Areas outside of Calgary

[JWL]

A friend of mine is moving back here after staying in S'toon for a few years. She said that she wants to stay somewhere that has a "small town" feel, and I thought about places like Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks, High River, Cochrane, etc.

I don't know too much about these places, but if you guys could give me some insight - that would be great. Another thing that would help are the communities within the towns (ie. what are the good area and what areas should she avoid).

Thanks!

[Kritafo]

small towns don't have superstores, Walmarts and Home Depots.

Got to think even smaller than those towns. Airdrie is one of the fastest growing community in Canada.

Black Diamond, Turner Valley, Beiseker, Irricana, Crossfield would be more small town.

[snowboard]

yah forget chestermere. this place is turning into a dump of losers and broke ass NE people pretending to not be NE.

[drtoohotty1]

Cochrane is good, i like it we have a superstore and a canadian tire, I enjoy not having to commute on the deerfoot ever, and it still has the small town feel but close enough you can get to Calgary without much hassle. All the areas have their ups and downs but if you were to avoid an area i would say avoid the east end and the center of glenbow other then that its a great place.

[Euro_Trash]

Originally posted by Kritafo


Black Diamond, Turner Valley, Beiseker, Irricana, Crossfield would be more small town.

Nobody wants to live in these towns (add High River to this list)

Okotoks wouldn't be too bad since you have all of the stores you would need (including Walmart, CT, Home Depot being built). Service sucks because the town is so full of young people that you are always dealing with 14-16 year olds. Traffic can be a gong show too because of all of the lights along the main strip. You really can't go wrong with any of the newer neighborhoods.

[tm88]

there are lots of options however without knowing exactly what small town is to her it is tough to point her in the right direction.
(or him, i cant remember)

[ZorroAMG]

Strathmore FTMFW...

It's got a hospital (which none mentioned here have, including cochrane and airdrie) Big box retailers, the rodeo and ALL brand new infrastructure (pop 12,000 infra for 40k) brand new schools (elem, jr high and high), aquatic centre, community centres etc and a great small town feel.

[rmk]

+1 for Strathmore. Great little town with fantastic people.

[Euro_Trash]

Originally posted by ZorroAMG
Strathmore FTMFW...

It's got a hospital (which none mentioned here have, including cochrane and airdrie) Big box retailers, the rodeo and ALL brand new infrastructure (pop 12,000 infra for 40k) brand new schools (elem, jr high and high), aquatic centre, community centres etc and a great small town feel.

Good point, Okotoks doesn't have a hospital

[snowboard]

Originally posted by rmk
+1 for Strathmore. Great little town with fantastic people.

Im in on this one.
My grandparents have always lived there, my mom grew up there. its just a really nice place actually.

[CRX-R]

Originally posted by Euro_Trash


Good point, Okotoks doesn't have a hospital

no hospital, but an urgent care center that's awesome and open till 11 (i think it's 11). Plus if I have to goto the hospital, I bet I can get to high river quicker than most people in the city can get to the closest hospital. Not to mention that when the south hospital is done it'll be closer to okotoks than 90% of calgary.

[Masked Bandit]

I think a lot of it will depend on where your friend ends up working. If they are in the NW somewhere, obviously Okotoks wouldn't be the best idea.

All things being equal though I've always been partial to Okotoks. My only issue with Strathmore is the driving time into Calgary.

[sr20s14zenki]

Originally posted by Euro_Trash


Nobody wants to live in these towns (add High River to this list)

Okotoks wouldn't be too bad since you have all of the stores you would need (including Walmart, CT, Home Depot being built). Service sucks because the town is so full of young people that you are always dealing with 14-16 year olds. Traffic can be a gong show too because of all of the lights along the main strip. You really can't go wrong with any of the newer neighborhoods.

Hey, I live in Crossfield, its great, and peaceful, HATER.

hah, theres only two tuners in crossfield too, we get looked at like were driving space ships rofl

[Lex350]

Don't go to High River. It always amazes me whe they interview people after high river floods. Hello, you live on a flood plain. Why do you think they can it High River? duh?

[barmanjay]

If she wants small town,.. I would go more towards crossfield or carstairs

[Euro_Trash]

Originally posted by CRX-R


no hospital, but an urgent care center that's awesome and open till 11 (i think it's 11). Plus if I have to goto the hospital, I bet I can get to high river quicker than most people in the city can get to the closest hospital. Not to mention that when the south hospital is done it'll be closer to okotoks than 90% of calgary.

Have you been there???

Visit #1: Absolute horrible pain after smacking my ribs in a sledding accident. Urgent care tells me (after 3 hours) that I pulled my muscle. One day later, couldn't take pain anymore, went to hospital - broken ribs

Visit #2: Swelling in cheek, worse pain than broken ribs. Went to urgent care (2 hours), first of all they wouldn't believe I hadn't been in a fight (argued for about 30 minutes), then told me it was my wisdom teeth. Couldn't handle pain after a day, went to hospital. Infection of lymph node - jacked me up on T3's and antibiotics

I have only heard horror stories from that place. It is far from awesome

[JWL]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I mentioned them to her, and she's pretty adamant about staying in the south end of town even though she will be working out in the NE?! Doesn't make sense to me, but I guess most of her family lives in the south part of Calgary and she wants to stay somewhat close to them.

Side note, just did a quick check in Strathmore's MLS listings. Some of those places look really nice and are inexpensive compared to Calgary's market.

[snowboard]

dude strathmore is prime... carstairs is a bit far, i got mad fam's up there, but wouldnt be too bad if she was in the NEEEE. strathmore is her best bet

[Euro_Trash]

If she is working in the NE, Okotoks should be OUT for sure. That would be a brutal commute

[JWL]

Originally posted by Euro_Trash
If she is working in the NE, Okotoks should be OUT for sure. That would be a brutal commute

Ya I told her that and I also mentioned that winter driving would be twice as bad. Do you know how long it would take her to get to the NE via car and train (Somerset > City Centre > say... Franklin station)?