Granary Road is quickly becoming one of the best attractions for families in and around Calgary.
If you’re not familiar with Granary Road it opened in 2017 and it’s located just south of Calgary. It features a 36-acre Active Learning Park, 3.5 km of trails, Market, Loft serving up fresh food and beverages (including a new partnership with Village Brewery), Wedding Venue, Garden Centre and soon they will have a sunflower field, corn maze and more.
They’re also home to a new Aquaponics Lab in partnership with Lethbridge College.
Thanks to Granary Road I was given a sneak peek at this cool lab that demonstrates the power of the microbial world in converting fish waste to nutrient solutions. The lab makes fresh veggies, biochar (charcoal produced from plant matter and stored in the soil as a means of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere) to help grow the veggies and other plants, and has tilapia fish that they will harvest and sell as fresh fish at the market.
I didn’t think I was particularly nerdy when it came to plants and vegetables, but this lab brought out the inner nerd in me!
COVID-19 Precautions
Like many businesses, Granary Road has had to find a way to create a safe and enjoyable atmosphere for people that want to experience the park. You can read about their added precautions below are check out this video they have made.
The Active Learning Park has extra sanitization stations set up with signage outlining proper sanitizing recommendations. They also have highly visible signage placed in the park reminding people about social distancing. The fence posts in the park are 6 feet apart, and there are some red discs placed throughout the park to remind guests about staying a fence post away from other families.
Granary Road has hired “COVID MONITORS” who will ‘police’ the park and remind guests to social distance and warn or remove guests who are not following the posted COVID-19 protocols. The entire time the Active Learning Park is open, Granary Road has an employee whose sole job is to sanitize high touch zones. That employee will shut down the pods on a posted rotating schedule for thorough cleaning of all high touch areas – the staff member will be outfitted with a commercial backpack disinfectant spray machine so they will be able to ensure they can reach everything. Guests will not be allowed to enter the pod during this disinfecting time. Bathrooms in the Active Learning Park will receive extra sanitizing as well on a frequent basis.
In addition, some of the exhibits have been changed to eliminate the spread of germs in areas that cannot be easily sanitized. For example, the guano machine in the BAT CAVE has been removed and replaced with an easily sanitized bat house.
Weddings at Granary Road
I have been a couple of times to Granary Road but had had no idea that they were planning a wedding venue. Let me tell you it is pretty darn cool, and if I were planning a wedding this would be high on my list of venues. Inspired by various wineries, this wedding venue is a barn with terraced gardens surrounding it. The coolest part of the venue, in my opinion, is that all of the barn walls open to create an indoor-outdoor feel. With southern Alberta’s unpredictable weather, this ensures your wedding day will go ahead no matter what.
Obviously, due to COVID-19, they are busy trying to reschedule all cancelled and postponed weddings, but if you’re planning for summer 2021, this could be the venue for you.
Active Learning Park
The Granary Road Active Learning Park is full of informative tools including trivia questions, education walls, games and activities that are aimed to energize, entertain and educate. These one-of-a-kind play areas are great for all kids. Clara’s favourite was the trampoline park and the goats that she got to pet, but there is TONS to explore.
Contest
I’ve teamed up with Granary Road to give away a prize pack from various vendors at the market as well as for free passes to the park. Enter now on my Instagram account and check out the list of prizes below.
- 2 Day Passes to Granary Road’s Active Learning Park
- Summer Sausage from Luc’s European Meats
- 4 Pack of Assorted Kombucha from Happy Belly Kombucha
- GR Burger & Side from Primal Eats Primal Grounds
- Olive Oil and Vinegar from Soffritto Calgary
- Bag of Salted Caramel Almonds from Going Nuts YYC
- Beautiful plant for your garden from Dunvegan Gardens at Granary Road
- Jar of Granary Road Honey (made from Granary Road’s very own bees)
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