An Indigenous Storytelling Tour in the Heart of Calgary
St. Patrick's Island is one of Calgary's oldest parks, and one of our favourites
Bloom, a street light sculpture that’s nearly seven-stories high, sits on St. Patrick’s Island
St. Patrick’s Island is one of our favourite parks in Calgary. There’s something for everyone in this beautiful inner-city island, from a tobogganing hill (with one of the best fire pits in the city atop it), to a natural wetland area and public art loved by both humans and Osprey.
The land, located at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers, has a rich history and is a culturally significant place for Indigenous people. Last summer, Many Chief Tours, an Indigenous-owned and operated business, launched the Mohkinstsis Walking Tour on St. Patrick’s Island.
We were looking forward to learning more about Calgary’s Indigenous history via one of their paid two-hour guided tours in December or January.
But the new pandemic restrictions announced in December put a temporary stop to the walks (they’re scheduled to resume in March). So, we were excited to see a different type of tour launch late last week, as part of the city’s new Chinook Blast outdoor winter festival.
All you need is a cellphone to enjoy this audio tour by Many Chief Tours
We bundled up and headed to St. Patrick’s Island on Saturday morning to partake in the Indigenous Winter Storytelling Self-Guided Tour. The nice thing about temperatures colder than -20 Celsius is we pretty much had the whole island to ourselves!
The free tour, which runs from February 11 to 28, showcases Indigenous storytellers. Signage at the island’s entry directed us to scan a QR code, which then led us to a webpage with six different audio stories.
There’s lots of spots on St. Patrick’s Island to soak in the river views.
You’re free to do the tour however you like. We listened to the welcome, land acknowledgement, and stories about Blackfoot trickster Napi as we walked through the park. If it was warmer, we may have stopped at one of the many benches or lookouts to sit and listen, but we pretty much kept moving the entire time.
St. Patrick’s Island was, at one time, a campground
In total, there’s around 30 minutes of audio in the self-guided tour. We’re both big fans of stories and we thoroughly enjoyed listening to the traditional legends of the Blackfoot people. The short audio tour left us eager to sign up for the full guided tour when it re-launches next month.
St. Patrick’s Island re-opened in 2015 following extensive revitalization.
After the audio tour, we left St. Patrick’s Island and walked to a couple nearby Chinook Blast art installations, including bright laser cut cubes called “Conciliation” located at C-Square in East Village, and a balloon installation known as “Winter Froth” near the Central Library.
There’s several other art exhibits located throughout East Village and Downtown until February 28, all part of Chinook Blast.
Plus, if you’re looking for even more winter fun, bring your cross country skis! There’s a new groomed 1km ski loop on the Fort Calgary lands in East Village. It’s short, sweet and scenic. (And, as Cailynn has discovered, it’s location just off a bike path makes it perfect for a little bike+ski.)
Between the Indigenous Winter Storytelling Self-Guided Tour, Chinook Blast art exhibits and ski loop, there’s lots of ways to embrace winter and get outside in central Calgary right now. Enjoy!
Have you embraced going outside during this long, lonely, bizarre COVID winter?! Bought or rented gear and tried a new activity? Visited a park for the first time?
We’re looking to profile Albertans going outside. If this sounds like you, or you want to recommend a friend, please contact us by replying to this email. (And if you’ve already responded THANK YOU! We will get to your e-mail soon.)
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