Growth Spurt: | Alberta Venture Stops Over in Okotoks

Jul 1, 2010

	Population 21,690 (2009)
	Median Household Income $77,438 (2005)
	Average Home Price $346,852 (April 2010)
	Weather Temperatures average 23 C in the summer and -9 C in the winter. The warm west wind provides a respite from the winter chill; Okotoks has an average of 25 chinook days each year.
	Commuter Route From Calgary, take the short 18-kilometre drive south on the QE2 and exit onto Highway 552 to enter on the north side of town.
	Economic Picture Advertisement The biggest employer in town is Walmart, followed closely by the private and separate school divisions and the municipality. There is some light manufacturing in the north end of town, including Altrek, which manufactures bathtubs, and Rolco, which makes metal shutters.
	Under Construction The 32nd Street Bridge and River Crossing is a $27-million project that will add a second river-crossing in the town, linking new residential developments on the north and south sides of the Sheep River. A brand new $14.5-million Costco Wholesale store is going up in the Southbank Business Park, along with other big box stores including Michaels and Winners. The town hopes a new industrial complex on the northeast side of town will attract light manufacturing, offices and hotels.
	Conversation starter The town has its own “Little Britain” with an influx of immigrants from the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the European Union in recent years. There’s no official tally, but the town estimates well over 1,000 residents hail from the EU. Many are “British Bobbies” who immigrated to Canada when Calgary Police Service launched a campaign to attract U.K. police officers four years ago.
	Where to Eat A trip to Café Divine at 42 McRae St. is a must. The restaurant offers lunch and dinner menus that focus on fresh fare from local area farmers. Next door, the Heartland Café, a popular Calgary restaurant, just opened an Okotoks loc-ation in a 107-year-old Baptist church. One block over, Bistro Provence at 52 North Railway St. offers French food. Many longtime locals also swear by the Big Rock Inn, just down the street, for some of the best Chinese food around.
	Where to Sleep In town, choices are limited to three hotels and a handful of B&Bs, with 110 rooms in total. The Lakeview Inn and Suites and the Okotoks Country Inn, both on the south side of town, are the best bests.
	Diversions Get on Highway 7 and drive southwest for 10 kilometres to Big Rock, a 16,500-ton rock deposited by a glacier about 10,000 years ago. For golfers, the links at D’Arcy Ranch, northwest of town, offer a wonderful mountain view, and there are two more public courses east of town. In the winter the Okotoks Oilers, the junior hockey team, are sure to draw a crowd to the 1,500-capacity Foothills Centennial Arena.