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Last updateFri, 19 Apr 2024 5pm

Spark Youth Fair comes to BCF

Ignite UR Spark Poster

Over 800 youth will attend the Ignite Your Spark Youth Fair to experience spark opportunities by connecting with an adult spark champion come Wednesday, September 27.

Spark champions will engage youth in their shared spark, and help them discover ways to pursue their spark within our community. A spark is something that ignites passion and fuels creativity for youth. This fair is specifically designed to create that initial spark and help a student find a new hobby or potential career.

The Badlands Community Facility (BCF) will be packed with different activities from art and music to science and sports and everything in between.

Organizer April Harrison shared that the engaging nature of the fair will be very distinctive compared to other expos.

“It’s an opportunity for these kids to come along and try something and see if it ignites that spark in them if this is something they want to carry on with,” Harrison explained.

Students in grades five to 12 from local schools in Carbon, Delia, Drumheller, Morrin, and Wheatland Crossing will be in attendance.

With that being said, a confirmed 42 spark champions will be represented with more yet to be approved.

Some of the confirmed hands-on activities include; boxing, bull riding, scuba diving, cooking, parkour, computer animation, archery, go-karts, magic the gathering, and yoga to name a few.

“It’s super different to an expo. It’s not a you go along and you get information, leaflets from each table, no. Every single one of the things that are listed, you get to try some aspect of that thing. So with kayaking, you get to go out on the river. With scuba diving, it will be out at the Aquaplex in the outdoor pool,” said Harrison.

A massive sponsorship was provided by the Rotary Club of Drumheller.

The Drumheller & Area ASSET Development Coalition fosters the developmental assets that children and adolescents need to become healthy, caring, productive, successful adults.

They were the ones behind the scenes coordinating to make this nation wide fair available to students in Drumheller and area.

If anyone is interested in be- coming a spark champion and providing youth with a new spark, contact April Harrison at 403-823-1315 or by email at aharrison@dinosaurvalley.com


Hussar viability review on hold for municipal election

hussar pic

A viability review for the Village of Hussar has been suspended as the municipal election looms near.

The Village requested the Minister of Municipal Affairs to complete a viability review in the summer of 2015. As defined by the Ministry, a viability review is a process where a municipality's governance, finances, infrastructure, and services are reviewed to determine whether changes are required for the community to remain viable.

Mayor Tim Frank tells The Mail, the suspension of the review is the normal course of the process when an election falls in the same timetable of a review.

“It has been put off until the end of the election, by ministerial order,” said Frank. “It is the same with every one of the viability studies in the province. It just takes a little uncertainty out of the elections.”

While a viability review typically takes about a year, Hussar has been going on now for about two.

“Our infrastructure study took a long time. We are basically waiting on the results of a few final things to finish the infrastructure report,” he said.

A viability review is not a dissolution study, but a strategy to improve long-term viability. A team was assembled with representatives from the Ministry, the Village of Hussar, Wheatland County, and municipal associations. Throughout the process, there are the consultations with the community. The village initiated the infrastructure review in early 2016.

According to the ministry, if a municipality is trending towards viability, the review will be concluded. If it is trending towards non-viability, the process moves into its second phase.

This phase includes a viability plan and typically comes down to two options. These include remaining as a municipality, but making changes into the way the municipality is governed or administered, or to be dissolved into an adjacent municipality.

It states, “If council votes in favour of dissolution, a public vote is held by ministry staff to determine the community's preference on the options presented.”

Currently, there are 10 communities in the province undergoing a viability review.

Frank expects the process will wrap up around the end of the year or early in 2018.

Camp Rock

Camp Rock

All kinds of talents were on display at Camp BCF’s week long Drumheller’s Got Talent extravaganza. Campers ended the week with a performance showcasing everything from art to dance, mime and even puppetry.

The grand finale was an air band featuring Isaac Treller, Ashton Hanczik, Zachary Jared and Josh Unland rocking out to Thunderstruck by ACDC.

(mailphoto by Patrick Kolafa)


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