The most-read Calgary Citizen features of 2022 according to our readers

Well, last week you read about what each of our favourite stories of 2022 were; now, we have compiled a list of the top five stories according to our readers. We used Google Analytics data to determine which stories were the most read over the year, and there were a couple of surprises but the others make total sense! One thing most of these stories have in common is that we were the first media organization to bring them to life, and we noticed that other agencies followed closely behind. We hope you enjoy these stories as much as we did and we can’t wait to see what 2023 has in store for us.

Self-portrait of a Calgary artist sold six years ago was found at a Value Village for $250

Krista Sylvester wrote this story about local artist Rich Théroux, who sold his self-portrait for around $500 six years ago. Recently, a friend of his found the painting in a local Value Village, purchasing it for $250 and returning it to Theroux. Krista discovered this story from a social media post Théroux made about the whole adventure. It’s a fun story that you don’t find too often, which is why we think thousands of readers loved it so much. It was so popular, in fact, that it had double the number of views than the next most-read story.

Glamorgan Bakery’s new owners are determined to continue the legacy of the family-run business

Leanne Murray dove behind the scenes of everyone’s favourite bakery to discover what the new owners had in store for the popular shop. This story was a big hit on social media for readers who were hopeful the recipe for the cheese buns would remain intact. Leanne gave our readers an insight into what happens at the bakery while most of us are sound asleep. As for those delicious cheese buns? Well, you’ll have to read the story again to find out.

Mischievous dog chews game controller and racks up credit card charges in the process

Another story Krista stumbled upon on social media, this story blew up all over the country after we ran it first. David Murphy thought his Playstation account had been hacked until he discovered his dog Zoey was the culprit. In fact, she ordered add-ons for the Watch Dogs game—you can’t make this stuff up. After our story ran, Murphy was approached by radio and TV stations across the country. Major brands caught wind of the story online and sent him new chew toys for Zoey. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

‘He’s back. Santa’s back:’ Stolen decoration returned two days later and he has seen some things

Another story Krista stumbled upon at the perfect time of year to bring some humour into the holidays. This Calgary family was surprised to discover their stolen Santa was returned home, but with some new bad habits. We love being able to share stories like this that you won’t find anywhere else—and you agreed, as it was our fourth most-read story of the year, even though it was just published a couple of weeks ago.

A new game show filming in the Calgary area will take participants back in time

Leanne wrote this feature about a new game show being filmed locally that was looking for participants to join. We were a little surprised to discover it was our fifth most-read story, but we figured it was because people were excited to share it with their friends in hopes of getting on the show. Leanne was able to capture the excitement the game show, dubbed Rental Rewind, invoked in people who were nostalgic about the good ol’ days of going to the video rental store on a Friday night to browse the aisles for the latest movie releases. Can’t wait to see how the game show turns out!