For eleven nights each November, a stretch of Calgary's Memorial Drive NW glows with thousands of white crosses, each one bearing the name of a Southern Alberta service member who died in military service. The Field of Crosses is back from November 1 to 11, 2026, and it's free to visit at any hour, day or night.
The memorial was started in 2009 by Calgary businessman and philanthropist Murray McCann, and it has grown into one of the city's most striking Remembrance Week traditions. This year's display includes more than 3,700 crosses honouring Southern Albertans, plus 120 additional crosses representing the roughly 120,000 Canadians who have died in military service overall. The site sits in Sunnyside Bank Park, and the crosses stay illuminated overnight for the full run.
It's not just a static display. Sunrise and sunset ceremonies are held daily from November 1 to 10, each with its own theme. The 2026 programme covers Remembrance Day's widest circle: Memorial Cross Families Day opens the series, followed by days dedicated to the Royal Canadian Air Force, Navy and Army, the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Legion, First Responders and Animals in War, Youth Day, Indigenous Veterans Day, and a November 9 that splits between Women of War at sunrise and Jewish Fallen at sunset. UN Peacekeepers close out the ceremony schedule on November 10.
The evening before Remembrance Day brings the annual Night of Lights, when lanterns are placed in front of the crosses and left burning from sunset on November 10 until sunrise on November 11. The Remembrance Day ceremony itself takes place at the site on Wednesday, November 11, and the public is welcome — with a televised broadcast for anyone who can't attend. Note that parking is extremely tight that day: Memorial Drive closes from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and organizers suggest parking near Eau Claire downtown and walking across the bridge.
If you're in Calgary in early November, this is one of those things worth building a morning or evening around. Arrive 10 to 15 minutes early if you're attending a ceremony, dress for prairie November (it can be genuinely cold before sunrise), and allow time to walk the rows slowly — reading even a handful of names changes the scale of it. Pair a visit with time in nearby Kensington or the Bow River pathways, and you've got a quiet, meaningful half-day in the city that most visitors never see.
