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Nestled along the Sheep River Valley in the heart of the Alberta Foothills
and flanked by the front range of the Rocky Mountains to the west, Okotoks
is a young, friendly and growing community. Okotoks resides just 16 kilometres
south of Calgary and is a thriving bedroom community for Calgary.
Okotoks is named for the Blackfoot word "okatok," which means rock. The
town's major tourist attraction is a glacial erratic (boulder) left behind
following the retreat of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. Erratics are
rocks that are not native to the area where they are found, but were transported
in the ice of a glacier during the ice age. Big Rock comes from the Wisconsin
glacier (Jasper area). It sits in an open field about 10 minutes west
of town, on Highway 7.
Big Rock measures 40 metres by 18 metres by 9 metres, weighs 18,000 tons
and is North America's largest glacial erratic. Big Rock is the biggest
among thousands in a 644 km chain called the Foothills Erratic Train.The
depression around the rock was created by Plains Bison, which used the
rock as a rubbing stone. On May 16, 1978, the Big Rock was the first "natural
feature" to become an official Provincial Historic Site under the Alberta
Historical Resources Act. Big Rock Brewery in Calgary, is named after
this massive rock.
The pretty Sheep River runs through town, which has a visitor information
centre in the renovated CPR train station. Okotoks’ 9,000 residents are
Alberta’s fastest growing community and also the youngest community in
Canada with 85 per cent of the residents being under the age of 44. Okotoks
also has three golf courses: D'Arcy Ranch, Heritage Pointe, and Cottonwood.
Annual events include the Antique & Art Flea Market (late May), Annual
Youth Festival (mid June), Okotoks Sports Days (mid-June), Okotoks Pro
Rodeo (late August).
Today, Okotoks has a population of over 11,500 residents and it's land
mass covers just under 18 square kilometers.
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Alberta