So a friend of mine started a new site this week, and he did his first post. I was impressed with the quality of the posts because of the detail, use of Google maps, Youtube, and the good information it had. Also, the post wasn’t just a little spurt of information.
The new site they are working is called RealtorsInCalgary.biz and their first post is all about a suburb in Calgary Southeast. This fits in here at BDBUD because we live in the same neighbourhood. What they are doing is featuring the different neighbourhoods in Calgary, and it looks like it’s going ot be on going well into the future. I’ve even seen that realtor’s name on the odd bus stop bench around the neighbourhood. The first post they did is featuring the Lake Bonavista community and it’s a fairly good read – the video promotional from the restaurant sort of shows off the lake, and the music gives you the “vibe”. It’s a quiet area, and fairly well off. It’s an R1 rated neighbourhood as well, so no condos or apartments (I know – these neighbourhood rating systems are coming under allot of fire these days.)
One thing that was good to see in the post was the bit about the handy location of Lake Bonavista – the easy access to the downtown area of Calgary via Southland and Blackfoot.
If you ever find yourself looking for a house in Calgary, don’t know much about the different neighbourhoods, and have over $500,000 to spend, I would check it out for sure. Tall, mature trees and an AMAZING private lake – biggest man made lake in Alberta and Canada they claim. Two big beaches, free boats to use, and Island, jumping docks, fishing (fed lake), skating on the lake in the winter, hockey areas kept clean in the winter, and a skating rink with a bonfire in the center close to entrance near the Promenade. Also, tennis courts, big grassy areas, a water fall (used for filtering the lake’s water supply).
The history is interesting too. You can the “official record” from Wikipedia here, but they don’t mention what “really happened there”. Here is an interesting quote from Wiki;
Lake Bonavista was developed by the Keith Construction company starting in 1967. It was the first community in Canada to be built around a man made lake, and served as a prototype for other “Lake Communities” in Calgary.
The rumor I heard was a little scandal-ridden. The story goes that Keith Built homes had permit issues with the city of Calgary, and they ended up just going ahead digging the massive hole for the man-made lake and taking all that earth and piling it up to make the water fall and hill. The rumor then in 1967 was the Keith never did get a permit from the city, and went ahead and started excavating anyway! By the time the city got wind of it, it was too done, and they were forced to “let it go”.
Never heard if Keith was fined for doing it, and still need the real story in case this is all just bunk. Great story to tell when you are hanging out down a the lake with the kids (and grand-kids). UPDATE: this story is not bunk. I asked a few older folks who remember the story behind the building of Lake Bonavista, and they confirmed this to be true. Mr. E.V. Keith never did have a permit before he starting digging the hole for the lake. This article says the same thing too.
If you know the real story and have a link to something on it, please leave a comment. Keith Construction of the 1960 was founded by Ellis Vee Keith (friends called him Vee), but do think I could find an old picture of him, or find some information about him……nope.
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I planned this trip for 2 adults to Palm Springs California. on Dec 10th/10- Dec 17th/10. on Westjet.