Spending the Holidays Downtown

While some of us escape to the suburbs, the countryside or a tropical destination for the holidays, sticking around downtown can be mighty cheery as well. Create your own inner city traditions or take part in some of the great events and opportunities that are happening throughout the month of December. Here are some of my favourite things to do downtown during the holidays:

Shopping

While everyone is hitting up the suburban shopping centers and malls on Boxing Day, you can take ease with knowing that you can get underground or street parking Downtown. Not to mention that The CORE has it’s very own C-Train stop on 7th Ave making it super simple for you to get in and out of the holiday bustle. There are so many great shops lining Stephen Avenue - you will never run out of great places to stop and find those perfect gifts right before Christmas. Or those perfect gifts for yourself - after Christmas!

Theatre

As a downtown dweller, there can be so much happening all of the time that it is hard to put time into just one element of inner city life. During the holidays, I like to take the time to indulge into some live theatre. Hard to go wrong with the holiday programming at the wonderful playhouses downtown. Theatre Calgary is running their annual production of A Christmas Carol which is actually sold out with only single tickets still remaining. But if you feel like escaping family and reality for a couple of hours, it is the perfect story to get you back in the mood for merry-making! You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown is currently playing at Alberta Theatre Projects. Who doesn’t love Charlie Brown, honestly? It is the perfect story for the whole family to enjoy together. The production runs until December 30th.

Ice Skating

We are so lucky to have the opportunity to have outdoor skating rinks in downtown Calgary! With the beautiful rink at Olympic Plaza in the heart of downtown and the scenic and romantic lagoon rink at Princes Island Park, you pretty much have to no excuse not to tie up those skates and do a couple laps.

Live Music

As per usual, downtown is a hub for local music - and great local music at that. One of the biggest music events happening this week is the End of The World Music Festival happening on Friday December 21st. Essentially, the festival poses the question to Calgary musicians, “If you only had one last show on earth, what would they play?”. Two stages at the historic Legion #1 on 7th Avenue SE will be jampacked with amazing local talent playing their last show on earth! For $25 in advance, can you think of a better way to celebrate the end of the world?

Food

We seem to be blessed in Calgary with a never-ending selection of amazing cuisine in our city. Downtown has plenty of amazing eating options out there from a quick bite to a six course meal! You can browse through the amazing directory, Downtown Calgary has put together. One of my favourite new spots is Cucina Market - I love it for any time of day. Fresh bistro food, you can’t go wrong. I have also been loving the aptly named, Downtown Food for their great menu full of unique dishes.

So, there you have it. You can still get everything out the holidays staying inner city, that you can get anywhere at Christmas time! Happy Holidays!

Tagged as: Cucina, food, ice skating, live music, shopping, Theatre