The latest round of restrictions from the Alberta Government has restaurants closed for in house dining, so a number of local restaurants have decided to get creative.
Marie Tuttle, co-owner of the White Bull, says that for their business it made sense to set up a patio outside their restaurant. While the diner doesn’t typically have a patio, with the current situation, they’re doing everything they can to keep the business running while working within the legal restrictions.
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“We set it out there and people are coming, even though it’s cold,” says Tuttle. She says they’ve put out heaters to keep people warm.
She says they don’t have a tent set up, but they were closed on April 18 when the weather turned suddenly and brought in snow.
Everyday her staff brings the tables in and out of the restaurant, which she says is extra work, but says that’s all right. “It’s worth it if people are coming,” she says.
Opportunity Home’s first Spring Shaker was a success, says executive director Danna Cropley.
“The event sold out within the first few weeks,” says Cropley. “Beyond that, the event went absolutely amazingly.”
The evening had a dance, a catered dinner, and silent auction items to help raise funds for the rehabilitation centre. Cropley says it wouldn’t have been possible without the volunteers who helped put the event together. About 230 people attended.
“Jen Winter, Janice Kupsch, and their crew organized the event. The room was full of energy and community; it was so great,” says Cropley.
One of the reasons for the event, along with raising funds to help run the facility, was to educate the public about what the facility does and how it helps those in need. Opportunity Home opened its doors in February 2023, and has seen numerous people complete the 90-day program during its three years of operation.
Earlier in the week, Cropley also spoke to town council with the same goal in mind.
“Because the council is fairly new… we just wanted to update them on Opportunity Home’s mission, vision, and values, [as well] as the value our project brings, not only to the municipality but also our provincial community and out to our country.”
Cropley says the facility has offered beds to people from across the province, British Columbia, and some from the United States. She says she wanted council to see the reach that they have now and how they are supporting Recovery Alberta’s response to the current opioid crisis.
In her presentation to council, Cropley touched on the community, social, and economic value the centre brought to the community. This included the volunteer work the clients provided, homelessness and poverty prevention, as well as reducing taxpayer costs for emergency, health, and justice services.
She says community investment is a crucial part of the success of the centre, not in terms of dollars, but in terms of interest from the community, volunteers, and feedback.
“I just really wanted to make sure that town council was aware of who we are and what we do,” says Cropley.
Opportunity Home is hosting another event on June 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. that is open to the public: a memorial tree planting ceremony, along with a barbecue and tour of the facility. Cropley says they will also have different resources and services at the event for people to connect with if needed.
She says the tree-planting ceremony will be in honour of some community members who have recently passed away. Members of the public are welcome to donate to plant a tree in memory of someone they have lost.
Kiss me I’m Albertan
It seems that those pushing for Alberta independence have enough signatures to force a referendum on the issue. That put me in mind of something I wrote a few years ago that I think still holds water.
If Alberta’s going to ditch the rest of Canada we need to set a few rules. This is going to take a while, so it’s best to start talking about it now so we know where we stand if and when it comes to a vote.
First we have to figure out what an Albertan actually is.
There used to be a guy who lived down the street from me who had a bumper sticker that said, “Canadian by birth, Albertan by the grace of God.” It always struck me as a little odd. That was partly because it was on the rear bumper of the first Toyota Prius I’d ever seen with a gun rack. But it’s also because I’ve lived in this province for well over three decades, and I’ve never been able to figure out what makes an Albertan an Albertan.
OK, so an Albertan is someone who comes from Alberta. That’s according to no less a source than the Oxford Canadian Dictionary so I’m not about to start arguing. But the results of the most recent federal census suggest that’s a pretty broad group. If the number and variety of languages spoken in this province is any kind of a guide, Albertans come from all over the place, both within Canada and from every corner of the globe.
That’s true of other places too of course. Places like London and New York are breathtaking in their diversity. What makes Alberta different is that everything here is so new. We’ve been a province for not much more than a century and have evolved so rapidly in such a short time, with so many waves of immigration from so many parts of the world that it sometimes feels as if we’ve never developed a separate sense of ourselves. At least not in the way you’d find among the societies of Africa, Asia or Europe, or even in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia or Quebec.
So what do we have that binds such a broad group together and sets us apart from the rest of the country? There’s the Flames and the Oilers I suppose. And beef. We like beef and are justifiably proud of both the quality and quantity this province produces. I think it’s also fair to say that we work hard. Not me, obviously, but most of the rest of you. And perhaps most importantly right now, there’s a sense of frustration that we always end up with a federal government that most of us didn’t vote for. But even at the last election, when dislike of Ottawa was probably at its peak, more than a third of us voted either Liberal or NDP and a significant number of us didn’t vote at all. So things are not as black and white as they may appear.
Anyway, as far as things that set us apart from the folks in Toronto or Tuktoyaktuk, that’s about it. Don’t get me wrong. I love this province and I love the people who live here (most of you anyway) but it doesn’t feel like we’ve got much to build a country on. Albertans are good people and we have a lot to offer the world. But at the same time we’re an odd and interesting mixture that doesn’t seem quite sure of its own identity. Sort of like a Prius with a gun rack.
Drayton to host regional one act plays
The Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre will be hosting the Yellowhead Regional One-Act Plays Festival on April 10 and 11 this year.
Ashley Luckwell, the chair of the board for River Valley Players, says the regional festival will have five performances this year. Cast and crew from Leduc, St. Albert, Devon, Beaumont, and Drayton Valley will be participating in the event.
“There are five different groups from the Yellowhead Region that are coming,” she says.
Luckwell says the event is being put on by the Alberta Drama Festival Association (AFDA). This festival is one of several that are occurring across the province, with the winners from each heading on to the provincial festival in Leduc in May this year.
“We’re really excited to have it here,” says Luckwell. “It’s great to show off the EPAC; it’s great to have them come into our community.”
The festival will take place over two days, with each of the plays lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to about 45 minutes. RVP members Leah Sanderson, Sarah Chapman, Katherine De Varennes, and Jan Wright will be performing their play Overtones on Friday night.
Luckwell says the play is one she directed and was written by Alice Gerstenberg in the early 1900s. It was first performed in 1915 at the Bandox Theatre in New York.
The play highlights the difference between what people say and what they are actually thinking. Two of the actors will be playing characters having a conversation, and two younger actors will be playing a younger version of themselves giving voice to the first two character’s inner thoughts.
The other plays will be Steven Goes to Japan to Run a Marathon, Crystal Blue Persuasion, The Crimson Cab Ladies Hit the Beach, and Don’t Mention Hollywood.
Luckwell says there has been lots of support from local businesses for this event, with some giving discounts on food and others sponsoring the festival as well.
“It’s been really great,” she says.
Tickets for the event will be for sale at the doors for $15. Luckwell says cash is preferred as it is not the EPAC that will be taking the funds, but rather volunteers for the AFDA.
Valley Dental
Add Your Heading Text Here
- HOURS: Mon–Fri: 8:30AM – 4:30 pm Sat - Sun: Closed
- CALL: 1-780-514-7359
- LOCATION: 5205 Power Center Blvd #108,Drayton Valley, AB T7A 0A5
Here come the cobra chickens
Doomscrolling is a terrible habit for sure, and it’s one that I’m guilty of from time to time. It mostly depends on my mood, energy levels, and whether I have to sit and wait for an extended period of time.
The videos that have captured my imagination the last little while are the ones where content creators from other countries react to all things Canadian. That means everything from trying ketchup chips to seeing some of the worst ice storms the Maritimes have experienced.
Some of my favourites are the ones about wildlife. It’s entertaining to listen to the narrator speak about how big a moose is for fifteen seconds while they show a five-second clip of a moose, then five of an elk, and five more seconds of several white tail deer bounding into the distance. No one will ever know which one is the moose.
Another favourite of mine is videos of the Cobra Chicken, or for those of you who don’t speak to teenagers on a regular basis, the Canadian Goose.
The moniker Cobra Chicken is a little odd, but I guess it’s because they’re a big bird with long necks. Thus parts of them look like cobras and the rest looks like chickens.
In any case, anyone who has ever been near a goose in the spring knows they aren’t birds to be messed with. These birds can weigh up to 12 pounds and can reach speeds of 80 km/h on a normal day. With tailwinds, they can reach speeds of 112 km/h or higher.
Last April, a group of college students in Waterloo, Ontario, had to get creative with entering and exiting their house when a pair of geese decided their front yard was the best place for their nest. For several weeks they had to be very careful about when and how they entered their house because they could be attacked.
Of course, calls to any groups who could help with the situation were no help. The Canadian Goose is a protected species, so people aren’t allowed to touch them or their nests, cause injury, or kill the birds.
While the videos are always good for a laugh, people can get seriously injured. Many of the injuries happen as people try to run away from the birds, but a downstroke from a goose can hit like a fist and leave you with some nasty injuries.
I’m saying all of this because the season of the cobra chicken is coming soon. We do have some geese that feel this area is a good place to bring up their goslings. It’s a good time to tell kids that geese shouldn’t be messed with and to start paying attention when we’re walking near any ponds.
I would hate to be the main character in one of the YouTube videos people come across while doomscrolling. I feel like that would be far less entertaining for me, though I’m sure it would give others a good laugh.
First funding for replacement school
Plans to build a replacement for Drayton Valley’s St. Anthony School took a step forward last week.
St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division (STAR Catholic) received planning funding from the Government of Alberta to support the future replacement of the school.
The Province will pay $50,000 in value-scoping funding. The school division says the funding will support early planning to ensure readiness for a potential new school build. That includes conducting an initial investigation to confirm project readiness, identify key priorities, and ensure essential planning components are in place.
“This is very encouraging news for our division and for the St. Anthony School community,” said STAR Catholic board chair Henry Effon. “This funding reflects the board’s continued commitment to advocating for our students and allows us to take an important step forward in preparing for a much-needed new school.”
The replacement of St. Anthony School is identified as the number one priority in the STAR Catholic capital plan. Superintendent Laurie Cardinal said the division was grateful for the support received from the province.
“This further strengthens the step in supporting the high-quality learning experience students in Drayton Valley already enjoy,” she said.
The current school dates back to the 1960s and has an enrolment of about 430. The building last had a major renovation in the 1990s.
On top of offering patio services, Tuttle says they are also offering take-out and delivery. Tuttle says with the weather and the patio things are looking better financially with this lock down.
Unfortunately they had to lay staff off due to the lockdown, which Tuttle says wasn’t easy.
While there are restaurants that are refusing to cooperate with the government restrictions, Tuttle says they didn’t feel it was worth the risk for their business. “They’re pulling your food safety license and they’re tarnishing your name,” she says.
“We just hope it’s over soon. I know it’s hurting everyone,” says Tuttle.
Nicole Robinson, the General Manager of Khal’s Steakhouse and Lounge, says she appreciates how much the community has come out to support restaurants.
“We’re really lucky that Drayton Valley is so good to us. Like completely lucky that people are actually coming out, sitting in the cold, the rain, the snow,” she says.
While she says it’s a lot of extra work to have the additional patios set up, it’s worth it for the business. Robinson says she’s not sure if the business would have survived another lockdown if they couldn’t have the patios running.
“The nice thing is that we’ll be here when it gets reopened, instead of last time when we were barely making it,” she says.
Opportunity Home’s first Spring Shaker was a success, says executive director Danna Cropley.
“The event sold out within the first few weeks,” says Cropley. “Beyond that, the event went absolutely amazingly.”
The evening had a dance, a catered dinner, and silent auction items to help raise funds for the rehabilitation centre. Cropley says it wouldn’t have been possible without the volunteers who helped put the event together. About 230 people attended.
“Jen Winter, Janice Kupsch, and their crew organized the event. The room was full of energy and community; it was so great,” says Cropley.
One of the reasons for the event, along with raising funds to help run the facility, was to educate the public about what the facility does and how it helps those in need. Opportunity Home opened its doors in February 2023, and has seen numerous people complete the 90-day program during its three years of operation.
Earlier in the week, Cropley also spoke to town council with the same goal in mind.
“Because the council is fairly new… we just wanted to update them on Opportunity Home’s mission, vision, and values, [as well] as the value our project brings, not only to the municipality but also our provincial community and out to our country.”
Cropley says the facility has offered beds to people from across the province, British Columbia, and some from the United States. She says she wanted council to see the reach that they have now and how they are supporting Recovery Alberta’s response to the current opioid crisis.
In her presentation to council, Cropley touched on the community, social, and economic value the centre brought to the community. This included the volunteer work the clients provided, homelessness and poverty prevention, as well as reducing taxpayer costs for emergency, health, and justice services.
She says community investment is a crucial part of the success of the centre, not in terms of dollars, but in terms of interest from the community, volunteers, and feedback.
“I just really wanted to make sure that town council was aware of who we are and what we do,” says Cropley.
Opportunity Home is hosting another event on June 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. that is open to the public: a memorial tree planting ceremony, along with a barbecue and tour of the facility. Cropley says they will also have different resources and services at the event for people to connect with if needed.
She says the tree-planting ceremony will be in honour of some community members who have recently passed away. Members of the public are welcome to donate to plant a tree in memory of someone they have lost.
It seems that those pushing for Alberta independence have enough signatures to force a referendum on the issue. That put me in mind of something I wrote a few years ago that I think still holds water.
If Alberta’s going to ditch the rest of Canada we need to set a few rules. This is going to take a while, so it’s best to start talking about it now so we know where we stand if and when it comes to a vote.
First we have to figure out what an Albertan actually is.
There used to be a guy who lived down the street from me who had a bumper sticker that said, “Canadian by birth, Albertan by the grace of God.” It always struck me as a little odd. That was partly because it was on the rear bumper of the first Toyota Prius I’d ever seen with a gun rack. But it’s also because I’ve lived in this province for well over three decades, and I’ve never been able to figure out what makes an Albertan an Albertan.
OK, so an Albertan is someone who comes from Alberta. That’s according to no less a source than the Oxford Canadian Dictionary so I’m not about to start arguing. But the results of the most recent federal census suggest that’s a pretty broad group. If the number and variety of languages spoken in this province is any kind of a guide, Albertans come from all over the place, both within Canada and from every corner of the globe.
That’s true of other places too of course. Places like London and New York are breathtaking in their diversity. What makes Alberta different is that everything here is so new. We’ve been a province for not much more than a century and have evolved so rapidly in such a short time, with so many waves of immigration from so many parts of the world that it sometimes feels as if we’ve never developed a separate sense of ourselves. At least not in the way you’d find among the societies of Africa, Asia or Europe, or even in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia or Quebec.
So what do we have that binds such a broad group together and sets us apart from the rest of the country? There’s the Flames and the Oilers I suppose. And beef. We like beef and are justifiably proud of both the quality and quantity this province produces. I think it’s also fair to say that we work hard. Not me, obviously, but most of the rest of you. And perhaps most importantly right now, there’s a sense of frustration that we always end up with a federal government that most of us didn’t vote for. But even at the last election, when dislike of Ottawa was probably at its peak, more than a third of us voted either Liberal or NDP and a significant number of us didn’t vote at all. So things are not as black and white as they may appear.
Anyway, as far as things that set us apart from the folks in Toronto or Tuktoyaktuk, that’s about it. Don’t get me wrong. I love this province and I love the people who live here (most of you anyway) but it doesn’t feel like we’ve got much to build a country on. Albertans are good people and we have a lot to offer the world. But at the same time we’re an odd and interesting mixture that doesn’t seem quite sure of its own identity. Sort of like a Prius with a gun rack.
The Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre will be hosting the Yellowhead Regional One-Act Plays Festival on April 10 and 11 this year.
Ashley Luckwell, the chair of the board for River Valley Players, says the regional festival will have five performances this year. Cast and crew from Leduc, St. Albert, Devon, Beaumont, and Drayton Valley will be participating in the event.
“There are five different groups from the Yellowhead Region that are coming,” she says.
Luckwell says the event is being put on by the Alberta Drama Festival Association (AFDA). This festival is one of several that are occurring across the province, with the winners from each heading on to the provincial festival in Leduc in May this year.
“We’re really excited to have it here,” says Luckwell. “It’s great to show off the EPAC; it’s great to have them come into our community.”
The festival will take place over two days, with each of the plays lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to about 45 minutes. RVP members Leah Sanderson, Sarah Chapman, Katherine De Varennes, and Jan Wright will be performing their play Overtones on Friday night.
Luckwell says the play is one she directed and was written by Alice Gerstenberg in the early 1900s. It was first performed in 1915 at the Bandox Theatre in New York.
The play highlights the difference between what people say and what they are actually thinking. Two of the actors will be playing characters having a conversation, and two younger actors will be playing a younger version of themselves giving voice to the first two character’s inner thoughts.
The other plays will be Steven Goes to Japan to Run a Marathon, Crystal Blue Persuasion, The Crimson Cab Ladies Hit the Beach, and Don’t Mention Hollywood.
Luckwell says there has been lots of support from local businesses for this event, with some giving discounts on food and others sponsoring the festival as well.
“It’s been really great,” she says.
Tickets for the event will be for sale at the doors for $15. Luckwell says cash is preferred as it is not the EPAC that will be taking the funds, but rather volunteers for the AFDA.
Add Your Heading Text Here
- HOURS: Mon–Fri: 8:30AM – 4:30 pm Sat - Sun: Closed
- CALL: 1-780-514-7359
- LOCATION: 5205 Power Center Blvd #108,Drayton Valley, AB T7A 0A5
Doomscrolling is a terrible habit for sure, and it’s one that I’m guilty of from time to time. It mostly depends on my mood, energy levels, and whether I have to sit and wait for an extended period of time.
The videos that have captured my imagination the last little while are the ones where content creators from other countries react to all things Canadian. That means everything from trying ketchup chips to seeing some of the worst ice storms the Maritimes have experienced.
Some of my favourites are the ones about wildlife. It’s entertaining to listen to the narrator speak about how big a moose is for fifteen seconds while they show a five-second clip of a moose, then five of an elk, and five more seconds of several white tail deer bounding into the distance. No one will ever know which one is the moose.
Another favourite of mine is videos of the Cobra Chicken, or for those of you who don’t speak to teenagers on a regular basis, the Canadian Goose.
The moniker Cobra Chicken is a little odd, but I guess it’s because they’re a big bird with long necks. Thus parts of them look like cobras and the rest looks like chickens.
In any case, anyone who has ever been near a goose in the spring knows they aren’t birds to be messed with. These birds can weigh up to 12 pounds and can reach speeds of 80 km/h on a normal day. With tailwinds, they can reach speeds of 112 km/h or higher.
Last April, a group of college students in Waterloo, Ontario, had to get creative with entering and exiting their house when a pair of geese decided their front yard was the best place for their nest. For several weeks they had to be very careful about when and how they entered their house because they could be attacked.
Of course, calls to any groups who could help with the situation were no help. The Canadian Goose is a protected species, so people aren’t allowed to touch them or their nests, cause injury, or kill the birds.
While the videos are always good for a laugh, people can get seriously injured. Many of the injuries happen as people try to run away from the birds, but a downstroke from a goose can hit like a fist and leave you with some nasty injuries.
I’m saying all of this because the season of the cobra chicken is coming soon. We do have some geese that feel this area is a good place to bring up their goslings. It’s a good time to tell kids that geese shouldn’t be messed with and to start paying attention when we’re walking near any ponds.
I would hate to be the main character in one of the YouTube videos people come across while doomscrolling. I feel like that would be far less entertaining for me, though I’m sure it would give others a good laugh.
Plans to build a replacement for Drayton Valley’s St. Anthony School took a step forward last week.
St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division (STAR Catholic) received planning funding from the Government of Alberta to support the future replacement of the school.
The Province will pay $50,000 in value-scoping funding. The school division says the funding will support early planning to ensure readiness for a potential new school build. That includes conducting an initial investigation to confirm project readiness, identify key priorities, and ensure essential planning components are in place.
“This is very encouraging news for our division and for the St. Anthony School community,” said STAR Catholic board chair Henry Effon. “This funding reflects the board’s continued commitment to advocating for our students and allows us to take an important step forward in preparing for a much-needed new school.”
The replacement of St. Anthony School is identified as the number one priority in the STAR Catholic capital plan. Superintendent Laurie Cardinal said the division was grateful for the support received from the province.
“This further strengthens the step in supporting the high-quality learning experience students in Drayton Valley already enjoy,” she said.
The current school dates back to the 1960s and has an enrolment of about 430. The building last had a major renovation in the 1990s.
She says with delivery and takeout alone they wouldn’t have been able to make it through this lockdown. Like the White Bull, they’ve been forced to lay off some staff and reduce the hours for those who are still there.
While Khal’s already had a patio set up, they brought in a tent to the parking lot to make additional room, giving them space for around 65 guests at a time.
The snow and wind on April 18 provided an additional challenge for the staff. Robinson said the wind caught the tent and pulled it, so they had to readjust it. They also had to get all of the snow off of the top of the tent and the tables that had been exposed while the tent was moved by the wind.
Opportunity Home’s first Spring Shaker was a success, says executive director Danna Cropley.
“The event sold out within the first few weeks,” says Cropley. “Beyond that, the event went absolutely amazingly.”
The evening had a dance, a catered dinner, and silent auction items to help raise funds for the rehabilitation centre. Cropley says it wouldn’t have been possible without the volunteers who helped put the event together. About 230 people attended.
“Jen Winter, Janice Kupsch, and their crew organized the event. The room was full of energy and community; it was so great,” says Cropley.
One of the reasons for the event, along with raising funds to help run the facility, was to educate the public about what the facility does and how it helps those in need. Opportunity Home opened its doors in February 2023, and has seen numerous people complete the 90-day program during its three years of operation.
Earlier in the week, Cropley also spoke to town council with the same goal in mind.
“Because the council is fairly new… we just wanted to update them on Opportunity Home’s mission, vision, and values, [as well] as the value our project brings, not only to the municipality but also our provincial community and out to our country.”
Cropley says the facility has offered beds to people from across the province, British Columbia, and some from the United States. She says she wanted council to see the reach that they have now and how they are supporting Recovery Alberta’s response to the current opioid crisis.
In her presentation to council, Cropley touched on the community, social, and economic value the centre brought to the community. This included the volunteer work the clients provided, homelessness and poverty prevention, as well as reducing taxpayer costs for emergency, health, and justice services.
She says community investment is a crucial part of the success of the centre, not in terms of dollars, but in terms of interest from the community, volunteers, and feedback.
“I just really wanted to make sure that town council was aware of who we are and what we do,” says Cropley.
Opportunity Home is hosting another event on June 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. that is open to the public: a memorial tree planting ceremony, along with a barbecue and tour of the facility. Cropley says they will also have different resources and services at the event for people to connect with if needed.
She says the tree-planting ceremony will be in honour of some community members who have recently passed away. Members of the public are welcome to donate to plant a tree in memory of someone they have lost.
It seems that those pushing for Alberta independence have enough signatures to force a referendum on the issue. That put me in mind of something I wrote a few years ago that I think still holds water.
If Alberta’s going to ditch the rest of Canada we need to set a few rules. This is going to take a while, so it’s best to start talking about it now so we know where we stand if and when it comes to a vote.
First we have to figure out what an Albertan actually is.
There used to be a guy who lived down the street from me who had a bumper sticker that said, “Canadian by birth, Albertan by the grace of God.” It always struck me as a little odd. That was partly because it was on the rear bumper of the first Toyota Prius I’d ever seen with a gun rack. But it’s also because I’ve lived in this province for well over three decades, and I’ve never been able to figure out what makes an Albertan an Albertan.
OK, so an Albertan is someone who comes from Alberta. That’s according to no less a source than the Oxford Canadian Dictionary so I’m not about to start arguing. But the results of the most recent federal census suggest that’s a pretty broad group. If the number and variety of languages spoken in this province is any kind of a guide, Albertans come from all over the place, both within Canada and from every corner of the globe.
That’s true of other places too of course. Places like London and New York are breathtaking in their diversity. What makes Alberta different is that everything here is so new. We’ve been a province for not much more than a century and have evolved so rapidly in such a short time, with so many waves of immigration from so many parts of the world that it sometimes feels as if we’ve never developed a separate sense of ourselves. At least not in the way you’d find among the societies of Africa, Asia or Europe, or even in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia or Quebec.
So what do we have that binds such a broad group together and sets us apart from the rest of the country? There’s the Flames and the Oilers I suppose. And beef. We like beef and are justifiably proud of both the quality and quantity this province produces. I think it’s also fair to say that we work hard. Not me, obviously, but most of the rest of you. And perhaps most importantly right now, there’s a sense of frustration that we always end up with a federal government that most of us didn’t vote for. But even at the last election, when dislike of Ottawa was probably at its peak, more than a third of us voted either Liberal or NDP and a significant number of us didn’t vote at all. So things are not as black and white as they may appear.
Anyway, as far as things that set us apart from the folks in Toronto or Tuktoyaktuk, that’s about it. Don’t get me wrong. I love this province and I love the people who live here (most of you anyway) but it doesn’t feel like we’ve got much to build a country on. Albertans are good people and we have a lot to offer the world. But at the same time we’re an odd and interesting mixture that doesn’t seem quite sure of its own identity. Sort of like a Prius with a gun rack.
The Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre will be hosting the Yellowhead Regional One-Act Plays Festival on April 10 and 11 this year.
Ashley Luckwell, the chair of the board for River Valley Players, says the regional festival will have five performances this year. Cast and crew from Leduc, St. Albert, Devon, Beaumont, and Drayton Valley will be participating in the event.
“There are five different groups from the Yellowhead Region that are coming,” she says.
Luckwell says the event is being put on by the Alberta Drama Festival Association (AFDA). This festival is one of several that are occurring across the province, with the winners from each heading on to the provincial festival in Leduc in May this year.
“We’re really excited to have it here,” says Luckwell. “It’s great to show off the EPAC; it’s great to have them come into our community.”
The festival will take place over two days, with each of the plays lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to about 45 minutes. RVP members Leah Sanderson, Sarah Chapman, Katherine De Varennes, and Jan Wright will be performing their play Overtones on Friday night.
Luckwell says the play is one she directed and was written by Alice Gerstenberg in the early 1900s. It was first performed in 1915 at the Bandox Theatre in New York.
The play highlights the difference between what people say and what they are actually thinking. Two of the actors will be playing characters having a conversation, and two younger actors will be playing a younger version of themselves giving voice to the first two character’s inner thoughts.
The other plays will be Steven Goes to Japan to Run a Marathon, Crystal Blue Persuasion, The Crimson Cab Ladies Hit the Beach, and Don’t Mention Hollywood.
Luckwell says there has been lots of support from local businesses for this event, with some giving discounts on food and others sponsoring the festival as well.
“It’s been really great,” she says.
Tickets for the event will be for sale at the doors for $15. Luckwell says cash is preferred as it is not the EPAC that will be taking the funds, but rather volunteers for the AFDA.
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Doomscrolling is a terrible habit for sure, and it’s one that I’m guilty of from time to time. It mostly depends on my mood, energy levels, and whether I have to sit and wait for an extended period of time.
The videos that have captured my imagination the last little while are the ones where content creators from other countries react to all things Canadian. That means everything from trying ketchup chips to seeing some of the worst ice storms the Maritimes have experienced.
Some of my favourites are the ones about wildlife. It’s entertaining to listen to the narrator speak about how big a moose is for fifteen seconds while they show a five-second clip of a moose, then five of an elk, and five more seconds of several white tail deer bounding into the distance. No one will ever know which one is the moose.
Another favourite of mine is videos of the Cobra Chicken, or for those of you who don’t speak to teenagers on a regular basis, the Canadian Goose.
The moniker Cobra Chicken is a little odd, but I guess it’s because they’re a big bird with long necks. Thus parts of them look like cobras and the rest looks like chickens.
In any case, anyone who has ever been near a goose in the spring knows they aren’t birds to be messed with. These birds can weigh up to 12 pounds and can reach speeds of 80 km/h on a normal day. With tailwinds, they can reach speeds of 112 km/h or higher.
Last April, a group of college students in Waterloo, Ontario, had to get creative with entering and exiting their house when a pair of geese decided their front yard was the best place for their nest. For several weeks they had to be very careful about when and how they entered their house because they could be attacked.
Of course, calls to any groups who could help with the situation were no help. The Canadian Goose is a protected species, so people aren’t allowed to touch them or their nests, cause injury, or kill the birds.
While the videos are always good for a laugh, people can get seriously injured. Many of the injuries happen as people try to run away from the birds, but a downstroke from a goose can hit like a fist and leave you with some nasty injuries.
I’m saying all of this because the season of the cobra chicken is coming soon. We do have some geese that feel this area is a good place to bring up their goslings. It’s a good time to tell kids that geese shouldn’t be messed with and to start paying attention when we’re walking near any ponds.
I would hate to be the main character in one of the YouTube videos people come across while doomscrolling. I feel like that would be far less entertaining for me, though I’m sure it would give others a good laugh.
Plans to build a replacement for Drayton Valley’s St. Anthony School took a step forward last week.
St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division (STAR Catholic) received planning funding from the Government of Alberta to support the future replacement of the school.
The Province will pay $50,000 in value-scoping funding. The school division says the funding will support early planning to ensure readiness for a potential new school build. That includes conducting an initial investigation to confirm project readiness, identify key priorities, and ensure essential planning components are in place.
“This is very encouraging news for our division and for the St. Anthony School community,” said STAR Catholic board chair Henry Effon. “This funding reflects the board’s continued commitment to advocating for our students and allows us to take an important step forward in preparing for a much-needed new school.”
The replacement of St. Anthony School is identified as the number one priority in the STAR Catholic capital plan. Superintendent Laurie Cardinal said the division was grateful for the support received from the province.
“This further strengthens the step in supporting the high-quality learning experience students in Drayton Valley already enjoy,” she said.
The current school dates back to the 1960s and has an enrolment of about 430. The building last had a major renovation in the 1990s.
“But we got it done and we’re back to it,” says Robinson.
She says that people are coming even on the cold days. While there is a heater to keep guests warm, the weather isn’t cooperating very well she says.
Robinson says she’s happy to see that there are some restaurants that are choosing to stay open despite the restrictions. “I think it’s great. We have to fight now. Otherwise half of us wouldn’t be here,” she says.
She says it’s a difficult choice for owners because the Government is handing out fines and potentially revoking Food Safety Licenses. “You don’t know if you’ll ever get a food permit again because you’re defying AHS orders. It’s a big risk,” she says.
Robinson says those businesses that are staying open don’t have any other options, otherwise they would have shut down. As far as Government support goes, she says there isn’t much there.
“It’s like putting four wheels on a 12 wheeler truck. You’re just not getting anywhere,” she says.
Spring Shaker sells out
Opportunity Home’s first Spring Shaker was a success, says executive director Danna Cropley.
“The event sold out within the first few weeks,” says Cropley. “Beyond that, the event went absolutely amazingly.”
Kiss me I’m Albertan
It seems that those pushing for Alberta independence have enough signatures to force a referendum on the issue. That put me in mind of something
Drayton to host regional one act plays
The Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre will be hosting the Yellowhead Regional One-Act Plays Festival on April 10 and 11 this year.
Here come the cobra chickens
Doomscrolling is a terrible habit for sure, and it’s one that I’m guilty of from time to time. It mostly depends on my mood, energy levels, and whether I have to sit and wait for an extended period of time.
