Live in Riverbend
A 1982 southeast community wrapped by a bend in the Bow River, with Carburn Park's two ponds, the largest in the City's parks system, at its edge.
Riverbend was established in 1982, and the community association says the name comes from its location near a bend in the Bow River. The river curls hard around the community's north and west sides on its way past Carburn Park toward Ogden, with Deerfoot Trail running close behind it. At the 2021 census the community held 9,205 residents in 3,430 private households, 94 per cent of the occupied dwellings single-detached houses and not one of them an apartment. One of the most consistently low-rise communities in the city.
A community shaped by the river it's named for
Bounded north by Glenmore Trail and east by 24 Street SE. Wikipedia puts the western edge at Deerfoot Trail; the Federation of Calgary Communities puts it at the Bow River and gives the southern edge as the Douglas Glen boundary. Ward 11, in the City's Southeast sector.
Riverbend was established in 1982, and development began the same year. The name is literal, and the community association says so: it comes from the community's location near a bend in the Bow River, which curls hard around the north and west sides on its way past Carburn Park toward Ogden, with Deerfoot Trail running close behind it along that same side.
It is bounded north by Glenmore Trail and east by 24 Street SE. The two publishers disagree about the west: Wikipedia puts the edge at Deerfoot Trail, the Federation of Calgary Communities at the Bow River, with the Douglas Glen boundary to the south. The City's ward dataset puts the community in Ward 11, in the Southeast sector.
Housing mix. At the 2021 census the community held 9,205 residents in 3,430 private households: 94% single-detached houses, 3% row houses, and not one apartment in a building of any height. Ownership runs 90%, rental 10%, and median household income was $118,000 in 2020 against $98,000 across Calgary, with 15% of households spending 30% or more of income on shelter, against 23% citywide.
Commute. 82% drive to work as the vehicle operator and only 6% use public transit: no CTrain station sits inside the community, and Calgary Transit publishes no route page this audit could open. It still works out short. 31% of employed residents reach work in under fifteen minutes, against 21% across Calgary, and the office cluster along 18 Street SE sits inside the community's own boundary.
- 92% of occupied dwellings were built between 1981 and 2000, and none after 2015: original roofs, windows, furnaces and panels are at or past design life
- Riverbend School's own page calls it the designated school for the community, but carries no founding year and shows a standard calendar rather than the year-round multitrack one
- No CTrain station inside the community, and Calgary Transit publishes no route page this audit could open
- The Green Line's southeast segment opens in 2031 with ten stations. Quarry Park and Ogden are the closest; none is inside Riverbend
- The City lists seasonal outdoor skating at Carburn Park, but the ponds are river fed and it does not recommend ice fishing on them
- An office cluster sits inside the community's own boundary on 18 Street SE, unusual for a residential neighbourhood this size
How Riverbend got here
- 1970sCarburn Park is established on the bend in the Bow River the community is named for, on land supplied largely by Carburn Aggregates and mined for gravel before that. Its two man-made ponds are the largest in the City's parks system.
- 1982Riverbend is established as a community, and development begins the same year.
- 1987The Riverbend Community Association is registered as an Alberta society on 4 May. Its hall at 19 Rivervalley Drive SE has a main hall for 170, meeting rooms and an outdoor skating rink.
- 2019The City's last civic census counts 9,244 residents in 3,474 dwellings, 3,419 of them occupied and 3,069 owner-occupied.
- 2021The federal census counts 9,205 residents in 3,430 private households, 90 per cent of them owner households, with a median household income of $118,000 in 2020 against $98,000 across Calgary.
- 2031The Green Line's southeast segment is due to open with ten stations, two of them, Quarry Park and Ogden, immediately outside Riverbend.
A river bend, 135 hectares, and the largest ponds in the parks system
Carburn Park was established in the 1970s at 67 Riverview Drive SE, on land supplied largely by Carburn Aggregates and mined for gravel before that: 135 hectares built around two man-made ponds on a bend in the Bow River, with a paved regional pathway and riverine deciduous forest. The City calls Carburn Lake and Carburn Lagoon the largest ponds in the Parks system. Fishing, canoes, dinghies and paddle boats are permitted; motorized boats and swimming are not. The birds it names are belted kingfishers, great blue herons, common goldeneye and buffleheads.
What the map does not show: the City lists seasonal outdoor skating among the park's amenities and warns that the ponds are river fed, which is why it does not recommend ice fishing on them. Nothing publishes an ice report, so treat the surface the way you would any backcountry water. The community's own outdoor rink at the Riverbend Community Association hall on Rivervalley Drive SE is the managed alternative, and Fish Creek Provincial Park is a short drive south for a larger pathway network. Park hours are 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Riverbend
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 centre of the community to each destination using Calgary's road grid, and are rounded to honest ranges rather than presented as precise figures. Riverbend's numbers are unusual in one respect. The office cluster on 18 Street SE and Quarry Park's business district sit close enough that some residents commute inside or barely beyond the community's own boundary, which shows up in the census: 31% of employed residents reach work in under fifteen minutes, against 21% citywide.
Every gym within reach
The Remington YMCA in neighbouring Quarry Park does most of the work here, with a small cluster of private studios and chain gyms filling in around it, plus two genuinely free options inside the community itself.
- 108 Quarry Park Road SE, open 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends
- YMCA Calgary lists a gymnasium, a fitness studio, an indoor climbing wall, and strength and cardio equipment
- The Quarry Park Library branch is at the same address; the library publishes no other Riverbend-area branch
- F45 Training Quarry Park/Riverbend and Gold's Gym Douglasdale are the closest paid alternatives
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Remington YMCA at Quarry Park open | At 108 Quarry Park Road SE, open 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays: gymnasium, fitness studio, indoor climbing wall, and strength and cardio equipment. The Quarry Park Library branch shares the address. | 6–9 min |
| F45 Training, Quarry Park/Riverbend open | Functional group-training studio in the Quarry Park district. No publisher this audit could open carries its hours or terms. | 4–7 min |
| Gold's Gym, Douglasdale open | Chain gym option in the neighbouring community across the river. | 8–12 min |
| Riverbend Community Association outdoor rink open | Free option: the outdoor skating rink at the association hall on Rivervalley Drive SE, alongside hall rentals and community programming. | 2–4 min |
| Bow River Pathway & Carburn Park trails open | Free option: the paved regional pathway, plus fishing and non-motorized boats on Carburn Park's two ponds. Swimming is prohibited. | 1–2 min |
| Trico Centre for Family Wellness open | Full-service pool, arena and fitness centre in Willow Park. It is not on the City's list of indoor pools, which covers City-run facilities only. | 6–10 min |
Trico Centre for Family Wellness in Willow Park is a genuine backup for a full-service pool and arena, but it is the furthest option on this list and does not appear on the City's list of indoor pools, which covers City-run facilities only. Neither YMCA Calgary nor the City publishes a pool for the Remington branch, so confirm what is open before you count on any one facility.
Two elementaries inside the community, a middle school next door
Riverbend School (K–6, public) and Holy Angels School (K–6, Catholic) both sit inside the community: Wikipedia and the Federation of Calgary Communities each name the pair. Sherwood School, a public grades 4–9 middle school in the southeast, is the nearest middle-school option, though its own page does not name the communities it draws from.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Riverbend School | Calgary Board of Education | Public K to 6. The school's own page calls it the designated school for the community of Riverbend and notes a very low mobility rate. It carries no founding year, and shows a standard calendar rather than the year-round multitrack one this guide previously described. |
| Holy Angels School | Calgary Catholic | Catholic K to 6 inside the community. Wikipedia and the Federation of Calgary Communities both name it; the Calgary Catholic School District's own site refuses automated clients, so nothing here was read from the district. |
| Sherwood School | Calgary Board of Education | Public, grades 4 to 9, a middle school in southeast Calgary. The board's page does not name the communities it draws from. |
| Junior and senior high designations | Both boards | Sit outside the community boundaries for most students. Confirm the current designation for a specific address with the board before you buy. |
| Calgary Catholic School District | Calgary Catholic | Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. Riverbend School's own page calls it the designated school for the community of Riverbend and reports a very low mobility rate, with most students staying from kindergarten through grade six. It carries no founding year. Confirm the designated junior and senior high 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 district 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 City lists seasonal outdoor skating among Carburn Park's amenities, but nothing publishes an ice report: judge it yourself
- The Riverbend Community Association's own outdoor rink runs through the season, weather permitting
- Deerfoot Trail's river-adjacent stretch is a priority snow-clearing route
- Coldest weeks push traffic to the Remington YMCA's indoor pool and fitness floor
- Family Day long weekend brings crowds to the YMCA and Riverbend Shopping Centre alike
- Chinooks can strip the rink's ice for a few days at a time
- Common goldeneye and buffleheads, two of the birds the City names for the park, winter in the open river channels
- Coldest stretches typically break before month's end
- Melt and refreeze on the community's forty-year-old sidewalks and driveways
- Carburn Park's paved pathway loop is the first to clear of snow
- Spring break fills the YMCA's programming
- The Bow River's ice begins to break up along the bend
- Canada geese and the season's first goslings appear on Carburn Park's ponds
- Riverbend School and Holy Angels return from spring break
- Fishing season opens on the ponds and the river
- Last hard frosts before planting
- Long evenings: sunset past 9pm by month's end
- Canoes and kayaks go back in the water at Carburn Park
- Community league and field sport seasons start
- Hail season begins across the southeast
- Peak daylight at the solstice: over 16 hours
- School year ends at Riverbend School, Holy Angels and Sherwood
- Belted kingfishers and great blue herons, the birds the City names for the ponds, are at their most active
- Thunderstorm season is fully under way
- Calgary Stampede, about fifteen to twenty minutes north via Deerfoot or Glenmore Trail
- Carburn Park's ponds are busiest for fishing, paddleboarding and canoeing
- Evening thunderstorms roll in from the west
- The office cluster on 18 Street SE fills the shopping centre's lunch trade
- Warmest weeks for the ponds and the river pathway
- Quiet stretch before school returns
- Riverbend Shopping Centre runs back-to-school promotions
- Deer and coyotes are regularly seen in Carburn Park's meadows at dusk
- School year restarts at Riverbend, Holy Angels and Sherwood
- Balsam poplar and aspen begin to turn through Carburn Park
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- Migrating waterfowl stage on the ponds
- Carburn Park's forest is at its most colourful before month's end
- First snow is normal, and normally melts
- Snow tires go on
- Canoe and kayak season winds down on the ponds
- Dark by 5pm
- The community rink crew starts prepping for the season
- Indoor recreation at the YMCA picks up
- Riverbend Shopping Centre's holiday retail season begins
- Carburn Park's ponds usually take ice by mid-to-late month, though the City warns they are river fed
- Holiday quiet across the community's residential streets
- Chinooks, when they come, can strip the snow overnight and bring it right back
- The Riverbend Community Association's outdoor rink opens for the season
7 more photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed, via Wikimedia Commons. Filter by category.
Showing 1–7 of 7 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Riverbend, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Calgary library.