2000 – 10 YEARS AGO
• With shelves basically bare, Stettler and District Food Bank must resort to buying food. While about 60 per cent of donations are received during the annual food drive in early October and another 30 per cent during the Christmas season, that is not enough to replenish the needs, said executive director Kathy Willis.
• The new building of Stettler Agricultural Society on the exhibition grounds south of its existing office space is on schedule with trusses set in place.
1990 – 20 YEARS AGO
• Rodeo action returns to Stettler this weekend as some of Canada’s top hands test their mettle in the first Stettler Kinsmen Pro Rodeo. Many local cowboys and cowgirls will be competing in the three-day event.
• This Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of the Gadsby Decoration Day at Omega Cemetery. Every year since 1931, veterans of both world wars have gathered to remember their comrades.
1980 – 30 YEARS AGO
• Some 20 minor league baseball teams are coming to Stettler to be joined by four local teams in Stettler Recreation Commission Annual Triple Baseball Tournament with mosquito, beaver and bantam levels competing on four good diamonds.
• Alberta Government Telephone employees in Stettler, now numbering 64, held a coffee party for all former employees. Pearl Wilson was the first of 41 to sign the special guest book.
1970 – 40 YEARS AGO
• Stettler County (United Church?) Pastoral Charge will induct Rev. Allan J. Smith and Rev Bill Wright at services in Stettler United Church. Rev. Smith will be preaching at Stettler and Gadsby while Rev. Wright will give sermons at Donalda and Big Valley.
• There is no break this year between haying and harvest, as the hot summer has pushed barley and wheat fields to ripeness. It is not unusual to see haying machines and swathers working coincidently on the same farm.
1960 – 50 YEARS AGO
• Rev. and Mrs. H.R. Hunt won three first prizes when Stettler Garden Club’s outdoor competitions were held and they were closely followed by Mr. and Mrs. C.V. Richardson with a first and a second.
• Bannister Pipeline Construction Co. of Edmonton arrived in Stettler over the weekend with 120 men and their families and will be in the area for about one month as they work on Alberta Gas Trunk projects.
1950 – 60 YEARS AGO
• The new school in the Village of Botha is as up-to-date as it is possible to make a school, with three classrooms, typing and chemistry rooms, a staff room, and large auditorium. The official opening is set for Aug. 31.
• Miss Juanita Price of Fenn has been awarded the Toronto Conservatory silver medal for attaining the highest marks in Alberta for Grade 1 violin examinations. Miss Price is studying under Mrs. Eisentraut.
1940 – 70 YEARS AGO
• Mr. J.S. Penosky of Botha has purchased one of the new Massey-Harris reaper-threshers, which, as the names implies, performs the double operation of cutting and threshing the grain while it is drawn along by the tractor. Some 60 bushels of cleaned wheat is stored in the grain tank every one-and-a-half minutes.
• John Craig of Gadsby, himself a veteran of the second world war, has four sons overseas and two at home training with the militia. Mrs. Craig declares she would like to enlist in the Home Defence Unit.
1930 – 80 YEARS AGO
• Red Willow news: We are glad to report the successful pass of all Grade-8 pupils of Cora Lynn School. Some, we understand, passed with honours.
• Highway 12, running between Stettler and Lacombe, has been marked during the past week with regulation signs, giving turns, railway crossings, locations of schools, etc.
1920 – 90 YEARS AGO
Stettler baseball team played at Big Valley Fair, and succeeded in carrying off the trophy of $100. Teams from Big Valley and Rumsey will be wondering how it happened.
• Mrs. Asmussen returned from spending three months in the United States and reports that conditions are much better in Alberta. Drinking water had to be boiled and there was a three-cent tax on a dish of ice cream, bringing the price up to 18 cents.
1910 – 100 YEARS AGO
• The new game regulations require town residents desiring to hunt in the open season to secure a gun licence which costs $1.25 and does not apply to country residents.
• Stettler Independent lost its typesetting machine when some person(s) came into the office at night and carried it away. Police are on the lookout for it in the area and elsewhere and a reward will be given for information leading to the recovery.