Live in Hawkwood
A 1981 community on the 1,230-metre ridge above Crowfoot, named for the dairy farm that came before it.
Hawkwood was established in 1981 on the high ground between John Laurie and Country Hills Boulevard, named for the Hawkwood dairy-farming family who arrived from England in 1913. The 2012 civic census recorded 9,831 residents in 3,331 dwellings; median household income was $96,806 at the 2005 count, with just 5.5% rental. Crowfoot's shopping and station sit below the ridge. This is what living here is actually like.
The ridge above Crowfoot
Bounded north by Country Hills Boulevard, east by Sarcee Trail, south by John Laurie Boulevard and west by Nose Hill Drive. Ward 2.
Hawkwood was established in 1981 on a former dairy farm — the Hawkwood family worked this ridge from 1913 — and filled through the 80s and 90s: 9,831 residents in 3,331 dwellings at the 2012 civic census.
It is the classic high-northwest formula: $96,806 median household income at the 2005 count, 5.5% rental, family lots on a 1,230-metre ridge with the mountain view built into the price.
Crowfoot below does the work — one of the city's largest retail districts, the Red Line station and the YMCA all sit under the ridge, four to eight minutes from any street in the community.
- 1980s stock is squarely poly-B era — verify plumbing
- Ridge exposure: wind and drifting are the winter reality
- Sarcee and Country Hills Boulevard border two edges — listen from specific streets
- Two-car life in practice; the station is a drive-and-park
How Hawkwood got here
- 1913The Hawkwood family arrives from England and dairy-farms the ridge.
- 1981Hawkwood is established on the family's former land.
- 1980s–90sBuild-out across the ridge, views west a selling point from the start.
- 2012Civic census records 9,831 residents in 3,331 dwellings.
The ridge, with Nose Hill across the trail
Internal ridge pathways with westward views carry the everyday; Nose Hill is five to eight minutes east across Sarcee, and Edgemont's ravine network is next door.
The resident's angle: the view streets face west into the weather — the same exposure that sells the sunset brings the wind. Visit on a January afternoon.
12 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 12 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. Everything essential sits below the ridge at Crowfoot; the rest of the city is a Red Line ride or the long way around.
Every gym within reach
The Crowfoot Y below, the giant Rocky Ridge Y beyond. Confirm hours before you count on anything.
- Shane Homes YMCA at Rocky Ridge for the full-scale option
- Crowfoot's commercial clubs cover the specialties
- Ridge pathways are the free option
- School gyms carry community programming
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Melcor YMCA at Crowfoot open | Pool, fitness floor and gymnasium, with the Crowfoot Library attached. | 4–7 min |
| Shane Homes YMCA at Rocky Ridge open | One of the largest YMCAs anywhere — pools, ice, climbing, track, theatre and fitness under one vast roof (opened 2018). | 7–11 min |
| Crowfoot commercial clubs open | The big-box gym options in the district below. | 4–7 min |
| Hawkwood community pathways open | Free option: ridge pathways with the westward views. | 1–3 min |
Crowfoot solves recreation for this community — the only question is which membership.
Elementary inside, the ladder below
Hawkwood School carries elementary inside the community; F.E. Osborne and the senior highs sit in the communities below the ridge.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Hawkwood School | Calgary Board of Education | Public elementary inside the community. |
| F.E. Osborne School | Calgary Board of Education | Junior high in Ranchlands; seniors ladder to Churchill or Robert Thirsk. |
| St. Maria Goretti School | Calgary Catholic | Catholic elementary; ladder via St. Jean Brebeuf to St. Francis. |
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 designation for a specific address — Churchill versus Robert Thirsk has moved for this area.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel — the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Ridge wind is the winter's defining feature
- 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
- Calgary Stampede — ten days across the city
- 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
- First snow lands here days before the valley below
- 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 Hawkwood itself.