Central Memorial Park Grand Re-Opening

[Bigtime]

Ok, heading down there this evening to enjoy the wonderful weather. Will bring the camera.

[Bigtime]

Here are some of the shots taken this evening, I like how the park looks now. It was already getting lots of people strolling through and checking it out:

Looking to the northeast from the park:


Enjoying the new fountains:


Looking to the northwest:




Looking east:

[mersar]

Tons of photos from the opening this evening, plus some awesome night shots coming up soon. And maybe later tonight some video I just shot of the fountains in action at night as well.

The actual ceremony was quite brief, fairly busy (I'd estimate 500+ people) and free cake Couple military bands to provide music, dutch dignitaries and soldiers on hand, and lots of residents. Probably most of city council was there, only mayoral candidates I saw were Joe Connelly and Jon Lord but I may have missed others.

And the fountains are still going, curious to see how late they are on. Wouldn't be surprised if they leave them on past midnight if some of the drunks on their way home from the bar decide to go for a swim.

[mersar]

Looking at the crowd from my balcony just before 5pm


One of the military bands providing entertainment


Honour guard


The fountains after the Mayor and someone else turned the fountains on


The west fountain


CPS mounted patrol


A look at the crowd (cake was served in the tent)


The east side of the park


More of the fountains


And now the night shots. Just want to point out that the lights aren't as white as they appear, the colors are actually a lot deeper in person








The LED's embedded in the grass

[Bigtime]

Great shots Mersar! I love the lighting on the fountains and inset into the grass, will have to go by one evening to check it out.

[mersar]

Thanks

And heres the video:

• Video Link

• Video Link

[Wooster]

Thanks for the pics and video!

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[ue]

^It's called aesthetics for 6 months of the year. Besides I'm sure Calgary has outdoor neighborhood rinks...and I highly doubt they're popular in May. You are putting way too much emphasis on what...4 months out of the year? I'd say Calgary is a winter city if 10+ months out of the year were winter (and getting some snow in 10+ months on record doesn't count).

Great pics, the park doesn't look that bad. Only thing is I'd rather have the dirt/gravel/whatever have been polished with new sidewalk like other parts.

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[Colin]

Originally Posted by edmontonenthusiast

^It's called aesthetics for 6 months of the year. Besides I'm sure Calgary has outdoor neighborhood rinks...and I highly doubt they're popular in May. You are putting way too much emphasis on what...4 months out of the year? I'd say Calgary is a winter city if 10+ months out of the year were winter (and getting some snow in 10+ months on record doesn't count).

Great pics, the park doesn't look that bad. Only thing is I'd rather have the dirt/gravel/whatever have been polished with new sidewalk like other parts.

I think it was a joke...
I do agree with you though. I would have loved to have a stone path instead of gravel paths.

[RicoLance21]

Originally Posted by Colin

I think it was a joke...
I do agree with you though. I would have loved to have a stone path instead of gravel paths.

Cobblestones?

[shogged]

I can't really explain it, but i'm pretty dissapointed. maybe its the location, maybe its the urban format... but this is a pretty ugly park. I support it though, the downtown core can't have too many parks in my opinion and i'm sure there are potential users out there =)

[LFRENCH]

I like the fountains, however it would be nice if the color changes were more fluid and not so abrupt.

[Riise]

Thanks for the great pics Mersar. I'm not opposed to the style of the park but even so, it seems incomplete. Maybe it's the fact that I'm now use to really green grass or they still have a bit left to complete but something seems to be missing from the park that can push it from a being 'a nice park to have' to just being 'a nice or wonderful park'. Nonetheless, it is a nice park to have downtown and practice does make perfect.

[Doug_Cgy]

I don't understand everyone's dissapointment. I think this park is great! As mentioned before, trees will need to grow, as does the grass on the dirt/soil areas, but overall I think its good. The fountains & the lighting really win me over. Its refreshing to see more than just a few park benches and flowers.

[mersar]

Yep. The finishing touches will be nice to see when they are done. That and when the sod starts to take, as its looking a bit brown still.

And people are certainly using it. Just took a quick look across the street and theres at least 30 people in the park right now, some walking around, others just sitting watching the fountains.

[Bigtime]

So we went on a big walk today, and on the way back home thought it would be perfect to go through the park and try out the fountains so Littletime could play with them. One problem though, they weren't on! This was seriously the perfect day to have those suckers running, what gives? The other two main fountains were up and running.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

So we went on a big walk today, and on the way back home thought it would be perfect to go through the park and try out the fountains so Littletime could play with them. One problem though, they weren't on! This was seriously the perfect day to have those suckers running, what gives? The other two main fountains were up and running.

They need to play with them a bit more, the drainage wasn't keeping up to the amount of water they were shooting up and the entire area (including the grass along there) became a swimming pool by the time they turned off at midnight on Friday. They were on for about an hour or two on Saturday morning but they've been off since then.

[Bigtime]

Interesting, I hope they get them up and running for the summer.

A couple of shots I took while down there: