Live in Copperfield
A 2002 Hopewell-built community organized around three stormwater ponds rather than a private lake, boxed in by 52 Street SE on one side and Stoney Trail on two others.
Copperfield was launched by Hopewell Residential Communities in 2002 and largely built out within about four years — close to 4,000 homes on 4.4 km² between 52 Street SE and Stoney Trail. It is now one of the larger southeast communities by population: 14,095 residents in 5,050 dwellings at the 2021 census, organized around three stormwater ponds — Stillwater, Wildflower and Copper — rather than a private lake, with a community hall, outdoor rink and courts run by the local association. This is what living here is actually like.
Boxed in by 52 Street SE and Stoney Trail, and built out in four years
Bounded west by 52 Street SE, north by McIvor Boulevard toward 130 Avenue SE, and south and east by Stoney Trail, with New Brighton, McKenzie Towne and Mahogany adjacent. Ward 12, inside the City of Calgary, Alberta.
Copperfield was launched by Hopewell Residential Communities in 2002 and largely built out within about four years — roughly 4,000 homes, including some 2,800 single-family houses, on 4.4 km² between 52 Street SE and Stoney Trail.
Housing and income. At the 2021 census it held 14,095 residents in 5,050 dwellings, with a median household income of $110,000 and homeownership at 80%. 30% of residents are immigrants, and the low-income rate sits at a comparatively modest 5%.
There is no private lake here. Copperfield is organized instead around three stormwater ponds — Stillwater, Wildflower and Copper — and a community hall with an outdoor rink, tennis and basketball courts, run by the Marquis de Lorne Community Association under its public name, the Copperfield Community Association, registered in 2005.
Transit and schools. BRT Route 302 runs the length of 130 Avenue SE to downtown and South Health Campus, but there is no CTrain station in the community — the nearest, Somerset–Bridlewood, is a bus transfer away. Public high schoolers were redesignated to Lord Beaverbrook High School for 2025–26, moving off Joane Cardinal-Schubert.
- No private lake — the community's water features are three public stormwater ponds, free to use
- No CTrain station inside the community; the nearest, Somerset–Bridlewood, is a bus transfer via Route 153
- Public high schoolers were redesignated to Lord Beaverbrook High School for 2025–26 — confirm the current boundary before you buy
- The 130th Avenue SE big-box strip covers everyday shopping, but it sits on the community's own boundary rather than a short walk in
- Homes here are around twenty years old — original furnaces, roofs and windows are approaching replacement age on the earliest phases
- Getting to the mountains means crossing the whole city — budget well over an hour to Kananaskis
How Copperfield got here
- 2002Hopewell Residential Communities begins construction on Copperfield in Calgary's southeast, on land between 52 Street SE and what becomes Stoney Trail.
- 2005The Marquis de Lorne Community Association — operating publicly as the Copperfield Community Association — is registered on 11 July, and later builds a hall with an outdoor rink, tennis and basketball courts.
- 2006The four-year homebuilding push wraps up: close to 4,000 homes, including roughly 2,800 single-family houses.
- 2012Civic census counts 7,834 residents in 3,043 dwellings, a 9.4% increase on 2011 — the community is still filling in.
- 2013Calgary Transit extends BRT Route 302 down 130 Avenue SE to the new South Health Campus, giving Copperfield a one-bus run to downtown and the hospital.
- 2021Federal census counts 14,095 residents in 5,050 dwellings — Copperfield is fully built out and one of the larger communities in the southeast.
- 2025The Calgary Board of Education redesignates Copperfield's public high schoolers from Joane Cardinal-Schubert to Lord Beaverbrook High School, starting the 2025–26 school year.
Three stormwater ponds and a community rink, not a private lake
Copperfield's open space is built around Stillwater, Wildflower and Copper ponds, linked by community pathways, plus the tennis and basketball courts and outdoor rink at the community hall. None of it carries a fee the way a private lake community's amenities do — it comes with living here.
The resident's angle: Fish Creek Provincial Park, one of North America's largest urban parks, is a genuine drive rather than a walk from here — about fourteen to nineteen minutes via Stoney Trail and Bow Bottom Trail. That is the honest trade-off against communities built directly along the Bow or Fish Creek valleys.
21 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 21 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are estimated from the centre of the community to each destination using Calgary's road grid, and are rounded to honest ranges rather than presented as precise figures. The 130th Avenue SE big-box strip and Stoney Trail are both close because they sit on Copperfield's own boundary; the mountains and the nearest CTrain station are both a genuine haul.
Every gym within reach
The community hall covers the free basics — an outdoor rink, tennis and basketball courts — and the Brookfield Residential YMCA at Seton is the anchor facility for everything else, with chain gyms and studios clustered in McKenzie Towne and Seton.
- Among the largest YMCAs in the world — multiple pools, twin arenas, gymnasiums and a climbing wall
- A Calgary Public Library branch sits inside the same building
- GoodLife and Anytime Fitness are both closer, in McKenzie Towne's retail centre
- The community association hall covers the free basics: outdoor rink, tennis and basketball courts
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Brookfield Residential YMCA at Seton open | Among the largest YMCAs in the world: multiple pools, twin arenas, gymnasiums, climbing wall, running track and a library branch under one roof. | 10–14 min |
| Copperfield Community Association Hall open | Free option: outdoor rink, tennis and basketball courts, included with community association membership. | 2–5 min |
| GoodLife Fitness — McKenzie Towne Centre open | National chain club in the neighbouring community's retail centre. | 6–10 min |
| Anytime Fitness — McKenzie Towne open | 24-hour access chain gym on McKenzie Towne Drive SE. | 6–10 min |
| Orangetheory Fitness — Seton open | Heart-rate-based group interval training studio at Seton. | 9–13 min |
| F45 Training — Seton open | Functional group training studio, 45-minute classes. | 9–13 min |
The free option is a real one. Community association membership covers the outdoor rink and both courts; everything else on this list is a paid facility, so confirm current rates before you plan a routine around one.
Two schools inside the community, and a high school designation that just changed
Copperfield School (K–5) serves the public side and St. Isabella School (K–9) serves the Catholic side, both inside the community. There is no CBE junior high inside the boundaries, and public high schoolers were moved from Joane Cardinal-Schubert to Lord Beaverbrook High School starting 2025–26.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Copperfield School | Calgary Board of Education | Public K–5 inside the community. |
| St. Isabella School | Calgary Catholic | Catholic K–9 inside the community, also serving Elgin and Inverness. |
| Lord Beaverbrook High School | Calgary Board of Education | Public senior high; Copperfield students were redesignated here for 2025–26, moving off Joane Cardinal-Schubert High School. |
| Designated public junior high | Calgary Board of Education | No CBE junior high sits inside Copperfield. Confirm the current designation for a specific address with the board before you buy. |
| Calgary Catholic School District | Calgary Catholic | Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. Confirm the current junior and senior high designation for a specific address with the board before you buy — the 2025–26 change shows designations in this corridor are still being adjusted as the southeast fills in.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel — the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Copperfield's outdoor rink at the community hall runs through the coldest stretch
- Wildflower, Stillwater and Copper ponds ice over — stay off until the community association flags them safe
- Route 302 BRT keeps running into downtown and South Health Campus on priority routes
- 130th Avenue SE's big-box stores are the default for winter errands
- Family Day weekend brings extra programming to the community hall
- Outdoor rink and skating season near its peak
- A chinook can turn the rink to slush within a day, then it refreezes
- Seton YMCA's indoor pool and gym fill up
- Ice starts coming off the three ponds late in the month in a mild year
- Spring break sends families to the Seton cinema and YMCA
- Pathways around the wetland ponds reopen as the snow clears
- Meltwater pools on Copperfield's flat streets before the storm drains catch up
- Wetland ponds thaw fully; waterfowl return to Stillwater and Wildflower ponds
- Community association tennis and basketball courts reopen
- Last hard frosts typically pass by month's end
- Copperfield School and St. Isabella wrap up spring break
- May long weekend brings the first patio evenings at McKenzie Towne and Seton
- Community league and school sports seasons start
- Hail season begins, as it does across the southeast
- Pathways around the wetland ponds green up fast
- School year ends at Copperfield School and St. Isabella
- Longest evenings of the year — light past 10pm
- Thunderstorm season fully under way
- Ponds and community pathways at their busiest of the year
- Calgary Stampede — ten days, about 25 minutes north via Deerfoot Trail
- The community hall's outdoor courts see their heaviest use of the year
- Evening thunderstorms roll in from the west
- Hottest month, with little shade along Stoney Trail's edge
- Back-to-school shopping fills 130th Avenue SE's big-box stores
- Warmest stretch for evening walks around the wetland ponds
- Quiet weeks before the school year restarts
- Spruce Meadows Masters, about 35 minutes west
- School year restarts at Copperfield School and St. Isabella
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- 130th Avenue SE retail is busiest of the year with back-to-school traffic
- Public high schoolers now head to Lord Beaverbrook rather than Joane Cardinal-Schubert, following the 2025–26 redesignation
- First snow is normal, and normally melts within days
- Snow tires go on
- Wetland ponds and pathways quiet down for the season
- Shorter evenings noticeable by mid-month
- Dark by 5pm
- The community hall's rink crew starts prepping the ice
- 130th Avenue SE's holiday retail season begins
- The three ponds start to freeze over
- The community rink opens for the season once the ice holds
- Holiday quiet settles across the community
- Chinooks, when they come, can strip the snow overnight and bring it right back
- Route 302 keeps running through the holidays into downtown and South Health Campus
36 photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed and served from this app — nothing loads from a third party. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 36 photographs.
Honesty note. This page uses only the general Calgary, seasonal, Alberta-wildlife and day-trip photography from the site's shared library — nothing here is presented as a photograph of Copperfield itself, its ponds, or its community hall.