Now open for the 2021 season!
Location map
Community: Bowness – Bowness Park – 8900 48 Ave. N.W
Parking: There are free parking lots. It is a short walk to the wading pool.
Typically opens mid-June until Labor Day – 9am-9pm. Now open for the 2021 season.
Features: Shallow wading pool. Pool deck spray features. Washrooms/change rooms
Surrounding Park Area: This wading pool is located inside the popular Bowness Park. There are lots of picnic areas including bookable ones for large groups, grassy areas and mature trees. There is a fairly new accessible playground as well as an older playground on the West side of the parking lot, a mini-train ride, boat rentals, skating in the winter on the lagoon and pathways.
Food Services: There are lots of picnic areas inside and outside the pool fence. There are no food services close to the wading pool so you may want to consider bringing your own. However, you can buy some food near the parking lots at the cafe.
Shade: Compared to most spray parks and wading pools in the city, there is great shade from mature trees. You still may want to consider bringing your own shade.
Seating: Lots of picnic tables inside the fenced area.
Overall assessment:
Bowness Park has a new water park! You can find it in a new location on the far East end of the park. There is no parking right near the wading pool. The mini-train does have a stop right outside the pool (tickets required) and it’s not a long walk from the parking lots to the pool.
The wading pool is fairly standard, it is quite shallow around the edges and a bit deeper in the middle (no more than 0.6 meters at any point). On the pool deck there are two areas with water sprays.
One with a couple of small sprays and another area with several different spray features. We found the water in the spray features to be surprisingly warm but I’m not sure if that’s typical.
My kids found the pool to be a little chilly first thing in the morning but had fun playing around in the pool and particularly enjoyed the spray features. The flooring in the wading pool is not as rough as the one at Prairie Winds Park but my 2 year old found it to be a little slippery.
The setting and view at this pool is really lovely with large mature trees. Bowness Park has a lot of different features and picnic spots making it a great place to spend the day.
How long is the wait time to get into the wading pool? We want to come tomorrow (Friday). Also why isn’t there time limits for people in the pool and why can’t we book times online???? Thank you
Hi Jo,
You’ll have to ask these questions to the city of Calgary who runs the wading pool.
Bowness wading park is a sad example of anything designed by a committee. Real estate teaches location – location – location.
Designers obviously did not walk the 500 meters to the pool carting your picnic apparel!
Our summers a short, and now we half of your recreation time is spent walking to the pool (“a short walk”)! Carrying comfort items requires a wagon and time. Parking is in competition with other major summer activities such as renting paddle boats. A huge gem of a park, which has a wading pool for little people and parents/grandparents with walkers tucked in a corner with elders trudging to get to the pool. Heaven forbid if you forgot something in your vehicle!! No shade to speak of. Poor grounds, weeds and dirt. A small pool to boot! Fail!! Try Riley Park! What were you thinking YYCCC/recreation?!