Those who haven’t visited Rockyford in the past couple years are in for a pleasant surprise when next they visit the village. Recent developments and renovations have utterly transformed Rockyford.
Main Street is lined with buildings, new and old, sporting a crisp boomtown look and individuals, businesses, and governments are investing in the community like never before.
“Rockyford is really moving ahead quickly these days and Main Street is looking quite nice,” said Lois Mountjoy, Rockyford CAO.
There are a bevy of new businesses taking root in Rockyford or constructing new buildings, such as Rockyford Agencies, the gas co-op, and a furniture company is setting up shop. The Village of Rockyford built a new village office after the previous one burnt down. This past weekend saw the opening of the new Rockyford Fire Hall.
On top of renewed investment in the community, the village is undergoing a bit of a face lift. All new buildings on Main Street and Railway Avenue are now required, as part of the village’s bylaws, to conform to a boomtown aesthetic.
Rockyford Agencies is credited with getting the ball rolling five years ago when they built their new home.
“In the last few years there’s been quite a bit of upgrading and new buildings. It’s good to see people are investing money and putting up new buildings in town,” said Kevin Elder, owner of Rockyford Agencies.
Tragedy struck when the previous Village Office burnt down. Like a phoenix out of the ashes, the new Village Office arose better than before. Village officials used the opportunity to change the look of the entire village.
"After the fire, we designed our building to have the boomtown look. We adapted a bylaw a few years ago which requires businesses to have turn of the century frontage on their buildings,” said Rockyford Mayor Darcy Burke. “It has really changed the look of Rockyford.”
The look has been garnering a lot of comments from visitors and perhaps more importantly, is being supported by many residents. Businesses have been renovating to incorporate the new look.
“We brought the grocery store back to something more old fashioned. It’s great. There are quite a few buildings that have changed in town. It’s made a big difference in Rockyford and really cleaned up the town,” said Brenda Sproule, who owns Rockyford Grocery with her husband Wes. The grocery facade was done like an old log cabin.
“It’s given the town character and consistency. We’re still a ways from tourism, but now when people drive into town, it has that western character to it. It makes a big difference. I hope it’s something we’ll continue,” said Seamus Ryan, owner of Rockyford Repair and Sales and the car wash.
“We have new people and existing people buying in. We’ve had comments from visitors saying it looks like Heritage Park. When people come, there’s definitely something here to see. It shows what a community can do when people get together and have a common goal,” said Burke.
In the meantime, renovations will continue and the village council is working to encourage more businesses to invest in Rockyford. By attracting more businesses, employment, traffic, and population will hopefully rise.
“In small towns, it’s hard to attract business,” said Burke. “If we see a business showing interest, Council definitely is proactive in doing whatever we can to help them move here.”