Calgary Just Got Dozens Of Social Distancing Circles At 4 Popular Parks

As summer finally arrives and people flock en masse to sunbathe in the parks, the city's lending them a hand. Some Calgary parks have social distancing circles all over them to help people maintain their two metres apart when out picnicking. That way, you can be sure you're not bursting anyone's distancing bubble when you're out and about.

In a news release dated Thursday, June 10, the City of Calgary announced that they've painted 50 temporary circles all over four regional parks to help "make physical distancing easy while enjoying public parks."

Bowness, Riley, Prince’s Island and North Glenmore Parks have been affected so far, but they say if the circles are effective and popular with locals, more could be coming to these parks and others as well.

The circles, each measuring three metres in diameter and spaced three metres apart, were painted with the chalk used in the city's sports fields. They're meant to last roughly one to two weeks before wearing out, and are "environmentally, kid and pet-friendly."

However, not everyone in the comments of their Facebook post announcing the change was happy with the move.

"We are smart enough to stay in our family groups without little circles and those that are not will not use them anyway," wrote one commenter.

"I’m glad my property tax went up to pay for circles.. this is insanity!" added another.

Other people were more accepting of the idea. "I think it’s cute! At least they are trying something!" added one commenter.

Narcity has reached out to the City of Calgary for comment and we will update this story when we receive a response.

While they weren't as bad as, say, Toronto sometimes, Calgarians also struggled with maintaining their physical distance in parks.

And in an earlier news conference where Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi specifically told locals "don't be like Toronto," the city warned locals to stay out of certain parks because there were way too many people in them.

In fact, these circles showed up in Toronto's parks before Calgary's.

Hopefully, with the help of these chalk circles, the jam-packed parks of yesterday will remain a thing of the past.