Categories: Lifestyle

A free walking festival is coming to Calgary on the first weekend of May

Photo via Beltline Urban Mural Project

A global event of free walking tours is coming to Calgary, and it’s the perfect way to get outdoors and experience the unseen aspects of the city’s most intriguing neighbourhoods.

Jane’s Walk is an annual festival of free, community-led walks and conversations. The festival was named after urbanist and writer Jane Jacobs, whose work advocated for a fresh and community-based approach to city building. Her core belief was that to truly know a city, one must walk it to observe the communities created by the people who live there.

From May 2 to 4, 2025, there will be 73 walks occurring throughout Calgary.

Connect with nature

Calgary is rich with gorgeous parks and beautiful natural areas, and learning more about them will give you a whole new appreciation.

Navigate hidden stairways, urban wilds, secret gardens, and neighbourhood cafes with Calgary’s Best Walks author Lori Beatti, bust out your binoculars and bird around the pond in McKenzie Towne, or learn about the medicinal properties of Calgary trees from the Light Cellar’s Malcolm Saunders.

Feeling creative? Flex your photography muscles on the Glenbow Ranch Photography Walk, or sketch what you see on the urban sketch walk through St. Patrick’s Island.

Connect with art

There’s no shortage of incredible public art in Calgary, and now you can learn the backstories of some of your favourite pieces. Explore public art spaces along the Bow River Pathway, navigate the colourful art of Bridgeland, marvel at the intersection of artistry and industry in Greenview, or join artist Cassie Suche as she leads a farewell walking tour of her Touch Traces art installation.

And of course, the fan-favourite BUMP Central Tours explores many of the pieces and artists behind one of Canada’s largest mural festivals.

Connect with history

Some of Calgary’s oldest neighbourhoods have some fascinating history behind them, and you’ll have the opportunity to learn that history on various tours hosted by the experts. Explore areas like Bowness Park, Elbow Park, Crescent Heights, Killarney, Marda Loop, and more.

Other fascinating tours include The Calgary That Could Have Been, which imagines alternate realities with CBC’s Jason Markusoff, and Explore Your Music Mile with founder and singer Bob Chartier.

Connect with the community

What goes into a community? Many tours seek to ponder that very question. Learn about urban planning in East Village, discover how zoning shapes our city, experience city safet y through the eyes of a child, or find out what sort of opportunities are available for empty and underused spaces in Calgary.

And no community is complete without its people, which is why Calgarians can engage in Medicine Wheel teachings next to the Blackfoot Confederacy Medicine Wheel, discover safe places for autistic people to go downtown, explore queer history in East Village, and feed it forward at the new Huggabowl Cafe.

And these are just a portion of the walks available from May 2 to 4 in Calgary. Wherever you live, whoever you are, there’s something incredible waiting for you to discover.

Check out the full list of walks online, and be sure to reserve your free spot.