Introduction to Calgary

Straddling two mountain rivers, the Bow and the Elbow, the city of Calgary rests in a deep river valley where the great plains to the east start to buckle and toll on their way to the Canadian Rockies. Calgary has come a long way in a relatively short period of time: From its beginnings as Fort Calgary, an outpost of the Northwest Mounted Police, in 1876, the city has evolved in just over 130 years to a bustling, dynamic urban center of more than a million souls, and a center of international commerce.

The 1988 Winter Olympic Games helped put Calgary on the international map, and its legacy has been one of enduring tourism and a noticeable bump in visitors seeking some of the nearby natural splendor and outdoor activities to be found in the Rocky Mountains. Its stamp on the city is one of enduring high-level athletics, as well. Much of Canada's Olympic team training takes place in Calgary, thanks both to its legacy facilities -- the University of Calgary enjoys state-of-the-art athletic facilities that are the equal of any in North America, to say nothing of a full-sized, covered skating oval, thanks to Olympic investment -- and its high altitude (the city sits almost 3,500 feet above sea level, making its thin air ideal for building lung capacity).

But despite some Calgarians' protestations to the contrary, this is an oil town, first and foremost. More than 90% of the country's oil, gas, and energy business is right here, as are more than half the coal companies. Calgary's fortunes have ever followed the price of oil, and the city is well acquainted with the boom-and-bust cycle. A favorite bumper sticker through the '80s and '90s -- a down period following the boom cycle of the late '70s -- told the tale: "Dear Lord, please let me have another oil boom. I promise not to piss it all away this time!"

Someone must have been listening. As oil bounces around well above the C$100 per barrel mark -- it was as low as C$30 only ten years ago -- Calgary is booming again, and at a rate and scale it has never before seen. People in this city are entrepreneurs and risk takers, and when the good times are rolling, they roll right along with them: Expect to see a surprising surfeit of Bentleys and Porsches prowling the downtown streets, as the glut of recent millionaires strut their stuff. Posh restaurants and cafes are routinely jammed, and high-end retail shopping is practically a contact sport here as flush Calgarians seem hurried to spend their money as quickly as they can.

This is a city that works hard and plays hard. With an average age hovering around 30, it certainly has the stamina. The workday starts not long after 6am, for many, and ends around 4pm (despite their protestations of staunch independence, their fortunes remain tied to the Toronto Stock Exchange, two time zones away). You'll find them pursuing their leisure time just as aggressively, as the city empties out on summer weekends and the nearby mountains and parks -- some of the most breathtaking on earth, such as Banff and Kananaskis -- fill up with Calgarians in hot pursuit of down time.

Never let it be said that Calgarians are the reserved sort. Showiness is in the blood of the city, infused, perhaps, by the fickle cycle of the oil industry. After all, as any Calgarian oilman can tell you, we're here for a good time, not a long time.

This is clearly evident in the cityscape, where shiny new towers crowd the downtown skyline, and climbing cranes -- a sign of more to come -- rise up along with them with increasing frequency. In every direction on the city's fringes, new suburbs are sprouting as fast as they can clear the land and frame them up -- to many a rural Albertan rancher and even long-term Calgarians' dismay.

Calgary has long been criticized for rushing forward at the expense of burying its past. But in this era of rapid growth, a strong citizen movement has grown on two fronts: to preserve the spectacular lands that surround the city, and to promote urban density. A visitor today will see the fruits of that, as Calgary no longer grows only out, but up: For the first time in its history, the towers that cluster around downtown aren't just offices, but condominiums.

With the influx of money has come a flood of cultural facilities and awareness, too. The city is more cosmopolitan than at any time in its history, and the common phrase that seems to be gaining momentum here tells the tale: During the first oil boom, Calgary grew; in the second one, it grew up. This leaves Calgary, ever-ambitious, looking to join the top shelf of North American urban centers -- if, as many Calgarians believe, it's not there already.