Amanda Jeffery, Free Press
Anyone who is 55 years or older will soon be able to access a vehicle to get them to all of their appointments in town, and to some appointments outside of the community.
Drake’s Handi-Bus Services is now being contracted by the Town of Drayton Valley to help those who are older than 55 and those with mobility issues (at any age). Annette Driessen, the General Manager of Community Services for the Town, says they put an RSP out into the community, checking to see if there was anyone who wanted to operate the service, and Drake’s was the one who won.
“Providing accessible transportation in Drayton Valley has been a priority of Council and I am excited to see this important project come to fruition. Town Council remains committed to offering yearly grants to keep this service operating for the betterment of the community,” says Mayor Michael Doerkson in an email statement.
Amy Newberry, of Drake’s Handi-Bus Services, says the name has historical meaning for the community. “The Drakes were the people of our town that named Drayton Valley because of the Postal Code system, and they were also my great grandparents. It’s a form of leaving a legacy for me,” she said via email.
If defying gravity is your thing tour our regional skateparks and pump tracks. From large to small, beginner to expert these facilities provide the venue to push your limits. You can also change it up and have some fun with your skateboard or scooter.
Drayton Valley Pump Track
The Drayton Valley pump Track is the largest asphalt Pump Track is western Canada. With three loops ranging from beginner to expert. This track has been a favourite destination for toddlers and their striders to skills mountain bikers and everything in between.
Each track features berms and various size of rollers. It is located alongside baseball diamonds, a network of asphalt trails, a playground and the omniplex sports facility.
How to get here:
The pump track is located in West Valley Lions Park. It is a 3 minute drive from downtown Drayton Valley. Head west on 50th Ave., turn south on 56th St. At the 4-way stop turn west on 49th Ave. and follow the road around and take your first right. You will see the track in front of you.
4-S Skate Park, Drayton Valley
The 4-S Skatepark is located in Discovery Park on the east side of Drayton Valley. The concrete skate park park, is used by bmx bikes, skateboards, scooters, and mountain bikes. The park has rollers, berms, a half bowl, stairs, and rails.
The skate park is connected to Discovery Park, and a network of walking trails, body weight exercise equipment and an outdoor skating rink pad.
How to get here:
The 4-S skatepark is just a 2 minute drive from downtown Drayton Valley. Take 50th Ave. east, turn right on 44th St. Drive a block and a half, the park is on your right hand side.
Maple Ridge Skate Park, Breton
Maple Ridge skate park is located in Maple Ridge Park in Breton, Alberta. The park has rails, ramps and stairs. The park is located next to a kids playground, baseball diamonds, and body weight exercise machines.
Tipple Park Pump Track, Evansburg
The Tipple Park pump track in Evansburg, Alberta is located in Tipple Park new the heart of downtown. The pump track is located near the Tipple Park Museum, an outdoor museum, and a kids playground.
Local pets had the chance to share their wish list with Santa this year at the Cause For Critters Santa Photo Session.
Held on November 29, Alexis Gigg, social media and communications for the Cause for Critters board, says there were around 50 animals that showed up to meet Santa.
Gigg says CFC holds a few different photo sessions over the year, but the most popular one is the Santa Photos. “Christmas is always the biggest hit,” she says.
Because they are working with animals instead of children, Gigg says they had to choose someone who was good with animals. She says their Santa volunteer, Jim Nelson, is very relaxed and the animals trust him.
“He’s fantastic with the animals. They love him,” says Gigg, “Even the nervous ones seem to flock to him.”
The photographer, Krystina Lynn, also donated her time for the shoot. Gigg says she’s always stepped up for CFC and provides great photos.
In January 1965, the St. Anthony School opened its doors. Now, 60 years later, the school is planning a celebration of the milestone.
Principal Janelle Molzan says they are planning to have a celebration on May 24 at the school gym. They will be using the event to also fundraise for the school.
Molzan says they will have a band performing that evening, catering from a local restaurant, a full cash bar, as well as some door prizes.
Part of the celebration will also be the fact that St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division has put St. Anthony at the top of their priority list for a new school. Molzan says the division has to wait until next year to submit their request to the Province, and there is no guarantee that they will be selected for funding.
“It could be anywhere from two to ten years,” she says. “Or more.”
However, she feels that St. Anthony has a strong case for asking for a new school.
The most recent remodel of the school was in 1992, says Molzan. At that point they expanded the school, removing the gym from the centre of the school and installing classrooms instead. The new gym was then built as an addition to the school.
“We had the addition of the gym as well as a few classrooms in 1992,” says Molzan.
Since then, there have been no major remodels or renovations. Instead, the staff have been doing what they can to keep the building in shape.
“It’s a really well built school,” says Molzan.
She says over the years, the natural heaves and settling that occur with temperature fluctuations has led to some cosmetic damages to the building. “It’s just showing its age,” she says.
While the school is starting to show wear, Molzan says there are no capacity issues. About 15 years ago, the school went from being a K-12 school to a K-8 school when the Holy Trinity Academy was built.
Molzan says if they don’t get a new school they will have to pursue getting more renovations or remodeling for the current building.
Businesses will now have another option for dealing with trespassers thanks to a new program that Enforcement Services have put into place.
Cody Rossing, the manager of enforcement services and emergency management for the Town, says one of the biggest challenges for businesses in the community who were issuing trespass notices is that someone has to attend court in order for the trespassing charge to stick. With the new Trespassing Agent program which comes into place on March 20, businesses who enrol will not have to attend court.
Previously, businesses who contacted the RCMP to report a trespasser had to issue the trespass notices themselves.
For many businesses the process didn’t work well. Larger franchises, like banks, found arranging the issue of a trespass notice and attending court was not logistically feasible. Small business owners, on the other hand, could issue the notice but may have to close their business in order to attend court.
Rossing says there are two different pieces of legislation that speak to trespassing, the Petty Trespass Act and the Trespass to Premises Act.
“Under both of the legislations, the property owner or their agent are required to provide trespass notices, help get people off of their land, and stuff like that,” says Rossing.
The first offence fine under the provincial legislation is normally $600, but it could be up to $10,000. A second offence could have a fine of up to $25,000
The higher fines come into place when the individual ignores the notice and returns to the property. If the trespasser returns three times, the officers can then issue a summons to court. If they fail to attend, a warrant is issued, and at that point if they are found guilty, the higher fines can be given.
Rossing says the program is helping streamline the process for businesses. If they choose to enrol in the program, it will allow peace officers or the RCMP to act as their agent and issue the notices. It also means the business owners won’t have to attend court.
“Court is scary for a lot of people, and we understand that,” says Rossing.
The purpose of the program is to improve the process because officers are continuing to get calls to the same place over and over and business owners or their employees are uncomfortable with the court process. Until now, there hasn’t been any way to address those issues.
“It’s been a lot of work on the back end because there is no follow up process in place and there is no trespass notice being issued,” says Rossing.
He says the hope is that by having this program in place, businesses can sign up and they can begin to address the issue more efficiently.
Several different municipalities in the province have a similar program in place, says Rossing. While developing the program, Rossing did research on other initiatives and reached out to other municipalities that had something similar in place. He says he wanted to be sure that he had everything in place before he announced the program in the community.
There are also checks and balances that have been worked into the program.
“If you’re trespassed from a local business, one of our officers shows up and says you’re trespassed for six months, if you don’t agree with it, you can appeal that process,” says Rossing.
He says there is also the option for the business owners to speak with the officer and reduce the amount of time the individual is trespassed for. In some cases, if the RCMP issue a notice that’s in effect for six months, a business owner may come forward and advocate for the trespasser if the individual doesn’t normally behave in that manner
“They can say, ‘This person is normally a good customer, but there is something going on with him right now. I think maybe a month would be more appropriate,’” says Rossing.
However, it is ultimately the final discretion of the officer.
Once a business is enrolled in the program, they will receive a sticker that they can place in a conspicuous area that is easily visible for officers. If they receive a call, the officer will know that they can issue the notice themselves rather than speaking to the owner and explaining the process that has to take place.
Rossing says enrolment in the program is free, and he encourages businesses to sign up if they are having consistent issues with people loitering or being a nuisance on their property. Those who are interested in enrolling can visit www.draytonvalley.ca/enforcementservices/trespassingagent and fill out the form. They can then email it in to enforcement@draytonvalley.ca or drop it off at the Town office.
There are approximately 187 accidents in town each year within Town limits. That’s according to data from Drayton Valley Enforcement Services.
Cody Rossing, the Manager of Enforcement Services and Emergency Management for the Town, says data from 2016-2023 has helped map out intersections in the community that sees the highest number of collisions. The intersection at 50 Street North and Hwy 22 has had eight collisions, the highest in the community. The second highest number was at the intersection of 50 Street and 50 Avenue.
“Anything along Highway 22, the Town doesn’t have jurisdiction over, pertaining to road designs or changes,” says Rossing.
He says getting the data from the Province regarding collisions along Highway 22 is something they haven’t been able to do before. Now that they have the data they can start mapping out the high incident intersections and starting brainstorming ways they can address some of the problem areas. Rossing says those areas will have more focus from the community peace officers.
Rossing says they are trying to develop strategies on how to reduce collisions in the community on a whole, particularly those that result in fatalities.
“There’s different things we can use like engineering and controls,” says Rossing. “But for enforcement services, how are we strategically educating and enforcing in those areas?”
He says there are a number of factors that can contribute to collisions. Over the past eight years there have been 434 caused from unsafe speeds, 245 were intersection related, 163 that are weather related, 114 from road surface conditions, 51 involving animals, and 417 were from drivers performing improper actions.
With speed being the most prominent cause, enforcement services have been taking action to find out where speeding is most common and increasing patrols. The digital speed signs that were purchased with funds from the Community Safety Committee don’t have cameras on them, but they do record the speed and report that data back to enforcement services.
On March 6, officers intercepted a vehicle driving 102 km per hour in a 50 km zone.
“That vehicle was pulled over, a court summons was issued to the driver to compel them to court. If they don’t attend court a warrant will be issued for them,” says Rossing.
If they are found guilty, they could face a fine of up to $2,000 and/or a license suspension.
Rossing says anyone who is over the speed limit by more than 51 km per hour will face an automatic court summons.
This was not the only incident of speeding. On March 5, the digital speed signs picked up on a vehicle driving 111 km per hour in a 60 km per hour zone. They also pulled over a vehicle going 50 km per hour over the limit that same day.
“That is strictly within the Town of Drayton Valley boundaries,” says Rossing.
There are a number of reports enforcement services can get from the digital signs, including the amount of traffic on a road and the times that see the most traffic. Using this data, enforcement services can ensure they deploy units during the busiest times of the day to the areas where speeding is common.
Like William Shatner, Mike Myers, Wayne Gretzky’s dad and God help us, Celine Dion, here at the Free Press, we are Canadian.
There’s been a lot of talk recently about US ownership of some of this country’s most prominent businesses and institutions. At the Free Press we are certainly not prominent, nor do we want to be institutionalized. But still, it seems like a good time to point out to anyone who’s interested, that we are exactly what we appear to be.
We are 100 percent locally owned. There are no hidden shareholders or outside interests. All of our staff live in either Drayton Valley or Brazeau County, apart from our designer, Brittany. She’s from here, but currently telecommutes from somewhere in British Columbia, which I have to confess, makes me a little jealous sometimes.
What else can I tell you? The Free Press is printed for us by some nice people in St. Albert. The printing press is owned by Great West Newspapers, which is also a Canadian company.
The paper we’re printed on comes from the Alberta Newsprint Corporation in Whitecourt. Incidentally, the paper is made from offcuts and waste from the lumber industry so we’re not cutting down trees to make the paper.
Once the paper has been printed it’s picked up and brought back to town by Drayton Valley’s own Rocket Express. At that point it’s back to us as we deliver it throughout the community.
Now you may be wondering why I’m telling you all this. Would the Americans really be interested in owning a tiny little paper in a small town in Alberta?
Well, you’d be surprised. A good chunk of Canada’s print media is currently in American hands, and that includes a number of community newspapers in this province. Postmedia is 66 percent owned by Chatham Asset Management, a hedge fund based in New Jersey. Who are Postmedia? They are the owners of the National Post, the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Sun, the Edmonton Sun and a host of other newspapers, both large and small, from coast to coast.
That situation may not be quite as bad as it sounds. I was the editor of the Drayton Valley Western Review (kids, ask your grandparents) for 10 years. During my time there the paper was owned by a succession of large, soulless corporations based in central Canada. They did absolutely nothing to impact the way we covered the news. I barely heard a peep in over a decade. I always suspected that was less to do with high journalistic standards at corporate headquarters, and more down to the fact they were only dimly aware we existed and probably couldn’t find Drayton Valley on a map, but either way the effect was the same.
So corporate ownership, whether it’s American or not, probably isn’t the best thing ever, but it isn’t necessarily fatal to Canadian news.
But I do think there’s an important distinction between a paper like the Free Press and some of the others; and it’s this. If you take out a subscription or buy an advertisement with us you can be confident that your money is staying close to home. And especially these days, that seems like a good investment.
A local auctioneer has chanted his way into the history books after securing himself a first place position at the 2025 Canadian All Around Auctioneer Championship.
Prior to the 2025 CAAAC, Justin Mayer had already earned a trophy at the 2020 Canadian Bid Catching Competition. He is the first to hold a title for both competitions.
Mayer, at 29-years-old, says he’s been participating in the CAAAC for more than a decade. His mentors and many of the auctioneers he grew up listening to have all competed in the competition and some have won.
“It’s a pretty prestigious award,” says Mayer.
A good auctioneer is someone who can present themselves in a professional manner, with confidence in your body language and hand gestures. They have to be well spoken and comfortable with public speaking. The auctioneer chant, which requires rhythm, clarity, and speed to be considered such, is also an important technique that auctioneers must master.
“You should be able to almost dance to an auctioneer’s chant,” says Mayer
When he entered the CAAAC, Mayer participated in two rounds. The preliminary round ruled out everyone except for the top five. Those five then moved onto the final round.
In both rounds, five judges ranked their skills on a scorecard, and the person with the best overall ranking took home the award.
Mayer is not the first member of his family to take home the CAAAC title. His uncle Ron Sekura also held the title, and for Mayer, that makes the win even sweeter.
“He’s passed on, so it’s pretty cool for me to have the title with him,” says Mayer.
As a kid, Mayer was surrounded by some of his biggest mentors in the auctioneering world. His uncle, stepfather Corey Sekura, and grandfather, Wendell Sekura, all encouraged his love of auctioning.
He says he loves the sport because of the high energy atmosphere and the chance to meet people.
“When you’re up on the stand in front of the crowd selling, it’s up to me to present, in lots of cases, people’s livelihoods and their entire life, whether you’re selling a farm or a disbursement sale. It’s up to you, as the auctioneer, to generate excitement and do your homework in front of the crowd in order to bring top dollar for people,” says Mayer.
Over the years, Mayer has met many people and he says he enjoys the connections
“I know somebody from every town,” he says.
Now that he’s taken the title for the CAAAC, he is eligible for the International All Around Auctioneer Championship and from there he can head off to the World Championship.
For many, the decision to go to the international championship would be easy, but Mayer says he’s not sure what he’s going to do.
“I grew up in an auction family, and for me and my family to win this competition was a big deal,” says Mayer. “Now that I’ve won it, I kind of feel like I achieved what I wanted.”
However, Mayer has been receiving encouragement from Rob Bergevin, a Canadian International and Worlds competitor, to go to the International Championship.
“I beat him this year and he’s really trying to convince me to go to the International because he thinks I have a shot at it,” says Mayer.
Mayer’s love of auctioneering resulted in him going to Western College of Auctioneering in Billings, Montana in 2013. Since then, he’s been building up his reputation as an auctioneer across Alberta and British Columbia.
He says his uncle and stepfather were always in his ear, pointing out areas where he could do better and giving him advice to improve his skill.
“Grandpa Wendy was a big factor in that as well,” says Mayer.
For several years, Mayer spent a lot of time travelling to municipalities across the province and British Columbia to local auctions. However, once the pandemic hit, many auction houses opted for online auctions as a way to still run the business while meeting government regulations. Since that time, it’s not uncommon for auctions to be held online.
“But I still travel around,” says Mayer. “I still do lots of auctions. I’m never going to stop. It’s too exciting.”
Over the years, Mayer has worked for Team Auctions, as well as auctioning off classic cars. He also works for a lot of charity auctions.
When his children were younger, they struggled with the amount of time that Mayer was away. Now that they’re older, he says they appreciate it more. His daughter has even been asking for lessons, and has been practicing reading off a list of numbers that she has on her wall.
Mayer says he’s grateful to everyone for their support and encouragement over the years.
“I’m tremendously thankful to my mom, my dad, the Sekura family, my wife and my kids. They have all been there for me. They’ve all shaped me,” says Mayer. “Probably my biggest influence in all of it was my Uncle Ron, and my dad, Corey. They really shaped me and supported me.”
Members of local indigenous groups are working toward opening a charter school with the goal of offering students an education that goes beyond academics.
Charlene Bearhead, a member of the board for the Roots of Resilience not-for-profit society, says the group is applying to the Minister of Education to be able to open a charter school in Drayton Valley, with a goal of opening in September.
The society is hosting an information night on February 13 from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express.
Bearhead says her 40 years of working in education has made it clear that the system is failing children and staff as human beings.
“I’m always a big believer in doing the best you can to try to work with what exists already and do what you can to help guide that,” says Bearhead.
She worked within the system, and recently served as a school board trustee, but she says people weren’t ready to progress with changes she feels need to be made.
The goal of opening the charter school is to offer a learning experience that encompasses a child’s entire wellbeing, including mental and spiritual health, along with teaching Alberta’s curriculum. While the students will learn from methods that indigenous people have always used for passing on knowledge, Bearhead says the school isn’t just open to indigenous children. Any child in the area from Kindergarten to grade 12 will be welcome to attend.
One thing that Bearhead wants the public to be aware of regarding charter schools is that they are still public schools. Roots of Resilience will be funded in the same manner that Wild Rose School Division and the St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division are.
“One lady said to me, ‘This sounds so amazing Charlene, but I really struggle with anything that takes away from public schools,’” says Bearhead. “I had to say to her ‘This is public education. This is public school.’”
She says there are only provisions for charter schools in Alberta. Charter schools receive the same funding for facilities, transportations, and other expenses, and the same requirements to follow the Alberta curriculum and the Education Act. Just like any other public school, parents do not have to pay extra to enrol their children in a charter school.
“But they are intended to be schools of choice,” says Bearhead. “They give parents and kids a choice in their education.”
However, charter schools are not without controversy. According to the website of Alberta Teachers’ Association, “there is only one pot of money for schools in Alberta. When money is diverted to private and charter schools, it leaves public schools in a funding shortfall.”
Bearhead says charter schools have to offer a unique approach to education that isn’t available in the geographic area. Bearhead says it’s important to the RoR society to define the holistic success for the school, which means the students will be doing better in body, mind, and soul, as well as academically.
She says that pushing people hard to do well academically while ignoring all other aspects of the student’s progress doesn’t work well. For Bearhead, it’s important for educators to meet the students where they’re at, value them as human beings, offer them a safe environment, and offer opportunities for the students to see themselves reflected in what is being taught.
Along with the regular curriculum, Bearhead says they plan to offer language programs for those who are interested in learning the language of their ancestors to help those students connect with their heritage.
Wendy Snow, the Interim District Captain in the Otipemisiwak Metis Government for District Eight and member of the RoR society, says she feels her own children would have benefitted from what the proposed school will be offering.
Snow says she has two children as well as a niece that she is the guardian of. With all three of them going to school in Drayton, she says they went to almost every school in the community.
“I found that it was very lacking as far as teaching to our culture,” says Snow.
She says every year she would fill out the demographic forms, indicating that her children were indigenous, knowing that the school division would get additional funding for those students.
“I found that all of the funding in the Wild Rose School Division went to Rocky Mountain House,” she says. “All the programming, all the culture stuff, everything went to Rocky Mountain House.”
Like Bearhead, Snow wanted to work with the system and try to help improve things. She ran twice for school board trustee, but did not get elected.
“I’ve always wanted to see more funding and programming and culture stuff in this area, just like there is in Rocky Mountain House,” says Snow.
Bearhead says the RoR school will resonate with indigenous children.
“An indigenous pedagogy, or approach to education, is about physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual [well-being]. Whatever that means to you. Everyone is indigenous to somewhere,” says Bearhead.
She says public charter schools are smaller and have unique approaches to education.
“They are actually intended to be models for how education could happen in any or all public schools,” she says.
Bearhead says when the students see themselves reflected in the content they’re learning, they have a better chance of relating to it and absorbing it.
By making the students the centre of the system, educators can focus on the whole child, not just the content they’re supposed to be learning. She says each student has different strengths, weaknesses, interests, and paths. In their school, they plan to help students excel at their strengths, offer support for their weaknesses, and encourage their interests and plans.
Another important part of education is offering the students a safe space.
“If kids are terrified, if kids are being bullied, if kids don’t feel safe, how can they focus on learning?” says Bearhead. “That’s just human instinct. That’s survival.”
She says if students are feeling ostracized, alienated, or left out, it’s more challenging for them to learn.
Roots of Resilience will also offer hands-on learning for students. This experiential learning will be land-based, which means there will be more of a balance between indoor and outdoor learning. She says there are many different areas of the curriculum that can be taught outdoors beyond science and physical education.
“For me, when you do something, rather than just read about it or hear about it, it becomes ingrained in you,” she says.
Snow says she wants to see children in the area have an opportunity to choose an education that best suits them.
“I think it just gives them a great basis for success later on in life,” says Snow.
“She does a lot of rodeo and horse photography,” says Gigg. Her history with large animal photography makes her a perfect choice to have for animal photos.
“It was really successful, they were busy the whole time,” she says.
She says everyone has fun with photo events. They accept all pets, though they’ve never had any reptiles brought in. The puppies usually keep the volunteers busy because they have to burn off all of their energy before they can sit still for the photos.
“It’s a really fun event, and every single year we look forward to it,” she says.
Gigg says they also took pictures of the cats to post on social media to help them get adopted. Right now, any cats going to their furever home get to go home with a free bed.
Currently, CFC has 75 animals that need homes. Gigg says they are looking for volunteers to help at the shelter and foster homes for some of the animals.
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Spending a weekend cycling the secondary highway in and around Brazeau County is one of the great outdoor activities that this region has to offer. Minutes outside of Drayton Valley you will find yourself on kilometers of highway that seem to continue to stretch West. Many of these highways go near small hamlets and communities in the area, they go into and come out of river valleys and on a clear day offer a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains.
One such circuit is the DV100 century loop. This 100km route takes you west past farmlands and through lush boreal forests, and through the small communities and hamlets that mark the birth of Alberta’s oil and gas industry. It is a loop that can be done with speed or taken at a leisurely pace, offering snack and eatery stops along the way.
Day 1: Arrival, dinner
Arrive at hotel: When you stay at a Drayton Valley Hospitality and Tourism hotel or campground you support local tourism initiatives in Drayton Valley and Brazeau County.
Evening ride: Stretch your legs and do the 19 km ring road multipurpose trails to Rocky Rapids. Park your vehicle at the “Welcome to Drayton Valley” derricks at the south end of town and right across the street you will be on the trails. The route will take you straight out to the hamlet of Rocky Rapids where you can stop off at the Rocky Rapids store for a snack. The original building is located at the Drayton Valley museum.
Dinner: Did you know we have over 40 different restaurants in Drayton Valley? Look at our restaurant listing in this guide.
Ricochet Aquatic Centre: Take in the steamroom and the hot tub at the local swimming pool. The pool is open until 8:00 pm most nights and will get you ready for your big century ride tomorrow.
Day 2: The DIY DV100
Breakfast: Take in some breakfast at your hotel or head out to one of our great breakfast venues.
DIY DV100: The DV100 is a 100 kilometre route that travels secondary highways in Brazeau County. Along the route there are several spots you can stop to regroup, take in a photo and enjoy some food. Just out of town is the Poplar Ridge Store, this is your last stop to get any supplies until you reach the community of Lodgepole about about kilometre 40.
Arrive Lodgepole: this is a small hamlet that has a general store in the heart of town. Here you can grab a drink, and convenience store fare. There is also the hotel restaurant that is open 11-12:30 and 3-8 most days, there is also the Aud Spot for breakfast and lunch as a cash only option.
Heading out of Lodgepole towards Cynthia there are a few great photo opportunities as you crest a hill coming up from the Pembina River Valley. This is a slog of a climb but once you crest it is smooth sailing to Cynthia.
Near the Hamlet of Cynthia there is the ever popular Cyn City Saloon where you can get a beverage and a burger. Heading back towards Drayton Valley and Hwy 621 your next stop is 39 km away in the community of Rocky Rapids where you can stop at the store for some snacks and then back into town.
(In the Evening)
Hotel: regroup at your hotel and get ready for the evening.
Dinner: Drayton Valley has more than 40 different restaurants. Have a look at our listings page to decide where you want to eat.
Drinks: Head to a patio and enjoy the sunset with an ice cold brew. Lounge patios can be found at; Khal’s Steakhouse, Boston Pizza, Mitch’s Restaurant, Oil Country Tap House, Bourbon House and Mr. Mikes.
Day 3 Check out, walk and head home
Breakfast: Breakfast at your hotel or check out and head to a local restaurant for brunch.
Disc golf or a walk: If you want to stretch your time here in Drayton Valley, head over to Ivan To Park for a walk around the pond or a round of disc golf. The park has an 18-hole disc golf course that is open at no charge. If you’re pushed for time there’s an easy cut off to limit your round to 9 holes.
Head home. We hope you’ve enjoyed your time in our community. Come back soon!
Staff Sergeant Ryan Hoetmer says dealing with the effects of the homeless population in the community is not simple.
Hoetmer says that the most common complaint regarding homeless individuals is about them sleeping or spending time in business entrances. That was one of the main issues raised by town council in a discussion on September 18.
Hoetmer says RCMP involvement in removing the individual and charging them with trespassing is a bit tricky, especially in regards to private businesses.
“The police themselves do not make a determination of whether that homeless individual can be there or not,” says Hoetmer. “That has to be the business that decides that.”
This means that someone from the business has to contact the RCMP to let them know there is an unwanted individual in the vestibule. At that point, police can attend and get the individual moving along.
However, unless the business has served trespass notices on the person causing the issue, the RCMP cannot issue fines for trespassing.
That is also not as simple as it seems. Hoetmer says that does give the trespass notice has to be willing to pursue the entire process into court as well.
“They’ve got to show up at trial if this individual fights it,” he says.
Hoetmer says banks, for example, are not typically interested in pursuing this as they all have nationally run security headquarters, so there’s not a lot of interest in them following those steps.
Both the Town and RCMP have met with bank managers and are encouraging them to lock their doors at night to prevent the homeless from using the vestibule as a warming space.
Due to the lifestyle that comes with homelessness, which often includes mental health issues and addictions, the RCMP do interact with the homeless on a regular basis.
“We get to know these individuals, but unless they are commiting crime we don’t have a lot of power,” he says.
He says the Town has asked them to have more enforcement on homeless individuals who have been banned or issued trespassing notices.
“Our job is community safety so if that’s what the community wants to keep the community safe, we’ve agreed to do that,” says Hoetmer.
However, that means businesses need to start following through with the process on their end.
In regards to the Civic Centre vestibule, Hoetmer says the Town would need to start looking at trespassing individuals in order for the RCMP to begin issuing tickets.
“That is up to the Town whether they want to trespass these individuals from all Town property,” says Hoetmer.
But even with all of the businesses doing their part and the RCMP able to keep up with the enforcement, there is still more to consider.
“Enforcement has failed these individuals for years. Nobody usually becomes unsheltered without probably having had enforcement intervention for a number of years already, and it hasn’t changed anything.”
Hoetmer says there have been no complaints of physical harm caused to residents by any homeless individuals. “They can be aggressive and make people feel uncomfortable, but we have had no assaults. No reports of any sort of physical violence to anybody.”
In regards to break and enters, Hoetmer says some of the smaller property crimes are being committed by homeless individuals, but they aren’t the only ones.
“There’s other individuals in town that are not homeless that are committing those offences,” says Hoetmer. “The bigger break and enters are being committed by prolific property crime offenders.”
In regards to issuing fines for trespassing, Hoetmer says that also isn’t as simple as many believe. Those who have fines may not be able to pay them. At some point, they can be arrested, but there is no guaranteed timeline for how long the individual will stay behind bars, as they will be released first if room is needed for people convicted of more serious crimes.
In the end, the fines do not get paid.
Hoetmer says he doesn’t want the Town to “hang their hat on enforcement,” because while it can play a role in deterring homeless individuals from becoming a nuisance, it’s not the entire solution.
“We’re going to have a role,” says Hoetmer. “Our job is keeping the community safe. So, if part of that is needing to enforce, then we will do that.”
Drayton Valley high school students had the chance to listen to a first hand account of an indigenous woman whose life was drastically altered by the Sixties Scoop.
Michaela Lewis is now a student at SAIT, but her road there was long and arduous. She told the students that she is enrolled in the Film and Video Production program, which she plans to use to create a documentary about her life.
“It wasn’t just my family that I lost,” said Lewis. “It was my culture, my traditions, my language, my identity.”
Lewis’ mother, Bernice, gave birth to her in the spring of 1979 in the Edmonton General Hospital, and at the time was on her own. Bernice was married to a non-indigenous man, which meant that she and her children had lost their treaty rights. At the time of Lewis’ birth, the husband was in prison. Lewis was not his biological child.
Hospital staff told Bernice that she couldn’t raise a child on her own.
“The nurses and the hospital staff forced my mother into signing me away,” said Lewis.
She said her mother just went along with everything they told her to do because she felt like she had no other option. After she left the hospital, she went and got her other daughter before returning to the hospital to get Lewis.
When Bernice returned the next day, the staff told her that Lewis had been given to social services and that she had to deal with them. Lewis’ mother was given the run around by social services for several weeks before finally hearing that Lewis had died.
Instead, Lewis had been adopted out to a non-indigenous family. Social services also took her older sister from her mother.
“My older sister was lost to the system by the age of five,” says Lewis.
As a result of losing both of her children, Lewis’ mother turned to substances to cope and became an addict. For quite some time, her mother was homeless because there was no support system for her.
At 18 years-old, Lewis was able to unseal her adoption records and began to search for her family. Eventually, Lewis was reunited with her mother, stepfather, three sisters, brother, and a large extended family.
Lewis’ adopted mother had told her that “those native mothers, they left their unwanted babies in garbage cans and they were all alcoholics and addicts.” Lewis was even told she likely had fetal alcohol syndrome. It wasn’t until later that she found out that was not true. Bernice told Lewis that she hadn’t told anyone about Lewis because she thought that a nurse had ended Lewis’ life at the hospital after she had left her there.
Lewis was shocked as nurses were respected health care providers. She had been raised to believe there was a system in place that prevented such things. She began looking into the history and learned about the residential school system and all of the children who had been taken from their families.
Bernice told Lewis not to bother with trying to get justice because she would get nowhere. Her mother had been in the Bow Valley Residential School, and after learning of its history, Lewis understood why her mother had believed a nurse had killed Lewis.
Then, history repeated itself.
“My oldest son was taken from me when he was four-years-old,” said Lewis. “In that horrific moment, I completely understood why my mother lived the life that she did.”
At the time, Lewis was a single mother attending college to get her high school diploma. She had aspirations of becoming an interior designer.
When her son was five months old, his father left Lewis and later began stalking her. He threatened to take her son. Her adopted mother told her that if Lewis gave custody of her son to her adoptive mother, his father couldn’t take him and Lewis could still have the boy live with her.
“Desperate to keep my child, I agreed to it.”
Lewis was stressed out with everything going on, so her stepfather suggested she come back to live with them and finish her schooling with the support of her family. Lewis agreed and notified her adoptive mother of her move.
That was when her adoptive parents came and took her son.
“I didn’t even have a chance to have a say in court.”
Lewis became suicidal. She was unable to go back to school or get her job back and she spiraled, eventually becoming an addict.
“I’ve never in my life felt so broken, defeated, and alone,” she said.
It was her stepfather who helped her to heal and become sober. She says he was supportive and told her that she didn’t have to let the same thing happen to her that happened to her mother. After the conversation with her stepfather, Lewis began working to placate her adoptive parents so she could see her son.
Ten years after her son was taken, Lewis stood up to fight for her oldest son. When her second son was born in 2014, she told her adoptive parents that they wouldn’t keep her children apart. She regained custody of her son, and has been raising her youngest son since his birth.
Lewis said she is the first mother in several generations in her family, to have the opportunity to raise a child from birth.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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“We have so many animals, even though we’re trying to reduce the number,” says Gigg.
Anyone who is interested in volunteering can get an application form at the shelter. Those working with cats need to be at least 16 years old, and for the other animals they must be 18 years old.
Corb Lund plays to a packed house
Corb Lund live at the Eleanor Pickup Art Centre. A sold-out crowd enjoyed an acoustic trio set with the Hurtin’ Albertans, blending heartfelt ballads, fan favorites, and cowboy-inspired storytelling. VIP perks, exclusive merch, and a thrilling encore made this Alberta performance unforgettable
Changes to Rural Renewal Stream
Businesses in Drayton Valley will see some changes to the local Rural Renewal Stream program come into effect on November 13.
Five creative ways to use print advertising to supercharge your business
Print advertising with your local newspaper gets you off the hamster wheel and connects you with a copywriter, graphic designer, and an ad planner who are actually interested in learning the ins and outs of your business.
Hard work and heritage reflected in 4-H
Hunter Harris is a third generation 4-H member and has been part of the organization since he was 12 years old. Not only does he show cattle for 4-H, he’s also been entering open shows for the past two years.
Inspiring perseverance are words that can be used to describe Drayton resident Deb Bossert. She has faced obstacles like cancer and immune disorders to start a successful second business in her retirement.
Bossert grew up in Vernon, B.C., but has been part of Drayton this community since 1996. Over the years she has volunteered in many different areas, all with the mission of serving others. Some may recognize her name from her time on town council, others in the faith community will know her from various events she’s participated in. During her time on council she served on many different boards. Bossert was also a volunteer with Humans Helping Humans and currently sits on the board of Burden Bearers.
On top of that Bossert was also a business owner in Drayton Valley. The store Designs By Deb was a bridal boutique that she built from the ground up.
“I’ve been sewing since I was a young girl,” says Bossert, which she says is 45 years of sewing. She is the fourth generation seamstress in her family, and her oldest daughter is the fifth.
However, life has not been smooth sailing for Bossert. About a year after her youngest daughter was born, Bossert separated from her husband and became a single mother. During that time she sometimes worked a full-time job, but she kept Designs by Deb running.
Designs By Deb was more than just a store for bridal wear. Bossert also offered sewing classes, altered clothing, and spent a fair amount of time repairing coveralls.
In 2009, after hearing encouragement from friends and community members, Bossert decided to run in a by-election for council. She went on to serve as a councillor until 2017.
In 2010, Bossert was diagnosed with aggressive bilateral breast cancer, which led to a double mastectomy as soon as the doctors could arrange it. Four years later, Bossert was diagnosed with a rare immune disorder called common variable immune deficiency.
“I didn’t expect to see 50,” she says and she’s grateful for the eight years she’s had since her diagnosis. “To have survived long enough to meet my grandchildren, and be involved in their lives, and to see where life has taken me has been amazing.”
She did not seek re-election in the municipal elections in 2017. She still worked as much as she could, though she was limited because of her health. However, she lost her job as a teacher for English as Second Language in 2020 when the pandemic hit.
“My health did take quite a decline that spring as well. I was told by my doctors that I needed to retire and just stay home,” says Bossert.
Bossert rarely goes out because her body does not produce antibodies and she has to take an immunoglobulin infusion to keep herself healthy and alive. Any illness she catches could result in hospitalization or death.
In January 1965, the St. Anthony School opened its doors. Now, 60 years later, the school is planning a celebration of the milestone.
Principal Janelle Molzan says they are planning to have a celebration on May 24 at the school gym. They will be using the event to also fundraise for the school.
Molzan says they will have a band performing that evening, catering from a local restaurant, a full cash bar, as well as some door prizes.
Part of the celebration will also be the fact that St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division has put St. Anthony at the top of their priority list for a new school. Molzan says the division has to wait until next year to submit their request to the Province, and there is no guarantee that they will be selected for funding.
“It could be anywhere from two to ten years,” she says. “Or more.”
However, she feels that St. Anthony has a strong case for asking for a new school.
The most recent remodel of the school was in 1992, says Molzan. At that point they expanded the school, removing the gym from the centre of the school and installing classrooms instead. The new gym was then built as an addition to the school.
“We had the addition of the gym as well as a few classrooms in 1992,” says Molzan.
Since then, there have been no major remodels or renovations. Instead, the staff have been doing what they can to keep the building in shape.
“It’s a really well built school,” says Molzan.
She says over the years, the natural heaves and settling that occur with temperature fluctuations has led to some cosmetic damages to the building. “It’s just showing its age,” she says.
While the school is starting to show wear, Molzan says there are no capacity issues. About 15 years ago, the school went from being a K-12 school to a K-8 school when the Holy Trinity Academy was built.
Molzan says if they don’t get a new school they will have to pursue getting more renovations or remodeling for the current building.
Businesses will now have another option for dealing with trespassers thanks to a new program that Enforcement Services have put into place.
Cody Rossing, the manager of enforcement services and emergency management for the Town, says one of the biggest challenges for businesses in the community who were issuing trespass notices is that someone has to attend court in order for the trespassing charge to stick. With the new Trespassing Agent program which comes into place on March 20, businesses who enrol will not have to attend court.
Previously, businesses who contacted the RCMP to report a trespasser had to issue the trespass notices themselves.
For many businesses the process didn’t work well. Larger franchises, like banks, found arranging the issue of a trespass notice and attending court was not logistically feasible. Small business owners, on the other hand, could issue the notice but may have to close their business in order to attend court.
Rossing says there are two different pieces of legislation that speak to trespassing, the Petty Trespass Act and the Trespass to Premises Act.
“Under both of the legislations, the property owner or their agent are required to provide trespass notices, help get people off of their land, and stuff like that,” says Rossing.
The first offence fine under the provincial legislation is normally $600, but it could be up to $10,000. A second offence could have a fine of up to $25,000
The higher fines come into place when the individual ignores the notice and returns to the property. If the trespasser returns three times, the officers can then issue a summons to court. If they fail to attend, a warrant is issued, and at that point if they are found guilty, the higher fines can be given.
Rossing says the program is helping streamline the process for businesses. If they choose to enrol in the program, it will allow peace officers or the RCMP to act as their agent and issue the notices. It also means the business owners won’t have to attend court.
“Court is scary for a lot of people, and we understand that,” says Rossing.
The purpose of the program is to improve the process because officers are continuing to get calls to the same place over and over and business owners or their employees are uncomfortable with the court process. Until now, there hasn’t been any way to address those issues.
“It’s been a lot of work on the back end because there is no follow up process in place and there is no trespass notice being issued,” says Rossing.
He says the hope is that by having this program in place, businesses can sign up and they can begin to address the issue more efficiently.
Several different municipalities in the province have a similar program in place, says Rossing. While developing the program, Rossing did research on other initiatives and reached out to other municipalities that had something similar in place. He says he wanted to be sure that he had everything in place before he announced the program in the community.
There are also checks and balances that have been worked into the program.
“If you’re trespassed from a local business, one of our officers shows up and says you’re trespassed for six months, if you don’t agree with it, you can appeal that process,” says Rossing.
He says there is also the option for the business owners to speak with the officer and reduce the amount of time the individual is trespassed for. In some cases, if the RCMP issue a notice that’s in effect for six months, a business owner may come forward and advocate for the trespasser if the individual doesn’t normally behave in that manner
“They can say, ‘This person is normally a good customer, but there is something going on with him right now. I think maybe a month would be more appropriate,’” says Rossing.
However, it is ultimately the final discretion of the officer.
Once a business is enrolled in the program, they will receive a sticker that they can place in a conspicuous area that is easily visible for officers. If they receive a call, the officer will know that they can issue the notice themselves rather than speaking to the owner and explaining the process that has to take place.
Rossing says enrolment in the program is free, and he encourages businesses to sign up if they are having consistent issues with people loitering or being a nuisance on their property. Those who are interested in enrolling can visit www.draytonvalley.ca/enforcementservices/trespassingagent and fill out the form. They can then email it in to enforcement@draytonvalley.ca or drop it off at the Town office.
There are approximately 187 accidents in town each year within Town limits. That’s according to data from Drayton Valley Enforcement Services.
Cody Rossing, the Manager of Enforcement Services and Emergency Management for the Town, says data from 2016-2023 has helped map out intersections in the community that sees the highest number of collisions. The intersection at 50 Street North and Hwy 22 has had eight collisions, the highest in the community. The second highest number was at the intersection of 50 Street and 50 Avenue.
“Anything along Highway 22, the Town doesn’t have jurisdiction over, pertaining to road designs or changes,” says Rossing.
He says getting the data from the Province regarding collisions along Highway 22 is something they haven’t been able to do before. Now that they have the data they can start mapping out the high incident intersections and starting brainstorming ways they can address some of the problem areas. Rossing says those areas will have more focus from the community peace officers.
Rossing says they are trying to develop strategies on how to reduce collisions in the community on a whole, particularly those that result in fatalities.
“There’s different things we can use like engineering and controls,” says Rossing. “But for enforcement services, how are we strategically educating and enforcing in those areas?”
He says there are a number of factors that can contribute to collisions. Over the past eight years there have been 434 caused from unsafe speeds, 245 were intersection related, 163 that are weather related, 114 from road surface conditions, 51 involving animals, and 417 were from drivers performing improper actions.
With speed being the most prominent cause, enforcement services have been taking action to find out where speeding is most common and increasing patrols. The digital speed signs that were purchased with funds from the Community Safety Committee don’t have cameras on them, but they do record the speed and report that data back to enforcement services.
On March 6, officers intercepted a vehicle driving 102 km per hour in a 50 km zone.
“That vehicle was pulled over, a court summons was issued to the driver to compel them to court. If they don’t attend court a warrant will be issued for them,” says Rossing.
If they are found guilty, they could face a fine of up to $2,000 and/or a license suspension.
Rossing says anyone who is over the speed limit by more than 51 km per hour will face an automatic court summons.
This was not the only incident of speeding. On March 5, the digital speed signs picked up on a vehicle driving 111 km per hour in a 60 km per hour zone. They also pulled over a vehicle going 50 km per hour over the limit that same day.
“That is strictly within the Town of Drayton Valley boundaries,” says Rossing.
There are a number of reports enforcement services can get from the digital signs, including the amount of traffic on a road and the times that see the most traffic. Using this data, enforcement services can ensure they deploy units during the busiest times of the day to the areas where speeding is common.
Like William Shatner, Mike Myers, Wayne Gretzky’s dad and God help us, Celine Dion, here at the Free Press, we are Canadian.
There’s been a lot of talk recently about US ownership of some of this country’s most prominent businesses and institutions. At the Free Press we are certainly not prominent, nor do we want to be institutionalized. But still, it seems like a good time to point out to anyone who’s interested, that we are exactly what we appear to be.
We are 100 percent locally owned. There are no hidden shareholders or outside interests. All of our staff live in either Drayton Valley or Brazeau County, apart from our designer, Brittany. She’s from here, but currently telecommutes from somewhere in British Columbia, which I have to confess, makes me a little jealous sometimes.
What else can I tell you? The Free Press is printed for us by some nice people in St. Albert. The printing press is owned by Great West Newspapers, which is also a Canadian company.
The paper we’re printed on comes from the Alberta Newsprint Corporation in Whitecourt. Incidentally, the paper is made from offcuts and waste from the lumber industry so we’re not cutting down trees to make the paper.
Once the paper has been printed it’s picked up and brought back to town by Drayton Valley’s own Rocket Express. At that point it’s back to us as we deliver it throughout the community.
Now you may be wondering why I’m telling you all this. Would the Americans really be interested in owning a tiny little paper in a small town in Alberta?
Well, you’d be surprised. A good chunk of Canada’s print media is currently in American hands, and that includes a number of community newspapers in this province. Postmedia is 66 percent owned by Chatham Asset Management, a hedge fund based in New Jersey. Who are Postmedia? They are the owners of the National Post, the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Sun, the Edmonton Sun and a host of other newspapers, both large and small, from coast to coast.
That situation may not be quite as bad as it sounds. I was the editor of the Drayton Valley Western Review (kids, ask your grandparents) for 10 years. During my time there the paper was owned by a succession of large, soulless corporations based in central Canada. They did absolutely nothing to impact the way we covered the news. I barely heard a peep in over a decade. I always suspected that was less to do with high journalistic standards at corporate headquarters, and more down to the fact they were only dimly aware we existed and probably couldn’t find Drayton Valley on a map, but either way the effect was the same.
So corporate ownership, whether it’s American or not, probably isn’t the best thing ever, but it isn’t necessarily fatal to Canadian news.
But I do think there’s an important distinction between a paper like the Free Press and some of the others; and it’s this. If you take out a subscription or buy an advertisement with us you can be confident that your money is staying close to home. And especially these days, that seems like a good investment.
A local auctioneer has chanted his way into the history books after securing himself a first place position at the 2025 Canadian All Around Auctioneer Championship.
Prior to the 2025 CAAAC, Justin Mayer had already earned a trophy at the 2020 Canadian Bid Catching Competition. He is the first to hold a title for both competitions.
Mayer, at 29-years-old, says he’s been participating in the CAAAC for more than a decade. His mentors and many of the auctioneers he grew up listening to have all competed in the competition and some have won.
“It’s a pretty prestigious award,” says Mayer.
A good auctioneer is someone who can present themselves in a professional manner, with confidence in your body language and hand gestures. They have to be well spoken and comfortable with public speaking. The auctioneer chant, which requires rhythm, clarity, and speed to be considered such, is also an important technique that auctioneers must master.
“You should be able to almost dance to an auctioneer’s chant,” says Mayer
When he entered the CAAAC, Mayer participated in two rounds. The preliminary round ruled out everyone except for the top five. Those five then moved onto the final round.
In both rounds, five judges ranked their skills on a scorecard, and the person with the best overall ranking took home the award.
Mayer is not the first member of his family to take home the CAAAC title. His uncle Ron Sekura also held the title, and for Mayer, that makes the win even sweeter.
“He’s passed on, so it’s pretty cool for me to have the title with him,” says Mayer.
As a kid, Mayer was surrounded by some of his biggest mentors in the auctioneering world. His uncle, stepfather Corey Sekura, and grandfather, Wendell Sekura, all encouraged his love of auctioning.
He says he loves the sport because of the high energy atmosphere and the chance to meet people.
“When you’re up on the stand in front of the crowd selling, it’s up to me to present, in lots of cases, people’s livelihoods and their entire life, whether you’re selling a farm or a disbursement sale. It’s up to you, as the auctioneer, to generate excitement and do your homework in front of the crowd in order to bring top dollar for people,” says Mayer.
Over the years, Mayer has met many people and he says he enjoys the connections
“I know somebody from every town,” he says.
Now that he’s taken the title for the CAAAC, he is eligible for the International All Around Auctioneer Championship and from there he can head off to the World Championship.
For many, the decision to go to the international championship would be easy, but Mayer says he’s not sure what he’s going to do.
“I grew up in an auction family, and for me and my family to win this competition was a big deal,” says Mayer. “Now that I’ve won it, I kind of feel like I achieved what I wanted.”
However, Mayer has been receiving encouragement from Rob Bergevin, a Canadian International and Worlds competitor, to go to the International Championship.
“I beat him this year and he’s really trying to convince me to go to the International because he thinks I have a shot at it,” says Mayer.
Mayer’s love of auctioneering resulted in him going to Western College of Auctioneering in Billings, Montana in 2013. Since then, he’s been building up his reputation as an auctioneer across Alberta and British Columbia.
He says his uncle and stepfather were always in his ear, pointing out areas where he could do better and giving him advice to improve his skill.
“Grandpa Wendy was a big factor in that as well,” says Mayer.
For several years, Mayer spent a lot of time travelling to municipalities across the province and British Columbia to local auctions. However, once the pandemic hit, many auction houses opted for online auctions as a way to still run the business while meeting government regulations. Since that time, it’s not uncommon for auctions to be held online.
“But I still travel around,” says Mayer. “I still do lots of auctions. I’m never going to stop. It’s too exciting.”
Over the years, Mayer has worked for Team Auctions, as well as auctioning off classic cars. He also works for a lot of charity auctions.
When his children were younger, they struggled with the amount of time that Mayer was away. Now that they’re older, he says they appreciate it more. His daughter has even been asking for lessons, and has been practicing reading off a list of numbers that she has on her wall.
Mayer says he’s grateful to everyone for their support and encouragement over the years.
“I’m tremendously thankful to my mom, my dad, the Sekura family, my wife and my kids. They have all been there for me. They’ve all shaped me,” says Mayer. “Probably my biggest influence in all of it was my Uncle Ron, and my dad, Corey. They really shaped me and supported me.”
Members of local indigenous groups are working toward opening a charter school with the goal of offering students an education that goes beyond academics.
Charlene Bearhead, a member of the board for the Roots of Resilience not-for-profit society, says the group is applying to the Minister of Education to be able to open a charter school in Drayton Valley, with a goal of opening in September.
The society is hosting an information night on February 13 from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express.
Bearhead says her 40 years of working in education has made it clear that the system is failing children and staff as human beings.
“I’m always a big believer in doing the best you can to try to work with what exists already and do what you can to help guide that,” says Bearhead.
She worked within the system, and recently served as a school board trustee, but she says people weren’t ready to progress with changes she feels need to be made.
The goal of opening the charter school is to offer a learning experience that encompasses a child’s entire wellbeing, including mental and spiritual health, along with teaching Alberta’s curriculum. While the students will learn from methods that indigenous people have always used for passing on knowledge, Bearhead says the school isn’t just open to indigenous children. Any child in the area from Kindergarten to grade 12 will be welcome to attend.
One thing that Bearhead wants the public to be aware of regarding charter schools is that they are still public schools. Roots of Resilience will be funded in the same manner that Wild Rose School Division and the St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division are.
“One lady said to me, ‘This sounds so amazing Charlene, but I really struggle with anything that takes away from public schools,’” says Bearhead. “I had to say to her ‘This is public education. This is public school.’”
She says there are only provisions for charter schools in Alberta. Charter schools receive the same funding for facilities, transportations, and other expenses, and the same requirements to follow the Alberta curriculum and the Education Act. Just like any other public school, parents do not have to pay extra to enrol their children in a charter school.
“But they are intended to be schools of choice,” says Bearhead. “They give parents and kids a choice in their education.”
However, charter schools are not without controversy. According to the website of Alberta Teachers’ Association, “there is only one pot of money for schools in Alberta. When money is diverted to private and charter schools, it leaves public schools in a funding shortfall.”
Bearhead says charter schools have to offer a unique approach to education that isn’t available in the geographic area. Bearhead says it’s important to the RoR society to define the holistic success for the school, which means the students will be doing better in body, mind, and soul, as well as academically.
She says that pushing people hard to do well academically while ignoring all other aspects of the student’s progress doesn’t work well. For Bearhead, it’s important for educators to meet the students where they’re at, value them as human beings, offer them a safe environment, and offer opportunities for the students to see themselves reflected in what is being taught.
Along with the regular curriculum, Bearhead says they plan to offer language programs for those who are interested in learning the language of their ancestors to help those students connect with their heritage.
Wendy Snow, the Interim District Captain in the Otipemisiwak Metis Government for District Eight and member of the RoR society, says she feels her own children would have benefitted from what the proposed school will be offering.
Snow says she has two children as well as a niece that she is the guardian of. With all three of them going to school in Drayton, she says they went to almost every school in the community.
“I found that it was very lacking as far as teaching to our culture,” says Snow.
She says every year she would fill out the demographic forms, indicating that her children were indigenous, knowing that the school division would get additional funding for those students.
“I found that all of the funding in the Wild Rose School Division went to Rocky Mountain House,” she says. “All the programming, all the culture stuff, everything went to Rocky Mountain House.”
Like Bearhead, Snow wanted to work with the system and try to help improve things. She ran twice for school board trustee, but did not get elected.
“I’ve always wanted to see more funding and programming and culture stuff in this area, just like there is in Rocky Mountain House,” says Snow.
Bearhead says the RoR school will resonate with indigenous children.
“An indigenous pedagogy, or approach to education, is about physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual [well-being]. Whatever that means to you. Everyone is indigenous to somewhere,” says Bearhead.
She says public charter schools are smaller and have unique approaches to education.
“They are actually intended to be models for how education could happen in any or all public schools,” she says.
Bearhead says when the students see themselves reflected in the content they’re learning, they have a better chance of relating to it and absorbing it.
By making the students the centre of the system, educators can focus on the whole child, not just the content they’re supposed to be learning. She says each student has different strengths, weaknesses, interests, and paths. In their school, they plan to help students excel at their strengths, offer support for their weaknesses, and encourage their interests and plans.
Another important part of education is offering the students a safe space.
“If kids are terrified, if kids are being bullied, if kids don’t feel safe, how can they focus on learning?” says Bearhead. “That’s just human instinct. That’s survival.”
She says if students are feeling ostracized, alienated, or left out, it’s more challenging for them to learn.
Roots of Resilience will also offer hands-on learning for students. This experiential learning will be land-based, which means there will be more of a balance between indoor and outdoor learning. She says there are many different areas of the curriculum that can be taught outdoors beyond science and physical education.
“For me, when you do something, rather than just read about it or hear about it, it becomes ingrained in you,” she says.
Snow says she wants to see children in the area have an opportunity to choose an education that best suits them.
“I think it just gives them a great basis for success later on in life,” says Snow.
“I don’t like to dwell on the limitations of my medical condition. I’ve learned to be very content and very happy at home,” she says.
When the pandemic broke out, Bossert hardly left the house. Determined not to give in to the loneliness and depression that can come with long-term self-isolation, Bossert turned to painting and calligraphy as an outlet.
Bossert says in many ways she’s reinvented herself over the years. “From administrator to town councillor to teacher and to script and copy editor and calligrapher and artist, and now I’ve come back to my sewing.”
She says she was surprised to realize she had any talent as an artist, because she had never done it efore. By selling the water colour cards she was making, Bossert was able to bring in a little money, but nothing major.
It wasn’t until one of her friends, who became a partner in her new business venture, requested a favour from Bossert that she was able to bring in full-time income.
In mid-October 2021, Bossert’s friend came to her with a request for a riding skirt. Her friend had one, but wanted another, and Bossert was happy to help. She first made a prototype to ensure she got it right, and then she built her friend’s skirt.
At the Home Expo at the MacKenzie Centre in late November, Bossert displayed the skirts she had made. From there her business has exploded.
“It just went crazy from there. Within the first month we had 26 orders,” says Bossert.
Since December, when Bossert first started pursuing this new niche market of historical equestrian wear, she has had almost 60 orders. These have been delivered to 14 states in America, and one was purchased by someone from Switzerland via a sibling in Canada.
“Only about ten percent of my clients are from Alberta,” she says.
She says word has spread through social media, and she hasn’t had to do any advertising. If she posts a picture of a new product, she says she gets even more orders. To allow her to catch up, Bossert says she’s been radio silent on social media for a couple of weeks.
“As soon as I launch stuff, then boom, I get even more orders,” says Bossert.
While the business is a success, it’s been a lot of work in a short period of time. After 30 years, she has decided to retire Designs By Deb, and has now rebranded her business as The Creative Daughter. This has meant ordering new signs, creating a logo, new labels for her products, and finding the space to make it all happen.
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Spending a weekend cycling the secondary highway in and around Brazeau County is one of the great outdoor activities that this region has to offer. Minutes outside of Drayton Valley you will find yourself on kilometers of highway that seem to continue to stretch West. Many of these highways go near small hamlets and communities in the area, they go into and come out of river valleys and on a clear day offer a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains.
One such circuit is the DV100 century loop. This 100km route takes you west past farmlands and through lush boreal forests, and through the small communities and hamlets that mark the birth of Alberta’s oil and gas industry. It is a loop that can be done with speed or taken at a leisurely pace, offering snack and eatery stops along the way.
Day 1: Arrival, dinner
Arrive at hotel: When you stay at a Drayton Valley Hospitality and Tourism hotel or campground you support local tourism initiatives in Drayton Valley and Brazeau County.
Evening ride: Stretch your legs and do the 19 km ring road multipurpose trails to Rocky Rapids. Park your vehicle at the “Welcome to Drayton Valley” derricks at the south end of town and right across the street you will be on the trails. The route will take you straight out to the hamlet of Rocky Rapids where you can stop off at the Rocky Rapids store for a snack. The original building is located at the Drayton Valley museum.
Dinner: Did you know we have over 40 different restaurants in Drayton Valley? Look at our restaurant listing in this guide.
Ricochet Aquatic Centre: Take in the steamroom and the hot tub at the local swimming pool. The pool is open until 8:00 pm most nights and will get you ready for your big century ride tomorrow.
Day 2: The DIY DV100
Breakfast: Take in some breakfast at your hotel or head out to one of our great breakfast venues.
DIY DV100: The DV100 is a 100 kilometre route that travels secondary highways in Brazeau County. Along the route there are several spots you can stop to regroup, take in a photo and enjoy some food. Just out of town is the Poplar Ridge Store, this is your last stop to get any supplies until you reach the community of Lodgepole about about kilometre 40.
Arrive Lodgepole: this is a small hamlet that has a general store in the heart of town. Here you can grab a drink, and convenience store fare. There is also the hotel restaurant that is open 11-12:30 and 3-8 most days, there is also the Aud Spot for breakfast and lunch as a cash only option.
Heading out of Lodgepole towards Cynthia there are a few great photo opportunities as you crest a hill coming up from the Pembina River Valley. This is a slog of a climb but once you crest it is smooth sailing to Cynthia.
Near the Hamlet of Cynthia there is the ever popular Cyn City Saloon where you can get a beverage and a burger. Heading back towards Drayton Valley and Hwy 621 your next stop is 39 km away in the community of Rocky Rapids where you can stop at the store for some snacks and then back into town.
(In the Evening)
Hotel: regroup at your hotel and get ready for the evening.
Dinner: Drayton Valley has more than 40 different restaurants. Have a look at our listings page to decide where you want to eat.
Drinks: Head to a patio and enjoy the sunset with an ice cold brew. Lounge patios can be found at; Khal’s Steakhouse, Boston Pizza, Mitch’s Restaurant, Oil Country Tap House, Bourbon House and Mr. Mikes.
Day 3 Check out, walk and head home
Breakfast: Breakfast at your hotel or check out and head to a local restaurant for brunch.
Disc golf or a walk: If you want to stretch your time here in Drayton Valley, head over to Ivan To Park for a walk around the pond or a round of disc golf. The park has an 18-hole disc golf course that is open at no charge. If you’re pushed for time there’s an easy cut off to limit your round to 9 holes.
Head home. We hope you’ve enjoyed your time in our community. Come back soon!
Staff Sergeant Ryan Hoetmer says dealing with the effects of the homeless population in the community is not simple.
Hoetmer says that the most common complaint regarding homeless individuals is about them sleeping or spending time in business entrances. That was one of the main issues raised by town council in a discussion on September 18.
Hoetmer says RCMP involvement in removing the individual and charging them with trespassing is a bit tricky, especially in regards to private businesses.
“The police themselves do not make a determination of whether that homeless individual can be there or not,” says Hoetmer. “That has to be the business that decides that.”
This means that someone from the business has to contact the RCMP to let them know there is an unwanted individual in the vestibule. At that point, police can attend and get the individual moving along.
However, unless the business has served trespass notices on the person causing the issue, the RCMP cannot issue fines for trespassing.
That is also not as simple as it seems. Hoetmer says that does give the trespass notice has to be willing to pursue the entire process into court as well.
“They’ve got to show up at trial if this individual fights it,” he says.
Hoetmer says banks, for example, are not typically interested in pursuing this as they all have nationally run security headquarters, so there’s not a lot of interest in them following those steps.
Both the Town and RCMP have met with bank managers and are encouraging them to lock their doors at night to prevent the homeless from using the vestibule as a warming space.
Due to the lifestyle that comes with homelessness, which often includes mental health issues and addictions, the RCMP do interact with the homeless on a regular basis.
“We get to know these individuals, but unless they are commiting crime we don’t have a lot of power,” he says.
He says the Town has asked them to have more enforcement on homeless individuals who have been banned or issued trespassing notices.
“Our job is community safety so if that’s what the community wants to keep the community safe, we’ve agreed to do that,” says Hoetmer.
However, that means businesses need to start following through with the process on their end.
In regards to the Civic Centre vestibule, Hoetmer says the Town would need to start looking at trespassing individuals in order for the RCMP to begin issuing tickets.
“That is up to the Town whether they want to trespass these individuals from all Town property,” says Hoetmer.
But even with all of the businesses doing their part and the RCMP able to keep up with the enforcement, there is still more to consider.
“Enforcement has failed these individuals for years. Nobody usually becomes unsheltered without probably having had enforcement intervention for a number of years already, and it hasn’t changed anything.”
Hoetmer says there have been no complaints of physical harm caused to residents by any homeless individuals. “They can be aggressive and make people feel uncomfortable, but we have had no assaults. No reports of any sort of physical violence to anybody.”
In regards to break and enters, Hoetmer says some of the smaller property crimes are being committed by homeless individuals, but they aren’t the only ones.
“There’s other individuals in town that are not homeless that are committing those offences,” says Hoetmer. “The bigger break and enters are being committed by prolific property crime offenders.”
In regards to issuing fines for trespassing, Hoetmer says that also isn’t as simple as many believe. Those who have fines may not be able to pay them. At some point, they can be arrested, but there is no guaranteed timeline for how long the individual will stay behind bars, as they will be released first if room is needed for people convicted of more serious crimes.
In the end, the fines do not get paid.
Hoetmer says he doesn’t want the Town to “hang their hat on enforcement,” because while it can play a role in deterring homeless individuals from becoming a nuisance, it’s not the entire solution.
“We’re going to have a role,” says Hoetmer. “Our job is keeping the community safe. So, if part of that is needing to enforce, then we will do that.”
Drayton Valley high school students had the chance to listen to a first hand account of an indigenous woman whose life was drastically altered by the Sixties Scoop.
Michaela Lewis is now a student at SAIT, but her road there was long and arduous. She told the students that she is enrolled in the Film and Video Production program, which she plans to use to create a documentary about her life.
“It wasn’t just my family that I lost,” said Lewis. “It was my culture, my traditions, my language, my identity.”
Lewis’ mother, Bernice, gave birth to her in the spring of 1979 in the Edmonton General Hospital, and at the time was on her own. Bernice was married to a non-indigenous man, which meant that she and her children had lost their treaty rights. At the time of Lewis’ birth, the husband was in prison. Lewis was not his biological child.
Hospital staff told Bernice that she couldn’t raise a child on her own.
“The nurses and the hospital staff forced my mother into signing me away,” said Lewis.
She said her mother just went along with everything they told her to do because she felt like she had no other option. After she left the hospital, she went and got her other daughter before returning to the hospital to get Lewis.
When Bernice returned the next day, the staff told her that Lewis had been given to social services and that she had to deal with them. Lewis’ mother was given the run around by social services for several weeks before finally hearing that Lewis had died.
Instead, Lewis had been adopted out to a non-indigenous family. Social services also took her older sister from her mother.
“My older sister was lost to the system by the age of five,” says Lewis.
As a result of losing both of her children, Lewis’ mother turned to substances to cope and became an addict. For quite some time, her mother was homeless because there was no support system for her.
At 18 years-old, Lewis was able to unseal her adoption records and began to search for her family. Eventually, Lewis was reunited with her mother, stepfather, three sisters, brother, and a large extended family.
Lewis’ adopted mother had told her that “those native mothers, they left their unwanted babies in garbage cans and they were all alcoholics and addicts.” Lewis was even told she likely had fetal alcohol syndrome. It wasn’t until later that she found out that was not true. Bernice told Lewis that she hadn’t told anyone about Lewis because she thought that a nurse had ended Lewis’ life at the hospital after she had left her there.
Lewis was shocked as nurses were respected health care providers. She had been raised to believe there was a system in place that prevented such things. She began looking into the history and learned about the residential school system and all of the children who had been taken from their families.
Bernice told Lewis not to bother with trying to get justice because she would get nowhere. Her mother had been in the Bow Valley Residential School, and after learning of its history, Lewis understood why her mother had believed a nurse had killed Lewis.
Then, history repeated itself.
“My oldest son was taken from me when he was four-years-old,” said Lewis. “In that horrific moment, I completely understood why my mother lived the life that she did.”
At the time, Lewis was a single mother attending college to get her high school diploma. She had aspirations of becoming an interior designer.
When her son was five months old, his father left Lewis and later began stalking her. He threatened to take her son. Her adopted mother told her that if Lewis gave custody of her son to her adoptive mother, his father couldn’t take him and Lewis could still have the boy live with her.
“Desperate to keep my child, I agreed to it.”
Lewis was stressed out with everything going on, so her stepfather suggested she come back to live with them and finish her schooling with the support of her family. Lewis agreed and notified her adoptive mother of her move.
That was when her adoptive parents came and took her son.
“I didn’t even have a chance to have a say in court.”
Lewis became suicidal. She was unable to go back to school or get her job back and she spiraled, eventually becoming an addict.
“I’ve never in my life felt so broken, defeated, and alone,” she said.
It was her stepfather who helped her to heal and become sober. She says he was supportive and told her that she didn’t have to let the same thing happen to her that happened to her mother. After the conversation with her stepfather, Lewis began working to placate her adoptive parents so she could see her son.
Ten years after her son was taken, Lewis stood up to fight for her oldest son. When her second son was born in 2014, she told her adoptive parents that they wouldn’t keep her children apart. She regained custody of her son, and has been raising her youngest son since his birth.
Lewis said she is the first mother in several generations in her family, to have the opportunity to raise a child from birth.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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During this time, Bossert has also been down with Covid and another illness, which meant she was unable to work for three weeks.
“These last three months have been an amazing journey,” she says.
Bossert is once again sewing full-time and has been able to hire a part-time employee to help her keep up with her orders. Because she can’t leave her house due to her disability, Bossert says she needs to be careful about how many orders she takes on because she only has so much space.
Her spare room is currently her new studio, and she converted her sunroom into an office/spare room. She has a fitting mirror in her living area, and her dining room table is often used for cutting patterns.
She says when she was first building the skirt for her friend, and displaying it at the Expo, she didn’t expect it to really go anywhere. Her business partner, however, knew it would be a roaring success.
Bossert and her partner have stepped into a niche market for equestrian wear. Many of her competitors don’t offer wool skirts with patterns on them. Everything is one colour. Bossert, on the other hand, offers several different patterns of material for her products.
All of her products are reversible. They are wool on the outside, but if a person is out in rainy weather, they can turn the skirt around and expose the nylon lining. The lining allows water to roll right off it. One client even requested some reflective wear on the inside, so Bossert made a skirt with reflective fabric.
“Some of my clients told me they have been looking for a skirt like this for four years,” says Bossert.
One of the perks her clients enjoy with Bossert is all of the items are custom made. This means Bossert can make clothing for any size of person.
She says her business doesn’t just focus on attire for people who are trail riding. Bossert also makes clothing for hunters, mounted archers, and carriage drivers. “Some of it is really specific stuff, so I enjoy it,” she says.
Her daughter, Michelle, used to be a costumer, but has now followed in her mother’s footsteps and designs bridal wear. Bossert now considers herself mainly a costumer. “We’ve kind of switched places,” she says.
Both she and Michelle work together to help their businesses. Bossert is currently using an industrial serger that her daughter lent to her. She also has an industrial sewing machine that she bought herself for her 40th birthday.
When Bossert ships out her finished pieces, she also includes one of her handmade cards as a gift. She has also sold some of her cards, with the most recent batch going to Tennessee. Since beginning The Creative Daughter, she has had to take a step back from her painting to make her products, and she’s excited to get back to painting.
“I love the art, and the art is my reward to myself for making skirts, but I’ve haven’t had time,” she says. “I haven’t made a card for weeks.”
She’s also being requested to make a landscape painting for someone in Nunavut
Recently Bossert had MP Gerald Soroka and his wife come for a visit.
“He was a great ambassador for the small businesses in Alberta and I was honoured to have him come visit,” she says, “I thought it would only be a half-an-hour visit because he’s very busy, but it turned into four hours.”
Bossert says she loves the life she is currently living. “I cannot tell you how grateful I am for the life I have right now,” she says. She sees her children and grandchildren regularly, and she still sees friends when she can.
She says right now it feels like the end of an era for Designs By Deb, but she felt it was time to start anew.
“The Creative Daughter was a name I came up with to honour my dad, who passed away two years ago. And also because I am a daughter of the King and I am a devout Christian. I believe that it’s He that gave me the talent to do whatever I do.”
Bossert says she was never expecting this turn of events, and was content with being an artist and a grandmother. But one of the hardest things for her with her health and retirement is that she felt she couldn’t serve her community in that capacity.
Now that she has this business, she feels like she’s serving others again. “My life really has been about service, whether it’s as a volunteer, or within the faith community, or as a public figure.”
She says for many years her health limited her ability to offer most services to the community. She says it wasn’t necessarily a physical limitation, but rather a mental limitation because she thought she could no longer serve.
“My health is still as fragile as it ever was. But there are other ways to serve. It doesn’t mean you have to volunteer. There are other ways to serve and I’m very grateful for that.”
Corb Lund plays to a packed house
Corb Lund live at the Eleanor Pickup Art Centre. A sold-out crowd enjoyed an acoustic trio set with the Hurtin’ Albertans, blending heartfelt ballads, fan favorites, and cowboy-inspired storytelling. VIP perks, exclusive merch, and a thrilling encore made this Alberta performance unforgettable
Changes to Rural Renewal Stream
Businesses in Drayton Valley will see some changes to the local Rural Renewal Stream program come into effect on November 13.
Five creative ways to use print advertising to supercharge your business
Print advertising with your local newspaper gets you off the hamster wheel and connects you with a copywriter, graphic designer, and an ad planner who are actually interested in learning the ins and outs of your business.
Hard work and heritage reflected in 4-H
Hunter Harris is a third generation 4-H member and has been part of the organization since he was 12 years old. Not only does he show cattle for 4-H, he’s also been entering open shows for the past two years.
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.
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.”
In January 1965, the St. Anthony School opened its doors. Now, 60 years later, the school is planning a celebration of the milestone.
Principal Janelle Molzan says they are planning to have a celebration on May 24 at the school gym. They will be using the event to also fundraise for the school.
Molzan says they will have a band performing that evening, catering from a local restaurant, a full cash bar, as well as some door prizes.
Part of the celebration will also be the fact that St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division has put St. Anthony at the top of their priority list for a new school. Molzan says the division has to wait until next year to submit their request to the Province, and there is no guarantee that they will be selected for funding.
“It could be anywhere from two to ten years,” she says. “Or more.”
However, she feels that St. Anthony has a strong case for asking for a new school.
The most recent remodel of the school was in 1992, says Molzan. At that point they expanded the school, removing the gym from the centre of the school and installing classrooms instead. The new gym was then built as an addition to the school.
“We had the addition of the gym as well as a few classrooms in 1992,” says Molzan.
Since then, there have been no major remodels or renovations. Instead, the staff have been doing what they can to keep the building in shape.
“It’s a really well built school,” says Molzan.
She says over the years, the natural heaves and settling that occur with temperature fluctuations has led to some cosmetic damages to the building. “It’s just showing its age,” she says.
While the school is starting to show wear, Molzan says there are no capacity issues. About 15 years ago, the school went from being a K-12 school to a K-8 school when the Holy Trinity Academy was built.
Molzan says if they don’t get a new school they will have to pursue getting more renovations or remodeling for the current building.
Businesses will now have another option for dealing with trespassers thanks to a new program that Enforcement Services have put into place.
Cody Rossing, the manager of enforcement services and emergency management for the Town, says one of the biggest challenges for businesses in the community who were issuing trespass notices is that someone has to attend court in order for the trespassing charge to stick. With the new Trespassing Agent program which comes into place on March 20, businesses who enrol will not have to attend court.
Previously, businesses who contacted the RCMP to report a trespasser had to issue the trespass notices themselves.
For many businesses the process didn’t work well. Larger franchises, like banks, found arranging the issue of a trespass notice and attending court was not logistically feasible. Small business owners, on the other hand, could issue the notice but may have to close their business in order to attend court.
Rossing says there are two different pieces of legislation that speak to trespassing, the Petty Trespass Act and the Trespass to Premises Act.
“Under both of the legislations, the property owner or their agent are required to provide trespass notices, help get people off of their land, and stuff like that,” says Rossing.
The first offence fine under the provincial legislation is normally $600, but it could be up to $10,000. A second offence could have a fine of up to $25,000
The higher fines come into place when the individual ignores the notice and returns to the property. If the trespasser returns three times, the officers can then issue a summons to court. If they fail to attend, a warrant is issued, and at that point if they are found guilty, the higher fines can be given.
Rossing says the program is helping streamline the process for businesses. If they choose to enrol in the program, it will allow peace officers or the RCMP to act as their agent and issue the notices. It also means the business owners won’t have to attend court.
“Court is scary for a lot of people, and we understand that,” says Rossing.
The purpose of the program is to improve the process because officers are continuing to get calls to the same place over and over and business owners or their employees are uncomfortable with the court process. Until now, there hasn’t been any way to address those issues.
“It’s been a lot of work on the back end because there is no follow up process in place and there is no trespass notice being issued,” says Rossing.
He says the hope is that by having this program in place, businesses can sign up and they can begin to address the issue more efficiently.
Several different municipalities in the province have a similar program in place, says Rossing. While developing the program, Rossing did research on other initiatives and reached out to other municipalities that had something similar in place. He says he wanted to be sure that he had everything in place before he announced the program in the community.
There are also checks and balances that have been worked into the program.
“If you’re trespassed from a local business, one of our officers shows up and says you’re trespassed for six months, if you don’t agree with it, you can appeal that process,” says Rossing.
He says there is also the option for the business owners to speak with the officer and reduce the amount of time the individual is trespassed for. In some cases, if the RCMP issue a notice that’s in effect for six months, a business owner may come forward and advocate for the trespasser if the individual doesn’t normally behave in that manner
“They can say, ‘This person is normally a good customer, but there is something going on with him right now. I think maybe a month would be more appropriate,’” says Rossing.
However, it is ultimately the final discretion of the officer.
Once a business is enrolled in the program, they will receive a sticker that they can place in a conspicuous area that is easily visible for officers. If they receive a call, the officer will know that they can issue the notice themselves rather than speaking to the owner and explaining the process that has to take place.
Rossing says enrolment in the program is free, and he encourages businesses to sign up if they are having consistent issues with people loitering or being a nuisance on their property. Those who are interested in enrolling can visit www.draytonvalley.ca/enforcementservices/trespassingagent and fill out the form. They can then email it in to enforcement@draytonvalley.ca or drop it off at the Town office.
There are approximately 187 accidents in town each year within Town limits. That’s according to data from Drayton Valley Enforcement Services.
Cody Rossing, the Manager of Enforcement Services and Emergency Management for the Town, says data from 2016-2023 has helped map out intersections in the community that sees the highest number of collisions. The intersection at 50 Street North and Hwy 22 has had eight collisions, the highest in the community. The second highest number was at the intersection of 50 Street and 50 Avenue.
“Anything along Highway 22, the Town doesn’t have jurisdiction over, pertaining to road designs or changes,” says Rossing.
He says getting the data from the Province regarding collisions along Highway 22 is something they haven’t been able to do before. Now that they have the data they can start mapping out the high incident intersections and starting brainstorming ways they can address some of the problem areas. Rossing says those areas will have more focus from the community peace officers.
Rossing says they are trying to develop strategies on how to reduce collisions in the community on a whole, particularly those that result in fatalities.
“There’s different things we can use like engineering and controls,” says Rossing. “But for enforcement services, how are we strategically educating and enforcing in those areas?”
He says there are a number of factors that can contribute to collisions. Over the past eight years there have been 434 caused from unsafe speeds, 245 were intersection related, 163 that are weather related, 114 from road surface conditions, 51 involving animals, and 417 were from drivers performing improper actions.
With speed being the most prominent cause, enforcement services have been taking action to find out where speeding is most common and increasing patrols. The digital speed signs that were purchased with funds from the Community Safety Committee don’t have cameras on them, but they do record the speed and report that data back to enforcement services.
On March 6, officers intercepted a vehicle driving 102 km per hour in a 50 km zone.
“That vehicle was pulled over, a court summons was issued to the driver to compel them to court. If they don’t attend court a warrant will be issued for them,” says Rossing.
If they are found guilty, they could face a fine of up to $2,000 and/or a license suspension.
Rossing says anyone who is over the speed limit by more than 51 km per hour will face an automatic court summons.
This was not the only incident of speeding. On March 5, the digital speed signs picked up on a vehicle driving 111 km per hour in a 60 km per hour zone. They also pulled over a vehicle going 50 km per hour over the limit that same day.
“That is strictly within the Town of Drayton Valley boundaries,” says Rossing.
There are a number of reports enforcement services can get from the digital signs, including the amount of traffic on a road and the times that see the most traffic. Using this data, enforcement services can ensure they deploy units during the busiest times of the day to the areas where speeding is common.
Like William Shatner, Mike Myers, Wayne Gretzky’s dad and God help us, Celine Dion, here at the Free Press, we are Canadian.
There’s been a lot of talk recently about US ownership of some of this country’s most prominent businesses and institutions. At the Free Press we are certainly not prominent, nor do we want to be institutionalized. But still, it seems like a good time to point out to anyone who’s interested, that we are exactly what we appear to be.
We are 100 percent locally owned. There are no hidden shareholders or outside interests. All of our staff live in either Drayton Valley or Brazeau County, apart from our designer, Brittany. She’s from here, but currently telecommutes from somewhere in British Columbia, which I have to confess, makes me a little jealous sometimes.
What else can I tell you? The Free Press is printed for us by some nice people in St. Albert. The printing press is owned by Great West Newspapers, which is also a Canadian company.
The paper we’re printed on comes from the Alberta Newsprint Corporation in Whitecourt. Incidentally, the paper is made from offcuts and waste from the lumber industry so we’re not cutting down trees to make the paper.
Once the paper has been printed it’s picked up and brought back to town by Drayton Valley’s own Rocket Express. At that point it’s back to us as we deliver it throughout the community.
Now you may be wondering why I’m telling you all this. Would the Americans really be interested in owning a tiny little paper in a small town in Alberta?
Well, you’d be surprised. A good chunk of Canada’s print media is currently in American hands, and that includes a number of community newspapers in this province. Postmedia is 66 percent owned by Chatham Asset Management, a hedge fund based in New Jersey. Who are Postmedia? They are the owners of the National Post, the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Sun, the Edmonton Sun and a host of other newspapers, both large and small, from coast to coast.
That situation may not be quite as bad as it sounds. I was the editor of the Drayton Valley Western Review (kids, ask your grandparents) for 10 years. During my time there the paper was owned by a succession of large, soulless corporations based in central Canada. They did absolutely nothing to impact the way we covered the news. I barely heard a peep in over a decade. I always suspected that was less to do with high journalistic standards at corporate headquarters, and more down to the fact they were only dimly aware we existed and probably couldn’t find Drayton Valley on a map, but either way the effect was the same.
So corporate ownership, whether it’s American or not, probably isn’t the best thing ever, but it isn’t necessarily fatal to Canadian news.
But I do think there’s an important distinction between a paper like the Free Press and some of the others; and it’s this. If you take out a subscription or buy an advertisement with us you can be confident that your money is staying close to home. And especially these days, that seems like a good investment.
A local auctioneer has chanted his way into the history books after securing himself a first place position at the 2025 Canadian All Around Auctioneer Championship.
Prior to the 2025 CAAAC, Justin Mayer had already earned a trophy at the 2020 Canadian Bid Catching Competition. He is the first to hold a title for both competitions.
Mayer, at 29-years-old, says he’s been participating in the CAAAC for more than a decade. His mentors and many of the auctioneers he grew up listening to have all competed in the competition and some have won.
“It’s a pretty prestigious award,” says Mayer.
A good auctioneer is someone who can present themselves in a professional manner, with confidence in your body language and hand gestures. They have to be well spoken and comfortable with public speaking. The auctioneer chant, which requires rhythm, clarity, and speed to be considered such, is also an important technique that auctioneers must master.
“You should be able to almost dance to an auctioneer’s chant,” says Mayer
When he entered the CAAAC, Mayer participated in two rounds. The preliminary round ruled out everyone except for the top five. Those five then moved onto the final round.
In both rounds, five judges ranked their skills on a scorecard, and the person with the best overall ranking took home the award.
Mayer is not the first member of his family to take home the CAAAC title. His uncle Ron Sekura also held the title, and for Mayer, that makes the win even sweeter.
“He’s passed on, so it’s pretty cool for me to have the title with him,” says Mayer.
As a kid, Mayer was surrounded by some of his biggest mentors in the auctioneering world. His uncle, stepfather Corey Sekura, and grandfather, Wendell Sekura, all encouraged his love of auctioning.
He says he loves the sport because of the high energy atmosphere and the chance to meet people.
“When you’re up on the stand in front of the crowd selling, it’s up to me to present, in lots of cases, people’s livelihoods and their entire life, whether you’re selling a farm or a disbursement sale. It’s up to you, as the auctioneer, to generate excitement and do your homework in front of the crowd in order to bring top dollar for people,” says Mayer.
Over the years, Mayer has met many people and he says he enjoys the connections
“I know somebody from every town,” he says.
Now that he’s taken the title for the CAAAC, he is eligible for the International All Around Auctioneer Championship and from there he can head off to the World Championship.
For many, the decision to go to the international championship would be easy, but Mayer says he’s not sure what he’s going to do.
“I grew up in an auction family, and for me and my family to win this competition was a big deal,” says Mayer. “Now that I’ve won it, I kind of feel like I achieved what I wanted.”
However, Mayer has been receiving encouragement from Rob Bergevin, a Canadian International and Worlds competitor, to go to the International Championship.
“I beat him this year and he’s really trying to convince me to go to the International because he thinks I have a shot at it,” says Mayer.
Mayer’s love of auctioneering resulted in him going to Western College of Auctioneering in Billings, Montana in 2013. Since then, he’s been building up his reputation as an auctioneer across Alberta and British Columbia.
He says his uncle and stepfather were always in his ear, pointing out areas where he could do better and giving him advice to improve his skill.
“Grandpa Wendy was a big factor in that as well,” says Mayer.
For several years, Mayer spent a lot of time travelling to municipalities across the province and British Columbia to local auctions. However, once the pandemic hit, many auction houses opted for online auctions as a way to still run the business while meeting government regulations. Since that time, it’s not uncommon for auctions to be held online.
“But I still travel around,” says Mayer. “I still do lots of auctions. I’m never going to stop. It’s too exciting.”
Over the years, Mayer has worked for Team Auctions, as well as auctioning off classic cars. He also works for a lot of charity auctions.
When his children were younger, they struggled with the amount of time that Mayer was away. Now that they’re older, he says they appreciate it more. His daughter has even been asking for lessons, and has been practicing reading off a list of numbers that she has on her wall.
Mayer says he’s grateful to everyone for their support and encouragement over the years.
“I’m tremendously thankful to my mom, my dad, the Sekura family, my wife and my kids. They have all been there for me. They’ve all shaped me,” says Mayer. “Probably my biggest influence in all of it was my Uncle Ron, and my dad, Corey. They really shaped me and supported me.”
Members of local indigenous groups are working toward opening a charter school with the goal of offering students an education that goes beyond academics.
Charlene Bearhead, a member of the board for the Roots of Resilience not-for-profit society, says the group is applying to the Minister of Education to be able to open a charter school in Drayton Valley, with a goal of opening in September.
The society is hosting an information night on February 13 from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express.
Bearhead says her 40 years of working in education has made it clear that the system is failing children and staff as human beings.
“I’m always a big believer in doing the best you can to try to work with what exists already and do what you can to help guide that,” says Bearhead.
She worked within the system, and recently served as a school board trustee, but she says people weren’t ready to progress with changes she feels need to be made.
The goal of opening the charter school is to offer a learning experience that encompasses a child’s entire wellbeing, including mental and spiritual health, along with teaching Alberta’s curriculum. While the students will learn from methods that indigenous people have always used for passing on knowledge, Bearhead says the school isn’t just open to indigenous children. Any child in the area from Kindergarten to grade 12 will be welcome to attend.
One thing that Bearhead wants the public to be aware of regarding charter schools is that they are still public schools. Roots of Resilience will be funded in the same manner that Wild Rose School Division and the St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division are.
“One lady said to me, ‘This sounds so amazing Charlene, but I really struggle with anything that takes away from public schools,’” says Bearhead. “I had to say to her ‘This is public education. This is public school.’”
She says there are only provisions for charter schools in Alberta. Charter schools receive the same funding for facilities, transportations, and other expenses, and the same requirements to follow the Alberta curriculum and the Education Act. Just like any other public school, parents do not have to pay extra to enrol their children in a charter school.
“But they are intended to be schools of choice,” says Bearhead. “They give parents and kids a choice in their education.”
However, charter schools are not without controversy. According to the website of Alberta Teachers’ Association, “there is only one pot of money for schools in Alberta. When money is diverted to private and charter schools, it leaves public schools in a funding shortfall.”
Bearhead says charter schools have to offer a unique approach to education that isn’t available in the geographic area. Bearhead says it’s important to the RoR society to define the holistic success for the school, which means the students will be doing better in body, mind, and soul, as well as academically.
She says that pushing people hard to do well academically while ignoring all other aspects of the student’s progress doesn’t work well. For Bearhead, it’s important for educators to meet the students where they’re at, value them as human beings, offer them a safe environment, and offer opportunities for the students to see themselves reflected in what is being taught.
Along with the regular curriculum, Bearhead says they plan to offer language programs for those who are interested in learning the language of their ancestors to help those students connect with their heritage.
Wendy Snow, the Interim District Captain in the Otipemisiwak Metis Government for District Eight and member of the RoR society, says she feels her own children would have benefitted from what the proposed school will be offering.
Snow says she has two children as well as a niece that she is the guardian of. With all three of them going to school in Drayton, she says they went to almost every school in the community.
“I found that it was very lacking as far as teaching to our culture,” says Snow.
She says every year she would fill out the demographic forms, indicating that her children were indigenous, knowing that the school division would get additional funding for those students.
“I found that all of the funding in the Wild Rose School Division went to Rocky Mountain House,” she says. “All the programming, all the culture stuff, everything went to Rocky Mountain House.”
Like Bearhead, Snow wanted to work with the system and try to help improve things. She ran twice for school board trustee, but did not get elected.
“I’ve always wanted to see more funding and programming and culture stuff in this area, just like there is in Rocky Mountain House,” says Snow.
Bearhead says the RoR school will resonate with indigenous children.
“An indigenous pedagogy, or approach to education, is about physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual [well-being]. Whatever that means to you. Everyone is indigenous to somewhere,” says Bearhead.
She says public charter schools are smaller and have unique approaches to education.
“They are actually intended to be models for how education could happen in any or all public schools,” she says.
Bearhead says when the students see themselves reflected in the content they’re learning, they have a better chance of relating to it and absorbing it.
By making the students the centre of the system, educators can focus on the whole child, not just the content they’re supposed to be learning. She says each student has different strengths, weaknesses, interests, and paths. In their school, they plan to help students excel at their strengths, offer support for their weaknesses, and encourage their interests and plans.
Another important part of education is offering the students a safe space.
“If kids are terrified, if kids are being bullied, if kids don’t feel safe, how can they focus on learning?” says Bearhead. “That’s just human instinct. That’s survival.”
She says if students are feeling ostracized, alienated, or left out, it’s more challenging for them to learn.
Roots of Resilience will also offer hands-on learning for students. This experiential learning will be land-based, which means there will be more of a balance between indoor and outdoor learning. She says there are many different areas of the curriculum that can be taught outdoors beyond science and physical education.
“For me, when you do something, rather than just read about it or hear about it, it becomes ingrained in you,” she says.
Snow says she wants to see children in the area have an opportunity to choose an education that best suits them.
“I think it just gives them a great basis for success later on in life,” says Snow.
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.
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Spending a weekend cycling the secondary highway in and around Brazeau County is one of the great outdoor activities that this region has to offer. Minutes outside of Drayton Valley you will find yourself on kilometers of highway that seem to continue to stretch West. Many of these highways go near small hamlets and communities in the area, they go into and come out of river valleys and on a clear day offer a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains.
One such circuit is the DV100 century loop. This 100km route takes you west past farmlands and through lush boreal forests, and through the small communities and hamlets that mark the birth of Alberta’s oil and gas industry. It is a loop that can be done with speed or taken at a leisurely pace, offering snack and eatery stops along the way.
Day 1: Arrival, dinner
Arrive at hotel: When you stay at a Drayton Valley Hospitality and Tourism hotel or campground you support local tourism initiatives in Drayton Valley and Brazeau County.
Evening ride: Stretch your legs and do the 19 km ring road multipurpose trails to Rocky Rapids. Park your vehicle at the “Welcome to Drayton Valley” derricks at the south end of town and right across the street you will be on the trails. The route will take you straight out to the hamlet of Rocky Rapids where you can stop off at the Rocky Rapids store for a snack. The original building is located at the Drayton Valley museum.
Dinner: Did you know we have over 40 different restaurants in Drayton Valley? Look at our restaurant listing in this guide.
Ricochet Aquatic Centre: Take in the steamroom and the hot tub at the local swimming pool. The pool is open until 8:00 pm most nights and will get you ready for your big century ride tomorrow.
Day 2: The DIY DV100
Breakfast: Take in some breakfast at your hotel or head out to one of our great breakfast venues.
DIY DV100: The DV100 is a 100 kilometre route that travels secondary highways in Brazeau County. Along the route there are several spots you can stop to regroup, take in a photo and enjoy some food. Just out of town is the Poplar Ridge Store, this is your last stop to get any supplies until you reach the community of Lodgepole about about kilometre 40.
Arrive Lodgepole: this is a small hamlet that has a general store in the heart of town. Here you can grab a drink, and convenience store fare. There is also the hotel restaurant that is open 11-12:30 and 3-8 most days, there is also the Aud Spot for breakfast and lunch as a cash only option.
Heading out of Lodgepole towards Cynthia there are a few great photo opportunities as you crest a hill coming up from the Pembina River Valley. This is a slog of a climb but once you crest it is smooth sailing to Cynthia.
Near the Hamlet of Cynthia there is the ever popular Cyn City Saloon where you can get a beverage and a burger. Heading back towards Drayton Valley and Hwy 621 your next stop is 39 km away in the community of Rocky Rapids where you can stop at the store for some snacks and then back into town.
(In the Evening)
Hotel: regroup at your hotel and get ready for the evening.
Dinner: Drayton Valley has more than 40 different restaurants. Have a look at our listings page to decide where you want to eat.
Drinks: Head to a patio and enjoy the sunset with an ice cold brew. Lounge patios can be found at; Khal’s Steakhouse, Boston Pizza, Mitch’s Restaurant, Oil Country Tap House, Bourbon House and Mr. Mikes.
Day 3 Check out, walk and head home
Breakfast: Breakfast at your hotel or check out and head to a local restaurant for brunch.
Disc golf or a walk: If you want to stretch your time here in Drayton Valley, head over to Ivan To Park for a walk around the pond or a round of disc golf. The park has an 18-hole disc golf course that is open at no charge. If you’re pushed for time there’s an easy cut off to limit your round to 9 holes.
Head home. We hope you’ve enjoyed your time in our community. Come back soon!
Staff Sergeant Ryan Hoetmer says dealing with the effects of the homeless population in the community is not simple.
Hoetmer says that the most common complaint regarding homeless individuals is about them sleeping or spending time in business entrances. That was one of the main issues raised by town council in a discussion on September 18.
Hoetmer says RCMP involvement in removing the individual and charging them with trespassing is a bit tricky, especially in regards to private businesses.
“The police themselves do not make a determination of whether that homeless individual can be there or not,” says Hoetmer. “That has to be the business that decides that.”
This means that someone from the business has to contact the RCMP to let them know there is an unwanted individual in the vestibule. At that point, police can attend and get the individual moving along.
However, unless the business has served trespass notices on the person causing the issue, the RCMP cannot issue fines for trespassing.
That is also not as simple as it seems. Hoetmer says that does give the trespass notice has to be willing to pursue the entire process into court as well.
“They’ve got to show up at trial if this individual fights it,” he says.
Hoetmer says banks, for example, are not typically interested in pursuing this as they all have nationally run security headquarters, so there’s not a lot of interest in them following those steps.
Both the Town and RCMP have met with bank managers and are encouraging them to lock their doors at night to prevent the homeless from using the vestibule as a warming space.
Due to the lifestyle that comes with homelessness, which often includes mental health issues and addictions, the RCMP do interact with the homeless on a regular basis.
“We get to know these individuals, but unless they are commiting crime we don’t have a lot of power,” he says.
He says the Town has asked them to have more enforcement on homeless individuals who have been banned or issued trespassing notices.
“Our job is community safety so if that’s what the community wants to keep the community safe, we’ve agreed to do that,” says Hoetmer.
However, that means businesses need to start following through with the process on their end.
In regards to the Civic Centre vestibule, Hoetmer says the Town would need to start looking at trespassing individuals in order for the RCMP to begin issuing tickets.
“That is up to the Town whether they want to trespass these individuals from all Town property,” says Hoetmer.
But even with all of the businesses doing their part and the RCMP able to keep up with the enforcement, there is still more to consider.
“Enforcement has failed these individuals for years. Nobody usually becomes unsheltered without probably having had enforcement intervention for a number of years already, and it hasn’t changed anything.”
Hoetmer says there have been no complaints of physical harm caused to residents by any homeless individuals. “They can be aggressive and make people feel uncomfortable, but we have had no assaults. No reports of any sort of physical violence to anybody.”
In regards to break and enters, Hoetmer says some of the smaller property crimes are being committed by homeless individuals, but they aren’t the only ones.
“There’s other individuals in town that are not homeless that are committing those offences,” says Hoetmer. “The bigger break and enters are being committed by prolific property crime offenders.”
In regards to issuing fines for trespassing, Hoetmer says that also isn’t as simple as many believe. Those who have fines may not be able to pay them. At some point, they can be arrested, but there is no guaranteed timeline for how long the individual will stay behind bars, as they will be released first if room is needed for people convicted of more serious crimes.
In the end, the fines do not get paid.
Hoetmer says he doesn’t want the Town to “hang their hat on enforcement,” because while it can play a role in deterring homeless individuals from becoming a nuisance, it’s not the entire solution.
“We’re going to have a role,” says Hoetmer. “Our job is keeping the community safe. So, if part of that is needing to enforce, then we will do that.”
Drayton Valley high school students had the chance to listen to a first hand account of an indigenous woman whose life was drastically altered by the Sixties Scoop.
Michaela Lewis is now a student at SAIT, but her road there was long and arduous. She told the students that she is enrolled in the Film and Video Production program, which she plans to use to create a documentary about her life.
“It wasn’t just my family that I lost,” said Lewis. “It was my culture, my traditions, my language, my identity.”
Lewis’ mother, Bernice, gave birth to her in the spring of 1979 in the Edmonton General Hospital, and at the time was on her own. Bernice was married to a non-indigenous man, which meant that she and her children had lost their treaty rights. At the time of Lewis’ birth, the husband was in prison. Lewis was not his biological child.
Hospital staff told Bernice that she couldn’t raise a child on her own.
“The nurses and the hospital staff forced my mother into signing me away,” said Lewis.
She said her mother just went along with everything they told her to do because she felt like she had no other option. After she left the hospital, she went and got her other daughter before returning to the hospital to get Lewis.
When Bernice returned the next day, the staff told her that Lewis had been given to social services and that she had to deal with them. Lewis’ mother was given the run around by social services for several weeks before finally hearing that Lewis had died.
Instead, Lewis had been adopted out to a non-indigenous family. Social services also took her older sister from her mother.
“My older sister was lost to the system by the age of five,” says Lewis.
As a result of losing both of her children, Lewis’ mother turned to substances to cope and became an addict. For quite some time, her mother was homeless because there was no support system for her.
At 18 years-old, Lewis was able to unseal her adoption records and began to search for her family. Eventually, Lewis was reunited with her mother, stepfather, three sisters, brother, and a large extended family.
Lewis’ adopted mother had told her that “those native mothers, they left their unwanted babies in garbage cans and they were all alcoholics and addicts.” Lewis was even told she likely had fetal alcohol syndrome. It wasn’t until later that she found out that was not true. Bernice told Lewis that she hadn’t told anyone about Lewis because she thought that a nurse had ended Lewis’ life at the hospital after she had left her there.
Lewis was shocked as nurses were respected health care providers. She had been raised to believe there was a system in place that prevented such things. She began looking into the history and learned about the residential school system and all of the children who had been taken from their families.
Bernice told Lewis not to bother with trying to get justice because she would get nowhere. Her mother had been in the Bow Valley Residential School, and after learning of its history, Lewis understood why her mother had believed a nurse had killed Lewis.
Then, history repeated itself.
“My oldest son was taken from me when he was four-years-old,” said Lewis. “In that horrific moment, I completely understood why my mother lived the life that she did.”
At the time, Lewis was a single mother attending college to get her high school diploma. She had aspirations of becoming an interior designer.
When her son was five months old, his father left Lewis and later began stalking her. He threatened to take her son. Her adopted mother told her that if Lewis gave custody of her son to her adoptive mother, his father couldn’t take him and Lewis could still have the boy live with her.
“Desperate to keep my child, I agreed to it.”
Lewis was stressed out with everything going on, so her stepfather suggested she come back to live with them and finish her schooling with the support of her family. Lewis agreed and notified her adoptive mother of her move.
That was when her adoptive parents came and took her son.
“I didn’t even have a chance to have a say in court.”
Lewis became suicidal. She was unable to go back to school or get her job back and she spiraled, eventually becoming an addict.
“I’ve never in my life felt so broken, defeated, and alone,” she said.
It was her stepfather who helped her to heal and become sober. She says he was supportive and told her that she didn’t have to let the same thing happen to her that happened to her mother. After the conversation with her stepfather, Lewis began working to placate her adoptive parents so she could see her son.
Ten years after her son was taken, Lewis stood up to fight for her oldest son. When her second son was born in 2014, she told her adoptive parents that they wouldn’t keep her children apart. She regained custody of her son, and has been raising her youngest son since his birth.
Lewis said she is the first mother in several generations in her family, to have the opportunity to raise a child from birth.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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“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.”
Corb Lund plays to a packed house
Corb Lund live at the Eleanor Pickup Art Centre. A sold-out crowd enjoyed an acoustic trio set with the Hurtin’ Albertans, blending heartfelt ballads, fan favorites, and cowboy-inspired storytelling. VIP perks, exclusive merch, and a thrilling encore made this Alberta performance unforgettable
Changes to Rural Renewal Stream
Businesses in Drayton Valley will see some changes to the local Rural Renewal Stream program come into effect on November 13.
Five creative ways to use print advertising to supercharge your business
Print advertising with your local newspaper gets you off the hamster wheel and connects you with a copywriter, graphic designer, and an ad planner who are actually interested in learning the ins and outs of your business.
Hard work and heritage reflected in 4-H
Hunter Harris is a third generation 4-H member and has been part of the organization since he was 12 years old. Not only does he show cattle for 4-H, he’s also been entering open shows for the past two years.
Grade 4: Let's learn about the Newspaper
Introduction
My name is Mrs. Brandy Fredrickson (I am Ruth’s mom) and I own the Drayton Valley and District Free Press newspaper. I used to be a reporter a the Drayton Valley Western Review…20 years ago. In this job I met some amazing people and learned so much about my community. My co-workers from 20 years ago are now my staff and we still have a lot of fun writing about Drayton Valley.
Question: What is one thing (person, place, team) that makes Drayton Valley a special place for you?
What is a newspaper?
A newspaper is a collection of stories, photos, advertisements, columns and letters that represent the collective news and mood of your community at a given point in time.
Types of Newspaper
National Newspapers: National Post, Globe and Mail
Provincial Newspapers: Edmonton Journals, Calgary Herald
Regional/Local Newspapers: That Us! Often these papers are locally owned, family started and some are 60-100 years old.
Other Regional:
Activity 1: Get to know the newspaper
Activity: Seek and Find
What you need: 1 piece of paper, 1 pencil, 1 Free Press Newspaper
- Get into groups of 4
- On a piece of paper write down numbers 1-5
- Find these 5 things in the paper
- Bring your answers up to me and shake my hand when you’re done
- Two Fastest teams get a treat
And Go....
- What is the tagline under the “Free Press” masthead on pg. 1?
- Who wrote the letter about the ski hill (name)?
- Who took the photo on pg. 11?
- Name one business in the business directory?
- Who is the editor of newspaper (name)?
Layout Discussion:
How is a paper the same as a magazine? How is the newspaper different than a book?
Getting in front of eyeballs: How is the newspaper distributed?
Making sure the newspaper is seen is a big part of having a local newspaper. Distribution channels helps to make this happen. The Free Press has 3 distribution channels.
1. Email Subscriptions
2. Canada Post mail subscriptions
3. Free pickup in retail locations
Discussion:
How does your teacher share information with you? And how do you share information with your parents?
Activity: Watch Video of the printing press
Fact Checking and Credibility
“Thou shalt not lie.”
Discussion: Why do you think it is important not to lie?
Credibility is the foundation of any newspaper. If your readers cannot trust what you are writing you won’t have an audience for long. This is why our editor spend much of his time fact checking, and rechecking facts in the stories we publish.
Activity 2: Is it True?
In your groups look at your newspaper and tell me if this headline is true.
Is this headline true?
- Town Council passes interim budget
- Volunteer database up and running
- Town billing changed despite strike
Activity 3: Examine a story
Mrs. Fredrickson Read: “Councillor Responds to Allegations”
What are some facts in this story that would need to be checked?
Activity 4: "Telephone " fact checking
- Get into 2 long lines
- Teacher select 2 people to be “fact checkers”
- Beginning at the start whisper message into your neighbours ear, and continue down the line.
- Once the message gets to a fact checker, the fact checker will give a thumbs up to continue telephone if the message is correct or go back to the start of the line to restart the telephone if the message is incorrect.
Here are some sources we use to check facts:
Call people to confirm information
Voice record interviews
Use multiple sources
Discussion
What ways can you check the facts for school projects or school gossip?
Jobs at a newspaper
Running a newspaper requires a team. Each person contributes to the success of the paper. Below are some jobs that people have to making a successful local newspaper.
Activity 5: Who does what?
In groups of 4 go to and PAGE 9 of the newspaper and label who did what.
E = Editor
R = Reporter
GD = Graphic Designer
C = Columnist
S = Sales
Activity 6: Conducting an Interview Speed Style
Interviewing people is a major job of a newspaper reporter. To conduct a good interview you need these three elements:
1. Questions; open ended
2. Paper and pen, or recorder
3. Listening ears and eyes
Open Ended Questions
Open ended questions are questions that get people talking. The are not yes or no questions. They are “How,” “Who,” and “What” questions.
Example: How did you feel winning the basketball game? What inspired you to write that story?
Recording Tool
Never go to a newspaper interview without a recording device; Paper, pen, voice recorder or texting device. Reporters often quote and paraphrase their subjects and accuracy is key.
Quote: “I love to teach,” Kormysh said.
Paraphrase: Kormysh said she loves teahing.
Active listening
Active listening means you are listening with your ears (close your mouth), your eyes and your body language. The key to a good interview is to get the other person talking this means you have to stop talking.
Speed Interview Game
1. Take out a piece of paper.
2. Write down 1 open ended question you can ask a classmates
4. When I say go, find a classmate and ask your question. Listen.
5. Record their answer.
6. Find someone new when I say “Switch”
7. Discussion: Report on what you learned? How accurate was your reporting?
Final Activity 7: Photo and Feedback
Take the handout and answer the following question.
A. What is one thing I learned about the newspaper?
B. Gather for a Group Photo
On Tuesday the Drayton Valley Thunder announced that head coach Sean Brown had stepped away from his duties and would be replaced as interim coach by Corey Bricknell. The organization cited “personal reasons” for the change. The following interview was conducted prior to the announcement of Brown’s departure.
With the playoffs approaching, the Drayton Valley Thunder are fighting to make it into the last slot in the Alberta Junior Hockey League North Division.
Head coach Sean Brown says that while the team may not be doing as well as he hoped, he admires how the players have held it together after some disappointing results.
“It can’t be an easy situation as a player. It’s definitely not an easy situation as a coach,” says Brown.
He says the team still shows up with motivation and is working to improve.
One of the issues, says Brown, is that they are a younger team. Many other teams in the league have older players. The Thunder has many players born in 2004, and they don’t have the same years of experience under their belt.
“You don’t know what you don’t know. That little lack of experience kind of hurts us,” he says.
Brown says it’s a game of mistakes. The players need to be able to learn from those experiences. But Brown says those mistakes keep happening at the wrong time, which can make it difficult for the team to recover.
He says the players put a lot of pressure on themselves and it can be difficult for them to keep their chins up if the team has several losses.
“There’s a lot of pressure in hockey at all levels. The higher you go, the pressure just becomes more magnified,” he says.
Brown says some of the pressure the kids put on themselves can be a good thing. They all have hopes of going to school or playing at higher levels in the league. He says this helps them to stay motivated to win.
In January 1965, the St. Anthony School opened its doors. Now, 60 years later, the school is planning a celebration of the milestone.
Principal Janelle Molzan says they are planning to have a celebration on May 24 at the school gym. They will be using the event to also fundraise for the school.
Molzan says they will have a band performing that evening, catering from a local restaurant, a full cash bar, as well as some door prizes.
Part of the celebration will also be the fact that St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division has put St. Anthony at the top of their priority list for a new school. Molzan says the division has to wait until next year to submit their request to the Province, and there is no guarantee that they will be selected for funding.
“It could be anywhere from two to ten years,” she says. “Or more.”
However, she feels that St. Anthony has a strong case for asking for a new school.
The most recent remodel of the school was in 1992, says Molzan. At that point they expanded the school, removing the gym from the centre of the school and installing classrooms instead. The new gym was then built as an addition to the school.
“We had the addition of the gym as well as a few classrooms in 1992,” says Molzan.
Since then, there have been no major remodels or renovations. Instead, the staff have been doing what they can to keep the building in shape.
“It’s a really well built school,” says Molzan.
She says over the years, the natural heaves and settling that occur with temperature fluctuations has led to some cosmetic damages to the building. “It’s just showing its age,” she says.
While the school is starting to show wear, Molzan says there are no capacity issues. About 15 years ago, the school went from being a K-12 school to a K-8 school when the Holy Trinity Academy was built.
Molzan says if they don’t get a new school they will have to pursue getting more renovations or remodeling for the current building.
Businesses will now have another option for dealing with trespassers thanks to a new program that Enforcement Services have put into place.
Cody Rossing, the manager of enforcement services and emergency management for the Town, says one of the biggest challenges for businesses in the community who were issuing trespass notices is that someone has to attend court in order for the trespassing charge to stick. With the new Trespassing Agent program which comes into place on March 20, businesses who enrol will not have to attend court.
Previously, businesses who contacted the RCMP to report a trespasser had to issue the trespass notices themselves.
For many businesses the process didn’t work well. Larger franchises, like banks, found arranging the issue of a trespass notice and attending court was not logistically feasible. Small business owners, on the other hand, could issue the notice but may have to close their business in order to attend court.
Rossing says there are two different pieces of legislation that speak to trespassing, the Petty Trespass Act and the Trespass to Premises Act.
“Under both of the legislations, the property owner or their agent are required to provide trespass notices, help get people off of their land, and stuff like that,” says Rossing.
The first offence fine under the provincial legislation is normally $600, but it could be up to $10,000. A second offence could have a fine of up to $25,000
The higher fines come into place when the individual ignores the notice and returns to the property. If the trespasser returns three times, the officers can then issue a summons to court. If they fail to attend, a warrant is issued, and at that point if they are found guilty, the higher fines can be given.
Rossing says the program is helping streamline the process for businesses. If they choose to enrol in the program, it will allow peace officers or the RCMP to act as their agent and issue the notices. It also means the business owners won’t have to attend court.
“Court is scary for a lot of people, and we understand that,” says Rossing.
The purpose of the program is to improve the process because officers are continuing to get calls to the same place over and over and business owners or their employees are uncomfortable with the court process. Until now, there hasn’t been any way to address those issues.
“It’s been a lot of work on the back end because there is no follow up process in place and there is no trespass notice being issued,” says Rossing.
He says the hope is that by having this program in place, businesses can sign up and they can begin to address the issue more efficiently.
Several different municipalities in the province have a similar program in place, says Rossing. While developing the program, Rossing did research on other initiatives and reached out to other municipalities that had something similar in place. He says he wanted to be sure that he had everything in place before he announced the program in the community.
There are also checks and balances that have been worked into the program.
“If you’re trespassed from a local business, one of our officers shows up and says you’re trespassed for six months, if you don’t agree with it, you can appeal that process,” says Rossing.
He says there is also the option for the business owners to speak with the officer and reduce the amount of time the individual is trespassed for. In some cases, if the RCMP issue a notice that’s in effect for six months, a business owner may come forward and advocate for the trespasser if the individual doesn’t normally behave in that manner
“They can say, ‘This person is normally a good customer, but there is something going on with him right now. I think maybe a month would be more appropriate,’” says Rossing.
However, it is ultimately the final discretion of the officer.
Once a business is enrolled in the program, they will receive a sticker that they can place in a conspicuous area that is easily visible for officers. If they receive a call, the officer will know that they can issue the notice themselves rather than speaking to the owner and explaining the process that has to take place.
Rossing says enrolment in the program is free, and he encourages businesses to sign up if they are having consistent issues with people loitering or being a nuisance on their property. Those who are interested in enrolling can visit www.draytonvalley.ca/enforcementservices/trespassingagent and fill out the form. They can then email it in to enforcement@draytonvalley.ca or drop it off at the Town office.
There are approximately 187 accidents in town each year within Town limits. That’s according to data from Drayton Valley Enforcement Services.
Cody Rossing, the Manager of Enforcement Services and Emergency Management for the Town, says data from 2016-2023 has helped map out intersections in the community that sees the highest number of collisions. The intersection at 50 Street North and Hwy 22 has had eight collisions, the highest in the community. The second highest number was at the intersection of 50 Street and 50 Avenue.
“Anything along Highway 22, the Town doesn’t have jurisdiction over, pertaining to road designs or changes,” says Rossing.
He says getting the data from the Province regarding collisions along Highway 22 is something they haven’t been able to do before. Now that they have the data they can start mapping out the high incident intersections and starting brainstorming ways they can address some of the problem areas. Rossing says those areas will have more focus from the community peace officers.
Rossing says they are trying to develop strategies on how to reduce collisions in the community on a whole, particularly those that result in fatalities.
“There’s different things we can use like engineering and controls,” says Rossing. “But for enforcement services, how are we strategically educating and enforcing in those areas?”
He says there are a number of factors that can contribute to collisions. Over the past eight years there have been 434 caused from unsafe speeds, 245 were intersection related, 163 that are weather related, 114 from road surface conditions, 51 involving animals, and 417 were from drivers performing improper actions.
With speed being the most prominent cause, enforcement services have been taking action to find out where speeding is most common and increasing patrols. The digital speed signs that were purchased with funds from the Community Safety Committee don’t have cameras on them, but they do record the speed and report that data back to enforcement services.
On March 6, officers intercepted a vehicle driving 102 km per hour in a 50 km zone.
“That vehicle was pulled over, a court summons was issued to the driver to compel them to court. If they don’t attend court a warrant will be issued for them,” says Rossing.
If they are found guilty, they could face a fine of up to $2,000 and/or a license suspension.
Rossing says anyone who is over the speed limit by more than 51 km per hour will face an automatic court summons.
This was not the only incident of speeding. On March 5, the digital speed signs picked up on a vehicle driving 111 km per hour in a 60 km per hour zone. They also pulled over a vehicle going 50 km per hour over the limit that same day.
“That is strictly within the Town of Drayton Valley boundaries,” says Rossing.
There are a number of reports enforcement services can get from the digital signs, including the amount of traffic on a road and the times that see the most traffic. Using this data, enforcement services can ensure they deploy units during the busiest times of the day to the areas where speeding is common.
Like William Shatner, Mike Myers, Wayne Gretzky’s dad and God help us, Celine Dion, here at the Free Press, we are Canadian.
There’s been a lot of talk recently about US ownership of some of this country’s most prominent businesses and institutions. At the Free Press we are certainly not prominent, nor do we want to be institutionalized. But still, it seems like a good time to point out to anyone who’s interested, that we are exactly what we appear to be.
We are 100 percent locally owned. There are no hidden shareholders or outside interests. All of our staff live in either Drayton Valley or Brazeau County, apart from our designer, Brittany. She’s from here, but currently telecommutes from somewhere in British Columbia, which I have to confess, makes me a little jealous sometimes.
What else can I tell you? The Free Press is printed for us by some nice people in St. Albert. The printing press is owned by Great West Newspapers, which is also a Canadian company.
The paper we’re printed on comes from the Alberta Newsprint Corporation in Whitecourt. Incidentally, the paper is made from offcuts and waste from the lumber industry so we’re not cutting down trees to make the paper.
Once the paper has been printed it’s picked up and brought back to town by Drayton Valley’s own Rocket Express. At that point it’s back to us as we deliver it throughout the community.
Now you may be wondering why I’m telling you all this. Would the Americans really be interested in owning a tiny little paper in a small town in Alberta?
Well, you’d be surprised. A good chunk of Canada’s print media is currently in American hands, and that includes a number of community newspapers in this province. Postmedia is 66 percent owned by Chatham Asset Management, a hedge fund based in New Jersey. Who are Postmedia? They are the owners of the National Post, the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Sun, the Edmonton Sun and a host of other newspapers, both large and small, from coast to coast.
That situation may not be quite as bad as it sounds. I was the editor of the Drayton Valley Western Review (kids, ask your grandparents) for 10 years. During my time there the paper was owned by a succession of large, soulless corporations based in central Canada. They did absolutely nothing to impact the way we covered the news. I barely heard a peep in over a decade. I always suspected that was less to do with high journalistic standards at corporate headquarters, and more down to the fact they were only dimly aware we existed and probably couldn’t find Drayton Valley on a map, but either way the effect was the same.
So corporate ownership, whether it’s American or not, probably isn’t the best thing ever, but it isn’t necessarily fatal to Canadian news.
But I do think there’s an important distinction between a paper like the Free Press and some of the others; and it’s this. If you take out a subscription or buy an advertisement with us you can be confident that your money is staying close to home. And especially these days, that seems like a good investment.
A local auctioneer has chanted his way into the history books after securing himself a first place position at the 2025 Canadian All Around Auctioneer Championship.
Prior to the 2025 CAAAC, Justin Mayer had already earned a trophy at the 2020 Canadian Bid Catching Competition. He is the first to hold a title for both competitions.
Mayer, at 29-years-old, says he’s been participating in the CAAAC for more than a decade. His mentors and many of the auctioneers he grew up listening to have all competed in the competition and some have won.
“It’s a pretty prestigious award,” says Mayer.
A good auctioneer is someone who can present themselves in a professional manner, with confidence in your body language and hand gestures. They have to be well spoken and comfortable with public speaking. The auctioneer chant, which requires rhythm, clarity, and speed to be considered such, is also an important technique that auctioneers must master.
“You should be able to almost dance to an auctioneer’s chant,” says Mayer
When he entered the CAAAC, Mayer participated in two rounds. The preliminary round ruled out everyone except for the top five. Those five then moved onto the final round.
In both rounds, five judges ranked their skills on a scorecard, and the person with the best overall ranking took home the award.
Mayer is not the first member of his family to take home the CAAAC title. His uncle Ron Sekura also held the title, and for Mayer, that makes the win even sweeter.
“He’s passed on, so it’s pretty cool for me to have the title with him,” says Mayer.
As a kid, Mayer was surrounded by some of his biggest mentors in the auctioneering world. His uncle, stepfather Corey Sekura, and grandfather, Wendell Sekura, all encouraged his love of auctioning.
He says he loves the sport because of the high energy atmosphere and the chance to meet people.
“When you’re up on the stand in front of the crowd selling, it’s up to me to present, in lots of cases, people’s livelihoods and their entire life, whether you’re selling a farm or a disbursement sale. It’s up to you, as the auctioneer, to generate excitement and do your homework in front of the crowd in order to bring top dollar for people,” says Mayer.
Over the years, Mayer has met many people and he says he enjoys the connections
“I know somebody from every town,” he says.
Now that he’s taken the title for the CAAAC, he is eligible for the International All Around Auctioneer Championship and from there he can head off to the World Championship.
For many, the decision to go to the international championship would be easy, but Mayer says he’s not sure what he’s going to do.
“I grew up in an auction family, and for me and my family to win this competition was a big deal,” says Mayer. “Now that I’ve won it, I kind of feel like I achieved what I wanted.”
However, Mayer has been receiving encouragement from Rob Bergevin, a Canadian International and Worlds competitor, to go to the International Championship.
“I beat him this year and he’s really trying to convince me to go to the International because he thinks I have a shot at it,” says Mayer.
Mayer’s love of auctioneering resulted in him going to Western College of Auctioneering in Billings, Montana in 2013. Since then, he’s been building up his reputation as an auctioneer across Alberta and British Columbia.
He says his uncle and stepfather were always in his ear, pointing out areas where he could do better and giving him advice to improve his skill.
“Grandpa Wendy was a big factor in that as well,” says Mayer.
For several years, Mayer spent a lot of time travelling to municipalities across the province and British Columbia to local auctions. However, once the pandemic hit, many auction houses opted for online auctions as a way to still run the business while meeting government regulations. Since that time, it’s not uncommon for auctions to be held online.
“But I still travel around,” says Mayer. “I still do lots of auctions. I’m never going to stop. It’s too exciting.”
Over the years, Mayer has worked for Team Auctions, as well as auctioning off classic cars. He also works for a lot of charity auctions.
When his children were younger, they struggled with the amount of time that Mayer was away. Now that they’re older, he says they appreciate it more. His daughter has even been asking for lessons, and has been practicing reading off a list of numbers that she has on her wall.
Mayer says he’s grateful to everyone for their support and encouragement over the years.
“I’m tremendously thankful to my mom, my dad, the Sekura family, my wife and my kids. They have all been there for me. They’ve all shaped me,” says Mayer. “Probably my biggest influence in all of it was my Uncle Ron, and my dad, Corey. They really shaped me and supported me.”
Members of local indigenous groups are working toward opening a charter school with the goal of offering students an education that goes beyond academics.
Charlene Bearhead, a member of the board for the Roots of Resilience not-for-profit society, says the group is applying to the Minister of Education to be able to open a charter school in Drayton Valley, with a goal of opening in September.
The society is hosting an information night on February 13 from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express.
Bearhead says her 40 years of working in education has made it clear that the system is failing children and staff as human beings.
“I’m always a big believer in doing the best you can to try to work with what exists already and do what you can to help guide that,” says Bearhead.
She worked within the system, and recently served as a school board trustee, but she says people weren’t ready to progress with changes she feels need to be made.
The goal of opening the charter school is to offer a learning experience that encompasses a child’s entire wellbeing, including mental and spiritual health, along with teaching Alberta’s curriculum. While the students will learn from methods that indigenous people have always used for passing on knowledge, Bearhead says the school isn’t just open to indigenous children. Any child in the area from Kindergarten to grade 12 will be welcome to attend.
One thing that Bearhead wants the public to be aware of regarding charter schools is that they are still public schools. Roots of Resilience will be funded in the same manner that Wild Rose School Division and the St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division are.
“One lady said to me, ‘This sounds so amazing Charlene, but I really struggle with anything that takes away from public schools,’” says Bearhead. “I had to say to her ‘This is public education. This is public school.’”
She says there are only provisions for charter schools in Alberta. Charter schools receive the same funding for facilities, transportations, and other expenses, and the same requirements to follow the Alberta curriculum and the Education Act. Just like any other public school, parents do not have to pay extra to enrol their children in a charter school.
“But they are intended to be schools of choice,” says Bearhead. “They give parents and kids a choice in their education.”
However, charter schools are not without controversy. According to the website of Alberta Teachers’ Association, “there is only one pot of money for schools in Alberta. When money is diverted to private and charter schools, it leaves public schools in a funding shortfall.”
Bearhead says charter schools have to offer a unique approach to education that isn’t available in the geographic area. Bearhead says it’s important to the RoR society to define the holistic success for the school, which means the students will be doing better in body, mind, and soul, as well as academically.
She says that pushing people hard to do well academically while ignoring all other aspects of the student’s progress doesn’t work well. For Bearhead, it’s important for educators to meet the students where they’re at, value them as human beings, offer them a safe environment, and offer opportunities for the students to see themselves reflected in what is being taught.
Along with the regular curriculum, Bearhead says they plan to offer language programs for those who are interested in learning the language of their ancestors to help those students connect with their heritage.
Wendy Snow, the Interim District Captain in the Otipemisiwak Metis Government for District Eight and member of the RoR society, says she feels her own children would have benefitted from what the proposed school will be offering.
Snow says she has two children as well as a niece that she is the guardian of. With all three of them going to school in Drayton, she says they went to almost every school in the community.
“I found that it was very lacking as far as teaching to our culture,” says Snow.
She says every year she would fill out the demographic forms, indicating that her children were indigenous, knowing that the school division would get additional funding for those students.
“I found that all of the funding in the Wild Rose School Division went to Rocky Mountain House,” she says. “All the programming, all the culture stuff, everything went to Rocky Mountain House.”
Like Bearhead, Snow wanted to work with the system and try to help improve things. She ran twice for school board trustee, but did not get elected.
“I’ve always wanted to see more funding and programming and culture stuff in this area, just like there is in Rocky Mountain House,” says Snow.
Bearhead says the RoR school will resonate with indigenous children.
“An indigenous pedagogy, or approach to education, is about physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual [well-being]. Whatever that means to you. Everyone is indigenous to somewhere,” says Bearhead.
She says public charter schools are smaller and have unique approaches to education.
“They are actually intended to be models for how education could happen in any or all public schools,” she says.
Bearhead says when the students see themselves reflected in the content they’re learning, they have a better chance of relating to it and absorbing it.
By making the students the centre of the system, educators can focus on the whole child, not just the content they’re supposed to be learning. She says each student has different strengths, weaknesses, interests, and paths. In their school, they plan to help students excel at their strengths, offer support for their weaknesses, and encourage their interests and plans.
Another important part of education is offering the students a safe space.
“If kids are terrified, if kids are being bullied, if kids don’t feel safe, how can they focus on learning?” says Bearhead. “That’s just human instinct. That’s survival.”
She says if students are feeling ostracized, alienated, or left out, it’s more challenging for them to learn.
Roots of Resilience will also offer hands-on learning for students. This experiential learning will be land-based, which means there will be more of a balance between indoor and outdoor learning. She says there are many different areas of the curriculum that can be taught outdoors beyond science and physical education.
“For me, when you do something, rather than just read about it or hear about it, it becomes ingrained in you,” she says.
Snow says she wants to see children in the area have an opportunity to choose an education that best suits them.
“I think it just gives them a great basis for success later on in life,” says Snow.
He says the coaches work with the players to give them support and some techniques they can use to help themselves manage the pressure. “They’ve got a lot on their plate. They’re all living in a city as billets, away from their homes and meeting new friends. But they’ve handled it well.”
To be good at the game, Brown says the players have to be mature beyond their years to handle the stress. He says he enjoys talking to the players and helping them navigate through some of the issues.
“Again, it’s young teenagers going through a lot,” he says. But the coaching staff are hoping that the challenges and adversity will shape them into stronger players.
Brown says the thing he wants the players to understand is how close they are to making it. Many of the players know or have played against members of the Canadian Junior Hockey team. From there, he says it’s not much of a stretch to then be playing with or against Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid.
“It’s really that close. We have some kids with elite skills and ability,” he says. “It really is a fine line and they don’t understand it yet.”
With Brown’s experience as a player in the NHL, he’s in a position to give advice and encouragement to the kids. He says he works to reassure them, give guidance, and offer support when it’s needed.
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Spending a weekend cycling the secondary highway in and around Brazeau County is one of the great outdoor activities that this region has to offer. Minutes outside of Drayton Valley you will find yourself on kilometers of highway that seem to continue to stretch West. Many of these highways go near small hamlets and communities in the area, they go into and come out of river valleys and on a clear day offer a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains.
One such circuit is the DV100 century loop. This 100km route takes you west past farmlands and through lush boreal forests, and through the small communities and hamlets that mark the birth of Alberta’s oil and gas industry. It is a loop that can be done with speed or taken at a leisurely pace, offering snack and eatery stops along the way.
Day 1: Arrival, dinner
Arrive at hotel: When you stay at a Drayton Valley Hospitality and Tourism hotel or campground you support local tourism initiatives in Drayton Valley and Brazeau County.
Evening ride: Stretch your legs and do the 19 km ring road multipurpose trails to Rocky Rapids. Park your vehicle at the “Welcome to Drayton Valley” derricks at the south end of town and right across the street you will be on the trails. The route will take you straight out to the hamlet of Rocky Rapids where you can stop off at the Rocky Rapids store for a snack. The original building is located at the Drayton Valley museum.
Dinner: Did you know we have over 40 different restaurants in Drayton Valley? Look at our restaurant listing in this guide.
Ricochet Aquatic Centre: Take in the steamroom and the hot tub at the local swimming pool. The pool is open until 8:00 pm most nights and will get you ready for your big century ride tomorrow.
Day 2: The DIY DV100
Breakfast: Take in some breakfast at your hotel or head out to one of our great breakfast venues.
DIY DV100: The DV100 is a 100 kilometre route that travels secondary highways in Brazeau County. Along the route there are several spots you can stop to regroup, take in a photo and enjoy some food. Just out of town is the Poplar Ridge Store, this is your last stop to get any supplies until you reach the community of Lodgepole about about kilometre 40.
Arrive Lodgepole: this is a small hamlet that has a general store in the heart of town. Here you can grab a drink, and convenience store fare. There is also the hotel restaurant that is open 11-12:30 and 3-8 most days, there is also the Aud Spot for breakfast and lunch as a cash only option.
Heading out of Lodgepole towards Cynthia there are a few great photo opportunities as you crest a hill coming up from the Pembina River Valley. This is a slog of a climb but once you crest it is smooth sailing to Cynthia.
Near the Hamlet of Cynthia there is the ever popular Cyn City Saloon where you can get a beverage and a burger. Heading back towards Drayton Valley and Hwy 621 your next stop is 39 km away in the community of Rocky Rapids where you can stop at the store for some snacks and then back into town.
(In the Evening)
Hotel: regroup at your hotel and get ready for the evening.
Dinner: Drayton Valley has more than 40 different restaurants. Have a look at our listings page to decide where you want to eat.
Drinks: Head to a patio and enjoy the sunset with an ice cold brew. Lounge patios can be found at; Khal’s Steakhouse, Boston Pizza, Mitch’s Restaurant, Oil Country Tap House, Bourbon House and Mr. Mikes.
Day 3 Check out, walk and head home
Breakfast: Breakfast at your hotel or check out and head to a local restaurant for brunch.
Disc golf or a walk: If you want to stretch your time here in Drayton Valley, head over to Ivan To Park for a walk around the pond or a round of disc golf. The park has an 18-hole disc golf course that is open at no charge. If you’re pushed for time there’s an easy cut off to limit your round to 9 holes.
Head home. We hope you’ve enjoyed your time in our community. Come back soon!
Staff Sergeant Ryan Hoetmer says dealing with the effects of the homeless population in the community is not simple.
Hoetmer says that the most common complaint regarding homeless individuals is about them sleeping or spending time in business entrances. That was one of the main issues raised by town council in a discussion on September 18.
Hoetmer says RCMP involvement in removing the individual and charging them with trespassing is a bit tricky, especially in regards to private businesses.
“The police themselves do not make a determination of whether that homeless individual can be there or not,” says Hoetmer. “That has to be the business that decides that.”
This means that someone from the business has to contact the RCMP to let them know there is an unwanted individual in the vestibule. At that point, police can attend and get the individual moving along.
However, unless the business has served trespass notices on the person causing the issue, the RCMP cannot issue fines for trespassing.
That is also not as simple as it seems. Hoetmer says that does give the trespass notice has to be willing to pursue the entire process into court as well.
“They’ve got to show up at trial if this individual fights it,” he says.
Hoetmer says banks, for example, are not typically interested in pursuing this as they all have nationally run security headquarters, so there’s not a lot of interest in them following those steps.
Both the Town and RCMP have met with bank managers and are encouraging them to lock their doors at night to prevent the homeless from using the vestibule as a warming space.
Due to the lifestyle that comes with homelessness, which often includes mental health issues and addictions, the RCMP do interact with the homeless on a regular basis.
“We get to know these individuals, but unless they are commiting crime we don’t have a lot of power,” he says.
He says the Town has asked them to have more enforcement on homeless individuals who have been banned or issued trespassing notices.
“Our job is community safety so if that’s what the community wants to keep the community safe, we’ve agreed to do that,” says Hoetmer.
However, that means businesses need to start following through with the process on their end.
In regards to the Civic Centre vestibule, Hoetmer says the Town would need to start looking at trespassing individuals in order for the RCMP to begin issuing tickets.
“That is up to the Town whether they want to trespass these individuals from all Town property,” says Hoetmer.
But even with all of the businesses doing their part and the RCMP able to keep up with the enforcement, there is still more to consider.
“Enforcement has failed these individuals for years. Nobody usually becomes unsheltered without probably having had enforcement intervention for a number of years already, and it hasn’t changed anything.”
Hoetmer says there have been no complaints of physical harm caused to residents by any homeless individuals. “They can be aggressive and make people feel uncomfortable, but we have had no assaults. No reports of any sort of physical violence to anybody.”
In regards to break and enters, Hoetmer says some of the smaller property crimes are being committed by homeless individuals, but they aren’t the only ones.
“There’s other individuals in town that are not homeless that are committing those offences,” says Hoetmer. “The bigger break and enters are being committed by prolific property crime offenders.”
In regards to issuing fines for trespassing, Hoetmer says that also isn’t as simple as many believe. Those who have fines may not be able to pay them. At some point, they can be arrested, but there is no guaranteed timeline for how long the individual will stay behind bars, as they will be released first if room is needed for people convicted of more serious crimes.
In the end, the fines do not get paid.
Hoetmer says he doesn’t want the Town to “hang their hat on enforcement,” because while it can play a role in deterring homeless individuals from becoming a nuisance, it’s not the entire solution.
“We’re going to have a role,” says Hoetmer. “Our job is keeping the community safe. So, if part of that is needing to enforce, then we will do that.”
Drayton Valley high school students had the chance to listen to a first hand account of an indigenous woman whose life was drastically altered by the Sixties Scoop.
Michaela Lewis is now a student at SAIT, but her road there was long and arduous. She told the students that she is enrolled in the Film and Video Production program, which she plans to use to create a documentary about her life.
“It wasn’t just my family that I lost,” said Lewis. “It was my culture, my traditions, my language, my identity.”
Lewis’ mother, Bernice, gave birth to her in the spring of 1979 in the Edmonton General Hospital, and at the time was on her own. Bernice was married to a non-indigenous man, which meant that she and her children had lost their treaty rights. At the time of Lewis’ birth, the husband was in prison. Lewis was not his biological child.
Hospital staff told Bernice that she couldn’t raise a child on her own.
“The nurses and the hospital staff forced my mother into signing me away,” said Lewis.
She said her mother just went along with everything they told her to do because she felt like she had no other option. After she left the hospital, she went and got her other daughter before returning to the hospital to get Lewis.
When Bernice returned the next day, the staff told her that Lewis had been given to social services and that she had to deal with them. Lewis’ mother was given the run around by social services for several weeks before finally hearing that Lewis had died.
Instead, Lewis had been adopted out to a non-indigenous family. Social services also took her older sister from her mother.
“My older sister was lost to the system by the age of five,” says Lewis.
As a result of losing both of her children, Lewis’ mother turned to substances to cope and became an addict. For quite some time, her mother was homeless because there was no support system for her.
At 18 years-old, Lewis was able to unseal her adoption records and began to search for her family. Eventually, Lewis was reunited with her mother, stepfather, three sisters, brother, and a large extended family.
Lewis’ adopted mother had told her that “those native mothers, they left their unwanted babies in garbage cans and they were all alcoholics and addicts.” Lewis was even told she likely had fetal alcohol syndrome. It wasn’t until later that she found out that was not true. Bernice told Lewis that she hadn’t told anyone about Lewis because she thought that a nurse had ended Lewis’ life at the hospital after she had left her there.
Lewis was shocked as nurses were respected health care providers. She had been raised to believe there was a system in place that prevented such things. She began looking into the history and learned about the residential school system and all of the children who had been taken from their families.
Bernice told Lewis not to bother with trying to get justice because she would get nowhere. Her mother had been in the Bow Valley Residential School, and after learning of its history, Lewis understood why her mother had believed a nurse had killed Lewis.
Then, history repeated itself.
“My oldest son was taken from me when he was four-years-old,” said Lewis. “In that horrific moment, I completely understood why my mother lived the life that she did.”
At the time, Lewis was a single mother attending college to get her high school diploma. She had aspirations of becoming an interior designer.
When her son was five months old, his father left Lewis and later began stalking her. He threatened to take her son. Her adopted mother told her that if Lewis gave custody of her son to her adoptive mother, his father couldn’t take him and Lewis could still have the boy live with her.
“Desperate to keep my child, I agreed to it.”
Lewis was stressed out with everything going on, so her stepfather suggested she come back to live with them and finish her schooling with the support of her family. Lewis agreed and notified her adoptive mother of her move.
That was when her adoptive parents came and took her son.
“I didn’t even have a chance to have a say in court.”
Lewis became suicidal. She was unable to go back to school or get her job back and she spiraled, eventually becoming an addict.
“I’ve never in my life felt so broken, defeated, and alone,” she said.
It was her stepfather who helped her to heal and become sober. She says he was supportive and told her that she didn’t have to let the same thing happen to her that happened to her mother. After the conversation with her stepfather, Lewis began working to placate her adoptive parents so she could see her son.
Ten years after her son was taken, Lewis stood up to fight for her oldest son. When her second son was born in 2014, she told her adoptive parents that they wouldn’t keep her children apart. She regained custody of her son, and has been raising her youngest son since his birth.
Lewis said she is the first mother in several generations in her family, to have the opportunity to raise a child from birth.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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“No one likes losing, but I believe in the kids,” says Brown. He says he firmly believes the team has a strong chance of securing a spot in the playoffs.
Corb Lund plays to a packed house
Corb Lund live at the Eleanor Pickup Art Centre. A sold-out crowd enjoyed an acoustic trio set with the Hurtin’ Albertans, blending heartfelt ballads, fan favorites, and cowboy-inspired storytelling. VIP perks, exclusive merch, and a thrilling encore made this Alberta performance unforgettable
Changes to Rural Renewal Stream
Businesses in Drayton Valley will see some changes to the local Rural Renewal Stream program come into effect on November 13.
Five creative ways to use print advertising to supercharge your business
Print advertising with your local newspaper gets you off the hamster wheel and connects you with a copywriter, graphic designer, and an ad planner who are actually interested in learning the ins and outs of your business.
Hard work and heritage reflected in 4-H
Hunter Harris is a third generation 4-H member and has been part of the organization since he was 12 years old. Not only does he show cattle for 4-H, he’s also been entering open shows for the past two years.
She also feels strongly about the seniors in the community, who have contributed so much of their efforts to make Drayton Valley the town that it currently is.
“I felt that it was past due for our town to give back to our seniors and help them out as much as possible. Without them we wouldn’t have had a town to call home.”
Driessen says the project has taken a while to put together. “It’s been in the works for quite a few years and we have to thank [many] for their contributions. It’s been a community collaboration without a doubt.”
Newberry says she is also grateful for the generosity and hard work of community members, including one local hockey team, that were able to ensure the project was a success.
Driessen says this service isn’t just for medical appointments. She says in some cases that means getting groceries, going to the pharmacy, or sometimes, the polls for an election.
“We will be providing a special in town service every Wednesday, so that our seniors can go shopping and get their groceries or medications along with their senior discounts,” says Newberry.
There will be a fee for the service, says Driessen. The Town researched and found a reasonable cost comparison with cab services in the community. Driessen says it will be comparable to cab services. “It does, of course, give a bit of a break,” she says.
In the future, Driessen says they would like to see some public funding allotted to the service to help lower the cost for those who need it.
Newberry says that paying for the service is set up with a digital payment service, allowing family members to easily help out their loved ones.
“It will work on digital payment service program where a family member or the person (senior or disabled) can purchase a prepaid visa gift card. Every time a person needs a ride the card will be debited the amount of the ride. Until the card is used up. Then it’s a matter of reloading it with money at that time. Could be a great Christmas gift from family to a loved one,” she says.
Those who are interested in registering their family for the service can contact Drake’s Handi Bus at 780-542-8706.
