To beat the winter blues and the snowy chills of the weekend, Big Valley Mayor Asaph ‘Ken’ Johnson organized a “Family Fun Night” for the community on Saturday evening, Feb. 4.
“I thought why not have a band perform and get the community together for a dinner and dance mingle!” said Johnson as he recalled how the idea of such a social and musical evening came to his mind. “Last summer, Rose and I were at the ‘15 Minutes of Fame’ concert in Rosebud and that led to a conversation with the band ‘Divided By J’ and the idea of today’s evening to relieve the winter blahs.”
Johnson had had ‘Me And The Mrs.’ do a show in Big Valley last year and the band had invited them down to enjoy six groups who each did a 15-minute set, one of which was ‘Divided by J.’
“Divided by J is an excellent band from the Three Hills area that plays danceable rock music,” Johnson added.
Even though the evening had a sparse attendance, those who braved the cold did not regret it at all.
Speaking about what a great community Big Valley is, Johnson said, “Some of the advantages of a community like ours is the friendly people who live here, besides our proximity to Stettler, Drumheller, Red Deer for shopping and other needs.”
According to Johnson the sense of safety the residents of the village feel far surpasses any other convenience that might come to mind.
“We have a K-9 school, a general store, a new outdoor rodeo arena and our C.O.P.S. volunteers who give off their time to help out the community,” Johnson added. “And we are actively involved with the train.”
Johnson believes that by getting back to offering family-based events that encourage neighbours to get to know each other, he feels he can offer the best of all worlds to his people.
“Using the 150th celebration of Canada as a spring board, we hope to draw both citizens and visitors to more events of various kinds over the next year,” Johnson explained. “Big Valley has a good mixture of people; Rose and I are glad we decided to move here and be active in our Village of Big Valley.”