If dinosaurs ate pancakes, they would probably head to DinoFest this weekend!
    The DinoFest free pancake breakfast runs both Saturday and Sunday morning from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m, serving up pancakes, sausages, juice and coffee. The breakfasts are sponsored by the local Freson Bros. and Drumheller’s Rotary Club.
    The DinoFest site, full of free family fun, is once again at the foot of the World’s Largest Dinosaur.
    There are a number of sponsors for DinoFest, which means people can go to DinoFest to have a lot of fun and not spend a lot of money.
    The Encana’s Kidzone is free, offering kids a Jurassic Park themed bouncy castle and a 25-foot inflatable slide to have some fun on.
    Free ATB Financial Movie nights are happening on the three-story screen at the World’s Largest Dinosaur, scheduled to start at 10:30 p.m.
    Bring your chairs, blankets, drinks and snacks down (don’t forget the mosquito spray...), and settle in for some extra-big-screen entertainment.
    Friday night’s movie is The Croods, nominated for  Best Animated Feature at the 2014 Academy Awards.
    The movie centers on a pre-historic family travelling in search of a new home.
    Saturday night’s movie scheduled for a 10:30 p.m. start is Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
    It tells the story of three people’s journey to a different world far beneath the surface of the earth.
    Warner Bros. describes this movie as “an exciting adventure based on the classic Jules Verne Novel.”
    The Badlands Community Facility will host the movies inside their facility in the event the weather is too poor for outside viewing.
    Also to enjoy at DinoFest, the Royal Tyrrell Museum will have a science education team providing hands on displays, story time on the main stage, and a 15 minute interactive Science Break that teaches information on the prehistoric world.
    There’s plenty of entertainment on the DinoFest Main Stage, starting off on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. when the Drumheller Valley Secondary School’s choir performs.
    For a list of events taking place on the Main Stage, visit the “Dinotainment” heading on the DinoFest website at www.drumhellerdinofest.com.
    The complete weekend schedule of events is posted on the DinoFest website.
    Entry into the DinoFest parades is free of charge. There are two parades this year, the first Friday night at 5:00 p.m., and the second Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m.
    DinoFest has vendors and artisans scheduled for the festival from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
     Come out and cheer on the athletes entered in the DinoFest Triathalon, which starts Saturday at 9:00 a.m.
    Sunday morning at 9 a.m. is a free 5 K Family Fun Run.
    And don’t forget to  purchase some tickets to try out local restaurants in “Taste of the Valley” from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
    And here’s hoping the weather co-operates....

    Suncor Energy Products Inc. wind turbine energy project in the Handhills is moving closer to receiving regulatory approval.
    Keith Knudsen, Renewable Energy Engineer and the Project Manager, said Suncor responded to the last round of information requests from the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) in May of this year,
    The application will now be advertised to accept any submissions from affected parties  until the submission deadline of June 26.
    “The two processes we’re going through at the moment are the AUC application and the inter-connection application, which are connected but they’re sort of two different approvals, so we’re working through both those; and the inter-connection - we’re facing the same kind of challenges (as BluEarth Renewables) with getting the infrastructure in place from the Alberta Electric System Operator perspective,” said Knudsen.
    The Mail reported in last week’s edition that BluEarth Renewables Handhills wind project deadline was extended to 2018, waiting on separate approval for transmission lines. 
    Knudsen said he hopes his company can help move that approval process forward.
    “Once we get that (AUC) permit, then we’re going to be pushing to get that inter-connection permit in place,” he notes.
    Suncor applied in 2012 to the AUC for approval of an 80 megawatt wind power plant about six kilometres south of Delia.
    If Suncor’s project permit is approved, Knudsen said pre-construction, such as roads and collector lines for the turbines, could start as early as this year.