Calgary Neighborhood Overview: Bridgeland- Riverside

Bridgeland-Riverside is a neighborhood located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, northeast of Downtown Calgary. It is bordered to the south by the Bow River, to the east by Deerfoot Trail, to the west by Edmonton Trail, and to the north by the community of Renfrew. The community is primarily residential and contains a mix of park side condominiums and single-family houses. Bridgeland features various restaurants, food markets, retail shopping, offices, financial services, churches, and schools. It is also home to popular attractions such as the Calgary Zoo, Telus Spark, The Bridges urban renewal development, and access to the city's large network of pedestrian pathways and parks. Tom Campbell's Hill park overlooks the downtown, Bow River, and northeastern part of the city, and St. Patrick's Island and St. George's Island lie in the southern part of Bridgeland. St. George's Island is home to the Calgary Zoo, Canada's second largest zoo. Bridgeland was established by Russian-German immigrants during Calgary's first population boom in the 1880s and was known as Germantown. It was annexed by the City of Calgary in 1910, and the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association was founded in 1908. The community is recognized as a "distinct bobo (bohemian/bourgeois) residential neighborhood" and has a high degree of walkability. According to the 2012 municipal census, Bridgeland/Riverside had a population of 5,594. The community is represented in the Calgary City Council by Gian-Carlo Carra and Druh Farrell, wards 9 and 7 respectively, while on a federal level, it falls in the electoral district of Calgary Centre-North and is represented in the House of Commons of Canada by MP Len Webber. The neighborhood is also home to the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon, Canada's longest running marathon, which starts and finishes in Bridgeland.