ONE YEAR AGO
• Canyon Ski Area went to the sheep. The woolly wonders were recruited for their grass-trimming expertise. There were 255 on the hill contentedly filling their bellies on Monday and 200 would add their munching skills later in the week.
• There was no doubt in pest exterminator Randy Unger’s mind that bedbug legions was growing. “My first five or six years the industry I hadn’t even heard of a bedbug,” said Unger, who has been getting rid of unwanted critters for 16 years in Manitoba and Alberta. “Probably the last six or seven there has been an insurmountable increase in activity.”
FIVE YEARS AGO
• The Town of Blackfalds continued to grow by leaps and bounds. The 2006 census suggested the population jumped eight per cent to 4,741. Mayor Wayne Tutty said a high birthrate, coupled with a steady influx of residents, especially young families, led to the phenomenal growth.
• Premier Ralph Klein announced a $50-million police college would be built in Fort Macleod. Klein spilled the beans on the location of the Alberta Police and Peace Officer Training Centre during an interview on CKUA radio. Red Deer County, Camrose and Lac La Biche had also been finalists.
10 YEARS AGO
• In the wake of a neighbourhood outcry over a proposed school in the Rosedale district, Red Deer city council began rezoning school sites well ahead of development. A group of school zoning bylaw amendments was scheduled for the council meeting to ensure future residents would have plenty of warning of where schools would be.
• As teachers prepared to return to school, negotiators returned to the table. Contracts for most Central Alberta teachers expired, with the government and unions still far apart in their proposals, resulting in a strike several months later.
25 YEARS AGO
• Red Deer wasn’t doing enough to promote itself as a tourist destination said an Edmonton consulting firm. Opportunity West Development Ltd., hired by the city to study local tourism, said a more coordinated effort was needed to promote Red Deer. “We discovered that there was a very disjointed and uncoordinated promotional effort as afar as tourism goes, “company vice present Tim Reynolds told city council. “You are a tourism-recreation destination with a lot of potential. Not for anybody staying two weeks, but certainly for two-three days if you market all you have,” he said.
• Sylvan lake residents were stuck between the decibel and the deep blue sea on the subject of muffling noisy power boats.
There were no laws — federal, provincial or municipal — governing how much noise that boats were allowed to make. That frustrated lake side residents and cottagers who said souped-up, un-muffled speed boats were disturbing their peace and quiet.
A noise bylaw, which solved the problem in the cottage area round Hope, B.C. Seemed the answer — except no on knew precisely in whose jurisdiction lay the middle of Sylvan Lake.
50 YEARS AGO
• Contractors working for the City of Red Deer were in the ‘home stretch” of one of the best construction years enjoyed by Red Deer since the start of the accelerated expansion program in the early 1950s. Cost of $1,500,00 worth of roads, sewer and water lines, sidewalks, civic buildings, lanes and other work had been practically completed without a major hitch, weather delay or other problems said City Engineer Nelson Deck.
90 YEARS AGO
• Thursday afternoon and evening saw another triumph for the Red Deer Horticultural Society, when they held by far the best show yet. There were fully 200 more entries than last year, the number of exhibitors increasing by thirty per cent. A special cause for gratification is the large increase in the entries in the children’s classes. The formal opening of the show was in the evening, the doors being opened at 7, and the programme starting at 8. But, as usual, visitors were admitted in the afternoon, the children being specially invited. The evening meeting with president Snell in the chair included formal presentation of cups and shields by His Worship Mayor Collison, and an excellent programme of music by the Pulleyn orchestra. For variety Messers. E.G. Johns and Major Briscoe obliged with solos.
• The many friends and acquaintances in the district of Mr. and Mr. Alexander Loiselle, Sylvan Lake, and family will rejoice with them in the happy event of the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Loiselle, which was celebrated on Sunday, Aug. 14 with due honors. A party of forty-three relatives, friends and neighbors gathering for the festivities, when Mr. and Mrs. Loiselle were suitably remembered.
100 YEARS AGO
• The Red Deer Horticultural Society held its first annual show at the Alberta Garage. The event attracted 50 exhibitors with about 350 entries.
• A.A. McGillivray a Conservative candidate in the local federal riding held a meeting in Red Deer at the Lyric Theatre. The meeting was said to have been packed.