It’s time to celebrate not one, two, three or four, but five years of the photo blogging challenge! What a milestone! I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate and for the nudge to publish at least one post each month. Thank you, PJ, for organizing this challenge, month after month, year after year. 🙂

My goal for this post was to find ways that the number five is embedded in place. I did a little brainstorming on how and where the number five relates to Calgary, Canmore and Canada. Here are my best ideas…

1. Olympic Plaza

Calgary hosted the 1988 winter Olympics and the Olympics are a hot topic in the local news right now because our mayor and city councillors are moving further and further along the path towards making a bid for the 2026 winter Olympics. This was not an issue during the 2017 municipal election, so Calgarians who feel strongly one way or the other are taking the initiative to contact the councillor for their ward to voice their opinions.

One key point of discussion is around legacy facilities. All venues constructed for the 1988 winter Olympics are still in use, although the Calgary Flames play in the oldest arena in the NHL and Winsport is closing down the ski jumps at the end of this season. Olympic Plaza (pictured), was the site for the 1988 Olympic medal presentations. Its line of sight to the Calgary Tower makes it clear just where the five interlocking rings are located.

Thirty years on, Olympic Plaza is also at the end of its life cycle, so the city is working on redevelopment plans that could see this area transformed over the coming years.

2. Famous Five

Tucked away in a corner of Olympic Plaza is the Famous Five sculpture, which represents the moment when, in 1929, five trailblazing Alberta women learned their court case was successful. The top court in the British empire ruled that women are “persons” and eligible to serve in the Canadian senate. A similar sculpture in Ottawa, created by the same Alberta artist, has been featured on the Canadian $50 bill.

3. Fifth and Fifth – Calgary

Mention 5th Avenue to anyone and they’ll likely think of Saks 5th Avenue, New York city. Calgary also has buildings on 5th Avenue. In fact, Calgary has two 5th Avenues and two 5th Streets, opening up the possibility that four locations could be called Fifth and Fifth – one in each quadrant of the city. Thanks to the curving route of the Bow River through the heart of Calgary, there are only two Fifth and Fifth intersections. This building is on the SW corner of Fifth and Fifth SW (the other 5th and 5th is in NE Calgary). The personal connection is that Mr. GeoK worked for a company headquartered in this building in the late 80s/early 90s. I took this shot from kitty corner across the intersection, and framed it to emphasize the contrast between the original construction (completed 1980) and more recent street level renovation, as well as how sunshine doesn’t penetrate all the way to street level in the midst of all the downtown office towers.

4. Fifth and Fifth – Canmore

For a fun contrast, I walked into Canmore one morning and stood at the corner of 5th Avenue and 5th Street taking in the views. This is what you see looking along 5th street, with Ha Ling on left and the east end of Mt Rundle right up the street. One of Canmore’s largest parks is across the street from the stop sign, and is the site for Canmore’s annual folk festival, Highland Games and other events.

5. Nickels

The five-cent piece is the smallest denomination coin in circulation in Canada since the penny was phased out in 2013. Earlier this year, speculation picked up that the nickel will phased out within 5 years. One side of the current Canadian nickel is the beaver (a national symbol), while the other side shows Queen Elizabeth II. After visiting the bank to withdraw $4 in the form of two rolls of nickels, I arranged 5 x 5 = 25 nickels into the shape of the number 5. Then it was time to add some fun, in the form of a zoom burst and light leaks, to present the number 5!!

For more creative takes on the number 5, go to the link-up at the bottom of this post.

And if you’re looking for a gentle nudge to improve your photography skills, the start of the 6th year is the perfect time to consider joining PJ’s photo blogging challenge. The one month time frame makes for a low stress photo assignment. The key requirement is five photos; the amount of accompanying text is up to you. The next theme will be posted at a ‘lil Hoohaa on April 1st. Check it out!