Location: 18011 Spruce Meadows Way SW, Calgary
Dates: Nov. 16-18, Nov. 23-25, 2012
Cost: Adults $10, Kids Free
Christmas is coming, which means the beginning of the various Christmas markets in Calgary. The last weekend in November brought the Nanton Christmas Market and the Spruce Meadows International Christmas Market. We opted to check out the Spruce Meadows event because it’s closer and the amount of time we have on the weekends is small and very important to us.
In hindsight, it would have been faster to drive to Nanton and back, because it seems everyone in Calgary was at Spruce Meadows for the market and the short distance between parking and the highway took well over an hour for some. We persisted and were lucky when parking opened up in some of the surrounding pastures for those with overland vehicles.
The “International” in Spruce Meadows International Christmas Market is limited to one building, which has booths set up for many different countries with surrounding food and entertainment. The rest of the buildings are jam-packed with craft booths and people… so many people that it was reminiscent of Portobello Market in London on a sunny day.
Santa’s reindeer are also present in the stables between the main market and the petting zoo. Rudolph is not available because he is resting up for his big night on December 24th.
The biggest hit for us was the sled dogs from Snowy Owl Dog Tours. They were out mingling with and kissing anyone who got too close. We were so impressed by the dogs and everyone that we talked to that I’m sure we’ll be in Canmore dog sledding in the very near future.
