Calaway Park

Calaway Park is a big amusement park and campground in Springbank, Alberta, Canada. It covers about 160 acres of land, but the amusement park part takes up 90 acres. It is the largest amusement park in western Canada and is located about 4 kilometres west of Calgary's city limits.

The idea for the park started in 1979, and it was first planned to be called Flintstone Fun Park, after the animated sitcom The Flintstones. Before it opened to the public in 1982, the owners changed the name to Calaway Park. Today, the park has many fun things to do, like carnival games and 32 amusement rides, including three roller coasters.

History

Calaway Park was created by John McAfee, a lawyer, and 15 other investors. They paid for rights to use characters from The Flintstones and planned a Victorian-style park. The park was originally named Flintstone Fun Park but later changed to Calaway Park, combining “Cal” from Calgary with “away” to show its distance from the city.

The park faced many challenges during its early years, including disputes with local residents and changes in leadership. Despite financial difficulties and lawsuits, the park continued to operate and add new attractions. Over the years, Calaway Park has grown and changed, adding new rides and events while keeping some of its original Flintstones-themed buildings. Today, it remains a popular amusement park and campground near Calgary.

Grounds

Calaway Park is in Springbank, Alberta, and covers about 65 hectares (160 acres) of land. The amusement park itself uses 36 hectares (90 acres) of this space. It is the largest amusement park in western Canada. Besides the rides, the park also has a campground with 104 spots.

Attractions

Calaway Park has many fun things to do, like 20 carnival games. In 2019, they added a splash pad for cooling off. There are also 32 amusement rides, including three roller coasters. The park has live shows made just for families with kids aged 2 to 14.

Removed attractions

Some old rides that are no longer there include Cosmic Spin, which spun around on a tall arm, and Mind Blaster, which moved back and forth while spinning. Other things that were removed were a ball pit called Ball Crawl and a soft play area named Freddie Fireboat. There was also a play area based on the show Theodore Tugboat, but it is no longer there.

Operations

Calaway Park has 40 full-time staff and over 650 seasonal employees. Each employee gets training, and most visitors say nice things about the staff. In 2000, the park was named the "Top Employer of Youth" in Canada. One of the rides, Super Jet, was a powered roller coaster that was there from 2002 until 2012.

Department managers were allowed to run their parts of the park like small businesses to encourage new ideas. Permanent staff are encouraged to join the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions to learn new things. In 2010, the park won an award for its reward and recognition program.