[9] Popular tourist activities include sunbathing, swimming, water-skiing, and visiting Camp Woods.

[11] In the early twentieth century, groups of Estonian[12] and then Finnish settlers moved to homesteads to the south and west of the fledgling settlement at Sylvan Lake.

The completion of the Canadian Northern line to Rocky Mountain House and Nordegg in 1912 and the parallel Canadian Pacific in 1914 opened the west country to settlement and resulted in the incorporation of Sylvan Lake in 1913 under Mayor E. S. Grimson, a local hardware store owner.

Even prior to the building of the railways, Sylvan Lake was becoming a summer resort for families in Red Deer.

The influx of summer residents and visitors also brought businesses and services that catered to the ever-increasing number of tourists.

A large boathouse was constructed in 1926, allowing visitors to rent a boat, canoe, swimsuit, or buy ice cream, pop and other items necessary to a summer day at the lake.

The piers were prone to ice damage over the winter and were replaced by the existing "landfill" that now hosts beach volleyball tournaments, dragon boat racing and the lake tour on the "Zoo Cruise".

In 2014, Sylvan Lake won the Kraft Hockeyville contest, which included a large cash prize and the rights to host an NHL pre-season game between the Calgary Flames and the Arizona Coyotes.

[15] Sylvan Lake has a subarctic climate (Dfc) with long, cold winters and short, mild summers.

[40] At its current population, Sylvan Lake is one of the largest towns in the province and is eligible for city status.

[55] The Sylvan Lake Gulls of the Western Canadian Baseball League play at Pogadl Park.

The Sylvan Lake Wranglers of the Heritage Junior Hockey League play at the NexSource Centre.