Street Pole Banners
The Town of Banff installs banners on downtown street poles to showcase events or activities, commemorate milestones, and celebrate this special place in the Rocky Mountains and Canada's first national park.
There are 28 street poles on Banff Avenue that can display banners, 13 on Bear Street, and additional poles on St. Julien Road and Cave Avenue.
The Town has a Street Pole Banner Policy (PDF) to manage the program.
From time-to-time, local organizations are given permission to have their event or activity banners displayed on Banff Avenue and/or Bear Street. If interested, please apply for an opportunity to display banners in the following year. Review the policy about requirements and costs. Applying for a banner does not guarantee approval.
Requests from non-profits to have banners displayed and the fees waived must be received by mid-October in the year before the banners would be displayed for Town Council to consider the request during budget debates.
Approved banners are displayed based on requested time periods, but are subject to early removal or installation based on weather conditions and emerging responsibilities of the installation team.
Examples of banners recently displayed include, Banff & Lake Louise Tourism for SnowDays, Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival, Banff Pride Week, and Banff's local Royal Canadian Legion, which displayed on our famous main street banners to commemorate local 49 veterans (PDF), for Remembrance Day in the month of November.
Design Guidelines
Download the Design guidelines and banner specifications (PDF)
These street banners were designed to complement the Town of Banff’s streetscapes, while sharing a sense of place. Pulling from natural colour palettes, iconic landscapes, and local flora and fauna, the banners each become a small, collaged mountain range of their own: a vibrant perspective on the grandeur of both the Town of Banff, and Banff National Park.
The set of four colorways document not only the scenery of the national park, but also the seasons as they shift. Fresh spring days hiking through fireweed, warm summer evenings wandering through paintbrush, cool fall mornings marveling larches, and the winter-long search for fresh lines on powder-covered faces.
Most of these mountains can be seen from the streets of Banff – there are few vantage points within the townsite that lack views of either Rundle (Waskahigan Watchi), Cascade (Minihapa) or Bourgeau. Further west, Temple towers over larch filled valleys and neighbouring village of Lake Louise. These peaks hold significance for many Town of Banff residents and visitors – whether it’s a constant view on the walk to work, a core-memory of spending time atop the summit, a landmark that signals you’re getting closer to the ski hill, or a deeper resonating spiritual significance. These mountains hold a sense of place, but also a sense of home. An accurate topographic map complements each mountain and banner – adding another layer to the collaged mountain ranges.
Banners
- Pink: Cascade Mountain/Minihapa, Fireweed, Spring
- Orange: Rundle Mountain/Waskahigan Watchi, Paintbrush, Summer
- Green: Temple Mountain, Larch Trees, Fall
- Blue: Mount Bourgeau, Winter