Bassano
Bassano – Alberta's best kept secret
Medicine Hat News
With its prime location along the Trans-Canada Highway between Calgary and Brooks, some call Bassano Alberta’s best kept secret.
"We're a tight-knit community,” says town councillor Les Schmidt. "We held an air show here this year... and when we counted up all the volunteers it took to organize the show and put it on there were over 70 volunteers from town. I thought it was quite remarkable."
The town of just under 1,500 has a history of strong community spirit. In 2008, residents raised $1.4 million to build a new pool and recreation facility, completed last year. For the last weekend of June, over 40 volunteers coordinate the annual Bassano Amateur Rodeo, which brings up to 100 Southern Alberta cowboys to town for saddle bronc riding, barrel racing and other events.
And when the town council began actively searching for a new doctor for the community in 2009, community volunteers pitched in to coordinate the effort.
In addition to the new recreation facilities, Bassano’s public school received a $9 million renovation last year. A new town office was also built, leading Schmidt to joke that 2009 was “ a year of a lot of construction."
A residential subdivision north of the city’s golf course is also being planned for 2010.
The Bassano Dam, located about eight kilometres southwest of the community, diverts water from the Bow River to provide irrigation for 1,200 farmers via the Eastern Irrigation District’s 4,800 kilometre network of canals and drains.
This network has kept the town’s agricultural sector thriving, with farmers producing a variety of crops including barley, potatoes and wheat. Manufacturing and agricultural support businesses also play a strong role in the local economy.
Come visit...
502 2nd Ave. Box 299 Bassano, Alberta T0J 0B0
townbass@telus.net
Residential growth in Bassano has been slow but consistent, and the town has avoided the frantic expansions and sudden slumps seen in some communities, a pattern Schmidt predicts will continue in the future.
"Do I see huge growth happening in the future? Probably not. But I do see steady - and that's not bad," he says.
Schmidt and councilors Kenneth Andrejcin, Darrell McCoomb, Edward Maurer, Kyle Marks, Richard Doherty and Mayor Audrey Wilcox are currently working with Alberta Health Services to determine the future of the town’s hospital.
Brooks
Medicine Hat News
Mayor Martin Shields can sum up the last year in the city of Brooks with one word: “Challenging.”
The city of over 13,000 is home to one of Alberta’s most active natural gas fields, which suffered significant difficulties when gas prices dropped in 2009. The area’s agriculture industry also took a hit, with cattle bringing in lower prices than hoped.
“It's been a rough transition," says Shields of the recent downturn. "I think we saw more of a pick up in business, but it's still been a tough year in the oil and gas industry."
In recent years, Brooks has become one of the fastest growing communities in Alberta, with a diverse, multicultural population which includes immigrants from Russia, Romania, South Africa, Mexico, Sudan and southeast Asia. And while growth hasn’t stopped, Shields says the city isn’t seeing the breakneck expansion of recent years.
“There was not the growth we would have experienced in the '06 to '08 time period,” he says. “We probably have maintained, but we haven't had the growth."
However, he says the city is still seeing steady foreign immigration due to the presence of its largest employer, Lakeside Packers meat packing plant. The plant employs many of the city’s 1,000 temporary foreign workers and 2,000 refugees from around the world, as well as workers from other parts of Canada.
Despite recent setbacks, Shields still believes the town is
12 — REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA 2010 ■ Celebrating our Community
on track to reach a population of 20,000 people within the next 25 years.
In 2009, Brooks was named one of Canada’s 10 best places to work by Money Sense magazine for its comparatively low home prices and higher than average household incomes.
Tourism is also on the rise in the area. A major hub in the Canadian Badlands, Brooks provides easy access to Lake Newell and nearby communities such as Patricia and Rosemary.
The Brooks Rotary Club also holds an annual Dinosaur Pump it Up run in nearby Dinosaur Provincial Park, attracting runners from across the province. In winter, the Cactus Pheasant Classic - part of the ASHAM World Curling Tour - brings top curling teams from across the globe to the city.
Though he doesn’t expect the Brooks economy to fully recover in 2010, Shields points out that this year will still be one of celebration. The city turns 100 in July, and the Eastern Irrigation District will celebrate its 75th anniversary.
The District, which includes Brooks’ two and a half mile- long aqueduct, is an irrigation project originally built by the Canadian Pacific Railway to attract settlers to the area. The project enabled the city to become the major centre for livestock, grain and vegetable production it is today.
The city is also set to host the 2010 Southern Alberta Summer Games from July 7 to 10.
Photos courtesy of Canadian Badlands
Photos courtesy of Canadian Badlands
52310500•03/30/10
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