Lake Bonavista

Development of Lake Bonavista began in 1967. Its developer, Keith Construction, began excavating the lake in February 1968 and completed it that year, along with a 25-acre park and a 65-foot hill with a waterfall built from the excavated earth. The Calgary Real Estate Board describes it as the first man-made lake community in Canada. Today it is a settled neighbourhood of curving streets and mature trees, bounded by Anderson Road, Canyon Meadows Drive and Macleod Trail, with Fish Creek Provincial Park just beyond its southern edge.

The lake and its surrounding park are private and run by the Lake Bonavista Homeowners Association. Membership comes with properties that carry the association's encumbrance on title, and it is mandatory for those properties. The association notes that some properties are not eligible, including condominiums, secondary suites and carriage houses, commercial properties and the Bonavista Downs area, so it is worth confirming eligibility for any specific address. Members have the use of two beaches, free boat rentals, a stocked lake for fishing, and skating rinks and a lake perimeter loop in winter.

Most homes are detached houses from the late 1960s and 1970s, many on generous lots, with low-rise apartment and condominium buildings closer to the shopping areas and Macleod Trail. Lake Bonavista Promenade sits beside the lake's main gate, and the Canyon Meadows CTrain station is a short walk across a pedestrian bridge.