Father's Day Weekend Fun in Calgary & Area

Enjoy these top picks for Father’s Day weekend fun in Calgary & Area! Fingers crossed for BBQ weather!

Table of Contents

Calgary

1. Bike to eats! These 10 Fun Family Bike Rides include tasty snack stop spots.

Bloom Art Installation, St Patrick’s Island Park

2. Try something new!

Geocaching is a fun treasure hunt you can do with your phone! Learn how here.
Go birding. With a free app like Merlin Bird ID, you can easily identify birds and “talk” to them by playing bird calls on your phone. Instructions here.
Try disc golf! Play at Baker Park NW (18 holes), Thornecliff NE (9 holes), Forest Lawn SE (18+10 holes) or Lloyd Park SW (18 holes). More info on courses and their locations here.
Learn to fly fish at Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park! Full day session (July 2 or 9 – register in advance) for only $70 including practice and fishing at Mitford Pond, Cochrane. Loaner gear provided, but bring your own lunch. **THIS WOULD MAKE A GREAT GIFT!**

Cool cache in Nose Hill Park – treasure inside!

3. Attend Parks Fest At Ralph Klein Park on Sunday, June 19 from 1 pm – 3 pm. Free activities include face painting, nature crafts, pond dipping and guided walks.

4. Have a Zoo Day! Enjoy brunch/lunch at the Zoo, then visit the animals and explore the gardens. The butterflies have hatched (see them in the Conservatory), lots of flowers are in bloom, and the robotic dinosaurs are always a hit. If you’re lucky, you might see Kimani, the baby gorilla, too!

June 17 – Grazers at Calgary Zoo opens for daily lunch! Enjoy tasty meals made with locally sourced ingredients. Kids menu and boozy drinks available (the latter not for kids of course!).
June 19 – Father’s Day Brunch at the Calgary Zoo. Zoo admission included. Reservations required. For more brunch spots, please see my Mother’s Day post.

Grazers Restaurant, Calgary Zoo

5. Head downtown for rainy day fun… Join the Downtown Selfie Scavenger Hunt, check out live music on Stephen Avenue, and visit the Calgary Police Interpretive Centre.

June 18 & 19 – Downtown Selfie Scavenger Hunt: Make some memories and capture them in photos! 12 noon – 5 pm. FREE! Enter to win a $500 shopping spree from the CORE Shopping Centre.
Youthlink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre has a Crime Lab, Police Street with large collection of police artifacts, and more. Best of all, it’s free! Open weekends 10 am – 4 pm (July 5 – Sept 3, open Tues-Sat).
Enjoy noon hour live music on the Stephen Avenue Stage (8 Ave SW and Centre Street) Tuesday-Saturday, weather dependent.

Wonderland Sculpture, Bow Tower, Calgary

6. Did someone say Block Party? June 18 is Calgary Neighbour Day. Organize your own party or attend one in your neighborhood. The City is waiving the $25 application fee, but permits must be obtained if you would like to book a green space or close a street.

7. Attraction of the Week: Bow Habitat Station. Go on a fish hatchery tour, feed thousands of rainbow trout, and explore the Discovery Centre. After, try your luck at fishing in the Kids Can Catch Trout pond (in front of Bow Habitat Station), play at the playground, walk the Pearce Estate Park wetlands interpretive trail, or bike the river pathway. For more details on exploring Inglewood by Bike, see this post.

Interactive Exhibit at Bow Habitat Station

Near Calgary

1. Cochrane Street Markets – Thursdays 5 pm – 9 pm (June 16, July 14, August 11, September 15).

2. Okotoks Parade and Children’s Festival – Saturday, June 18. Pancake breakfast by donation, parade and festival.

Kananaskis

1. The winter gate in Highway 40 is open, so you can hike Ptarmigan Cirque Trail, the BEST short hike in Kananaskis. Steep, but worth the effort!

Ptarmigan Cirque, Kananaskis

2. Don’t have time to drive that far? Try one the Best Short Hikes Near Calgary. Each hike is 4 km or less and 25-60 minutes from Calgary!

Grassi Lakes “Difficult” Trail, Canmore
The easy trail is stroller friendly.

3. The Bike ‘n Hike Shuttle opens June 18, so you can bike the Legacy Trail or Goat Creek Trail one way and get a ride back for a reasonable price. The shuttle also stops at Canmore Nordic Centre.

4. Top 5 Spring Things to Do in Kananaskis has more fun ideas including fishing! Lots of ponds have been stocked recently, so the fishing is great! Check out my tips for fun family fishing before you go, and be sure you have a valid WIN card and fishing license for each family member over 16.

Bill Milne Trail, Kananaskis Valley

5. Around Bragg Creek, Jumpingpound and Powderface trails are in good shape for biking or hiking! Shorter, kid-friendly options are Forget-Me-Not Pond (~2 km loop, no elevation gain + picnic area) and Alder Trail (1.6 km, 50 m elevation gain). Elbow Falls is a pleasant, short stop too!

Elbow Falls, Bragg Creek

Banff

Try one of these 10 Banff Day Trips! Fun for all ages and budgets.

Tunnel Bench Loop Mountain Biking Trail, Banff

For rainy day fun in Banff, I recommend the hot springs, Cave & Basin, lunch in town, and a short hike (it can’t rain all day, right?). More details here.

Did you know you can visit Cave & Basin FREE with your National Park Pass?

Brunch Spots

For brunch spots – in Calgary, Bragg Creek, Canmore and Banff – please see my Mother’s Day post.

Father’s Day Gift Ideas

For the Dad who has everything, print this Active for Life Printable Father’s Day Coupon Book. Some coupons have activities on them already; others may be customized by your children!

For Gifts of Adventure (like cave tours, rafting and horseback riding), please see my Mother’s Day post.

Rafting the Kananaskis River

Wishing you a fun Father’s Day weekend! Give me a shout on Twitter or Facebook to let me know where you went! 🙂

Calgary Parks Special Events
Calgary Family-Friendly Attractions
Biking Tunnel Bench Loop, Banff (intermediate-level mountain biking trail)
Bill Milne Trail, our favorite paved bike trail in Kananaskis

Father’s Day Weekend Fun in Calgary & Area