long weekend festivities getting back on track after snowy start
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it may have been a morning for hats and gloves for some, but it was a sunny and blue sky opening for calaway park on sunday, may 17, 2026. the day before, heavy spring snow delayed the annual first day for the amusement park.
gavin young/postmedia
after a wet and frosty start, victoria day long weekend activities have officially gotten underway.
the weather in calgary dawned bright and clear sunday with morning temperatures at 5 c and the skies a mix of sunny and cloudy.
environment canada posted a frost advisory, stating that sunday overnight temperatures could drop to freezing or below. predictions for monday’s weather appeared better with daytime temperatures up to 12 c with a chance of rain.
it’s a far improved cry from the weather earlier in the weekend, when calgarians were pelted with snowfall and rain for most of the day.
long weekend attractions were forced to close for the day and either delay their summer openings or reopen on sunday to more palatable temperatures.
staff at calaway park delayed the amusement park’s summer opening by a day and opened for business on sunday at 10 a.m.
“it’s cooler and windy out today,” said bob williams, the park’s general manager. “but at least it’s not snowing.”
the park received up to three inches of snow on saturday, forcing staff to delay its opening out of safety concerns for visitors.
“when the decks are covered with snow and ice, loading and unloading guests is something that we take very seriously,” williams said on saturday.
as of sunday morning, two rides still remain closed to visitors, with plans to open them later in the day — “to let the hydraulics heat up,” williams explained.
roller coaster riders enjoyed a sunny and blue sky morning for opening day at calaway park on sunday, may 17, 2026. the day before heavy spring snow delayed the annual first day for the amusement park.
gavin young/postmedia
the turnout may not be as large as expected, but the park will remain open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the remainder of the long weekend and into the summer.
“we’ve got brand new road system parking lots and we got a brand new admissions area,” williams said. “we have three new shows. we have a bunch of new food items that the guests can take in. we have a new movie that will be running in the theatre, and then obviously all the rides that they love to ride. we’re ready for the 2026 season.”
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calgary farmyard reopened its doors on sunday after having to shut down saturday.
winsport has also reopened its downhill karting at regular hours on sunday after having to shut down saturday due to the weather.
it may have been a morning for hats and gloves for some, but it was a sunny and blue sky opening for calaway park on sunday, may 17, 2026. the day before, heavy spring snow delayed the annual first day for the amusement park.
gavin young/postmedia
victoria day classic golf tournament in medicine hat loses day to snow
outside the city, people heading out for activities this weekend have had mixed experiences with what they’ve been able to do.
golfers travelling to medicine hat for the 69th victoria day classic at the medicine hat golf and country club may be disappointed after inclement weather and snow on the course forced the cancellation of the second day of the three-day tournament on sunday.
“i’m looking out my window and we have maybe four to five centimeters of really, really wet snow on the ground right now,” said cam jacques, the club’s general manager. “so it looks pretty, but not very golfable.”
the tournament got off to a strong start on saturday with 150 players participating in the first round. on sunday, with temperatures dropping into the negatives and raid predicted throughout the day, the tournament was cancelled, with plans to skip ahead to the third round on monday. it would mean having to shorten the tournament from a 54-hole to 36-hole game.
“we have a lot of out-of-town players that come from calgary so they’re disappointed because they have a whole day to sit in the hotel room and they look forward to playing golf,” jacques said.
staff will shovel the snow off some of the course’s green patches and then will have to wait for the rest of the snow to melt. monday’s round will be delayed to noon to give staff time to prep the lawns, cut the grass and set up the tee points.
this is the second time in jacques’ 26-year career at the club that they have had to cancel a day of the tournament.
“we’ve never canceled back-to-back days, so we don’t want to set a precedent, but we have some challenges tomorrow,” he said.
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near kananaskis, however, the trappers hill lodges and campground has remained in full swing with campers emerging from their tents on sunday.
despite the cold weather, campground owner paolo de soto said he received no cancellations for the weekend.
“it was cold, and the snow was coming down hard,” he said. he wasn’t at the campsite but heard from his brother, who was supervising the 15 campers making the ground their home for the weekend.
“we sold some firewood and people were outside having their fires. the snow was melting pretty quick.”
it was a snowy spring start to opening day at heritage park on saturday, may 16, 2026.
gavin young/postmedia
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