Heritage Park is nestled by the Glenmore Reservoir in southwest Calgary. It’s one of the largest historical parks of its kind on Canada with over 100 exhibits, a paddle steamer, steam locomotive and train, horse-drawn wagons and much more. The Tumbleweed String Tickers (Wayne Garret, Nathan Godfrey and Keith Rogers) chose some old-timey tracks to play while in the Historical Village.

Tracks:
“Ragged But Right” by Riley Puckett (1890)
“Dill Pickle Rag” by Charles Al Johnson (1906)
“Honeysuckle Rose” by Fats Waller (1928)
“All Of Me by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons (1931)
“Dream A Little Dream Of Me” by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and lyrics by Gus Kahn (1931)
“King Edward Blues” by Blind Willie McTell (1940)
“My Walking Stick” by Irving Berlin (1938)
“Minor Swing” by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli (1937)

This year The Grace Presbyterian Church is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the sandstone edifice that the church resides in today although the congregation was formed in 1905.  The sanctuary is a unique oval design that allows good viewing and listening for the entire congregation. Kenna Burima appears on today’s podcast playing the pipe organ that is also celebrating it’s 100th birthday this year. It now consists of 3,300 pipes and is the 3rd largest pipe organ in Calgary.

Photo courtesy of Foxtongue (Flickr)

The Calgary Tower was built in 1967 as a centennial project by Husky Oil. At the time it was the tallest structure in Calgary (in fact in Canada outside of Toronto) and the tallest structure of its kind, standing at 190.8 metres tall. It hosts a revolving restaurant, a carillon that chimes everyday at noon and a glass-floored observation deck. It’s a popular attraction for locals and tourists alike. Shine Machine is the duo of local musicians Steve Fletcher & Jonathan May, they’re talented local musicians who play a variety of genres and today’s recording session was no exception.

For many Chinatown is a beautiful cultural destination full of dim sum, fortune cookies, toys, clothing, movies and much more. Chinatown is located just a block away from the Bow River in Calgary’s downtown. It takes up approximately five blocks jam packed with apartments, stores and restaurants aplenty.

The Chinese Cultural Centre stands proudly at the west end of Calgary’s Chinatown. For 20 years it has been a home to cultural events and the preservation of Chinese culture with a library, auditorium/gymnasium, restaurant and artefacts museum. The Dr. Henry Fok Cultural Hall and its 70-foot high ceiling provides a stunning centrepiece. Gazing up at the ceiling you can see 561 dragons and 40 phoenixes. There is also the magnificent central columns supporting the dome, each  hand-decorated with real gold to represent the four seasons and the twelve posts along the middle circle represent the months. The blue tiles on the outside of the roof symbolizes heaven and sky cam all the way from China from the same company that created the original roof tiles for the Temple of Heaven in Beijing that the Centre is modeled after. It’s certainly a site to see and something for all Calgarians to be proud of having in the city.