Calgary’s Confederation Park is a lovely park in the North West. The park was created in 1967 to mark the centennial of Canadian Confederation. In 2017 Confederation park received many improvements as part of 150 year Canada Day celebration.
Location map
Community: 24 Ave. & 14 St. N.W. to 30 Ave. & 10 St. N.W.
Parking: There is free parking available on the west and east side of 10th St and off of 30th Ave – see map for more details.
Summer Features: Pathways, Tennis Courts (across 30th ave), 2 baseball diamonds, wetland area popular with ducks and geese
Winter Features: Cross country skiing trails (Confederation Golf Course to the west of the park trails trackset by a machine), great toboggan hills
Playgrounds: There is a new natural playground across from the 30th ave parking lot as well as one up the hill behind the west 10th avenue parking lot – map.
Amenities: water fountains (seasonal), year round washrooms (in the parks building near the 30th ave parking lot)
Seating: benches and picnic tables throughout the park area.
Overall: This park has a ton of bridges that you can cross in addition to the tunnel under 14th street and the ducks in the wetlands area. It is a great place to take little kids for a bike ride because you can do a nice loop and don’t need to go up any large hills.
The large leafy trees are very photogenic in the fall and there are flower planters during the summer months.
There are two playgrounds, the new natural playground and a small playground up the hill from the Rosemont Community Centre.
West Side
A tunnel connects the east and west sides of Confederation Park across 10th Street NW.
Near the Rosemont Community Centre you can find some athletic fields as well as some benches and picnic tables. In the Winter this area has skating rinks and a toboggan hill.
Climbing Trees
Calgary doesn’t tend to have a lot of trees that are great for climbing but there are several spots in Confederation Park that are popular.
Bridges
Whether walking or biking, one of the kids my kids have always loved about this park is the number of small bridges along the pathways.
Wetland Pond
The city of Calgary has made a concerted effort to discourage feeding bread to the birds. It seems to be working. In the past when we would be near the water, the ducks would come running but when we visited this year, the ducks didn’t pay any attention to us at all.
The best place to see the ducks is at the new Observation Deck on the southern side. It is wheelchair and stroller friendly and provides a great view of the wetland pond.
East Side
If you are traveling from the West side of the park to the East, you’ll go through a tunnel under 10th street. This tunnel now has a mural.
There are several flower gardens on the East side of the tunnel as well as the provincial and territory flag installation that you can see from the road when driving down 10th street NW.
Confederation Park Natural Playground
There is also another parking lot on the East side of the park which can be particularly attractive if your main destination is Confederation Park’s Natural Playground.
The playground has some great great features including swings, a huge slide, sand and a water spout.
Picnic Spots
Confederation Park was previously not one of Calgary’s best picnic parks. However, with the 2017 improvements, more picnic tables have been added along with some outdoor grills. You can find them at a few places in the park including near the natural playground.
Bathrooms
Confederation Park is a real year round park with a lot of Winter activities such as skating, cross country skiing and tobogganing. It also has a year round bathroom.
The bathroom is located in the parks building near the baseball diamond a short walk from the playground.
