Tucked away in central Alberta roughly 40 kilometres north of downtown Edmonton, the small town of Bon Accord sits along Highway 28, making it an accessible community within easy reach of the provincial capital. Its name carries a distinctly Scottish heritage, drawn from the ancient motto of Aberdeen, Scotland, the ancestral home of early settler Sandy Florence, one of the area’s first pioneers.
With a population of 1,461 recorded in the 2021 Census of Population, Bon Accord covers a land area of 3.99 square kilometres, giving it a population density of approximately 366 people per square kilometre. This represents a modest decline from the 1,529 residents counted in the 2016 census, which itself reflected a slight increase from 1,488 residents in 2011. The town is perhaps best known for an achievement that puts it firmly on the global map: in August 2015, the International Dark-Sky Association designated Bon Accord an International Dark Sky Community, recognising the town’s dedicated efforts to protect and improve dark night skies above the community. This distinction made Bon Accord the first community in Canada and the eleventh in the world to earn such recognition.