Live in Lake Bonavista
The first community in Canada built around a man-made lake, and it has two of them.
Lake Bonavista is where the idea started. Keith Construction began developing it in 1967 and the 52-acre lake was constructed in 1968, and the community claims to be the first in Canada built around a man-made lake. A second lake, Lake Bonaventure at 35 acres, sits inside the same boundaries. At the 2021 census 10,145 people lived here in 4,020 private households, 88% of them owners, on a median household income of $131,000 for 2020.
The one that started all of them
Bounded north by Anderson Road, west by Macleod Trail, south by Canyon Meadows Drive, and east by a natural hill, which the Federation of Calgary Communities traces along Lake Sylvan Drive and Lake Ontario Drive. Ward 14, inside the City of Calgary, Alberta.
Keith Construction began developing Lake Bonavista in 1967 and the 52-acre lake was constructed in 1968. The community claims to be the first in Canada built around a man-made lake. Wikipedia records that as the community's own claim, and nothing this guide could open settles it either way.
The excavation did double duty: the earth taken out became a 65-foot hill beside the water, finished with a waterfall. A second lake, the 35-acre Lake Bonaventure, sits inside the same boundaries.
Housing mix. Established, affluent and almost entirely owner-occupied: 88% of households own at the 2021 census against 69% citywide, and 81% of occupied dwellings are single-detached. Median household income was $131,000 in 2020, against $98,000 across Calgary, up from the $101,025 Wikipedia records for 2005. 77% of the stock went up between 1961 and 1980, which by now means both a genuinely mature tree canopy and buildings well past fifty.
Transit. Unusually good for a lake community on paper: Anderson station, open since 1981 with about 1,750 park-and-ride spaces, sits off the northwest corner, and Canyon Meadows station, open since October 2001, has a pedestrian bridge across Macleod Trail into the community. Residents still drive: 84% got to work as a car driver in 2021 and only 3% took transit, against 9% across Calgary.
- 77% of the occupied stock was built between 1961 and 1980; budget for major systems, not cosmetics
- Vermiculite insulation, asbestos floor tile and older wiring are all realistic finds at this age
- Aluminum wiring appeared in some Alberta builds of this era and is an insurance flag
- Two associations exist: the LBHA runs the lake, the LBCA is the community association at 1401 Acadia Drive SE; they are not the same
- Condominiums, secondary suites, carriage houses and Bonavista Downs addresses are excluded from LBHA membership
How Lake Bonavista got here
- 1967Keith Construction begins developing Lake Bonavista, which claims to be the first community in Canada built around a man-made lake.
- 1968The 52-acre lake is constructed. The spoil becomes a 65-foot hill beside it, finished with a waterfall.
- 1970The Lake Bonavista Community Association registers as a provincial society on 26 February. It is a separate body from the homeowners association that runs the lake.
- 1981Anderson station opens on the Red Line on 25 May, 10.6 km south of the City Hall interlocking, off the community's northwest corner.
- 2001Canyon Meadows station opens on 9 October at 416 Cantrell Drive SW, with a pedestrian bridge across Macleod Trail into Lake Bonavista.
- 2005Median household income is recorded at $101,025, with 4.4% low income residents.
- 2012The municipal census counts 10,475 residents in 4,106 dwellings.
- 2021The federal census records 10,145 residents in 4,020 private households, 88% of them owner households, on a median household income of $131,000 for 2020.
Two lakes, and the hill they came out of
Private and members-only, run by the Lake Bonavista Homeowners Association. The 52-acre lake carries beaches, boating with canoes and rowboats, fishing, scuba diving, tennis and pickleball, BBQ areas, and a toboggan hill, skating surfaces and a cross-country ski track in winter. The park runs 9am to 9pm on weekdays and from 8am at weekends. Lake Bonaventure, at 35 acres, is the second lake inside the boundaries; the LBHA's own pages say nothing about it.
- Due 30 June 2026 for the 2026–27 year
- Administered by the Lake Bonavista Homeowners Association (LBHA)
- The LBHA is a separate body from the Lake Bonavista Community Association: do not confuse the two
- Membership covers lake and facility access for residents and their signed-in guests
- Lake Bonaventure is a separate, smaller lake accessible only to the homes surrounding it
- Contact: lkbonavista.ca
| The lakes as an engineering project | Figure |
|---|---|
| Lake Bonavista surface | 52 acres |
| Lake Bonaventure surface | 35 acres |
| Lake excavated | 1968 |
| Hill built from the spoil | 65 ft, with a waterfall |
| Annual fee (2026–27) | $409.50 incl. GST |
| Fees due | 30 June |
Fish Creek to the south, the Glenmore to the west
Fish Creek Provincial Park: 13.48 km² and more than 100 km of trails, 60 km of them paved, created in June 1975. It begins just south of Canyon Meadows Drive, minutes from the community. The Glenmore Reservoir, with its 16 km pathway and the Weaselhead, is about fifteen minutes west, and Heritage Park sits on its bank.
What the map does not show: a provincial park minutes south, a reservoir minutes west, and a private lake inside the boundaries. The trade-off is that none of it is at the back gate the way Fish Creek is for Sundance.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Lake Bonavista
22 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 22 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are estimated from the community centre to each destination using Calgary's road grid, and are rounded to honest ranges rather than presented as precise figures. Anderson Road and Macleod Trail at 7–9am and 3:30–6pm will push the longer trips higher, though with two CTrain stations on the boundary, the train is often genuinely faster here.
Every gym within reach
An established part of the city with a community-owned recreation centre, the Southcentre and Willow Park retail clusters, and a private golf club minutes east. Confirm hours before you count on any of them.
- Wave pool and hot tub, ice arena, fitness centre and over 90 drop-in fitness classes a week
- Southcentre and Willow Park add GoodLife, Anytime and Orangetheory within ten minutes
- The community association's own building at 1401 Acadia Drive SE carries two indoor rinks, a gymnasium and a fitness studio
- The LBHA fee already covers the beaches, courts, boating, skating and the toboggan hill
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Trico Centre for Family Wellness open | Wave pool and hot tub, ice arena, fitness centre and over 90 drop-in fitness classes a week, at 11150 Bonaventure Dr. S.E. | 5–8 min |
| Lake Bonavista beach houses & courts open | Covered by the LBHA fee: beaches, boating, fishing, tennis and pickleball, BBQ areas, and skating, tobogganing and a ski track in winter. | 1–4 min |
| GoodLife Fitness, Southcentre open | National chain club at Southcentre Mall, just north across Anderson Road. | 4–7 min |
| Anytime Fitness, Willow Park open | 24-hour access chain gym in the Willow Park retail area. | 5–8 min |
| Orangetheory Fitness, Willow Park open | Heart-rate-based group interval training studio. | 5–8 min |
| YMCA, Shawnessy open | Large YMCA facility further south, with pools, gymnasium and programs. | 9–13 min |
| Willow Park Golf & Country Club open | Not a gym, but the other membership worth pricing here. A private golf club minutes east. | 5–8 min |
| Fish Creek Provincial Park trails open | More than 100 km of trails, 60 km of them paved, immediately south of the community, free and open year-round. | 4–7 min |
The free option is a good one. Fish Creek's 100 km of trails start minutes south and the Glenmore pathway is fifteen minutes west. In winter the lake and the 65-foot hill are already paid for through the annual fee, for the addresses that carry it.
Six schools inside the community
Four public and two Catholic schools sit within the boundaries: Lake Bonavista, Andrew Sibbald and Sam Livingston elementaries, Nickle junior high, and St. Boniface elementary and St. Bonaventure junior high on the Catholic side. Wikipedia and the Federation of Calgary Communities name the same six.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Bonavista School | Calgary Board of Education | Public elementary inside the community, named by both Wikipedia and the Federation of Calgary Communities. |
| Andrew Sibbald School | Calgary Board of Education | Public elementary inside the community, named by both Wikipedia and the Federation of Calgary Communities. |
| Sam Livingston School | Calgary Board of Education | Public elementary inside the community, named by both Wikipedia and the Federation of Calgary Communities. |
| Nickle School | Calgary Board of Education | Public junior high inside the community, named by both Wikipedia and the Federation of Calgary Communities. |
| St. Boniface School | Calgary Catholic School District | Catholic elementary inside the community. The district's site refuses automated clients, so this is from Wikipedia and the Federation of Calgary Communities. |
| St. Bonaventure School | Calgary Catholic School District | Catholic junior high inside the community. The district's site refuses automated clients, so this is from Wikipedia and the Federation of Calgary Communities. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. In a community this established, enrolment patterns and school configurations have shifted over the decades. Confirm the current designation for a specific address with the board before you buy: the Calgary Catholic School District's site refuses automated clients, so nothing on the Catholic side here was read from the board itself.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The lake freezes: skating, shinny and ice fishing on the LBHA membership
- Tobogganing on the 65-foot hill built from the lake's own excavation
- Trico Centre's arena carries the organised hockey season
- Fish Creek's trails are quiet and walkable, minutes south
- Skating surfaces stay open at the lake while the association holds the ice
- Family Day long weekend, LBHA events and rink time
- Chinooks can take the ice out for a few days at a time
- Deer and coyotes move along the natural hill on the eastern edge
- Ice off the lakes late in the month in a warm year
- Spring break: Southcentre and Trico Centre fill up
- First bare pavement on the Fish Creek pathways
- Sixty years of mature trees mean real snow-load and branch cleanup
- Lakes thaw fully; boats and docks return
- The community's mature canopy leafs out: its defining feature
- Goslings and ducklings on both lakes
- Street sweeping clears the winter gravel
- Beaches and courts readied for the season
- May long weekend: first beach evenings of the year
- Fish Creek in full leaf, minutes south
- Watch for the LBHA invoice ahead of the 30 June deadline
- Swimming season opens as the lakes warm
- LBHA fees due 30 June for the year ahead
- Sikome Lake in Fish Creek Park is the nearest public swimming water; confirm its dates before you go
- June rains: Calgary's wettest month
- Calgary Stampede: ten days, about 20 minutes up Macleod Trail
- Beaches, boating and fishing at full tilt
- Canada Day at the beach houses is a community fixture
- Evening thunderstorms roll off the foothills
- Warmest water of the year in both lakes
- Show jumping at Spruce Meadows, 18–25 minutes southwest
- Back-to-school runs at Southcentre and Willow Park
- Saskatoon and chokecherry picking along Fish Creek
- The mature canopy turns: the best colour weeks of the year here
- School year starts across all six community schools
- Boats out of the water by month end
- Elk bugling season in Kananaskis, west of the city
- Last reliable dry-trail weeks in Fish Creek
- First hard frosts; furnace season begins
- Leaf cleanup is a genuine chore under sixty-year-old trees
- First snowfall often before month end
- Lakes begin to freeze; stay off until the association flags them safe
- Winter tires on: Macleod and Anderson both ice up in cold snaps
- Christmas lights go up early; dark by 5pm
- Indoor season: Trico Centre and the library pick up
- Lakes typically freeze mid-to-late December: skating season opens
- Shortest days: sunrise about 8:38am, sunset about 4:30pm at solstice
- Chinooks can strip the snow overnight and bring it right back
- New Year's skate on the lake that started the model
77 more photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed, via Wikimedia Commons. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 77 photographs.
Honesty note. Lake Bonavista sits in the same south-Calgary corridor as the other communities on this site (the same Fish Creek Park minutes south, the same Red Line south leg, the same skyline) so the shared photo library genuinely applies. Midnapore-specific images are excluded, species shots taken elsewhere in Alberta are labelled as such, and nothing here is presented as a photograph of Lake Bonavista itself.