The Village of Halkirk held an appreciation and recruitment BBQ on Wednesday at the Fire Hall to honor our local volunteer firefighters. It was a busy time of year and the crowd was small, though the hot dogs were great. A reminder that volunteer fire fighters are needed in our community. It's almost guaranteed to rain or snow during the May long weekend, but please use caution as it's still very dry and a full fire ban is in effect in the County of Paintearth and within the village limits. That means no burning barrels, even with screens, and no fire pits.
Thank you to our school students and the staff who did a town clean-up. Let's keep it clean! The village provided ice cream and the Snack Shack gave all the workers a pop.
We add our congratulations to Terry and Donna Howe, who are being recognized by the Battle River Community Foundation as community builders – people who dedicate their time and energy to helping local communities. They will be guests of honor at tribute dinner in Alliance on May 29. Donna is the only daughter of the late Bud and Dot Rowland of Halkirk and Terry is the son of the late Bill and Wilma Howe. Both sets of parents were also strong community supporters.
The students at Mother Teresa are busy "walking across Canada" and are now somewhere in Saskatchewan. Last Tuesday, they did a pretend venture of the Elks walk-a-thon for children and donated $140 to the Elks fund for children. Way to go!
Bill Smilie, district deputy of the Elks from Big Valley, initiated Rae-anne Cordel as a new member the Halkirk Elks at their regular meeting. Rae-anne, who was celebrating her birthday, then treated the group to cake.
Several of our residents are out and about for their first camping trip of the season.
Scott and Emily Vockeroth and daughters, Anika and Lyra from Fairbanks, Alaska arrived Friday to spend 10 days with parents, Terry and Peggy and with Scotts sister Sam and Tyler on a busy round of events.
Ron and Deirdre Muncy, along with Dennis and Doris Cordel, attended the weekend wedding of Stacey and Matt in Medicine Hat. Stacey is the daughter of Allan and Jean Rowland.
Coming up: May 20 – Grade 9 farewell and pot luck at the hall; May 27 – Mrs. Norman's piano recital at 7 p.m. at the hall; May 28 – Grade 1 to 6 track meet at Christ King school; May 30 – Hazardous waste roundup at the fire hall from 10 to 11 a.m. only.