City parks feel personal — and paid by taxes

And one last thing — city parks! Over the past two weeks my family has visited four city parks: the Weaselhead with its ever-changing Elbow River-shaped landscape; Bowness Park, as it was packed with picnicking families, walkers, and joggers; the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, which was swirling with avian glory; and, Griffith Woods Park, a new park for us — where we actually heard a loon call and then we saw it. Thinking back on that Griffith Woods visit, I remember how well-kept the pathways were,

and how some paths were restricted for restorative work, or to keep us from trespassing on Tsuut’ina lands. In areas that were prone to overland flooding there were boardwalks and where the Elbow River had created small ponds or creeks, there were short paths to the water’s edge. It now occurs to me that someone curated all of this. They did all of the preparatory work for us; our path was planned so that we could safely explore this beautiful spruce and poplar forest in

comfort. As we returned to our car, we stopped to talk with two city workers who were standing behind a foldout table filled with information on all of the native plants, bees and forest animals that call Griffith Woods home. These two city workers, whose salaries were paid in part by my property taxes, were a beautiful symbol of all that is good in Calgary. They were young, bright and eager to make our city a better place! John Van Sloten is a Calgary-based community

theologian and writer who tries to engage God everywhere.

Calgary, city parks, Griffith Woods Park, property taxes, Elbow River, Weaselhead, Bowness Park, Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Tsuut’ina lands