OKOTOKS - Champion Park is opening its doors to the public this Saturday (July 29).
The 55-acre park located five kilometres northeast of Okotoks is typically closed to the public but an open house from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. will allow community members to enjoy the property.
The public can take a stroll around the park, watch the rainbow trout swim in the pond, check out the wildlife in the wetland area or partake in games and activities.
A passport will be given to children, encouraging them to engage with the many interpreters and receive stamps after each visit. A complete passport can be traded in at the end of the visit for a prize.
Due to parking constraints, access to the event is by bus only. Buses will leave the curling rink parking lot at the Okotoks Recreation Centre every 15 minutes from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Book a seat on the bus at okotoks.ca.
Champion Park was gifted by the Knowlton family to Foothills County and the Town of Okotoks in 2016.
Gerald L. Knowlton built the park as an homage to the CPR and as a family tribute to his mother, Faye, and father, Frederick (Ted) Knowlton, a CPR station agent who served in the town of Standard, Alberta for 42 years. The park was replicated after the train station and surroundings that his father operated.
Founded in 1979, Champion Park includes not only the land, but a lake, a restored CPR railway station from Champion, Alberta, a number of outbuildings, railway tracks, a 1960s era locomotive, a 1948 mail-express car, a 1929 Executive car (“The Saskatchewan”), display and rail cars, rolling stock as well as other period equipment and railway artifacts.
