Taber's 'Simple as Dirt' plan paying dividends
Taber
Medicine Hat News
Some say Taber is the town water built. But as the community heads into the new decade, the town’s future is firmly rooted in dirt.
“Simple as Dirt,” the town’s award winning sustainability plan, uses the various layers of soil that come together to make fertile land as a metaphor for community building. A good community plan should always lead to improved quality of life, it argues, the same way better soil leads to healthier plants.
"My vision of Taber is a very vibrant, positive, hustling and bustling community,” says Mayor Ray Bryant. ”We're self- sufficient, and I see us growing."
Not bad for a town once known only as “Tank No. 77,” the site where Canadian Pacific Railway trains stopped to fill up with water.
Today, approximately 8,000 people call the town home. And according to Statistics Canada, more than 30 per cent of them are under the age of 15, making Taber the fourth- youngest small town in the country.
The town has also been attracting foreign immigrants for several years. Many are German-speaking Mennonites from Mexico, who often find work in the community’s thriving agricultural and food processing sectors.
There’s also a sizable Filipino community, which has been growing for several years. Bryant says the recently created Filipino Society has been very active in Taber, with members contributing volunteer hours and performing at local events.
"They want to be part of the community...” he says, “and we really appreciate that."
Taber is perhaps best known as the corn capital of the prairies, but the area is also home to oil and gas businesses,
Vauxhall
Baseball, schools put Vauxhall on map
Medicine Hat News
Few small towns in Alberta can claim to be known across North America, but thanks to its renowned baseball school, Vauxhall is one of them.
The Vauxhall Academy of Baseball was created about four years ago, in an effort to reverse declining enrolment at the town’s high school. The school, which boasts a high- end ball park and coaches with professional baseball connections, is a runaway success, drawing students from across North America.
Vauxhall’s schools routinely top the Fraser Institute’s annual report on schools, earning the best scores of any rural municipality. And in 2010, the town’s school buildings are getting an approximately $23 million makeover which will include a new gymnasium for the high school and new modular classrooms at the elementary school level.
The town has also secured funding for a regional waste water treatment plant, which will replace Vauxhall’s current 30 year-old model. The project, estimated to cost around $17 million, will also supply water to the MD of Taber and nearby hamlets.
"I think those two things are really positive for any small town moving forward,” say Mayor Lois Maloney of the planned projects.
Vauxhall’s farmers, too, are forward-looking. When the cattle industry began facing challenges, many in the area diversified, growing hybrid crops and corn. Some producers also grow organic crops such as peas and corn for agrifood plants in nearby Taber.
The town’s progressive thinking is paying off. Though there are no hard numbers yet, Maloney believes the town of approximately 1,100 is experiencing a slow and steady population growth.
“In general, the families that are leaving our community have been the retired folks,” she explains. “And the people that are purchasing and choosing to live in Vauxhall will maybe have a couple of kids... I think our next census will prove there has been a population growth."
Maloney says improving infrastructure in the community will be key to keeping youth in the area and attracting new business opportunities. In addition to the renovation projects already slated for 2010, she and councillors Gordon Brown, Clay Farnsworth, Deanna Glas, Lee Green and Peter Van Uden plan to draft a five-year plan to upgrade the town’s water system.
REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA 2010 ■ Celebrating our Community — 9
and many beet growing and processing operations.
It’s also well known for the nearby 37-turbine Enmax wind farm, which boasts an 81.4-megawatt capacity.
As part of its long-term sustainability project, the town recently began a downtown beautification program. In addition to replacing most of the neighbourhood’s sidewalks with interlocking bricks, the city added new granite waste bins and flower baskets.
A $2 million road improvement project which saw many streets re-paved and old water and sewage lines replaced was also completed in 2009, as was the town’s new waste water treatment plant worth $14.4 million.
The town council, led by Bryant and councillors Louie Tams, Abe Andres, John Papp, Terry Sargeant, Garth Bekkering and Murray Rochelle, is also working to conserve the grasslands and trout pond to the west of the municipality.
Courtesy of the Taber Times
Courtesy of the Taber Times
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