Audio Transcript

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Welcome to Stephen Avenue! You’re standing in Calgary's historic Pedestrian Mall, which now features a year-round pedestrian experience featuring shopping, restaurants, and entertainment venues. The street is known for some of Calgary’s finest restaurants, cafes, pubs, and bars!

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The street also provides an eclectic mix of boutiques and high end retail shops. Major shopping centres include the Core Shopping Centre, Bankers Hall, Fashion Central, Scotia Centre, and The Bay Department Store.

Now that you’ve heard a bit about the street’s present, here’s a bit on its past.

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The street was named after George Stephen, first Baron Mount Stephen, the first president of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It contains a high concentration of registered historic buildings, and the street itself was declared a Canadian historic site in 2002. Many of these buildings are made of sandstone that was quarried locally from the Paskapoo Formation. This was a result of the need for fire resistant buildings, following a fire in 1886 that damaged many of the city’s earlier wooden structures.

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Whether you’re visiting Calgary for the first time, or are a frequent visitor, strolling down Stephen Avenue is a must!

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Don't forget you can take as much time as you like here, I'll be waiting at the next stop!

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