Why doesn't Calgary have hot-air balloons like we used to. You seem a couple from time to time but I remember when I was a kid there would be a TON in the sky - including the DQ Ice-cream shaped one that got tangled in some wires one time.
But you just don't seem them anymore.
What happened?
Calgary used to pride itself on being the hot-air balloon capital of Canada, if not North America. I too want to know what happened.
Double nostalgia whammy: the AM106 hot air balloon.
Here is Mr. Wizard debunking global warming induced sea level rise:
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Last edited by icarus; 07-17-2010 at 06:42 PM.
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Why doesn't Calgary have hot-air balloons like we used to. You seem a couple from time to time but I remember when I was a kid there would be a TON in the sky - including the DQ Ice-cream shaped one that got tangled in some wires one time.
But you just don't seem them anymore.
What happened?
Those balloons used to land on a plateau on top of a hill just across the street from the houses behind ours when my brother and I were kids. We always used to hear them coming as they'd be really low over the rooftops and the sound of them firing their burners would be really clear. I used to love hearing that sound and being able to watch them go right over our roof and back yard. My brother and I also used to run around to the plateau when they were landing and help them pack up their balloons, though I can't remember how often we got to do it. I do remember helping the DQ guy packing up his balloon more than once though and that he was maybe the nicest of the balloon operators. It was a sad thing hearing that he had died flying into those power wires.
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Those balloons used to land on a plateau on top of a hill just across the street from the houses behind ours when my brother and I were kids.
When I was a kid I lived a couple years in Deer Run backing on to Fish Creek Park and the balloons would often take off from a little field there on the edge of the park near the Bow Valley Ranch entrance.
I miss going to the 7-11 in Bonavista by Nickle Junior High and being able to buy a comic and a medium slurpee for $1.00 - or, if I didn't want a comic, a hot rod and a large slurpee for $1.00
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I miss going to the 7-11 in Bonavista by Nickle Junior High and being able to buy a comic and a medium slurpee for $1.00 - or, if I didn't want a comic, a hot rod and a large slurpee for $1.00
And now it's been replaced by some old geezers clinic! I miss that 7-11 big time. When I'm home, that is.
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Aw man, so many good memories from Calgary and my youth...
I really miss racing my dad on Beddington Trail as it was just getting paved. North of there, there was a little section where some older kids made jumps for their BMX bikes. I always thought it was so cool (I think someone mentioned this already?). Now it's just houses there.
Easy Street was a good time as well. I had a couple of year end hockey parties there.
Kart Gardens in between Calgary and Airdrie.
I just miss the small town feel of Calgary. It doesn't seem like the same city I was born in. I guess it got too big too fast.
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Why doesn't Calgary have hot-air balloons like we used to. You seem a couple from time to time but I remember when I was a kid there would be a TON in the sky - including the DQ Ice-cream shaped one that got tangled in some wires one time.
But you just don't seem them anymore.
What happened?
I remember that!! We have pictures of it. The balloons were awesome. I remember a Shell Gasoline Pump, the DQ balloon, and there was a big green T-rex balloon.
I also remember the rubber duck races. A huge dumptruck would dump rubber ducks down the river, and if your duck won...you won something!
I remember being a young kid going to a traffic school type thing, they had traffic lights, stop signs, the whole works. We split up, either on tricycles or walking, and we had to obey the rules of the road.
I'm 26 so my nostalgia is limited but the things I do remember were shows like Kidstreet, Buckshot, and that show NRG(?) where you could call in to win things.
MIX 1060
There used to be this ice cream place on Centre St. and 23rd i think, called Scooples, that place was awesome. Now I think it's a bank.
Rollerland was a big part of my youth, my older sister loved going there and my parents forced her to take me with her, good times.
I miss the theaters in Bankers Hall. There was something cozy about them.
Fairview Bowling Lanes, you would get those little bowling pin trophies. And the big theatre at North Hill, that's where I saw Jurassic Park for the first time.
Is the A&B sound downtown still around? Buying CDs there was a lot of fun back when I was younger and CDs were still relevant.
Being in junior high and going to Calaway Park and following a group of girls around the entire day, working up the courage to talk to them.
I almost forgot about Easy Street! And I liked the Market Mall theatres.
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The skating rink bubble at the end of Memorial Drive in Abbeydale. Not so much because there was anything good about it, but it's one of the first landmarks I remember noticing as a little kid.
Electric Avenue in general. Yankee Doodles, Shark Shack, Coconut Joe's, Three Cheers, The Fox and Firken (NE too!). Soooo different from the stuck up Calgary clubs of today that are crawling in snobby chicks and bag guys. No offense to anyone here of course.
Some things of course are welcome departures. 80 km/hr speed limit on 16th Avenue. Traffic lights on Deerfoot. Small movie theatres like Sunridge. The Cecil. K-Mart. That fugly parkade at SAIT. The late 90's/early 2000's Calgary Flames. Michael Feterik.
We were actually discussing the hot air balloon thing over at SSP last week. I too remember all the balloons launching from Ramsay park during Stampede, as to why it died out it seems to be due to some very serious accidents (most of which seemed to involve the DQ Balloon).
- looking over the top of the city from the 9th floor of the Summit Hotel
- driving downtown on Old Banff Coach Road
- toboganning on CFCN Hill, Edsworthy and Turtle Hill
- using binoculars from Wildwood to see cattle grazing on Nose Hill
- swimming at Happy Valley
- watching Ed Whalen when he had no hair
- looking in the paper for bungalows selling for $12,500.
- going over to watch the ticker tape at Midland Osler
- talking with friends to see who hit the latest gusher
- paying $1.00 an acre for land that didn't sell at the latest land sale
I miss going to the 7-11 in Bonavista by Nickle Junior High and being able to buy a comic and a medium slurpee for $1.00 - or, if I didn't want a comic, a hot rod and a large slurpee for $1.00
I went there almost every day for Lunch when I was in high school (Beaverbrook- Gr. 10, 11, 12 ). A diet coke and a Large "Beef n' Bean" Burrito, .... I'm surprised I don't have stomach issues!
7-11 doesn't sell those burritos any more ...at least the last time I checked at the "Sev" (Long Gone) in Canyon Meadows.....
This was by far my favorite pizza place, someone report back to us and let us know if its the same; I'd pay to have one fedexed to Iceland if its still awesome lol.
I had some a couple of years ago and it seems pretty much the same as I remembered it from Beddington Mall. I always liked it - wouldn't call it amazing, but I certainly had my share of it growing up.
They're kind of tucked out of the way now, and I too stumbled across it by accident after Beddington Mall ditched their entire food court. Speaking of the food court, I remember there being a fairly large group of Italian men that would gather there for coffee all of the time. I think that there was also a group of Asian men that frequented the mall. Had a nice community feel back in the day.
...at least the last time I checked at the "Sev" (Long Gone) in Canyon Meadows.....
