Community Stories

Experience Red Deer winter

February 24, 2019

Welcome week two athletes!

You’re here for the Games; for the rush, for the competition, for the gold.

But while you’re here, don’t forget about the experience – the culture, the festivals, and the city of Red Deer. While you’re here, we want you to have the true Red Deer experience; we wanted to let you in on some of our best local favourites, so we went straight to the source.

We asked some Red Deerians to share what their favourite [winter] Red Deer activities are, and their answers did not disappoint!

  • Go skating at one of our many, many outdoor rinks
    • Red Deer has 76 outdoor skating rinks that are maintained throughout the winter.
    • Dena says one of her favourite things to do is go skating at Bower Ponds and drop by the pavilion for a grilled cheese sandwich afterwards!
    • Jennifer and her kids are big fans of our neighbourhood rinks and sledding hills, which can be found in almost every neighbourhood in Red Deer!
  • Setters Place at Great Chief Park
    • Jess says she loves to take her family skating at the new oval at Setters Place.
    • The speed skating oval is just one of Red Deer’s new facilities that was built for the Canada Winter Games. We hosted long-track speed skating competitions there just last week, but now that the competition is complete, the oval has reopened for public skating once again.
  • Drop in to one of our recreation facilities
    • Red Deer has four recreation centres, not to mention arenas, with great drop in schedules and activities.
    • Amber and Sora both love to spend time at the Collicutt Centre. Amber loves to take her daughter to the Collicutt Centre to go for a swim, while Sora enjoys everything from swimming and field house activities to getting a quick massage.
  • Check out our trail system
    • Chantal loves to hit Red Deer’s trails. She describes them as peaceful, beautiful and calm, and says they are a nice little escape from a busy city.
  • Check out our great local businesses
    • Jess loves to drop by Carnival Cinemas for cheap movies and great popcorn, while her kids love the virtual reality zone!
    • Karen loves to head downtown to grab some food at any one of our local restaurants.
    • Amber loves to go to Bo’s Bar and Grill for food, drinks and great entertainment.
    • DJ said he loves listening to live music at The Vat.
    • Scott and Jeremy said they both love trying out local craft beers.
  • Cheer on our local teams
    • Jeremy brings the kids and gets out to as many Red Deer Rebels games as he can! The Rebels are part of the Western Hockey League and play at the Centrium.