BIG VALLEY BULLETIN -- The Calgary Free-Mo Club showcased their model train layouts in our arena this past Saturday and Sunday, and the event sure drew a crowd. These sets are always awe-inspiring and you can sure tell that the creators are very passionate about them. You can go around the track several times and find the little secrets the creators have placed in the landscape, admire the genuine look of the water, and appreciate the glorious colours. The trains have a very realistic look to them, and at some angles you can almost forget you are looking at models. It was fun to see and we hope everyone enjoyed the great display.
This Sunday, Aug. 21 Big Valley welcomes the “Highland Special” Steam Train to our village. The Red Deer Legion Pipe Band will be performing both in Stettler and again in Big Valley for this train.
In the first of hopefully many more events, Big Valley will be hosting an outdoor concert at our amphitheatre on Railway Avenue on Saturday, Aug. 27. Beginning at 7 p.m., “Me & the Mrs.” who hail from Rosebud, Alberta, will entertain us with many of their own and some others’ songs. Should the weather not cooperate, we have the drop-in ccntre as a backup venue. There are posters up around town and also in some of the surrounding municipalities inviting folks to come and join us for an evening’s good entertainment. Tickets are available at the village office, Granny’s Fudge Factory, All That Buzz, Outriders’ Inn, and the ATB. We invite you to come out and enjoy the evening of Aug. 27 with us. Bring your own cushion, maybe a blanket and some bug spray.
Here is a scandalous piece of Big Valley history: In 1921, the first “madame” arrived in Big Valley and had a very nice home constructed about a mile north on the east side of the tracks. Her “fillies de joie” joined her soon afterward and the house opened for business. Everything flourished for some time, but apparently there must have been a number of suspicious wives around at that time because a sort of vigilante committee formed. In the small hours of one morning in midwinter, someone torched the house and in one big swoop exterminated the first and only business of its kind in Big Valley. An old cook stove still marks the site as a memorial. Who knew?