Hi everyone!

My OH has a job that is right in the middle of the two, my question is where is the best place to live. I know that Okotoks is bigger but if anyone can tell us what is the better comunity then please do. We have a 2 year old daughter and we want the best area for her.

Many thanks in advance Alli

Hi...will send you a PM as we have expereince of both areas.

Eamonn & Janet.

You're always welcome to send PMs if you wish. However, there's a very good chance that the information you could provide would be useful to many other people on the forum. So, unless the information is confidential, do consider sharing it here.
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Hi

We have lived in Okotoks for a year now and really like the town. It is bigger than High River as you say and for some people that is the appeal of High River. It still has more of a rural small town feel to it, whereas there are shops, banks, big retail units etc being built at a rapid rate here. There are also several big new housing estates still under construction. I know there are also new housing estates being built in High River, but I am not sure whether they are on the same scale as here.

So it really depends on whether you are keen on the "small town feel" or whether you would rather have the convenience of many big stores close at hand.

Although, having said that, it is only about a fifteen minute drive from High River anyway and most of the big retail areas are at the south side of the Okotoks, so it would still be convenient to live in High River and come up to Okotoks to shop.

We liked the schools here too, but if your daughter is only two, that may not be much of a worry for you yet. There are several pre-schools here and I also know of people who take their toddlers to mother and toddler groups at local church halls. There is a Rec Centre which has regular toddler swimming sessions and there are also gym/dance classes for "littlies" I would assume that there is similar in High River, but again may be not as many.

In the end, my real advice would be to have a look at both when you get here - you may form an opinion from what you read on the net and think you prefer one town, then when you get here and look, you may decide that you actually like the look of the other one better. They are both nice towns.

Another thing I should add is that there are also way more Brits in Okotoks, so that may also be something for or against it, depending on what you want!

Lisa

Having visited both in April, we definitely preferred Okotoks. To us High River was just a little too redneck! Having said that, our children are slightly older, so we have a different set of priorities in terms of what is available for them to do. We wholeheartedly agree with the above post with regards to what Okotoks can offer. For an easy commute in the south of Okotoks consider Cimarron or Westmount, both of which are nice areas, with lots of house building going on. There are modern houses in High River, but nowhere near the scale that is happening in Okotoks.

Hi Alli

We live in Okotoks and absolutely love it. We have 2 children and there is always plenty for them to do, good choice of pre schools and childcare.
We also have a good selection of shops and restaurants (with more still being built)

High River is also nice but there is not so much for the children and our friends that live there keep telling me its a perfect place for retirement!

That being said you need to have a look around both and decide which area suits your families needs.

Take care and good luck

Julie

Like in any country the names of the towns are usually from some historical nature.

So in 2005 when we had lots of rain, people in High River discovered why the original natives called it 'High River"

If you buy a property there, make sure that you have a property inspection done where the inspector will use special machines for damp and make sure that the realtor asks the right questions about previous flooding.