Canada City Guide
Additional oil discoveries throughout the century saw continued growth in the city that became the administrative centre for the Canadian oil industry
As well as being the gateway to the Rocky Mountains, Calgary also grew into a tourist destination in its own right. Visitors flocked to take in the  city’s burgeoning cowboy culture, expressed every year in the Calgary Stampede (held formally for the first time in 1912). The Rocky Mountains and, in particular, Banff National Park, attracted thousands more who were drawn by the park’s stunning alpine beauty and its famous hotel. As the popularity of winter leisure sports increased, so did Calgary’s own popularity, all culminating in the city’s hosting of the XV Olympic Winter Games in 1988.
Many have likened the Calgary of today to a Canadian Dallas, a comparison that is not without merit. Like Dallas, Calgary is a confident, often-brash cowboy town that grew wealthy on oil, where they play country and western music in noisy taverns and eat thick and juicy steaks in the restaurants. As an image, however, this captures only a small part of what the city and its people are actually like. Calgary is also a city of diverse and vibrant neighbourhoods, where its citizens relax in cafés, stroll the scenic streets or take in the opera, although they are just as likely to head off to the great outdoors.
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