High River and Okotoks are burgeoning film hubs

Even for those who don't watch CBC's family-drama series Heartland – now in its 11th season – the town of High River has become synonymous with the show.

"Heartland has become a part of the community," said Irene Kerr, the curator and director of High River's Museum of the Highwood. High River poses as the town of Hudson on Heartland. One of the show's most well-known locales, Maggie's Diner, is a building right along High River's Main Street.

"We noticed a shift around 2015, when people who were visiting High River stopped asking about the 2013 flood and wanted to see where they were filming Heartland," said Kerr.

Calgary region has rich history and bright future on film

You're watching a movie or TV show when something catches your eye.

"I know that place!" you exclaim, as a character enters a pizza place on a city street, or rides a horse through a wheat field with a majestic mountain backdrop.

Calgary and its surrounding areas are becoming increasingly popular as filming locations for major movie and television productions – making famous places that Calgarians know well.

"We have 100 years of history here," said Luke Azevedo, Calgary film commissioner and CEO of the Calgary Film Centre. "We're one of the oldest locations outside of Hollywood for production."

New developments in surrounding areas limited price growth in 2017

When it comes to Calgary's housing market, there's a lot of activity on the outskirts and in surrounding areas.

"We have a number of new communities and areas with many new developments offering competing products for the resale market," said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie.

Inner-city lovers build new in an old community 

Gerald Proctor and Katrina Tashlikowich are inner-city people. Gerald was born and raised in Calgary and Katrina grew up in Vancouver, but work has taken them across the country. When they moved to Calgary from Regina five years ago, they drew a circle around the core and began their home search.

Chestermere maintains its charm amidst rapid growth and development

When Toni Lynne Cousineau and her husband, Larry, moved to Calgary in 1996, they weren't familiar with the city. Even though they initially lived in Applewood Park, on the city's eastern edge, they did not know about Chestermere. "We didn't even know it existed," said.

It was through her employment with a local builder that Cousineau first discovered Chestermere, when she ended up working in a show home there. It was a case of love at first sight.

REALTORS® are refining their roles and elevating their business through education

How do we keep REALTORS® in the know and current? CREB®'s mandatory training program was developed in 2014 to help achieve the strategic goal of enhancing professional conduct in local real estate. The program aims to raise the proficiency, competency and courtesy levels of Realtors, thereby elevating professionalism in the local industry.

Chestermere is poised for western expansion

When you're one of the fastest growing communities in Canada, there's only one thing to do as an encore: grow some more.

Located just east of Calgary, Chestermere's rapid development placed the city fourth in Canada for growth over the past five years. Now, a comprehensive expansion plan is coming to fruition. The Waterbridge Master Area Structure Plan provided a long-range planning context for more than 2,400 acres along Chestermere's western border, and the city's population of 20,000 will expand as well – in fact, it is set to double.

As former mayor of Okotoks and a current REALTOR® there, Sandi Kennedy has a unique view of what the town was, is and will be.

From 1988 to 1994, Kennedy headed up a town council that had to deal with the diverse wants and needs of individuals and businesses during a period of tremendous growth. The town had a population of about 5,500 when she took over the mayor's chair, and surged during her term in office – today, the number sits at nearly 30,000.

Born and raised in the southern Alberta foothills, Kennedy still lives in Okotoks, and took the time to talk about what the town's future might look like as it continues to grow.

Chestermere Lake's evolution from slough to city centrepiece

When Jen Peddlesden and her family moved to Chestermere Lake 40 years ago, people told her she was crazy.

At that time, what is now a 2.65-square-kilometre waterway was merely a "slough, just a place to put a boat," and was primarily a backyard playground for nearby Forest Lawn residents or the Calgary Yacht Club, which has been headquartered there since 1933.