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Calgary Community

And the winning suburb is...

After nearly 119,000 votes in CBC Calgary's Battle of the Burbs competition, Calgary has crowned its best suburb.

After 37,764 votes, just 86 separated Lake Bonavista and Silver Springs in CBC Calgary’s Battle of the Burbs

Josh Pagé · CBC News ·
More than 600 people wrote-in to CBC sharing what they loved most about Silver Springs, with the Botanical Gardens (pictured above) being one of the top things. (Jose Vazquez Diaz)

After 37,764 votes, just 86 separated Lake Bonavista and Silver Springs in CBC Calgary's Battle of the Burbs, with Silver Springs taking the win. 

My whole family is excited. We rallied everyone.- Miceala Cummings

"We obviously are very passionate and love our community, but we are hopeful that everyone will be able to see how much we love it and see how wonderful it is and come and visit," resident Miceala Cummings told Angela Knight on the Calgary Eyeopener. "My whole family is excited. We rallied everyone."

"We really have a friendly community," says Margaret Livingston. "Sharing, caring and so much to do if you so desire. From great walking, cycling, running pathways, a natural park, real bubbling springs and beautiful gardening park." (Margaret Livingston)

As the competition wore on, Silver Springs and Lake Bonavista seemed destined to match up against each other. Both were consistently top vote grabbers, and each drew more than 500 online submissions (where people wrote-in to tell CBC where they live and why they love their community). 

"Silver Springs is the centre of the universe!" says Margaret Livingston. "We have a 156 acre natural reserve Bowmont Park (pictured above), the Bow River, the Botanical Gardens and a very active community association with the best neighbours in the community. How can anyone beat this?" (Margaret Livingston)

The two communities went back and forth all Friday and through Saturday in the online voting contest, with the northwest's Silver Springs building a lead of about 800 votes early Saturday evening — only to see the southeast's champ regain the lead with just two hours to go, nearly giving Lake Bonavista the win.

"They are such a fantastic community," said Silver Springs Community Association President Cydney Elofson about Lake Bonavista. "I really raise my hat to them."

But when the polls closed, it was Silver Springs taking the title as Calgary's best suburb. Located north of the Bow River and south of Crowchild Trail, the community of about 9,000 people rallied every vote it could.

My 17-year-old old daughter was getting all of her teenage friends to vote no matter where they were on a busy Saturday night.- Cydney Elofson

"My 17-year-old old daughter was getting all of her teenage friends to vote no matter where they were on a busy Saturday night. And they supported us as well. They thought, 'Wow! What is your crazy mom up to?'" said Elofson with a laugh.  

Up next, the Calgary Eyeopener will do a remote walking show radio broadcast from Silver Springs later this spring, and the BUMP Festival mural prize will be created as well. 

By the numbers

Total votes in competition: 118,951

Total community submissions: 2,291

Total map views: 422,900

Communities in competition: 96 

Closest battle: Woodbine loses by one vote to Signal Hill in round one

Want the details of how we got here? Visit cbc.ca/battleoftheburbs for a full breakdown and up-to-date details about the Calgary Eyeopener walking show and community mural.  

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