A century of mementos marking the long and colourful history of the Red Deer and District Chamber are on display at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery.
With its 130th birthday this year, the chamber is actually older than Red Deer. A displayed hitching post presents a visual reminder that its origins stretch back to the horse and buggy days of 1894 — seven years before Red Deer was incorporated as a town in 1901.
With the election of its first president Raymond Gaetz (son of the city's founder, Leonard Gaetz), the "Board of Trade" was started to help market business opportunities and products made by local entrepreneurs to the wider world.
In that regard, its "amazing" how the chamber's mission has remained much the same through the decades, said current president CEO Scott Robinson.
Museum association Nicole Leidl came across early meeting minutes that show farmers outraged at having to park their horses and wagons at the rear of shops because businesses complained they were blocking visibility to their premises,
"Parking has been an issue since the start of time," said Robinson, with a chuckle.
Archival records also show the Board of Trade launched a local shopping campaign in the early 1900s — to counter residents loading up on assorted goods while in Edmonton, Calgary‚ or maybe even Lacombe.
Robinson said the Board persuaded a railway company to build a first pedestrian bridge across the Red Deer River to help ease this trade of goods.
What's changed over the years is the name of the organization — the Board of Trade became the Red Deer and District Chamber in 1953 — as well as the means used for promotions.
The earliest promotional items were printed leaflets depicting black-and-white photographs of notable Red Deer buildings. These were handed out by the Board of Trade to interest new businesses in relocating to the city. Museum association Nicole Leidl has assembled early advertising products, including mirrors and matchbooks given out to customers by now extinct businesses — including the Phelan hotel, Lord's Department Store, Cornett Drug Co. and Jack Men's Wear.
There was always economic hope and heartbreak. Leidl noted Red Deer was set to become the Western manufacturing centre for Eddy matches in the 1920s — only to see this dream evaporate with the stock market crash of 1929.
But in the 1920s, when the chamber was responsible for boosting area tourism, it set up the region's first local campground for tenting to draw day-trippers touring the countryside in motor vehicles, she added.
A row of 1940s radios indicates that broadcast promotions were soon utilized. The chamber also began sponsoring a bevy of local events, including the Miss Red Deer contest (won by a bouffant-haired Marilyn Bywaters in the 1960s, with her chiffon dress and sparkly baton outfit on display).
Robinson noted one tradition that has not survived is the wearing of tomato red cowboy hats and striped vests to Chamber sponsored events.
But the chamber still partners with agricultural organizations on major events, such as Western Canada's largest Ag trade fair AgriTrade.
This partnership has long roots. In 1912, the organization held a celebratory dinner over the magnificent achievement of Rosalind, a local dairy cow and the best milk producer in the Dominion. A near similar level of celebrity support arose around local farmer S.J. Allsop, when he was crowned the country's Wheat King in 1947.
Leidl noted the chamber has always championed the interest of Central Albertans. It helped lead the "David Thompson Cavalcade," an effort that pushed through the extension of Hwy 11 linking Rocky Mountain House with the Banff-Jasper Highway.
Robinson noted the chamber is still behind some provincial, even national efforts, such as a successful lobbying effort to get rid of the Canadian Wheat Board.
"I'm very excited to see the display," said Robinson "it will be great to reflect on the past."
For Progress and Development: The Red Deer Chamber of Commerce exhibit will have an opening reception Wednesday evening, and will be running at the museum until July 23.