Local News
Kensington is a busy place!
The BIA works hard to maintain the public realm, add new art, create a safe and inclusive community, build inroads with the City of Calgary departments, and continue to market and grow the Kensington brand. There’s always something going on in our shopping district.
Vision for Calgary’s Downtown West development plan released
Bill Macfarlane - CTV News Calgary - Nov. 6, 2023Plans to redesign Calgary's Downtown West were made public Monday, as part of an effort to create a stronger and more active city core. The 78-page report lays out plans for the future of the area around the former...
Opinion: Bravo to city council for showing leadership on Calgary’s downtown revitalization
Annie MacInnis - Calgary Herald - Apr 30, 2021 Great leaders have the courage to take leaps of faith to achieve their goals. Calgary’s city council and administration were those leaders this week. Approval of the downtown strategy is a bold move, a risky move, a...
City Approves Temporary Patio Expansions
During a City Council meeting Monday morning, councillors voted unanimously in favour of a plan to allow businesses to temporarily expand their patios. Click image to open video on CTV website. - CTV News, May 12, 2020
Provincial Re-Opening Information
The Provincial Government of Alberta a recently provided a detailed plan for re-opening the economy in stages. The Relaunch Strategy can be downloaded here (12 pages) For our member businesses, we're re-posting the highlight charts (pages 9 and 10) of the PDF document...
Kensington Comes Together: Iconic Inner-City Community Copes with Covid-19
By Rachel Feddema, NextHome.ca | April 30, 2020Welcome to Kensington; a historic area with of vibrant shops and local businesses in the heart of northwest Calgary. Kensington is known to most Calgarians as the place to go for an afternoon stroll, a nice meal, and the...
Opinion: Calgary BIAs breathing life into neighbourhood businesses
Live Wire Calgary | April 30, 2020 This pop-up parklet sprang to life in the community of Marda Loop as a result of the work done by the local BIA. LIVEWIRE CALGARY FILE PHOTO They used to be called Business Revitalization Zones (BRZ) in Calgary. Today they’re...
Chicken Now Sports a Mask (Chicken on the Way)
Calgary Herald, April 25, 2020 The chicken statue outside the Chicken On The Way restaurant on Kensington Road and 14th Street N.W. now wears a face mask. WHY DID THE CHICKEN WEAR A MASK? The giant sculpture of a chicken at the corner of Kensington Road and...
eNewsletter – Property Tax Update
Dear BRZ Members: The hard work of the past year advocating for changes to the residential/non-residential property tax ratio; for help to offset increases in non-residential taxes; and for cuts to the municipal budget to reduce property taxes has delivered progress...
Christmas in Kensington Update eNewsletter
Dear BRZ members, There will be a Late Night Shopping event on Thursday, December 5. Annabel from Kismet is spearheading this. Thank you for your initiative Annabel!!!! If you want to participate, please contact Annabel [email protected] by November 23. Our new...
PARKing Day: A Gallery
PARKing Day in Kensington was a colourful and interactive success! Pedestrians interacted with many explorative exhibits in parking stalls all along Kensington Road NW. Artists, architects, neighbours, City departments and community groups explored how public spaces...
Learn about our neighbouring communities!
Did you know? Our surrounding neighbourhoods of Hillhurst/Sunnyside provide approximately 80% of Kensington businesses' clients, customers and visitors! The Hillhurst/Sunnyside Community Association has recently written a great article about the population and...
Employment Law Resources
Our September 10th BIA Member's Breakfast was informative! We learned about changes and issues in employee management and HR. Peninsula provided several useful reference handouts to those who attended. As promised, we are providing copies to all members as the...
#LoveYYC – Tourism Calgary Campaign (Get involved!)
#LoveYYC Day returns on Saturday, Nov. 2 to encourage Calgarians to explore their city and to share stories about the people, places and experiences that make Calgary so unique. Tourism Calgary's valued partners make this event possible by submitting compelling...
eScooter Info Sheet
We're seeing hundreds of scooters operating in Kensington daily. Learn the City of Calgary rules on scooter operation from this handy infographic.
New Member Directory Launched!
We are so pleased to have launched our new directory with mapping and member listings for all of our businesses! You can check it out here!
Member Breakfast: Employment Law Information
Did you know that big employment law changes will impact your business in 2019? But don’t worry, we have the answers! The Kensington BIA is proud to partner with Peninsula for this Member’s Breakfast presenting on HR and Employment Relations for local Employers and...
Kensington won an award!
The Kensington BRZ/BIA recently won an award for Downtown Leadership and Management at the BIABC/IDA Conference (Business Improvement Areas British Colombia / International Downtown Association - Western Canada/Pacific Northwest US) for taking the lead on the creation...
Movies ‘n’ Magnums
Outdoor movies & magnums is coming to Container Bar! Kinda like an old school drive-in but seated in an alley with wine poured from magnums! Plus popcorn! Here's the line-up: Sunday July 21 - Sci-Fi with MetrovinoSunday August 4 - Comedy with Vine Arts Wine and...
Children’s Wish Heroes Challenge Treasure Hunt
September 27, 2019 Heroes Challenge has been one of Alberta's most successful Wish fundraisers, granting many Wishes over the years. But now it's time to change gears! Put on your caps and boots, because we are hitting the streets in Calgary and Edmonton in 2019....
Sun ‘n’ Cerveza! July 28th
Calgary’s Newest Indoor Craft Beer Festival is coming to Kensington! Presented by Original Joe’s with over 13 local breweries, with 7 different bars and restaurants offering samples and prizes your biggest challenge will be deciding where to start! SUNDAY, July 28...
PARK(ing) Day Open-Source Creative Event
The City of Calgary PARK(ing) day event invites you to transform an everyday parking stall into an experimental design and showcase the creative ways you think urban public space could be used. Happening in Kensington (and other inner city areas) on Friday, September...
NearHere interactive display coming to Kensington
Kensington is proud to host a new interactive public engagement installation on the Safeway Plaza. Created with the intention of making Calgary more walkable, Near Here combines exploration and human interaction, resulting in organic wayfinding to help...
Bow-to-Bluff Fully Funded!
Exciting news! After years of work, City of Calgary Council has committed $4 million to fully fund the Bow to Bluff Public Realm Plan. The Bow to Bluff plan began as a citizen-led initiative focused on transforming the neglected spaces along the LRT line between the...
Uncover Kensington – Foodie-Festival
Calling all grub lovers and feasting friends, Curiocity is unveiling our very first foodie-festival that will be coming to Calgary later this month. For 9 delicious days, Uncover Kensington will showcase some of the best restaurants in one of Calgary’s favourite...
First Canadian National Network of BIAs formed
Canadian BRZ/BIA Executive Directors representing all the provinces have formed a leadership group to move forward on work by the first Canadian national network of Business Improvement Areas under the auspices of the International Downtown Association. Kensington was...
Patio season is coming: The City can help your business with permit requirements
City of Calgary, Newsroom It’s springtime in Calgary which means patios and outdoor cafes will soon be opening. To assist local businesses in making the most of the season, The City of Calgary has made applying for and getting outdoor event permits more convenient....
Tax Shift Update
Executive Director, Annie MacInnis For the past two years the loss of revenues from downtown businesses affected by the economy has been downloaded onto businesses outside the downtown core. In 2017 and 2018 City Council used money from savings to cap business tax...
Increasing Taxes For Your Small Business are a Big Issue!
If you want to try to do something about your high taxes, keep reading! Here are some ways to encourage Council to help our member businesses: A city meeting has been organized downtown for Wednesday January 23, 9-10:30 am. If you would like to attend this meeting,...
New Parking App Launched
In December 2018, Calgary Parking Authority launched a new mobile app for the City. You can find the app on your mobile device by searching in your app server for "Calgary Parking Authority". With parking at a premium, there is an ongoing belief that Kensington has...
City of Calgary – BIA Toolkit Completed
In 2015, our Executive Director, Annie MacInnis, as Chair of the CBiz Board (the umbrella organization of Calgary BIAs), initiated discussions with the City of Calgary on the need for a BIA handbook. Over the next three years she provided extensive input and...
Norfolk Bench
The BRZ used to share office space with Norfolk Housing which provides subsidized housing in the Kensington area. Awhile back we noticed that the area where many Norfolk residents with mobility issues would wait for a driver to pick them up had no seating. The BRZ...
Recycling Rims, A Success Story
The recycling rims on our Kensington garbage cans are the result of a pilot project when we were replacing our public realm, the result of some creative and cost-effective problem solving to come up with a more respectful way for bottle pickers to be able to collect...
Streetscape Revitalization Project
In the last few weeks of fall of 2016 Kensington saw the closing chapters of an important rejuvenation project for the streetscape. Funded entirely by an award winning proposal for excess parking revenue, this $6 million dollar project was completed over two summers...
Access Ramps
Have you ever noticed these colourful wooden ramps in the doorways of some of our Kensington businesses? We noticed that wheelchairs and strollers had difficulty getting in and out of some stores with doorways that were not flush with the sideway so we decided to find...
Cut Red Tape
In 2011 the Mayor of Calgary initiated the Cut Red Tape program to address non-essential procedures, forms, licences, and regulations that added to the cost of dealing with The City of Calgary. Many of these issues affected our business members so when the opportunity...
Clean to the Core
Did you know that a lot of Kensington's streetscape cleaning is done by the City's Clean to the Core Team? The Clean to the Core program was modeled after the successful GAPP Program (Graffiti Awareness & Abatement Program) where the BIA’s and the City of Calgary...
IDA Award for Streetscape Funding
At the 2014 International Downtown Association conference, Kensington was awarded the Downtown Merit Award in recognition of the innovative funding opportunity that our Executive Director secured for streetscape improvements. Through City budget monitoring and...