Situated to the east, south and north of Calgary, the Wild Rose Agritourism Community crosses several county lines and is one of 27 regions in Alberta established to sustain rural places and ways of life. Here, on the wide-open Prairie, you feel as expansive as the universe.

Natural treasures abound but they’re perhaps a bit more subtle than those famous peaks that attract people west. These are treasures that only appear for those who take the time and care to look. They’re here for people who live closely with the land. These gems are revealed through the seasons.

Fuzzy amethyst clusters of Prairie Crocus herald spring. Called wind flowers, they pop to life pel mel while the grasslands around them still lay brown and waiting their turn at life. Summer brings warm winds blowing waves across an ocean of croplands in greens and gold. Fields of canola, alfalfa, barley, oats, and wheat look like a patchwork quilt for the earth from above. Fall is harvest season with brightly coloured combines stirring up dusty sunsets that set the plains aglow. Winter blizzards alternate with days of brilliant blue skies, a sharp contrast to the stark white snow cover.

The people of this region are the first to feel the sun’s rays on their faces. Their eyes meet its light and welcome its warmth as its beams stretch across the unbridled eastern horizon. The farmers, ranchers and food producers here are alchemists partnering with nature to feed our province and our nation with the bounty they produce. All of Alberta’s Seven Signature foods – beef, bison, canola, honey, Red Fife wheat, root vegetables and saskatoon berries – grow here.

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