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Getting to travel to Canada for work has a few perks. One of which was getting the chance to head to Calaway Park, located a few kilometers west of the city of Calgary in Springbank, Alberta.
I was hoping to have had half a day at Calaway but unfortunately due to storms over Chicago my flight to Chicago was delayed causing me to miss my first flight to Calgary. Then flight number two was delayed for three hours pushing out my landing in Calgary to 5:30. Having to navigate the airport, clear customs and get my rental there was no way I would get to Calaway before 6:30. With just a half an hour to do the park I sarcastically tweeted to @CalawayPark from the plane asking if they had any admission deals for the last half hour of the day. Surprisingly I got a tweet back saying if I could make it to the park by 6:30 they would make sure I got my coaster fix.
As soon as I was off the plane I power walked through Calgary International Airport, breezed through customs, grabbed my car and was on my way.
Calaway Park , which is short for "Calgary away" first opened in 1983. The original name for the park was to have been "Flintstone Fun Park" as the park was have been themed after the "Flintstones" cartoon.
The park struggled through its inaugural year having to deal with local economic hard times and other issues it was decided to save the huge sums paid out for licensing in order to reinvest in the park. Fred, Wilma, Betty and Barney stopped making appearances but especially at the front of the park you can still see the old theming.
I was really kind of surprised to see how much of the Flintstones theming remain. It is a little weird but in the end it all adds to the charm of Calaway Park.
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Copyright 1999 - 2024
Paul B. Drabek
