More educational opportunities are coming to Drayton Valley. The Town has announced partnerships that will bring courses for beauty professionals and health care aides to the community. Courses will be offered for in person learning at the Clean Energy Technology Centre starting in September.
B.D. Lock and Key Ltd.
Share on facebook Facebook Share on email Email Share on linkedin LinkedIn Share on whatsapp
Emmaus Lutheran Church
A community of faith passionately walking the road of life with the Lord Jesus. Phone: 780-542-5101, Drayton Valley Alberta
Valley Worship Assembly
Please take your time and discover what is happening at Valley Worship in Drayton Valley.
Breton Dental Clinic
Facebook Email LinkedIn WhatsApp Brighten your smile Breton Dental Clinic is located in the heart
Beauty courses will be offered through Delmar College, which offers training in the areas of hairstyling, barbering, esthetics, nail, lash, and makeup.
“Bringing Delmar on board is really exciting,” said Mayor Michael Doerksen. “They offer a variety of programs unique to the beauty industry which complement the cosmetology courses already offered in our local high schools. It is an example of how post-secondary education will look in Drayton Valley.”
Services
- Companion Animals
- Emergency and After Hours Services
- Ovine and Caprine Health
- Bovine Health
- Equine Health
- Avian Health
780-236-0654
- Investments
- Retirement Planning
- Tax Planning
- Estate Planning
Services Offered
- SEPTIC SYSTEM INSTALLATION
- NEW SERVICES DUGIN
- WATERLINE INSTALLATION AND REPAIR
- GRADE FOR FOUNDATION
- RV/PARKING PAD
- HYDRANTS AND CATTLE WATERERS REPAIRED AND INSTALLED
- COMPACTION AND PLATE TAMPING
- TRENCHING
- CULVERTS CLEANED AND REPAIRED
- FRENCH DRAINS
- DUMP TRAILER SERVICES
- ASPHALT AND CONCRETE CUTTING
- TRACKED SKID STEER WITH 78" BUCKET AND FORKS
- MINI SKIDSTEER
- LANDSCAPING
- INTEGRITY DIGS
- DRAINAGE
First it was caterpillars. Then it was rain. Then it was smoke. Then it was more rain. Then it was mosquitoes. Then it was moths. And then it was tornadoes.
I hope I have those in the right order. It’s been hard to keep track. I should probably fit blue/green algae in there somewhere too.
Either way, it’s fair to say that the summer of 2026 has been exciting, in the same way as getting a registered letter from the CRA or finding a litter of baby skunks under your garden shed is exciting.
But summer is not over yet. It’s still only early August, so there is time left to save the season.
Technically, fall doesn’t start until 6:05 pm on Tuesday September 20. Which is (writer counts on fingers, gets three different answers and gives up) somewhere between 40 and 50 days from now.
My aim is to fill that time with as much madcap fun as possible. There’s lots to pack in.
Golf would be nice. I’ve only managed to play twice so far this year. The first round wasn’t bad. The second round was absolutely dreadful. There’s no knowing what the third round might have in store. Although based on past experience, I’ve got a fairly good idea.
My wife and I will be going on a trip to Toronto to meet our brand new grandson in a couple of weeks. We’re very excited about that obviously. And I hear Canada’s largest city is lovely at this time of year. Plus my son in law knows a place where they sell the best sausage rolls I have ever had. I know a thing or two about sausage rolls, and have the waistline to prove it.
We’ve already had our annual road trip to Westlock for the Elvis festival. My wife is a big fan and I’m just a boy who can’t say no. And incidentally don’t make the same mistake I made; they’re tribute artists, not impersonators.
We’ve also had a very wet visit to Jasper which was nice, although the mountains are more impressive when you can actually see them. But there are other places, some of them quite close by, that might be worth a visit assuming they haven’t been washed away or stripped by caterpillars.
But my wife and I are simple folks. Our favourite summer pastime is to sit on our deck with a cold drink and maybe a few tunes. The deck faces south and if you stretch a bit and stand on your tippy toes you can almost see a park. For a long time the deck was the nicest part of our house. That changed a few months ago when a nice man came and renovated our bathroom. But we still prefer the deck for hanging out on, because there’s a little more elbow room.
And that’s it. That’s my plan to spend the final weeks of the best part of the year. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m excited to get on with it.
Blimey, I must be getting old.
Local rugby player Lucy Cropley has returned from the Canadian Rugby Championships where she played on Alberta’s U19 travelling team.
Teams from Alberta, Nova Scotia, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec all attended the event in Toronto that ran from July 20 to 26. Cropley was one of 26 players selected for the Alberta team in June this year.
Though the team didn’t excel at the tournament, Cropley says Albertans don’t have the same amount of time to prepare as some other provinces. This year, the team that headed to the championships was only formed at the end of June. Other provinces, such as Ontario, can have teams that are formed in February.
“It was a really good experience,” says Cropley. “They are definitely a bit harder to compete against because they have been practicing and have known each other for a lot longer.”
She says regardless of how they did at the tournament, she was grateful for the opportunity to play on the team.
Cropley has been playing rugby for five years, starting out with the Frank Maddock Warriors.
She says over the years there have been a lot of highs and lows with the sport. Sometimes she has felt discouraged if she hasn’t made a team, even wondering if it was something she still wanted to pursue.
“It’s definitely a sport where you just have to keep trying, keep showing up, and there will be an outcome [based] on how hard you try,” she says.
Cropley didn’t score a spot on Team Alberta on her first try. She says she’s been trying to get on the team for a couple of years, but with every setback she worked hard to learn the lessons that were there. Then, when she tried out for the U19 team, she got it on her first try, ensuring she can play on the team in 2027 as well.
During her time playing rugby, Cropley has played for several teams. During the spring she plays with the Warriors, but during the fall and winter the sport has to be played indoors. As there isn’t an indoor sports centre in Drayton Valley, Cropley plays on an Edmonton team during that time.
Rugby can be played with different numbers of players on the field. There are the sevens, where each team has seven players on the field, and then there are the fifteens. The type of rugby played follows a pattern, says Cropley. In the fall, there are more sevens tournaments, culminating in the Alberta Rugby Championships in January.
Cropley made it onto the Alberta sevens team last January and ended up playing at a tournament in Vancouver in March.
Heading into the spring, there are more games of fifteens played, which is what they played at the recent championships.
Cropley says one of the aspects of rugby that she really enjoys is the camaraderie between the players. She says that at the level she’s playing at, her teammates have a good understanding of the sport and they can work well together.
“It’s not so much about the sport that you’re involved with; it’s more about the community and the friendships and stuff like that,” she says.
Cropley says it’s great to meet people from different areas who have had different life experiences than she has.
From August 2 to 9, Cropley will be at the U18 Canada West Development Camp in Victoria, where she could be selected to play for the U18 Team Canada.
“It should be a really great experience,” says Cropley. “Even if I don’t end up making it further on from that, it’s still great to have that level of coaching, and hang out with the people that are there.”
Right now Cropley is taking a gap year between high school and college so she can upgrade some of her courses, but she is planning to pursue a rugby scholarship when she does go to post-secondary.
More than just a bald guy who likes cheeseburgers
I grew up in Glasgow in the high and far off time they called the 1970s. Back then I used to assume that everybody wished they were Scottish. It just made sense. We were the best at football, we had the coolest accents and we had the most interesting history. Later in life I discovered that actually, we were not the best at football after all. (Damn you Spain with your natural ability and team work!*) There are other places that have interesting history too. And regardless of what their accents sound like, most people do not wish they were Scottish. Generally speaking people are happy to be from, well, wherever it is they come from.
That’s almost universally true, except for a few days in the middle of February when an alarming number of folks like to pretend they’re Irish, in spite of the fact they aren’t.
But I digress.
Our sense of heritage is a funny thing. I’ve lived in Canada more than half of my life and in Drayton Valley for longer than I lived in Glasgow. This is undeniably my home and I’ve no desire to live anywhere else, even supposing I could find somewhere else that would have me. Life here has been good to me and in any case, if I wanted to leave town my wife wouldn’t let me.
Still, even after 40 years, being Scottish is a big part of who I am. But it’s complicated. These days I think of myself as Canadian first, Albertan second and Scottish, well, not third, but almost as a separate and unrelated part of my identity, like being bald or liking cheeseburgers.
When I had children of my own I felt it was important that they grew up feeling very definitely Canadian. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely wanted them to know about their Scottish heritage, which is something I’m very proud of. But they were born in Canada with a Canadian mother, Canadian aunts and uncles and Canadian cousins. The Scottish bit is there, of course, but from their mother’s family there’s some German and some Russian, along with a good slice of Prince Edward Islander and yes, there’s a little bit of Scottish from that side too.
Which I think made them typical Albertans. Their background was cobbled together from a very mixed bag of people who made their way to Western Canada going back for more than a century to their maternal great grandparents. I’ve always felt that our incredible blend of backgrounds is one of the things that makes this such a great place to live. There is strength in our diversity and we all bring some added flavour to our cultural mix. It’s why the prairies are dotted with Ukrainian churches. It’s why we have so many French place names and it’s why almost every small town in Alberta has a Chinese restaurant. It’s a unique and ever-changing blend, and it makes us who we are. Somehow, when we come together, we create something that is greater than the sum of its parts.
So this year on Heritage Day. I’ll be reflecting that being Scottish is great. But being Canadian is pretty cool too.
*Also Argentina, France, England, Morocco, Mexico, Japan, Senegal, Cape Verde …
The second partnership is with the Health Care Aide Academy, which provides training for jobs in healthcare. The academy has been in operation since 2013 with a campus in Red Deer. In its most recent graduating class, 19 out of 21 students had secured jobs upon graduation.
With Canada’s population steadily aging, job opportunities in health care are widely expected to continue to grow in the future.
Nothing in the last 50 years has quite matched the feeling I got waking up one July morning in 1976 and realizing I wouldn’t have to so much as think about simultaneous equations for the next six weeks.
Life’s had its ups and downs since then, but I’ve never quite recaptured that burst of excitement you get when school’s out for summer and, with the entire holidays ahead of you, it feels as if it might as well be out forever.
All this week I’ve been watching kids walk down our street making their way between the twin attractions of the skatepark and 7/Eleven. Some are tall, some are short. Some are in groups, others in pairs or alone. The main thing they have in common is that they all seem pretty happy.
And they should be. But I wonder if they realize this is as good as it gets. They’re young, they’re healthy, it’s the first week of summer vacation. It’s all downhill from here.
What with bullying, the pressure to conform and the potential horrors of social media, it would be foolish to assume that teens don’t have problems of their own, because some of them quite obviously do. But for the happy majority it’s a question of perspective. It’s not that your teenage years are completely carefree. I know this because I am a former teenager. When I was that age my main concerns were wondering if I’d have enough money to buy the new ABBA album when it came out, trying to catalog my stamp collection and wishing I could figure out how to talk to girls without sounding like an absolute numpty. I’m still working on that last one as it happens. Meanwhile my brother, who’s a couple of years older than I am, spent most of the mid-1970s in front of the mirror trying to make sure his hair was perfect and becoming increasingly furious when it failed to remain exactly in place. It’s all fallen out now, so the joke’s on him.
So anyway, I want to wish all the kids who are off school a long and happy summer. I hope they have the chance to make memories that will last a lifetime. It’s a horrible cliche to say that your school days are the happiest days of your life. And like most cliches, it’s not always accurate. But as Ferris Bueller once said, life moves pretty fast. So it’s important to make the most of things right now, before they are gone forever.
I never did get that ABBA album. My stamp collection is still stuffed haphazardly into a couple of fading envelopes. My school days are the best part of half a century behind me. If I was to tell one of those kids who walk past our house how quickly the time has gone they’d think I was delusional, or bonkers, or both. But it’s no exaggeration to say that sometimes 1976 seems like yesterday. And yet here we are. Half a century later and I’m still not entirely sure what you’re supposed to do with simultaneous equations.
Have a great summer kids, and take time to enjoy the ride.
Off-highway vehicles are not allowed on public municipal property in Drayton Valley, whether they are electric or not.
Cody Rossing, the senior manager of community safety for the Town, says that there have been some complaints about e-dirt bikes being used in town and he wants to educate the public about the legislation surrounding electric micro-mobility devices.
“At the end of the day, these e-dirt bikes are considered by the Province of Alberta to be an off-highway vehicle,” says Rossing.
Like other OHVs, owners have to follow the regulations around ownership and use of the vehicle, and the rules don’t change if the vehicle happens to be electric.
“There is a minimum age of 14 to operate any off-highway vehicles. You need registration and you need insurance if you are operating on roadways,” says Rossing. “You do need a helmet if you are on the roadways as well.”
Along with provincial legislation, residents are required to follow the Town’s bylaws. Like many municipalities, OHVs are not permitted to be used within Drayton Valley’s public areas. This includes roads, sidewalks, walking trails, green spaces, and any other publicly accessible areas. The only exception is if it is being used on private property, such as an acreage within town limits.
Rossing says that while many people are only learning about e-dirt bikes now, the Province has had legislation in place for more than 15 years.
“It’s not something that all of a sudden the provincial government or the municipal government has come up with in the last couple of months. It has been very well established several years ago,” he says.
One issue that has come up when these micro vehicles are used in town is the lack of noise. E-dirt bikes and other micro vehicles don’t make a lot of noise, so residents don’t hear them coming. While this might happen with regular bicycles or scooters if someone isn’t paying attention, the real danger lies in how fast the vehicles can go.
Most e-dirt bikes have a top speed that ranges from 50 kph to 130 kph. It’s dangerous enough to have an accident with an e-bicycle, which can get up to speeds between 32 kph and 45 kph, but an accident with an e-dirt bike could be deadly.
“There are huge safety issues that come with that,” says Rossing. “It’s one of those things where we want adults and we want kids to have fun, but it’s got to be done safely.”
He says that enforcement services have been responding to complaints and have spoken to a few individuals about the rules, and they will continue to do so.
Rossing says those who are not happy with the legislation surrounding OHVs can either write to the Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, the Honourable Steve MacKinnon, or their local MLA.
How do you spend a two week holiday when the weather is crappy? With visitors from Scotland in tow, my wife and I set out to find the answer to that question earlier this month.
After being rained out of Drayton Valley we headed west in search of a break in the clouds. A friend had told me about the Beaver Boardwalk in Hinton. We decided to give it a go and it was actually really good. Basically it’s a long bridge sort of thing that winds its way through an area of wetland. Not only is there lots of wildlife, there’s something weirdly enjoyable about walking on a pathway of wooden planks. It felt a bit like being on one of those old sailing ships, but without the scurvy or the looming threat of a keel hauling.
And the wildlife did come through for us. Hinton provided muskrats along with the aforementioned beaver. When we headed into the national park we had a very good bear sighting (it was good for us, I’m not sure how the bear felt about it) along with elk, a coyote, rabbits and bighorn sheep. And there were lots of deer, although curiously, here at home the little herd of whitetails who are fond of eating my wife’s flowers and defecating on my front lawn were nowhere to be seen.
And talking of wildlife, we were chased away from a rest stop near Obed by a rampaging horde of caterpillars.
One of the good things about the Miette Hotsprings is that it’s really quite pleasant even if it’s raining. The other positive thing about the weather in Jasper was that the waterfalls were in full swing and as spectacular as you could reasonably hope for, even if you did get wet feet trying to get a closer look.
But you can only spend so long trying to see a mountain through a rain spotted windshield. Back in Drayton we found ourselves eating out a lot. I’ve always been a fan of the number and variety of restaurants we have in this community and they did not let us down. However, it will be some time before I can look at a french fry with anything close to enthusiasm again.
During one late lunch we watched Canada play Bosnia Herzegovina at the World Cup. And we splashed out of a TV subscription so we could see Scotland juuussst manage to beat Haiti after 90 minutes of largely ineffectual huffing and puffing.
With sports in mind, our other trip out of town involved a visit to the rodeo in Rocky Mountain House. They have a really nice set up and for once the weather was not completely horrible, so that was a definite bonus.
But the bulk of our time was spent right here at home, and you know what, it was just fine. We shared a few laughs, did a lot of catching up and spent time visiting with my wife’s extremely large family. (When I say “extremely large” I mean there’s a lot of them, not that they’re particularly big as individuals. Most of them aren’t much over five feet.)
So all in all we had a very nice time and I’m looking forward to doing it all again sometime in the not too distant future.
Hopefully when the weather is better.
With Phase II of the development of the Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre underway, the board’s fundraising committee is seeking permission from the Town and County to have a sponsor for the naming rights of the building.
Last week, both the Town and Brazeau County heard a request from the EPAC board to allow Tom and Sheila McGee to start approaching companies about naming rights for the facility. The name of the theatre wouldn’t replace Eleanor Pickup’s name, but would be something like Naming Sponsor Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre.
By giving out the naming rights, the board believes it would be able to raise a significant portion of the costs of the expansion.
The expansion is expected to cost around $4 million. The goal is to cover most of the costs through grants and fundraising, but the McGees think people should focus less on the dollar signs and more on the benefits a larger facility can provide.
The fundraising committee co-chairs are expected to kick off the fundraising at about the same time as the July 17 Charity Golf Tournament sponsored by the Town and County.
They say they have taken on the project because they feel that it’s important that there be opportunities available for people, especially children, who lean more toward the arts than sports.
“I think it’s a big part of our community that we don’t know,” says Tom McGee.
He says there are many talented people in our community who haven’t been able to show off their skills. While the children who play sports have their place, McGee says he believes it’s just as important to invest in a space for other interests.
For him, watching the kids get ready for a performance and then nail their lines on stage is awesome.
“When you see those kids on stage, remembering their lines and doing their work, you just think, ‘Oh my goodness. How brilliant is that?’” says McGee.
Right now, it’s difficult to hold full productions at the EPAC due to a lack of space. There is no green room, which means that cast members don’t have a lot of room to change their costumes or do their makeup. In some cases, trailers have been parked behind the theatre to provide space for the cast to wait until they’re needed on stage.
There are also no washrooms for the cast to use or any space for set storage during a production.
McGee says that when he was on town council in the past, there was some reluctance to close off the walking space between Main Street and the parking lot behind the EPAC. However, his thought on the matter is that it’s not a long walk to go around the buildings rather than through that space.
He also says the expansion would allow for additional revenue, which could help offset some of the costs of the building. Currently, there is a suite above the theatre that gets rented out. With the proposed expansion, there would be room for an additional two suites.
“The argument could be made that it’s sustainable,” says McGee. “It sort of pays for itself.”
He says they will also be approaching the Minister of Tourism and Sport, MLA Andrew Bointchenko, about any possible tourism grants that might be available for the project.
As Graduation is in the air I was inspired to write something for us who haven’t seen the halls of high school for oh…24 years. I felt that maybe it was time for us to hear a hopeful message of our own, just so life doesn’t completely kick the crap out of us.
When I left town after high school I promised never to return. Well here comes the first life lesson: things change.
Things change
We are 24 years beyond grad and are now a generation of adults and parents, who are ushering the next generation through to adulthood. We also are seeing the first signs that our parents are in fact aging and a life lived is more fleeting than we ever understood as a graduate. Some of you have buried parents, grandparents, peers, and children and just as hope was a part of our graduation swan song, reality had made a home in our middle aged lives.
With over two decades of adulting under our belts we know that things do change. We make monumental life changes for jobs, for family, for our children. Mine brought me back to Drayton Valley, yours may have taken you away.
Also you may have come to the conclusion that you are not going to be the first female “insert accomplishment”, or pop star or movie star or whatever predictions your high school year book had made back in 2002. What you did learn is lesson number two; “success” is really hard.
Success is really hard
Not only is being successful tough, it also requires you to make a lot of tough decisions. Do you miss your kid’s baseball game to go to that client meeting? Do you uproot your family to take that management position?
Being successful, however you define it, comes with payoffs and payments. These get more complicated when you are not just considering yourself. This doesn’t mean to quit striving but, it does mean that sometimes giving up old dreams is the right choice Lesson three: collect new dreams.
Collecting new dreams
As you eek your way through mid life you maybe kicking yourself for not backpacking your way through Europe or taking that internship in some far away land. Flog yourself if you must but, after you do that find a way to – just let go. Life is fluid, and so are your dreams and aspirations. Don’t be that monkey who is so focused on holding on to what was, that you never reach for what could be. You are 40, not 40 feet under. Sign yourself up for a sport this fall, take a class, or travel Europe as the sophisticated adult that you are- with some cash in your pocket.
Speaking of cash, there is much said about retirement saving and not much talk about retirement doing. Lesson four; think about your retirement.
Think about retirement
You have been working now for at least 20 ish years and thoughts of retirement planning may be beginning to swirl. I don’t know much about being retired but I do know having a retirement plan is more than just putting some money away.
What the heck are you going to do with all that free time? This will be the most free time you’ve had since…well forever. Start collecting hobbies, friends, and interests that will carry you through into an amazing retirement. Whatever you do, don’t just sit. Lesson five: move your body.
Finally as you are solidly into your forties, maybe you’ve had a couple of kids, been sitting too long at the computer. Your bones may sound crunchy, your muscles saggy and you can see youth and beauty is giving way to wisdom and peri-menopause.
Do not resign yourself to being old, or getting old, not yet my friends! Instead push aside the career dominated goals of high school and move you body. Whenever you get a chance, walk, dance, whatever it takes just move you body, enjoy your body. Your body is not only the greatest instrument you will ever own, keeping it healthy is the greatest gift you can give.
The greatest gift
The greatest gift you can give your kids is not that RESP, you so carefully put away. What you can give them is far more cheaper than that. It’s to be a healthy aging adult- one who can keep up with the grandkids or even live long enough to meet the grandkids, who can go for long walks and talks, and who can do coffee visits not hospital visits.
It is not the responsibility of our kids to make sure our aging behinds stay healthy. That responsibility lies squarely on our shoulders and will be the best gift we can give our kids as we continue to age.
We are 24 years out of high school and with so much life lived and so much life ahead of us. Class of 2002 now is the time to embrace adulthood and enjoy the summer of our lives.
The Drayton Valley Museum is also operating as a Visitor Centre this year thanks to funding from the Drayton Valley Hospitality and Tourism Authority (DVHTA).
Alyssa Kotyk, the Drayton Valley Museum and Visitor Centre supervisor for this season, says the Drayton Valley Historical Society and the DVHTA are hoping that having a visitor centre at the museum will not only bring tourists to the museum but also to the remainder of the community.
Along with the local artifacts and historical buildings, Kotyk says one of the best features of the museum is that there is no cost to tour the space. They would just like a donation if they would like to.
Kotyk and two other summer students will be the main people running the museum, but the Historical Society has numerous volunteers who look after the museum and its archives during the summer and throughout the months that it is closed.
“I think the volunteers deserve a shout-out. They’re amazing,” she says.
She says the area is perfect for picnics, with lots of green space available as well. The town will also be installing public washrooms on the museum grounds so families can stay as long as they would like.
One item that Kotyk is excited about is a planned interactive display put together by Eagle Points Blue Rapids Parks Council.
“They have been in and out the past couple of weeks planning, dropping stuff off, talking through ideas. So we are super excited to see the finished product of what they’ve come up with,” she says.
She believes the display will help engage younger children when they go through the space, helping them to learn and retain the information.
Since the museum also houses the archives for community newspapers and organizations, Kotyk says they would welcome people coming in for research. However, anyone who wishes to use them will have to speak to a volunteer to ensure they are using the right precautions to avoid damaging some of the older books.
Kotyk will also stay on top of community events this summer and will have that information ready for any tourists who come in.
“I have a nice little booklet of a bunch of flyers for different events going on around town, so if you just are wondering what’s going on in town… come look here,” says Kotyk.
She says that along with events, she also has maps for Brazeau County and Drayton Valley that highlight different parks in the area and have some ideas for fun activities.
“I can plan an entire day, an entire little weekend of different stops, different restaurants, just your one-stop shop about Drayton Valley,” she says.
Last week, the visitor centre officially opened, and its hours of operation are Thursday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Museum tours will be open from July 2 until August 24, though the centre will remain open until September 7.
“Health Care continues to be a burgeoning field of growth and we see this as an “in demand” profession for many years to come”, said Health Care Aide Academy President, Dan Cavanagh. “It is very exciting to be part of that growth in Drayton Valley and area. The Health Care Aide Academy is looking forward to training top quality health care aides that will be job ready and in demand.”
Nothing in the last 50 years has quite matched the feeling I got waking up one July morning in 1976 and realizing I wouldn’t have to so much as think about simultaneous equations for the next six weeks.
Life’s had its ups and downs since then, but I’ve never quite recaptured that burst of excitement you get when school’s out for summer and, with the entire holidays ahead of you, it feels as if it might as well be out forever.
All this week I’ve been watching kids walk down our street making their way between the twin attractions of the skatepark and 7/Eleven. Some are tall, some are short. Some are in groups, others in pairs or alone. The main thing they have in common is that they all seem pretty happy.
And they should be. But I wonder if they realize this is as good as it gets. They’re young, they’re healthy, it’s the first week of summer vacation. It’s all downhill from here.
What with bullying, the pressure to conform and the potential horrors of social media, it would be foolish to assume that teens don’t have problems of their own, because some of them quite obviously do. But for the happy majority it’s a question of perspective. It’s not that your teenage years are completely carefree. I know this because I am a former teenager. When I was that age my main concerns were wondering if I’d have enough money to buy the new ABBA album when it came out, trying to catalog my stamp collection and wishing I could figure out how to talk to girls without sounding like an absolute numpty. I’m still working on that last one as it happens. Meanwhile my brother, who’s a couple of years older than I am, spent most of the mid-1970s in front of the mirror trying to make sure his hair was perfect and becoming increasingly furious when it failed to remain exactly in place. It’s all fallen out now, so the joke’s on him.
So anyway, I want to wish all the kids who are off school a long and happy summer. I hope they have the chance to make memories that will last a lifetime. It’s a horrible cliche to say that your school days are the happiest days of your life. And like most cliches, it’s not always accurate. But as Ferris Bueller once said, life moves pretty fast. So it’s important to make the most of things right now, before they are gone forever.
I never did get that ABBA album. My stamp collection is still stuffed haphazardly into a couple of fading envelopes. My school days are the best part of half a century behind me. If I was to tell one of those kids who walk past our house how quickly the time has gone they’d think I was delusional, or bonkers, or both. But it’s no exaggeration to say that sometimes 1976 seems like yesterday. And yet here we are. Half a century later and I’m still not entirely sure what you’re supposed to do with simultaneous equations.
Have a great summer kids, and take time to enjoy the ride.
Off-highway vehicles are not allowed on public municipal property in Drayton Valley, whether they are electric or not.
Cody Rossing, the senior manager of community safety for the Town, says that there have been some complaints about e-dirt bikes being used in town and he wants to educate the public about the legislation surrounding electric micro-mobility devices.
“At the end of the day, these e-dirt bikes are considered by the Province of Alberta to be an off-highway vehicle,” says Rossing.
Like other OHVs, owners have to follow the regulations around ownership and use of the vehicle, and the rules don’t change if the vehicle happens to be electric.
“There is a minimum age of 14 to operate any off-highway vehicles. You need registration and you need insurance if you are operating on roadways,” says Rossing. “You do need a helmet if you are on the roadways as well.”
Along with provincial legislation, residents are required to follow the Town’s bylaws. Like many municipalities, OHVs are not permitted to be used within Drayton Valley’s public areas. This includes roads, sidewalks, walking trails, green spaces, and any other publicly accessible areas. The only exception is if it is being used on private property, such as an acreage within town limits.
Rossing says that while many people are only learning about e-dirt bikes now, the Province has had legislation in place for more than 15 years.
“It’s not something that all of a sudden the provincial government or the municipal government has come up with in the last couple of months. It has been very well established several years ago,” he says.
One issue that has come up when these micro vehicles are used in town is the lack of noise. E-dirt bikes and other micro vehicles don’t make a lot of noise, so residents don’t hear them coming. While this might happen with regular bicycles or scooters if someone isn’t paying attention, the real danger lies in how fast the vehicles can go.
Most e-dirt bikes have a top speed that ranges from 50 kph to 130 kph. It’s dangerous enough to have an accident with an e-bicycle, which can get up to speeds between 32 kph and 45 kph, but an accident with an e-dirt bike could be deadly.
“There are huge safety issues that come with that,” says Rossing. “It’s one of those things where we want adults and we want kids to have fun, but it’s got to be done safely.”
He says that enforcement services have been responding to complaints and have spoken to a few individuals about the rules, and they will continue to do so.
Rossing says those who are not happy with the legislation surrounding OHVs can either write to the Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, the Honourable Steve MacKinnon, or their local MLA.
How do you spend a two week holiday when the weather is crappy? With visitors from Scotland in tow, my wife and I set out to find the answer to that question earlier this month.
After being rained out of Drayton Valley we headed west in search of a break in the clouds. A friend had told me about the Beaver Boardwalk in Hinton. We decided to give it a go and it was actually really good. Basically it’s a long bridge sort of thing that winds its way through an area of wetland. Not only is there lots of wildlife, there’s something weirdly enjoyable about walking on a pathway of wooden planks. It felt a bit like being on one of those old sailing ships, but without the scurvy or the looming threat of a keel hauling.
And the wildlife did come through for us. Hinton provided muskrats along with the aforementioned beaver. When we headed into the national park we had a very good bear sighting (it was good for us, I’m not sure how the bear felt about it) along with elk, a coyote, rabbits and bighorn sheep. And there were lots of deer, although curiously, here at home the little herd of whitetails who are fond of eating my wife’s flowers and defecating on my front lawn were nowhere to be seen.
And talking of wildlife, we were chased away from a rest stop near Obed by a rampaging horde of caterpillars.
One of the good things about the Miette Hotsprings is that it’s really quite pleasant even if it’s raining. The other positive thing about the weather in Jasper was that the waterfalls were in full swing and as spectacular as you could reasonably hope for, even if you did get wet feet trying to get a closer look.
But you can only spend so long trying to see a mountain through a rain spotted windshield. Back in Drayton we found ourselves eating out a lot. I’ve always been a fan of the number and variety of restaurants we have in this community and they did not let us down. However, it will be some time before I can look at a french fry with anything close to enthusiasm again.
During one late lunch we watched Canada play Bosnia Herzegovina at the World Cup. And we splashed out of a TV subscription so we could see Scotland juuussst manage to beat Haiti after 90 minutes of largely ineffectual huffing and puffing.
With sports in mind, our other trip out of town involved a visit to the rodeo in Rocky Mountain House. They have a really nice set up and for once the weather was not completely horrible, so that was a definite bonus.
But the bulk of our time was spent right here at home, and you know what, it was just fine. We shared a few laughs, did a lot of catching up and spent time visiting with my wife’s extremely large family. (When I say “extremely large” I mean there’s a lot of them, not that they’re particularly big as individuals. Most of them aren’t much over five feet.)
So all in all we had a very nice time and I’m looking forward to doing it all again sometime in the not too distant future.
Hopefully when the weather is better.
With Phase II of the development of the Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre underway, the board’s fundraising committee is seeking permission from the Town and County to have a sponsor for the naming rights of the building.
Last week, both the Town and Brazeau County heard a request from the EPAC board to allow Tom and Sheila McGee to start approaching companies about naming rights for the facility. The name of the theatre wouldn’t replace Eleanor Pickup’s name, but would be something like Naming Sponsor Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre.
By giving out the naming rights, the board believes it would be able to raise a significant portion of the costs of the expansion.
The expansion is expected to cost around $4 million. The goal is to cover most of the costs through grants and fundraising, but the McGees think people should focus less on the dollar signs and more on the benefits a larger facility can provide.
The fundraising committee co-chairs are expected to kick off the fundraising at about the same time as the July 17 Charity Golf Tournament sponsored by the Town and County.
They say they have taken on the project because they feel that it’s important that there be opportunities available for people, especially children, who lean more toward the arts than sports.
“I think it’s a big part of our community that we don’t know,” says Tom McGee.
He says there are many talented people in our community who haven’t been able to show off their skills. While the children who play sports have their place, McGee says he believes it’s just as important to invest in a space for other interests.
For him, watching the kids get ready for a performance and then nail their lines on stage is awesome.
“When you see those kids on stage, remembering their lines and doing their work, you just think, ‘Oh my goodness. How brilliant is that?’” says McGee.
Right now, it’s difficult to hold full productions at the EPAC due to a lack of space. There is no green room, which means that cast members don’t have a lot of room to change their costumes or do their makeup. In some cases, trailers have been parked behind the theatre to provide space for the cast to wait until they’re needed on stage.
There are also no washrooms for the cast to use or any space for set storage during a production.
McGee says that when he was on town council in the past, there was some reluctance to close off the walking space between Main Street and the parking lot behind the EPAC. However, his thought on the matter is that it’s not a long walk to go around the buildings rather than through that space.
He also says the expansion would allow for additional revenue, which could help offset some of the costs of the building. Currently, there is a suite above the theatre that gets rented out. With the proposed expansion, there would be room for an additional two suites.
“The argument could be made that it’s sustainable,” says McGee. “It sort of pays for itself.”
He says they will also be approaching the Minister of Tourism and Sport, MLA Andrew Bointchenko, about any possible tourism grants that might be available for the project.
As Graduation is in the air I was inspired to write something for us who haven’t seen the halls of high school for oh…24 years. I felt that maybe it was time for us to hear a hopeful message of our own, just so life doesn’t completely kick the crap out of us.
When I left town after high school I promised never to return. Well here comes the first life lesson: things change.
Things change
We are 24 years beyond grad and are now a generation of adults and parents, who are ushering the next generation through to adulthood. We also are seeing the first signs that our parents are in fact aging and a life lived is more fleeting than we ever understood as a graduate. Some of you have buried parents, grandparents, peers, and children and just as hope was a part of our graduation swan song, reality had made a home in our middle aged lives.
With over two decades of adulting under our belts we know that things do change. We make monumental life changes for jobs, for family, for our children. Mine brought me back to Drayton Valley, yours may have taken you away.
Also you may have come to the conclusion that you are not going to be the first female “insert accomplishment”, or pop star or movie star or whatever predictions your high school year book had made back in 2002. What you did learn is lesson number two; “success” is really hard.
Success is really hard
Not only is being successful tough, it also requires you to make a lot of tough decisions. Do you miss your kid’s baseball game to go to that client meeting? Do you uproot your family to take that management position?
Being successful, however you define it, comes with payoffs and payments. These get more complicated when you are not just considering yourself. This doesn’t mean to quit striving but, it does mean that sometimes giving up old dreams is the right choice Lesson three: collect new dreams.
Collecting new dreams
As you eek your way through mid life you maybe kicking yourself for not backpacking your way through Europe or taking that internship in some far away land. Flog yourself if you must but, after you do that find a way to – just let go. Life is fluid, and so are your dreams and aspirations. Don’t be that monkey who is so focused on holding on to what was, that you never reach for what could be. You are 40, not 40 feet under. Sign yourself up for a sport this fall, take a class, or travel Europe as the sophisticated adult that you are- with some cash in your pocket.
Speaking of cash, there is much said about retirement saving and not much talk about retirement doing. Lesson four; think about your retirement.
Think about retirement
You have been working now for at least 20 ish years and thoughts of retirement planning may be beginning to swirl. I don’t know much about being retired but I do know having a retirement plan is more than just putting some money away.
What the heck are you going to do with all that free time? This will be the most free time you’ve had since…well forever. Start collecting hobbies, friends, and interests that will carry you through into an amazing retirement. Whatever you do, don’t just sit. Lesson five: move your body.
Finally as you are solidly into your forties, maybe you’ve had a couple of kids, been sitting too long at the computer. Your bones may sound crunchy, your muscles saggy and you can see youth and beauty is giving way to wisdom and peri-menopause.
Do not resign yourself to being old, or getting old, not yet my friends! Instead push aside the career dominated goals of high school and move you body. Whenever you get a chance, walk, dance, whatever it takes just move you body, enjoy your body. Your body is not only the greatest instrument you will ever own, keeping it healthy is the greatest gift you can give.
The greatest gift
The greatest gift you can give your kids is not that RESP, you so carefully put away. What you can give them is far more cheaper than that. It’s to be a healthy aging adult- one who can keep up with the grandkids or even live long enough to meet the grandkids, who can go for long walks and talks, and who can do coffee visits not hospital visits.
It is not the responsibility of our kids to make sure our aging behinds stay healthy. That responsibility lies squarely on our shoulders and will be the best gift we can give our kids as we continue to age.
We are 24 years out of high school and with so much life lived and so much life ahead of us. Class of 2002 now is the time to embrace adulthood and enjoy the summer of our lives.
The Drayton Valley Museum is also operating as a Visitor Centre this year thanks to funding from the Drayton Valley Hospitality and Tourism Authority (DVHTA).
Alyssa Kotyk, the Drayton Valley Museum and Visitor Centre supervisor for this season, says the Drayton Valley Historical Society and the DVHTA are hoping that having a visitor centre at the museum will not only bring tourists to the museum but also to the remainder of the community.
Along with the local artifacts and historical buildings, Kotyk says one of the best features of the museum is that there is no cost to tour the space. They would just like a donation if they would like to.
Kotyk and two other summer students will be the main people running the museum, but the Historical Society has numerous volunteers who look after the museum and its archives during the summer and throughout the months that it is closed.
“I think the volunteers deserve a shout-out. They’re amazing,” she says.
She says the area is perfect for picnics, with lots of green space available as well. The town will also be installing public washrooms on the museum grounds so families can stay as long as they would like.
One item that Kotyk is excited about is a planned interactive display put together by Eagle Points Blue Rapids Parks Council.
“They have been in and out the past couple of weeks planning, dropping stuff off, talking through ideas. So we are super excited to see the finished product of what they’ve come up with,” she says.
She believes the display will help engage younger children when they go through the space, helping them to learn and retain the information.
Since the museum also houses the archives for community newspapers and organizations, Kotyk says they would welcome people coming in for research. However, anyone who wishes to use them will have to speak to a volunteer to ensure they are using the right precautions to avoid damaging some of the older books.
Kotyk will also stay on top of community events this summer and will have that information ready for any tourists who come in.
“I have a nice little booklet of a bunch of flyers for different events going on around town, so if you just are wondering what’s going on in town… come look here,” says Kotyk.
She says that along with events, she also has maps for Brazeau County and Drayton Valley that highlight different parks in the area and have some ideas for fun activities.
“I can plan an entire day, an entire little weekend of different stops, different restaurants, just your one-stop shop about Drayton Valley,” she says.
Last week, the visitor centre officially opened, and its hours of operation are Thursday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Museum tours will be open from July 2 until August 24, though the centre will remain open until September 7.
Donation leads to arena upgrades
Change is on the way to Drayton Valley’s arena.
The facility, which was rebranded as the Team Auctions Centre last year, will see upgrades valued at $1 million thanks to a contribution from an anonymous donor.
In the high and far-off times
Nothing in the last 50 years has quite matched the feeling I got waking up one July morning in 1976 and realizing I wouldn’t have to so much as think about simultaneous equations for the next six weeks.
E-dirtbikes raise safety concerns
Off-highway vehicles are not allowed on public municipal property in Drayton Valley, whether they are electric or not.
Fourteen days of steady rain
How do you spend a two week holiday when the weather is crappy? With visitors from Scotland in tow, my wife and I set out to find the answer to that question earlier this month.
