It’s been called the Tuscany of Western Canada.Tucked in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, the rolling foothills southwest of Calgary are home to some of the finest ranch lands and vistas in Alberta. So much so, they’re depicted on the flag and the Coat of Arms.Less than a kilometre off Hwy. 22X and the Cowboy Trail is the hamlet of Priddis, one of Alberta’s oldest communities named after Charles Priddis who homesteaded along the aptly-named Fish Creek noted for its bounty of native Brown trout..These days its home to about 79 hardy souls who pride themselves on the values Alberta is known for: independence, self reliance, pride of ownership and most of all, Western hospitality.But that sprit of generosity is tested every weekend in summer by hordes of cyclists who descend on the tiny community and strain the patience of the locals by hogging the roads, dumping their garbage and using the washrooms of the local businesses without paying for anything.Worst of all, they bring their cars, taking up every available parking spot and blithely abandoning their vehicles for hours on end at the aforementioned local shops — there are only a half dozen — or jamming up the community hall. Failing that, they park on the roadsides or even in the driveways of locals who think it’s just plain rude. The Western Standard’s Cory Morgan, who used to own the Water’s Edge cafe — so named for its location on the edge of Fish Creek — called them “spandex-laden locusts.”.Naturally, the two-legged city slickers — GoreTex, Birkenstock types — think it’s the country folk who are being rude, by forcing them to ride single file on the cold packed roads and keep off the single track trails located on private land.The situation has gotten so bad, particularly after the pandemic, that confrontations have ensued. “Since COVID, it has exploded,” Priddis Community Association Director Lindsay Flynn said in an interview. “We had our caretaker take a count last Saturday and Sunday, we had over 200 cars come to our lodge. Which is a lot of people for a very small rural area and a parking lot that doesn't have nearly 200 parking spots.”In an attempt to mitigate some of those impacts, the county has installed port-a-potties and helped pay for the some of the signage. They’ve installed gates with chains, which are either ignored or in worst cases, broken down.The cyclists don’t realize it comes with a cost that ultimately have to be borne by the community group out of their limited revenue stream that mainly comes from hall rentals. The toilets need to be cleaned, which Flynn estimates it costs about $1,000 a summer just to clean the toilets, notwithstanding the cost of property damage and cleaning up litter.The situation has got so bad, the community association has considered bringing in an enforcement to write tickets, which only contributes to the rising tensions. But the problem is that the community hall is technically private land not public property.The war of words — and wills — is being played out on a blitz of signage: ‘NO PARKING‘. VIOLATORS WILL BE TOWED’. WASHROOMS FOR CUSTOMERS ONLY’..Foothills County Division 4 Councillor Suzanne Oel, who represents the area, is worried someone is going to get hurt. Not just from a sucker punch to the head, but also from the cyclists failing to obey basic traffic rules by riding five abreast on rural roads.“So obviously, we have the blessing of living in a beautiful place, and other people would like to come here and ride their bike,” she said in an interview.“But again, it comes with issues if you aren't ready to have visitors, or you're not set up for having visitors.. which includes some escalating behavior from cyclists who think the park and parking lot is there for them. And so that is, is really sad that has to get that to that point where it has to be policed and people will not listen.”.“You see the middle finger quite often when there's kids in the car and oh my gosh, yeah, swearing out the window of the car,” she continued. “I think sometimes the motorists are just as bad. But you know, you're right, it goes both ways when people aren't following the traffic laws and they're not wearing helmets. We're trying to be responsive to what is happening. It seems that it's escalated more.”.That’s notwithstanding safety issues with so many cyclists sharing roads with farm trucks and logging vehicles.“If you hit somebody, you just never forget that you'll change somebody's life forever. And there's been so many accidents here that you just, no matter how big people talk on either side of this, the consequence is life altering. Do cyclists always lose? Yeah, yeah. So so to recognize that you can talk big all you want, but when you hit the ditch and the only thing you have on is some thin skin, no helmet, it is really difficult to recover.”“And then we have had people who have had accidents just not related to motorists, but just because the roads are narrow and they're wanting our roads to be sweeped, like city roads, right?”.Water’s Edge owner Tom Counley says he tries to be chill, but admits sometimes it’s hard. And it drives business away. In 2020 his restaurant was actually robbed when thieves stole the ATM and all the cash inside.But he worries the situation is costing him money — and customers.“It's a fine line, because we do appreciate the customers that we have and the people that will blatantly come in and sit down with some of their friends and have their own drinks and their own food and whatnot,” he said. “You can't do that. That's just not allowed. And to just even think that you can, you know, bring in your own sandwich and your own, you know, chips and your own drinks and sit down someplace is a pretty ridiculous look,” he continued. “So the fact that I even have to have the argument is pretty ridiculous.”Truer words have ‘ere been spoken.
It’s been called the Tuscany of Western Canada.Tucked in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, the rolling foothills southwest of Calgary are home to some of the finest ranch lands and vistas in Alberta. So much so, they’re depicted on the flag and the Coat of Arms.Less than a kilometre off Hwy. 22X and the Cowboy Trail is the hamlet of Priddis, one of Alberta’s oldest communities named after Charles Priddis who homesteaded along the aptly-named Fish Creek noted for its bounty of native Brown trout..These days its home to about 79 hardy souls who pride themselves on the values Alberta is known for: independence, self reliance, pride of ownership and most of all, Western hospitality.But that sprit of generosity is tested every weekend in summer by hordes of cyclists who descend on the tiny community and strain the patience of the locals by hogging the roads, dumping their garbage and using the washrooms of the local businesses without paying for anything.Worst of all, they bring their cars, taking up every available parking spot and blithely abandoning their vehicles for hours on end at the aforementioned local shops — there are only a half dozen — or jamming up the community hall. Failing that, they park on the roadsides or even in the driveways of locals who think it’s just plain rude. The Western Standard’s Cory Morgan, who used to own the Water’s Edge cafe — so named for its location on the edge of Fish Creek — called them “spandex-laden locusts.”.Naturally, the two-legged city slickers — GoreTex, Birkenstock types — think it’s the country folk who are being rude, by forcing them to ride single file on the cold packed roads and keep off the single track trails located on private land.The situation has gotten so bad, particularly after the pandemic, that confrontations have ensued. “Since COVID, it has exploded,” Priddis Community Association Director Lindsay Flynn said in an interview. “We had our caretaker take a count last Saturday and Sunday, we had over 200 cars come to our lodge. Which is a lot of people for a very small rural area and a parking lot that doesn't have nearly 200 parking spots.”In an attempt to mitigate some of those impacts, the county has installed port-a-potties and helped pay for the some of the signage. They’ve installed gates with chains, which are either ignored or in worst cases, broken down.The cyclists don’t realize it comes with a cost that ultimately have to be borne by the community group out of their limited revenue stream that mainly comes from hall rentals. The toilets need to be cleaned, which Flynn estimates it costs about $1,000 a summer just to clean the toilets, notwithstanding the cost of property damage and cleaning up litter.The situation has got so bad, the community association has considered bringing in an enforcement to write tickets, which only contributes to the rising tensions. But the problem is that the community hall is technically private land not public property.The war of words — and wills — is being played out on a blitz of signage: ‘NO PARKING‘. VIOLATORS WILL BE TOWED’. WASHROOMS FOR CUSTOMERS ONLY’..Foothills County Division 4 Councillor Suzanne Oel, who represents the area, is worried someone is going to get hurt. Not just from a sucker punch to the head, but also from the cyclists failing to obey basic traffic rules by riding five abreast on rural roads.“So obviously, we have the blessing of living in a beautiful place, and other people would like to come here and ride their bike,” she said in an interview.“But again, it comes with issues if you aren't ready to have visitors, or you're not set up for having visitors.. which includes some escalating behavior from cyclists who think the park and parking lot is there for them. And so that is, is really sad that has to get that to that point where it has to be policed and people will not listen.”.“You see the middle finger quite often when there's kids in the car and oh my gosh, yeah, swearing out the window of the car,” she continued. “I think sometimes the motorists are just as bad. But you know, you're right, it goes both ways when people aren't following the traffic laws and they're not wearing helmets. We're trying to be responsive to what is happening. It seems that it's escalated more.”.That’s notwithstanding safety issues with so many cyclists sharing roads with farm trucks and logging vehicles.“If you hit somebody, you just never forget that you'll change somebody's life forever. And there's been so many accidents here that you just, no matter how big people talk on either side of this, the consequence is life altering. Do cyclists always lose? Yeah, yeah. So so to recognize that you can talk big all you want, but when you hit the ditch and the only thing you have on is some thin skin, no helmet, it is really difficult to recover.”“And then we have had people who have had accidents just not related to motorists, but just because the roads are narrow and they're wanting our roads to be sweeped, like city roads, right?”.Water’s Edge owner Tom Counley says he tries to be chill, but admits sometimes it’s hard. And it drives business away. In 2020 his restaurant was actually robbed when thieves stole the ATM and all the cash inside.But he worries the situation is costing him money — and customers.“It's a fine line, because we do appreciate the customers that we have and the people that will blatantly come in and sit down with some of their friends and have their own drinks and their own food and whatnot,” he said. “You can't do that. That's just not allowed. And to just even think that you can, you know, bring in your own sandwich and your own, you know, chips and your own drinks and sit down someplace is a pretty ridiculous look,” he continued. “So the fact that I even have to have the argument is pretty ridiculous.”Truer words have ‘ere been spoken.
