Riverbend Playgrounds

City of Calgary Parks & Rec has let us know that they have experienced several delays with part shipments and installation. The missing zipline track will be added in a few weeks once the proper parts arrive. In the meantime, the park has been opened to the public.  Let's enjoy this newly added amenity to our community!

We are pleased to announce we will be getting a new playground at 27 Riverbend Drive later this year!

Though the original plans developed by the Riverbend Playgrounds Taskforce recommended it be replaced with a natural playground, City Park’s was unable to meet that request. However, the winning design is very exciting and will cater to children in a wide age range. It incorporates the natural look and feel. The playground will feature 4 swings, a giant 45 degree slide and a 22 ft long zipline track. Please see the design graphic to get a better sense of how the playground will look like.

The project timelines are being finalized by City Parks and we will share more detailed updates as they become available.

In the fall, interested parents under the leadership of Jason Morton developed the design of the proposed natural playground and obtained quotes from the City of Calgary approved natural playground vendors. 

Unfortunately, City Parks was unable to honor the quotes obtained and facilitated their own bidding process (for all playgrounds scheduled for replacement in 2022). Despite assurances that our design including natural components will be considered, none of the quotes that City Parks received included any natural components.

When we inquired with City Parks about the possibility of delaying the project to ensure the playground includes natural components, we received the following response: “At this point, we are unable to put a hold on this playground. Please note that if you really want a natural playground in the community, perhaps that can be the focus of your next playground project’ -John Merriman, Parks Community Strategist, City of Calgary

We are very disappointed with this outcome as volunteers spent many hours working on the natural playground design. 

Focusing on the positive, Riverbend community will have a 34 year old playground replaced with something new in the coming months.

In 2019 a dedicated group of volunteers formed a Playgrounds Taskforce. They assessed all community playgrounds in Riverbend, prepared a report and recommendations for each playground. The information was presented during 2019 AGM as well is available below. 

Since then, a brand new playground at Riverview Circle was put in place and upgrades were completed to the Riverrock Manor playground in 2019.  In addition, both Riverbend schools have replaced their playgrounds in 2020.

One of the recommendations from the report, was to replace the original playground on 27 Riverbend Drive from 1988 with the natural playground to introduce more variety in our community. Most recently a small group of interested parents under the leadership of Jason Morton started discussing the design of the proposed natural playground.