Live in Harvest Hills
A 1987 community around a public pond — with the old golf course's redevelopment still reshaping its middle.
Harvest Hills was established in 1987 between Deerfoot and Harvest Hills Boulevard: 7,402 residents in 2,569 dwellings at the 2012 civic census, median household income of $78,949 at the 2000 count, and just 4.6% rental. Its central pond and green spine give it more water than most of the north — and the closure of the Harvest Hills golf course set off a redevelopment that is still adding homes to the middle of the community. This is what living here is actually like.
The pond, the old course, and the new streets on it
Bounded east by Deerfoot Trail, south by Beddington Trail, north by Country Hills Boulevard and west by Harvest Hills Boulevard. Ward 3.
Harvest Hills was established in 1987 around a central pond: 7,402 residents in 2,569 dwellings at the 2012 civic census, $78,949 median household income at the 2000 count, 4.6% rental.
The community's defining current event is the former golf course: closed, sold and — since 2016 — being redeveloped into new housing through the community's middle, over sustained neighbour objection. New streets are still arriving on the old fairways.
The pond and green spine remain the daily amenity, and Deerfoot on the boundary makes this one of the quickest airport addresses in the city.
- The former-course redevelopment means construction inside the community for years
- Original 1987–90s stock: verify poly-B plumbing
- Deerfoot borders the east — backing streets hear it
- No CTrain: the Green Line north leg remains a plan
How Harvest Hills got here
- 1987Harvest Hills is established around its central pond.
- 1990sBuild-out completes around the golf course.
- 2016The closed golf course's redevelopment begins — new housing on the old fairways, contested at every step.
- 2012Civic census records 7,402 residents in 2,569 dwellings.
More water than the north usually gets
The pond and its green spine run the community's centre — public, looped with pathway, geese included — and Nose Creek's valley pathway runs the Deerfoot edge.
The resident's angle: the pond loop plus the creek pathway make a genuine daily circuit; the new fairway streets are adding connections as they build.
10 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 1–10 of 10 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. Deerfoot compresses the airport run; downtown remains a real commute.
Every gym within reach
Vivo is the anchor; the pond is the habit. Confirm hours before you count on anything.
- Thornhill Aquatic is the second city facility, southwest
- Commercial clubs in the Country Hills district
- The pond loop is the free option
- The creek pathway adds the long run
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Vivo for Healthier Generations open | The north-central anchor — pools, gymnasium, fitness floor, climbing and a library branch, freshly expanded. | 3–6 min |
| Thornhill Aquatic & Recreation Centre open | City-run pool, gymnasium and fitness centre on Centre Street north. | 6–10 min |
| Pond loop and green spine open | Free option: the water-and-green corridor through the community's centre. | 1–3 min |
| Country Hills district clubs open | Commercial gyms in the Town Centre district. | 3–6 min |
Vivo membership is the practical default — everything else is a specific need.
Designations in the north-central cluster
Harvest Hills students designate into the surrounding cluster, laddering to North Trail High School; St. Clare carries Catholic elementary.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Designated schools nearby | Calgary Board of Education | Harvest Hills students designate to the north-central cluster, including North Trail High School. Confirm for a specific address. |
| St. Clare Elementary | Calgary Catholic | Catholic elementary in Coventry Hills. |
| Redevelopment note | Both boards | The former-course infill adds students yearly — designations here are more likely than most to shift. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. Confirm for a specific address, and recheck yearly — the infill makes this community's designations more mobile than most.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel — the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The pond freezes into the neighbourhood rink
- Priority snow routes keep the main roads clear
- Indoor recreation carries the season
- Long dark evenings, but rarely for weeks at a stretch
- Ski traffic west on the Trans-Canada peaks on Friday and Sunday
- Coldest snaps usually break with a chinook
- Noticeably longer light by month end
- Indoor pools at their busiest
- Melt and refreeze on the side streets — ice cleats weather
- Pathways reopen as the snow goes
- First patio afternoons on the warm chinook days
- Street sweeping begins late in the month
- Last hard frosts — planting waits for the May long weekend
- Pathway and park season opens properly
- Garden centres open across the quadrant
- Migratory birds return to the parks
- Long evenings — sunset past 9pm by month end
- Lilacs and crabapples through the older streets
- Field sport seasons start on the community greens
- First genuinely warm stretches
- Peak daylight at the solstice — over 16 hours
- School year ends and the parks fill
- Evening thunderstorms begin building over the foothills
- Farmers' markets open for the season
- Geese own the pond edge — give them their metre
- Hottest month, with cool nights at this elevation
- Evening thunderstorms roll off the foothills
- Canada Day events in the parks
- Folk Festival on Prince's Island mid-month
- Kananaskis and Banff at their best, straight west
- Quietest weeks before school returns
- Smoke from western wildfires is possible
- School year restarts and morning traffic thickens
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- Poplar and aspen colour begins
- Evenings shorten fast
- Peak autumn colour through the older tree-lined streets
- First snow is normal, and normally melts
- Snow tires go on across the quadrant
- Nose Hill's grasses turn gold
- Ski season opens west on the Trans-Canada
- Dark by 5pm
- Freeze sets in for good
- Holiday retail season begins
- Chinook arches over the western skyline on clear days
- Holiday lights through the community streets
- Outdoor rinks open when the freeze holds
- Quiet, short days between the holidays
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 Harvest Hills itself.