Canmore, Alberta - An Active Community ...
Sports & Recreation
 There are 70 kilometers of groomed trails to explore at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Constructed for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, it is renowned as a site for world-class cross country skiing, biathlon and sled dog competitions. In the summer the trails are popular with hikers and cyclists and used for mountain bike races.
Canmore is the national headquarters of the Alpine Club of Canada, and the area offers unique rock and ice climbing opportunities. Other popular outdoor pursuits include hiking, backpacking, canoeing, kayaking, river rafting, heli-hiking, horseback riding, sled dog touring, hang gliding and parasailing. We have hosted World Cup mountain bike races as well as the Trans Rockies Challenge mountain bike race.
Canmore has a fine Recreation Centre, with an arena for hockey and public skating during the winter, and space to accommodate festivals and trade shows in summer. The centre houses a swimming pool, weight room and public meeting rooms. Nearby is the Canmore Golf and Curling Club, with four sheets of ice and an 18-hole golf course. The town also has tennis courts, gyms for indoor sports, baseball diamonds and soccer fields, all within minutes of the downtown core. The new golf courses at Silvertip and Three Sisters Stewart Creek offer world class facilities in an unparalleled setting.
Arts & Entertainment
Since aboriginal painters applied their ochre pictographs to the rock walls of Grotto Canyon and Grassi Lakes, artists have been inspired by this special place. Internationally acclaimed painters such as A.Y. Jackson and Walter J. Phillips have sought it out. Today, private galleries and working studios display the work of a number of recognized local artists and crafts persons. The Canmore Public Library and Art Gallery features the work of the Canmore Artists and Artisans Guild as well as travelling exhibitions. Several art galleries in town offer excellent works from local & international artists.
 Canmore's appetite for music led to the formation of the Canmore Folk and Blues Club in the early 1970s. The club produces the annual Heritage Day Folk Festival, Alberta's longest running folk music celebration. The festival is held on the first weekend of August and attracts thousands of spectators to the Stan Rogers Memorial Stage in Centennial Park. The Canmore Highland Games, held in September, is fast becoming the leading event of its kind in Western Canada, and the Vic Lewis Band Festival hosts some of the finest school bands from across Alberta each November.
Community theatre has a long tradition in Canmore and a number of local companies have emerged. The Pine Tree Players stage several productions each year in venues like the Canmore Miners Union Hall, and dinner theatre is featured at local restaurants.
Concerts in the Policeman's Creek Drop-in Centre, special gallery showings and entertainment in the pubs and bistros, all contribute to a lively mix.
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