All aboard to Calgary
It’s time to start making plans to meet up with your Rotary besties in Canada at a convention with an epic backdrop: the Rocky Mountain foothills.
The Rotary International Convention returns for a second time to Calgary, site of the 1988 Winter Olympics and a city known for its bicycling culture and strong Indigenous heritage. Clubs will use Rotary’s signature event 21-25 June to boost membership and interest in working with the organization, while exchanging ideas with attendees on how to do the same in their hometowns — whether that’s Toronto or Tokyo. You’ll leave renewed with Action Plan inspiration to make your club the place to be.
Elbow River Camp, on the Calgary Stampede grounds, celebrates First Nations culture.
Image credit: Tourism Calgary
Organizers will showcase inspiring community projects — you might be asked to help with one — to drive awareness of Rotary around the convention, last held in the city in 1996. It will be one of the largest events in the recently expanded BMO Centre. You’ll help spread the story of Rotary’s good work simply by attending. And you’ll find plenty of excitement in the city, known for its Calgary Stampede summer rodeo (search online for snapshots of cowgirl hat-wearing 2022-23 RI President Jennifer Jones in the parade).
This gateway to the Canadian Rockies will tempt you to extend your travels. Many people visit Calgary to start or end a Western Canada rail tour. Calgary is an ideal launching point to explore a piece of North America. A stopover on your way home in sunny Hawaii or Mexico, toting a souvenir bottle of cherished Canadian maple syrup in your luggage, would be oh-so-sweet.
This story originally appeared in the July 2024 issue of Rotary magazine.