We’re halfway through spring and thoughts are turning toward gardening, backyard fun, summer sports, vacations, and camping. Will you be vacationing in our beautiful Canada this summer?
The upcoming months hold plenty of activity in our own lovely community. Be sure to mark these dates in your calendar.
2025 Spring Fling
The communities of Queensland/Diamond Cove/Deer Ridge partnered to hold the 2025 Spring Fling on April 12, and by all accounts this was once again a great success. Our thanks go out to Queensland/Diamond Cove for hosting this event in their community hall, and for all the work done by their amazing volunteers. Deer Ridge was very pleased to be able to sponsor the event again this year, and we hope that many of you were able to make it out with your families to welcome spring with a little bit of community fun.
Calgary’s New Zoning Bylaw – Participate May 5 to 31
From the City of Calgary and Federation of Calgary Communities:
“Since October 2023, the City Building Program team has been working with Calgarians to learn what they value and experience living in Calgary, and to plan for the future of how we move, build, and use land across the city.
The City Building Program includes the Calgary Plan (which merges the current Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan into one document), the Zoning Bylaw (currently the Land Use Bylaw), and Street Manual (currently the Complete Streets Policy and Guide). All three of these documents have been drafted based on four phases of public engagement, existing policies, Council priorities, partnering with the Indigenous community and equity-denied groups, and consultation with interested parties.
While the Calgary Plan was brought to the Infrastructure and Planning Committee and deferred until Q2 2026, the Zoning Bylaw draft is still seeking public input and feedback.
Curious to know what the Zoning Bylaw is and how it impacts you? This upcoming fifth phase of engagement will continue building awareness and education on the Zoning Bylaw and how it ties into the Street Manual and the Calgary Plan.
Your voice matters. We [City of Calgary] want to hear from you to ensure the new Zoning Bylaw meets the needs of our growing city. You can participate online or at in-person events around the city from May 5 to 31, 2025 and subscribe to the City of Calgary’s City Building Program newsletter for project updates. https://calgary.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=717a7bc01b3dda74bd2c04b44&id=793b055da3.
For more information, visit calgary.ca/citybuilding or email [email protected].
Board Meeting – May 20
The Deer Ridge CA Board meets monthly at 7:00 pm on the third Tuesday of each month, except July and August, when we break from meetings, but community association work continues. Our next regular board meeting will be held May 20, and you are invited. Please email us in advance at [email protected] if you would like to attend or add a topic to the agenda.
Yellow Slide Park Shade Shelter Grand Opening – May 24
Mark May 24, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm, in your calendars! Deer Ridge will be holding a grand opening celebration for the beautiful new shade shelter that was built in Yellow Slide Park, between water restriction stops and starts, last summer. There will be cake, special guests, and a prize draw! If you have a T-Rex costume, please wear it. Invite your neighbours, T-Rex or otherwise, to the party!
Community Gardens – Spring Schedule
The Deer Ridge community gardens will start up this month for another great growing season of fresh, organic, vegetables and flowers for gardeners’ tables.
Gardeners who have signed up for a plot this year will receive an email inviting them to come to the spring cleanup/startup event, when the garden plot soil will be turned and gardeners may dig in new compost, if they wish. New compost is expected to arrive later in May, and we hope to be ready for planting by the last week of May.
Work on the renewal of the aging community garden plots will continue throughout the summer. The work is not expected to impact gardeners, as the wooden frame of each plot will remain, but be reinforced with an outer shell of corrugated metal cladding.
If you would like to learn more about the community gardens, see the garden plot rehab work in progress, or express your interest in joining the group, please visit the gardeners on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DeerRidgeCommunityGarden.
Spring Green Space Cleanup – May 31
Hold the date! This spring, community members and residents will once again be doing a walk about and cleanup of our Deer Ridge green spaces. If you’d like to get your steps in while you do your neighbourhood a world of good picking up the debris that blew in all winter, please meet with us at Yellow Slide Park on May 31 at 10:00 am for morning refreshments, and to grab your to-go kit of gloves and garbage bags. Bring your family, partner up with another community member, or take a friend. Each group, team, or individual will get a route or an area to walk, and then we’ll all bring our bags of ‘treasures’ back to Yellow Slide Park to be taken for disposal and get bragging rights for the number of steps taken and the number of bags filled.
Annual General Meeting – June 17
Mark your calendars and come to the Deer Ridge CA Annual General Meeting on June 17 at 7:00 pm, location to be announced. This will be a great time to come and learn more about what your community has been doing for you, and to let us know how you think we’ve been doing and what we can do to keep our community vibrant and engaged. We want to hear from you. Nominations for new/returning board members will also be voted upon at this meeting. Voting is limited to those with current memberships.
Community Festival – June 29
The annual end of June Community Festival that we have come to love will be happening again this year, in the parking lot by Cornerstone Music Café (14919 Deer Ridge Dr SE). There will be plenty of free events, vendors, music, arts and crafts for the kids, and community fun for all. Details will be forthcoming – watch for posters and announcements in the community, in the community association members’ email blast, and on the deerridgeca.com webpage.
City of Calgary “Dump Your Junk” – July 5
Have you got a bunch of stuff that you’d like to get rid of hanging around your basement, garage, or yard, or maybe languishing in the back lane behind your home? Well, good news! Our community’s annual City of Calgary “Dump Your Junk” event will be held in the parking lot at the Queensland/Diamond Cove community hall on July 5, from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm this year. This is your opportunity to get rid of residential waste without driving to the dump or paying a fee.
Round up all those worn out, broken, or out-dated items from your home and yard and bring them to be disposed of right near home. Learn what you can bring to the community cleanup at https://www.calgary.ca/communities/community-cleanup-items.html.
If you would like to volunteer with traffic control for this event, please connect with us at [email protected]. The City of Calgary provides three packer trucks with crews to handle community junk drop offs and we provide the volunteers to manage traffic.
Many thanks to Queensland/Diamond Cove Community Association for hosting this event.
Movie in Yellow Slide Park – August 16
This year’s Movie in Yellow Slide Park will take place on Saturday, August 16. Last year’s early evening start to the movie, with the new type of screen we were able to rent, was a great success, so we will be repeating that format again this year. Also, 2025 marks the Deer Ridge Community Association’s 45th anniversary, so mark August 16 on your calendar and come prepared to enjoy all the fun of previous years’ Movie in the Park events, plus cake and even more fun!
Movie in the Park is a large undertaking, but a fun one, and we will be looking for volunteers to help organize, set up, serve food, run crafting and fun stations, cleanup, and tear down, again this year. Those who have helped us in the past know that this is a time of camaraderie and fun for volunteers, as well, and we invite you to join us in serving our community at this event. Contact us at [email protected] to join in the fun and feel the community spirit.
We look forward to seeing you at any or all of our community events this spring and summer. If you see us there, please come up and say hello. And enjoy this beautiful season!
Click here to the Deer Ridge Community News home page for the latest Deer Ridge community updates.
