Party of the century cont.
“We have quite a few things planned,” Bedwell explains. “We’re re-doing the park on Main Street and we’re building a 30-ft-high clock tower. We’ll dedicate that during centennial. We just needed something at the height of Main Street. The elevators and train station were always there, and when that last elevator came down it was just like a hole in the community, a gap. So some of the coffeeshop fellows started to thinking: Why don’t we put in a big clock tower?”
Bedwell says Oyen’s centennial will be an exciting occasion with some wonderful events designed to appeal to all ages.
“There’s something for everybody. There’s a farmers market, an outdoor movie, a ball tournament and a kids’ zone. It’s going to be huge! The big fireworks show is going to be on Friday night (Aug. 2), and we have a dance on Saturday. We have the big parade on August 3 and lots of other things to do.”
Mayor Paul Christianson says he loves the hometown atmosphere of Oyen and is looking forward to sharing this with the town’s centennial visitors.
“In Oyen you meet people on the street and everybody waves. People wave at people they don’t even know. That’s just the way we are down here,” says Christianson. “I think this centennial event is a great way to celebrate the town. Everybody is so focused on work and family, and it’s just a good time to sit back and enjoy. It’s going to be a lot of work, but I think everybody will enjoy seeing the old family and friends that used to live here. I think it is going to be a great event.”
From dusty settler days to thriving modern town with full amenities, Oyen continues to grow and look to the future with great confidence while never forgetting its pioneer past. ■
By CHRIS BROWN W 38 | 2013 REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA
ith a hockey career that took him from Medicine Hat to Calgary and across the pond, Rick Brink put the biscuit in the basket more than a few times.
But his biggest score came off the ice.
Brink, the founder and CEO of Weddingstar, the international wedding supply company headquartered in Dunmore, began his own trip to the altar while playing professional hockey in Denmark. After growing up in the Medicine Hat minor hockey system and a short stint with the Medicine Hat Tigers, Brink moved to Calgary and got a degree in telecommunications from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. He was working for AGT, but couldn't shake the idea of playing professional hockey in Europe. Brink quit his job and enrolled at the University of Calgary. He tried out for the Dinos hockey, hoping to make the team and make some contacts that would help him get a deal in Europe. It worked. Brink was approached by a team out of Esbjerg to play for them.
"I fulfilled a dream,” he says.
Brink was there from 1981-83 and will never forget his time in Denmark – mainly because his wife is a constant reminder. He met Helle while playing for Esbjerg and when he returned to Canada, she came with him. The pair's courtship continued in Calgary, they fell in love and eventually Brink proposed in Bowness Park.
"It was really special because it was actually the same place where my parents got engaged when they were young," he says with a smile.
The couple went back to Denmark for the
wedding on July 19, 1986. Brink says the entire day was a far cry from the typical North American wedding back then, and especially far from what he and his company help put together these days.
"Weddings are a lot smaller over there," he says, adding that the 60-70 people at his wedding was considered large for Denmark. "It's more just immediate family. I was surprised that some of my wife’s relatives weren’t invited. Over here it could be a relative that you’ve only seen two or three times but you still invite them to the wedding. So our weddings can be 200-300 people and there it’s immediate family and close relatives. I had a number of people from the hockey team there and to me that was normal to do, whereas over there that’s not traditional."
The reception was also a revelation for Brink. They’re a long affair that can last around six hours before the dance begins.
"The meal can take quite a long time because you’re served something and all of a sudden the organ player starts up and the music starts and it’s a whole bunch of songs that somebody made up," he says. "And they pass it around and everybody sings that song to the bride and groom and then they do a toast and then there’s some more food that comes out and then there’s another song and people get up and give speeches. It seems like it could be a very long process but it actually goes quite quick because there’s so much happening and not a lot of downtime."
They tried to incorporate a few North American traditions into the wedding – decorating the car, adding the cake topper – and saw their wedding as a chance to get some products from their fledgling new company out there.
At the time, Weddingstar was struggling to
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