Well, what an unexpectedly awesome place this turned out to be!

We hadn’t really done much research on this particular place, but as Fort Calgary was closed when we were there, and it was recommended by friends, we did want to come and visit. At about $95 CAD for a family, it certainly wasn’t the cheapest place to visit, but this did include everything except the pony and carriage rides, and of course any additional food/gifts you want to purchase.  

We entered and pretty much straight away jumped on the cable car, rode through the park and got off at the Indigenous Peoples Experience. This is a very modern building and had what I thought were really good displays relating to the local First Nations Tribes. The boys’ favourite was a model of a Bison brain which they couldn’t believe was that small compared to the actual size of the Bison they had seen the night before.

Like the Ukrainian Village, the Park is set up so you can go through it starting from the oldest buildings, the Fort itself (1846) up to the buildings from 1920.

We then headed off to the Fort and its various buildings. The Fort was definitely a firm favourite out of all the buildings for the boys. They both really liked the massive palisade that went around the Fort. The biggest house on the property was Rowand House, which they estimated to be built around 1843. This house is huge, standing at three stories tall. We were able to go through it and check out most of the rooms. As the Fort was a trading post, and set up for the fur trade era, there was a trade store where the boys could touch different fur from animals and they could guess what animal the furs were from. We probably could have spent a lot more time at the Fort, but there was a lot of other things to see in the park so we moved on. 

We walked over to the start of 1885 Street (the Settlement Era). We hardly got started before we came across the pony rides. Unfortunately, they were restricted to children the age of 10 and under so only Mr 8 got a turn. This was his first pony ride, well that any of us could remember anyway, and he took the instructions very seriously and was able to give ‘Betsy’ a lovely pat before hopping on to go for his ride. After a rather sedate, but still enjoyable, pony ride, it was time to move on. We went past the three rowdy pigs and walked down 1885 Street looking through the multiple shops, homes, hotels and police station.

The next street was 1905 Street (the Municipal Era). We stopped in for a bite to eat at the Masonic Hall (several buildings are set up with actual cafes and bars in them for visitors to buy food and drinks) and the boys were very fortunate to have a look in one of two arcade machines that actually worked (let’s just say the one they didn’t look in was not child appropriate). Apparently, they don’t usually let the children have a turn, because as we all know, they break things, so they were very lucky to be offered the chance. It would have cost 25 cents back then to have a look, which was equivalent to one weeks wages! We also had a look at the old fire engines in the Fire Hall and the Police Station. 

We still had a bit we wanted to do, so we didn’t go in every building on the next street which was 1920 street (the Metropolitan Era). The buildings we did manage to get into were the Johnson’s Café & Hotel Selkirk, which I loved. I loved the tile floor which reminded me of the Dunedin Railway station and I thought the bar area was beautiful. Oh and apparently a ghost lives there.

Further down the street they were having ‘baseball try outs’ and of course we had to have a turn. We could only move on once everyone had actually hit the ball, which luckily didn’t take too long!

We had finally got to the area the kids wanted to see most, which was the 1920’s carnival. We got to play old school games like Skee Ball, Hook a fish, Punk Doll knock down and Roll a ball derby. You don’t have to pay anything additional to play these games, but there weren’t any prizes on offer either. 

Then it was time for the Ferris Wheel! Given Mr 11’s aversion to anything involving heights, it was left to me to accompany Mr 8 on the Ferris wheel. Well, holy hell, I’m never doing that again! They look all lovely and romantic, but they are most definitely not. In Mr 8’s words, they are horrifying. We spent more time sitting at the top than moving around it and there is only a metal bar between you and certain death, and the rocking, the bloody rocking, of the cart each time it stops to let people off…. Mr 8 and I pinky promised each other never to go on a Ferris wheel again! Meanwhile, Mr 11 went for a swing and a ride on the carousel… a much wiser choice, all things considered!

There was one last family ride on the carousel, which gave me time to finally dry off my sweaty palms and then it was onto the final trip of the day, the steam train.

I love steam trains. I love the old timey-ness of them, I love seeing the smoke coming out of the chimney, I love how they whistle and I love the slower pace they provide. We ended up in carriage 304 which was lovely, and apparently, according to the man working on the train, had been done up for a movie that had been made at the park – The Assassination of Jesse James with Brad Pitt, but only about 20 seconds of the carriage made it to the final cut. I’m probably not going to watch the movie though to see if I can spot it.

Once the train ride was over, it was time to leave. When we make it back to Edmonton in the future I would like to come back and really take my time going around. We didn’t get to see everything, and some of it was a bit rushed, but it was really well set up. There were plenty of places you could sit and eat a packed lunch, and there were also places you could buy food from as well, as plenty of washrooms. 

The quote of the day? ‘Fort Edmonton is Ferrymead on steroids!’ Those of you in NZ who have ever been will understand that reference.