People have been enjoying Lions Park in downtown St. Paul for several years now, but the park was officially opened with a celebration on Saturday. Local harpist Natalie Beland played to open the proceedings, followed by a performance by the Kita No Taiko drummers from Edmonton. The drummers performed their music and spoke about their […]
This didn’t really happen: Prior to passing the National Symbol of Canada Act in 1975, a parliamentary committee discussed the importance of the beaver to Canadian history and heraldry. All parties agreed that the beaver is a suitable emblem for Canada. It was raised in committee that the beaver does not have the majestic bearing […]
Travel is stressful. I am not entirely sure why it seems so much more so today than only a couple of years ago, but it does. While not yet a blood sport, air travel has become distinctly adversarial. Passengers want the most for the least, and airlines try to provide the least for the most. […]
A lot of us can remember setting up a lemonade stand or a Kool-Aid stand as kids. I don’t know if anyone else ever made any money at it, but I know I didn’t. There wasn’t a lot of foot traffic on our out-of-the-way residential street, and not a lot of potential customers. But it […]
Lakeland seniors celebrated Alberta Seniors Week with information, entertainment, games, and food—plenty of food! Most of the activity took place between Monday June 5 and Friday the 9, but Bonnyville Seniors’ Drop-In Centre offered “bookends” to the celebration beginning with a pancake breakfast on June 4 and finishing with a social evening June 11. […]
A small delegation from the City of Cold Lake will be visiting Cold Lake’s sister city of Hügelsheim, Germany later this week. Mayor Craig Copeland, councillor Bob Mattice, and Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Nagoya will represent Cold Lake on the visit. Hügelsheim was the site of Canadian Forces Base Baden-Söllingen, which was established as an […]
Lakeland Credit Union (LCU) honoured Josephat Hamel (1906 – 1978) with a place on their Wall of Distinction June 1. “Joe” Hamel moved to Bonnyville in 1929, opening a slaughterhouse and meat shop. He was the patriarch of the local Hamel family, with subsequent generations operating separate meat shops in Bonnyville and Cold Lake. In […]
The curious thing about curious places is that curiosity is relative. It is extraordinary how normal places feel when one is standing in the centre, yet how unusual they seemed only hours before when considering them as a point on a map, as a figment of some cartographer’s imagination. Tbilisi, the capital of the Caucasian […]
The Elk Point Community Choir finally celebrated its 30th anniversary—33 years after it was founded. The 30th Anniversary Concert was slated for May 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic got in the way. The choir kept the program intact and was finally able to present it May 19, with a repeat performance in Mallaig May 28. […]
Hearing you’ve been diagnosed with Parkinson disease can be a devastating and demoralizing blow. Just hearing the name of the disease can crowd out all your other thoughts and leave you feeling alone. “So many people have been diagnosed with Parkinson disease—they meet with their neurologist and they have their 15 minutes, and then they […]