers in addition to its environmental importance.

“I think that Calgarians have a real sense of pride in being Albertans and Calgarians, and I think that Heritage Park epitomizes that,” says Visbach. “It’s almost like the Mecca of what made us what we are today.”