Live in Scenic Acres
A 1981 community above the Bow's valley with some of the strongest incomes in the established northwest, and the views that justify the name.
Scenic Acres was established in 1981 on land annexed in 1961, above the Bow valley's rim. The 2021 census counted 7,850 residents in 2,935 private households, with a median household income of $134,000 in 2020 against $98,000 across Calgary, 92 per cent of households owning and 90 per cent of the dwellings single-detached. Crowfoot station opened on its corner on 5 June 2009 with about 1,350 parking spaces.
The name is accurate
Bounded by Crowchild Trail to the north, Nose Hill Drive to the east and south, and Stoney Trail to the west. The community association gives the Bow River as the southern edge. Ward 1.
Scenic Acres was established in 1981 on land annexed in 1961, above the Bow valley's rim. The 2021 census counted 7,850 residents in 2,935 private households, with a median household income of $134,000 in 2020 against $98,000 across Calgary. Wikipedia still carries $145,685 from the 2015 count, which the census has since replaced.
Housing and population. 90% of the dwellings are single-detached and there is no apartment building of any height. 92% of households own, against 69% citywide, the highest ownership share on this site's northwest list. The build-out is legible in the numbers: 39% of occupied dwellings date from 1981 to 1990 and 54% from the 1990s. It is an older community now, with 23% of residents 65 or over against 13% across Calgary.
The name is earned: the southern rim looks over Bowmont Park's valley, the western streets face the mountains, and the internal ravines thread the crescents with viewpoints. The community association runs a hall at 8825 Scurfield Drive NW with an indoor rink, outdoor shinny and leisure rinks, and tennis, basketball and beach volleyball courts.
Getting around. Since 5 June 2009, Crowfoot station on the community's corner has given it what most high suburbs lack: a rail commute, with about 1,350 parking spaces. The census is blunt about how much it is used, though. 5% of employed residents take transit, against 9% citywide, and 82% drive.
- 93% of the occupied stock was built between 1981 and 2000. Original roofs, furnaces and plumbing on a house that age are past design life
- Rim and ravine lots need slope and drainage attention
- Crowchild and Stoney border two edges
- Only 8% of households rent and there is no apartment building in the community, so the entry price is a detached house
How Scenic Acres got here
- 1961The land is annexed by the City of Calgary.
- 1981Scenic Acres is established above the valley rim.
- 1985The Scenic Acres Community Association is registered on 15 April, when only about 10 per cent of the community was developed. It negotiated density changes, infrastructure relocations and noise mitigation with the developer.
- 1981 to 2000The community builds out: 39 per cent of the occupied dwellings date from 1981 to 1990 and 54 per cent from 1991 to 2000.
- 2009Crowfoot station opens on 5 June with about 1,350 parking spaces.
- 2013Robert Thirsk High School opens in September at 8777 Nose Hill Drive NW, taking grades 10 to 12 from nine communities including Scenic Acres.
- 2021The federal census counts 7,850 residents in 2,935 private households, with a median household income of $134,000 in 2020 and 92 per cent of households owning.
The valley below, the coulees within
Bowmont Park's natural valley lies below the southern rim (river flats, aspen and trail) and the community's own ravine pathways link the crescents above.
What the map does not show: the rim path at sunset is the community's daily ceremony. The name stops being marketing the first evening you walk it.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Scenic Acres
12 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 12 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. The station changes the math: downtown reads far by car and normal by train.
Every gym within reach
The Crowfoot Y around the corner, the giant Y beyond. Confirm hours before you count on anything.
- Shane Homes YMCA at Rocky Ridge is the bigger branch, sharing its address with the Rocky Ridge Library
- Bowmont's trails are the free option below the rim
- The internal ravines carry the daily walk
- The community association's own hall carries an indoor rink and outdoor rinks
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Melcor YMCA at Crowfoot open | YMCA branch at 8100 John Laurie Blvd NW, one of seven YMCA Calgary health and fitness branches. The Crowfoot Library is a separate address at 8665 Nose Hill Drive NW. | 5–8 min |
| Shane Homes YMCA at Rocky Ridge open | The larger northwest YMCA at 11300 Rocky Ridge Road NW, sharing its address with the Rocky Ridge Library. | 9–14 min |
| Bowmont Park trails open | Free option: the Bow valley natural area below the rim. | 3–6 min |
| Community ravine pathways open | The internal coulee network, views included. | 1–3 min |
Bowmont is the community's real gym. The valley absorbs whatever you bring to it.
Three systems inside the community, and Robert Thirsk for the ladder
Public (Scenic Acres School), Catholic (Monsignor E.L. Doyle) and francophone (École Nouveau Monde) all teach inside the community: an unusual trio. Scenic Acres School's own CBE site describes it as K to 9, while Wikipedia gives K to 4. Robert Thirsk High School, open since September 2013 on Nose Hill Drive, lists Scenic Acres among the nine communities it draws from.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Scenic Acres School | Calgary Board of Education | Inside the community. The school's own CBE site gives kindergarten to grade 9; Wikipedia gives K to 4. Neither publishes an address or an attendance area. |
| Monsignor E.L. Doyle School | Calgary Catholic | Wikipedia names it as the Catholic elementary, K to 6, inside the community. The district's own site refuses automated clients, so nothing here was read from it. |
| École Nouveau Monde | Francophone (FrancoSud) | Wikipedia names it as a francophone K to 6 inside the community, a rarity worth knowing about. Francophone eligibility has its own rules. |
| Robert Thirsk High School | Calgary Board of Education | Grades 10 to 12 at 8777 Nose Hill Drive NW in Arbour Lake, open since September 2013, enrolment 1,381 in 2022-2023. Its article lists Scenic Acres among the nine communities it draws from. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. Francophone eligibility has its own rules. The CBE assigns a designated school from the home address through a lookup that cannot be read from a static page, and the Calgary Catholic School District's site refuses automated clients, so confirm programme and catchment separately.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Valley-rim streets watch the river steam below
- Priority snow routes keep the main roads clear
- Indoor recreation carries the season
- Long dark evenings, but rarely for weeks at a stretch
- Ski traffic west on the Trans-Canada peaks on Friday and Sunday
- Coldest snaps usually break with a chinook
- Noticeably longer light by month end
- Indoor pools at their busiest
- Melt and refreeze on the side streets: ice cleats weather
- Pathways reopen as the snow goes
- First patio afternoons on the warm chinook days
- Street sweeping begins late in the month
- Last hard frosts: planting waits for the May long weekend
- Pathway and park season opens properly
- Garden centres open across the quadrant
- Migratory birds return to the parks
- Long evenings: sunset past 9pm by month end
- Lilacs and crabapples through the older streets
- Field sport seasons start on the community greens
- First genuinely warm stretches
- Peak daylight at the solstice: over 16 hours
- School year ends and the parks fill
- Evening thunderstorms begin building over the foothills
- Farmers' markets open for the season
- Calgary Stampede: ten days across the city
- Hottest month, with cool nights at this elevation
- Evening thunderstorms roll off the foothills
- Canada Day events in the parks
- Folk Festival on Prince's Island mid-month
- Kananaskis and Banff at their best, straight west
- Quietest weeks before school returns
- Smoke from western wildfires is possible
- School year restarts and morning traffic thickens
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- Poplar and aspen colour begins
- Evenings shorten fast
- Bowmont's aspens turn first below the rim
- First snow is normal, and normally melts
- Snow tires go on across the quadrant
- Nose Hill's grasses turn gold
- Ski season opens west on the Trans-Canada
- Dark by 5pm
- Freeze sets in for good
- Holiday retail season begins
- Chinook arches over the western skyline on clear days
- Holiday lights through the community streets
- Outdoor rinks open when the freeze holds
- Quiet, short days between the holidays
Every photograph in this guide's library is above
This library holds one photograph and the page has already printed it. The credits are in the footer.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Scenic Acres, 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.