A city rediscovered: 111 Places in Calgary That You Must Not Miss is a guidebook for locals | Entertainment | Lifestyles

Jennifer Bain had a dependable sounding board when she was writing and researching the guide 111 Locations in Calgary That You Should Not Miss.

Her pal has lived in Calgary for greater than 15 years and advised Bain from the get-go that she must dig deep to seek out something that will shock her about her hometown. “There’s nothing you may inform me about Calgary that I don’t know,” she stated.

Bain, who solely lived in Calgary briefly within the early Nineteen Nineties, took this as a problem and located herself always operating concepts previous her pal. Each time she was in a position to reveal a brand new place or fascinating sight in Cowtown, it was thought of a victory.

“I used to be like ‘Do you know this? Do you know that?” says Bain, in an interview with Postmedia from her dwelling in Toronto. “No?”

It was Bain’s most well-liked methodology for gathering data, quite than ask for ideas outright from locals.

“The previous newspaper journalist in me was very very like ‘Preserve your analysis to your self.’ ” she says. “Don’t tip your hand. Don’t put it on Fb and ask individuals to weigh in as a result of then different individuals begin writing comparable tales. It was a bit extra of the massive reveal.”

This strategy wasn’t only for secrecy. It additionally performs into the truth that it’s Calgarians, not guests to Calgary, who’re truly the goal demographic. A part of a collection established by Cologne-based Emons Publishers, 111 Locations in Calgary That You Should Not Miss is barely the third guide to discover a Canadian metropolis on this manner. The idea has confirmed well-liked in Europe however continues to be pretty novel on North American shores. Which is among the causes Bain is reluctant to categorise 111 Locations as a journey guide. It could include one or two suggestions for locations to eat or store, however it’s not meant to be a Lonely Planet-type information.

“I attempt to describe it as Atlas Obscura-like vignettes,” says Bain, who labored on the Toronto Star for 18 years however started her profession as a summer time intern on the Calgary Herald. “The writer was very intelligent once they launched the collection. They’ve at all times been aimed toward locals, that’s the major market. It was very a lot presupposed to be ‘You suppose you understand your metropolis so let’s dig in and see. Have a look at all these nice locations. Listed below are the tales behind them. Right here’s concepts for what you are able to do on Sunday.’ ”

With images by former Postmedia shooter Christina Ryan, 111 Locations presents a pleasant stability of shining a light-weight on hidden gems such because the Paradise Lanes bowling alley, Mandy Stobo’s wall of portraits at Righteous Gelato, the “Bookscsalator” on the Central Library, the Second World Struggle-era Enigma machine on the Navy Museums, The “Secret Seed Pod” sculpture at Prairie Winds Park, and the “Testicle Competition at Bottlescrew Payments,” which celebrates so-called Prairie Oysters as a gourmand delicacy.

However she additionally consists of locations, amenities and companies {that a}  good variety of Calgarians will already be aware of. However most of those chapters include a stunning twist, with Bain unearthing fascinating tidbits in these chapters. She writes in regards to the labyrinth at Knox United Church, the controversy surrounding the Large Blue Ring public artwork sculpture and the colorful 100-year-old historical past of the Palace Theatre. At first look, readers could be confused by Bain together with Hudson’s Bay within the guide, a chic if hardly unheralded landmark within the metropolis’s core. However Bain takes the chance to retell the story of the 1985 takedown of infamous serial killer Charles Ng, who slipped into Calgary after a killing spree in California and shot a safety guard within the hand after shoplifting a can of salmon and a bottle of Pepsi.

“It’s a boots-on-the-ground sort of guide,” Bain says. “You could possibly go to the Hudson’s Bay since you are in search of structure and it’s an fascinating 1913 Edwardian, commercial-style constructing. You could possibly go there as a result of it’s a ravishing selfie spot with arches and the arcade exterior. Clearly, they don’t have a plaque and it’s not on their web site, nevertheless it’s the place Charles Ng was taken down. That was the enjoyable half, happening location to all these locations and discovering out that they’re much more thrilling than I believed they might be.”

Bain did have some parameters to observe that had been set in place by the writer. Emons had some unusual necessities which might be maybe particular to German sensibilities. For example, it arrived on the 111 quantity as a result of 11 is taken into account a fortunate quantity in Cologne. All books should embody each a tattoo artist (Bain highlights Reverend Deacon Trevor Jameus, a tattoo artist/pastor) and a public rest room (Bain selected the RiverWalk Public Bogs.)

However for probably the most half, the rule gave the impression to be the extra eccentric, the higher.

Ryan, who presently teaches images at SAIT, has presumably photographed each obscure nook and cranny Calgary has to supply throughout her decade-plus stint capturing for Postmedia. However even she was stunned by a few of her assignments. That included getting down within the weeds with some hungry goats put to work by the Metropolis of Calgary as weed management in parks. She was even allowed to take a child goat dwelling along with her, albeit briefly.

“I believed that was actually fascinating,” Ryan says. “I acquired there very first thing within the morning and all of the goats had been of their pens. They herded them throughout the road to the place all of the weeds had been. I acquired to get proper up with the goats and be with them as a part of the herd and crawled round on the bottom with them. Then (the goatherder) simply requested ‘Would you wish to take him dwelling?’ So I did and we had a goat in our yard.”

Bain says she hopes the guide is an eyeopener for Calgarians and an invite to see town by way of contemporary eyes.

“Everyone is chasing issues which might be new and ignoring issues which might be fading away or issues that you just drive by and see them so many instances that you just by no means cease to consider them,” she says. “This stuff are there on the fringe of your consciousness however you’ve by no means stopped they usually have unimaginable tales tied with them.”

111 Locations in Calgary That You Should Not Miss is now out there in bookstores.

Copyright Postmedia Community Inc., 2021