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More Recent Springbrook and Area News
July 12, 2010
New Development Being
Built in Gasoline Alley
A new 10-pump Petro-Canada service
station and convenience store along with a liquor store are under
construction in Gasoline Alley as the first phase of a larger
development and are expected to open in September. A larger commercial
building and stand-alone nationally-branded restaurant are the next
buildings planned for the 3-acre site as the next phase of development.
A third stage could include a multi-bay strip mall, office condos or a
motel planned for construction in 2011. Located on the corner of Leva
Avenue and Lantern Street, it is considered a prime location, especially
when the new Highway 2 flyover is built.
July 11, 2010
Families Enjoy Regional Multiplex Grand Opening Despite Rain
The
grand opening yesterday of the impressive multi-use Penhold Regional
Multiplex attracted plenty of families and individuals from the the area
around the town including several from Springbrook in spite of it being
a fairly rainy day. Plenty of activities including a pancake breakfast,
afternoon barbecue, monster truck rides, entertainment and lazer tag for
the kids were all very well received by the 1,200 to 1,500 people
attended.
Many
people came just to tour the modern facility with its new arena,
gymnasium, library, running track, concession and dance studio. A fitness centre, meeting rooms, bouldering wall and town municipal office
will soon be developed. There were also a number of displays including
one by the Harvard Historical Aviation Society.
July 6, 2010
Penhold Multiplex Opens on Saturday
The Town of Penhold officially opens its new $23 million 100,000 sq. ft.
state-of-the-art Multiplex on Saturday with several activities planned.
The complex includes an NHL-sized hockey arena, 6,000 sq. ft. regional
library, gymnasium, climbing wall, running track, dance studio, 4,400
sq. ft. fitness centre, cafe and municipal offices. The site also
includes football and soccer fields. Activities get underway Saturday
with a pancake breakfast at 8:00 am, hot air balloon rides, monster
truck rides, a kids fair, car show, 4 pm BBQ and entertainment. Tours of
the facility are free but there is a modest charge for other activities
including the meals. Construction of the Multiplex began in early 2009
and received funding from all three levels of government.
July 2, 2010
Native Residential
School Children Remembered
Over 200 people attended a ceremony
at Fort Normandeau recently to honour the 325 First Nations and Metis
children who had attended the Red Deer Industrial/Residential School
across the Red Deer River from the fort between 1893 and 1919. The
celebration opened with prayers and pipe ceremonies leading into reading
the names of all the children who had been brought to the school. Some
of the children who came from as far away as Manitoba never returned to
their families. Many escaped and simply disappeared. Many succumbed to
disease, especially an outbreak of the Spanish flu. A small graveyard
lies near the former school grounds where at least 12 people are buried,
some of them students. But the location of others who died at the school
are not as yet known. Plans are underway to create a permanent memorial
at the site. Red Deer County had required an archeological assessment of
the area a couple of years ago prior to approving a proposed development
nearby, which in turn, created a greater awareness of the existence of
the residential school.
June 30, 2010
Penholder Inn Fire
Caused by Cigarette
The fire that engulfed the office
and bar at the Penholder Inn in Penhold last Sunday and caused an
estimated $375,000 in damage has been determined to have been caused by
an improperly disposed of cigarette. The upstairs of the building and
the adjoining liquor store only sustained smoke damage. No one was
staying at the inn and no one was injured. Firefighters and equipment
from both the town and Red Deer County fought the fire and were able to
save the building. It is believed that the hotel was built in the 1930s.
June 19, 2010
Local
Centre Trains Workers in Power Industry
The FortisAlberta Employee Development Centre, located in Red Deer
County west of the city, trains electrical power industry workers both
in the theory and practical skills of working with high-voltage power
distribution infrastructure. The 40-acre site currently consists of
30,000 sq. ft. of building space, the only training substation in Canada
and a field of power poles for practical training. A couple of
enclosures are planned for this fall for field equipment so workers can
train during inclement weather.
June 17, 2010
Plasco
Garbage-to-Energy Plant Gets $10 Million Boost
The
Climate Change and Emissions Management Corp. of Alberta has announced a
$10 million grant to Plasco Energy Group for a $100 million
waste-to-energy gasification plant proposed for Red Deer County at the
Horn Hill Transfer Site, provided that the company commits the full
funding to the project by September. Plasco is still waiting final
approval of $24 million from the federal Green Infrastructure Fund and
debt financing through the federal Export Development program to proceed
with the 200-tonne-a-day facility. The company hopes to start
construction this summer and have the plant built 18 months later. The
plant would be fully operational 6 months after that. Garbage would be
supplied by 9 municipalities including Red Deer County, the City of Red
Deer, the towns of Innisfail, Sylvan Lake, Blackfalds and Penhold. The
first-of-its-kind facility is expected to generate international
attention once completed.
June 14, 2010
'The Bunker' Woosh Golf Course Now Open
The short-flight 'woosh' 9-hole golf course, named 'The Bunker at
Springbrook', is now open at the northwest corner of Highway 2A and
Airport Drive after a ribbon-cutting ceremony today that included Red
Deer County mayor Earl Kinsella and Penhold mayor Julie King. A unique concept in
Canada, 'woosh' balls are lighter than regular golf balls and travel
only one-third the distance. The company promotes the course as a fun
family activity that is great for novice as well as experienced golfers.
Proceeds from the practice range will go to the Boys and Girls Club of
Red Deer. The grand opening of the course is set for July 2.
City Transit Terminal Parkade Named After Sorensen
The
city of Red Deer has named the new downtown parkade and transit terminal
to open this summer 'Sorensen Station', after transportation pioneer
Gordon Sorensen. Sorensen pioneered several inter-community bus lines in
Central Alberta in the 1930s, 40s and 50s including 16 trips a day
between Red Deer and the Penhold airbase during the Second World War.
His lines and buses were ultimately sold and became Prairie Bus Lines,
Red Deer Transit and a major part of Greyhound service in Central
Alberta.
Enthusiasts to Preserve
Transportation Heritage
A
group of railway and transit enthusiasts are eager to preserve the
history of ground transportation in the Red Deer area by means of two
major community and tourist centres, one downtown and the other on the
southern outskirts of the city in the Gasoline Alley area. The Forth
Junction Heritage Society also wants to connect the various disconnected
historic rail icons scattered about the area including the abandoned
Alberta Central Railway Mintlaw steel railway trestle northwest of
Springbrook and the ACR pier along Taylor Drive in Red Deer. In addition
the society, presided by Paul Pettypiece of Springbrook, want to explore
future transportation and create a replica of a historic passenger steam
locomotive that once ran between Calgary and Edmonton -- the Chinook.
The project could take up to 20 years but the group is hoping to have
something on the ground in three to five years.
June 10, 2010
Highway Reopens After
Train Derailment
Highway 2A between McKenzie Road and
Lantern Street immediately south of the city has been reopened after
being closed for two days as a result of a train derailment early
Tuesday morning parallel to the highway. Five cars and a locomotive at
the back of a south-bound Canadian Pacific Railway train left the tracks
and did considerable damage to the track. Repairs and cleanup required
the closure of the highway although there were no injuries related to
the incident.
June 5, 2010
Four Winners at Annual Heritage Awards
Of the 10 nominees for the 9th annual Central Alberta Heritage Awards,
four were chosen as this year's recipients Friday -- historian Michael
Dawe's weekly articles in the Red Deer Express, the 1909 Dickson Store
Museum, 1907 Gothic-style St. Luke's Anglican Church in Red Deer and the
Riverside Meadows (North Red Deer) Story Stones project. Other nominees
included the ACR Mintlaw steel railway trestle purchased by Red Deer
County last year, City Hall Park, Innisfail Historical Village Role of
the Railroad exhibit, the J.F. Gaetz residence in Red Deer, pro
wrestling historian Vern May and artist David Plumtree for 12 historical
watercolour houses on Red Deer's 56th Street.
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