ClanickP

Hi all. Does anyone know the pros and cons of commuter towns such as Cochrane, Airdrie and Okotoks. Must be family friendly with desent schools.
Thanks for any info.

Butch Cassidy

The short answer to your question is yes (ie someone does know the pros and cons).

The slightly longer answer is Annm can tell you about Cochrane and the schools, Sam-in-Okotoks, GettingThere and several others can tell you about Okotoks (GT doesnt have kids and not sure about Sam but both VERY good and helpful Realtors ). Airdire is another thing not sure anyone who posts on here is actually resident, I'm not a fan at all (then again I also think Okotoks isnt for me). If I was point you towards anywhere it would be Cochrane (doesnt strike quite as Stepford/strip mall as the other two). That said Okotoks is SLOWLY growing on me and the acreages around there are cheaper SO who knows.

snoopster

Hi
We live in Okotoks and love it here. There are good schools in the town both in the Catholic and Public system too. There is lots to do here with masses of sporting activities and clubs for the kids, and a real feeling of community, as well as a safe environment for the children to explore and have more freedom than they would have been used to in the UK. To add to the appeal, Kananaskis is 30 mins away with the most beautiful picnic spots and hiking trails, lakes and mountains, and South Calgary is a 20 minute drive. You can be downtown in a little over 30 mins. The house prices are pretty reasonable, and probably a little cheaper than Cochrane. It's a pretty town, with some quaint shops and antique/gift stores, but also with all the main sorts of big shops you might need like Canadian Tire, Walmart, Sobeys etc etc.

There you go...a snifter of Okotoks in a paragraph. I'm sure there'll be others along to 'sell' their towns too. Feel free to have a look at our blog as there's a few piccies of events around town on there too.

ClanickP

Hi. Thanks for your replies. Okotoks sounds nice and could possibly be the place for us although we are still going to look into Cochrane and Airdrie. thanks. Clanickp

Butch Cassidy

Well to balance snoopsters post, everything she has to say about Okotoks is equally true of Cochrane, plus its closer to Banff and the ski hills

Sam-in-Okotoks

As Butch has mentioned I'm in Okotoks and we are very happy here, the town certainly offers everything we need. We relocated to Canada with our 2 girls and they settled very quickly into the schools. If you tell me the ages of your children I can send you more information about the schools. Annm is also a very good friend of mine and she has kids in school at Cochrane so between us we should be able to answer most questions. I think you really need to visit each of the towns you have spoken about and get a feel for them yourself, when you come to Okotoks you are very welcome to visit us and I'm sure my kids would love to tell you about the schools.

Thanks Butch for the nice words

Sam

snoopster

That is true. We loved Cochrane too when we visited, but found the houses a little more pricey. There was also the icecream issue....I love the icecream too much and was worried about becoming morbidly obese if I lived in Cochrane!

Butch Cassidy

Why the hell do you think I moved from Tuscany (5-10 minutes from Cochrane) to Downtown (20-25 minutes from Cochrane).

ClanickP

Hi Sam. Thanks for your kind reply. My children when we hopefully move will be 12, 10, 8 and 2.5. Three boys(the elder ones)and one long awaited and last little girl.

Whats this about icecream in Cochrane?
Thanks Nick and Claire

Butch Cassidy

Oh dear Claire I can only assume you have NEVER been to Calgary?
There are (essentially) two competing icecream Manufactures based in the foothills. MacKays from Cochrane and (oddly) Foothills which I believe is from Bragg Creek. Each has its own fan club, personally I am a MacKays fan, they seem to have more flavours and (to me at least) it tastes 'creamier'.
Each has its own store in its 'hometown' and then sells through other outlets.

snoopster

I'll second the Mackays option - their chocolate peanut butter flavour is sooo good!

ClanickP

Well Butch I think things are swaying now to Cochrane as I love snowboarding and promised the boys that I would take them to the mountains and the missus loves icecream. Just got to find the less important things in life now like a job and house. Joking apart, thanks for everyones replies.

Nick and Claire

Little D

We lived in Okotoks for a year and found it inconvenient from a Calgary commute point of view. We also found that there was not enough for adults to do. It bored us!

If we were looking for an out of Calgary community, knowing what we know now, we would have chosen Cochrane over Okotoks.

As it is we now live in a lovely community in SW Calgary, with more green space, plenty of places to walk, public transit etc etc. Plus it's closer to the mountains!

Helen Parnell

Having been to Okotoks lots of times, but living in Cochrane since we moved here, I prefer cochrane.

Cochrane at the moment is far smaller than Okotoks (15,000 people compared to 26,000) We do have less shops, but less people, less traffic, less traffic lights etc etc.

The big number one reason for us to move here, was the mountains. We did not want to move to Alberta and then not be near the mountains. If i spend the day in cochrane going around town, i will definitley without fail see the mountains (and i do not have a house with a mountain view!!). If you drive around Okotoks just going around the town, you don't see the mountains. (Yes if you go to the edge and then drive in you can see them, but i am talking about driving around town.)

Of course then there is the comute to the mountains when you want to going biking, skiing or snowboarding etc etc. To get to the nearest ski hill from Cochrane is 45 minutes and that is to Nakiska. From Okotoks the quickest way would still take about 90 minutes (i know some people will now say they did okotoks to banff in 45 minutes but that is just impossible!!!!)

The pull to Okotoks for a lot of expats is finance and the houses are cheaper in Okotoks. The reason for the cheaper houses is too far from the mountains, bigger town, more populated, more traffic etc etc

When you come over you do need to see both towns. If you can get a better house for 25,000 less then that might suit you. It depends on how much you are going to go to the mountains. If you going once a year then i would go to okotoks and get a better house. If you are a every weekend sort of family, then Cochrane may suit you.

Each town has its good and bad points, and both have excellent schools, good health facilities and are easily commutable to calgary.

Your final decision will be based on which one you like the look off and feel will suit you and your family better.

But of course Cochrane does have the world famous MacKays ice cream, which Okotoks will never be able to match

The Ross Family

We also have relocated to Okotoks - current population just over 20,000.

Yes we are slightly further away from the Rockies but you can still see them from most parts of the town. But as Helen states if you are a full on ski, mountain boarding family then maybe Cochrane being that bit closer would suit you best.

There is a quaint Main Street, tons of stuff for the kids to do and like Snoopster said earlier much more freedom for them in this safe area. Good schools, a 30 minute commute right into downtown, big box shops plus lots of eateries and a real community spirit appealed to us, especially coming from a large urban town in the East of England.

Good luck in whatever community you choose.

The Ross Family