Amid bright blue skies and waving red-and-white Canadian flags, patriotic folks gathered at Big Valley to celebrate the centennial of the Big Valley train station on the 145th birthday of Canada and the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation.
The Alberta Prairie steam engine rolled into the village in grand style, adorned with flags and banners.
Donalda was in the spotlight as about 1,000 people celebrated the village’s centennial on the Canada Day weekend. Now with a population of 259, the village was incorporated on Dec. 30, 1912. At 96, Rosie Vallet and Don McKay were honoured as the oldest residents.
Halkirk stepped back in time as more than 800 people celebrated the community’s centennial. The village also unveiled the second edition of the history book, Halkirk Home Fires, an update of the volume released in 1987.
A building boom in the town and county of Stettler continues, with the Points West Living seniors’ complex on 70 Street as the major residential project. Commercial development is shaping up, with a new Co-op convenience store, gas bar and car wash, renovations to Sobeys and expansion to Performance Fitness and John’s Clothing and Shoes. Industrially, major projects include Stettler Oil and Gas and ENR Distribution.
A 20-minute rain and hail storm flooded Stettler streets on July 18. Within two hours after the storm began, streets in the town were “back to normal,” crews reported. Hail in the town was from pea-sized to quarter-sized. No major basement floods or property damage were reported.
Hailstones the size of walnuts were reported in the Buffalo Lake area and near Red Willow and Donalda, as 55 claims for crop insurance in the region were reported to Agriculture Financial Services Corporation.
Stettler high school graduate Michael Lomenda, 32, stars in Jersey Boys, an award-winning production that has toured internationally, including Alberta stops in 2012.