After months of work by tourism stakeholders in Drumheller, a new destination marketing organization (DMO) for the town may be ready in the near future.
    A new name has been chosen for the group; Travel Drumheller. Upon formalizing the group, they will be eligible for funding from Travel Alberta.
    “We’re pretty close to moving forward on the Travel Drumheller Marketing Association. We’ve come up with a tentative structure,” said Paul Salvatore, Director of Community Services with the Town of Drumheller.
    To become fully operational, the group has recruited an executive director to take the helm.
    “This is a critical piece for the organization to move forward. It will put us in a good position to take advantage of more opportunities in tourism in the future. He has an incredible amount of enthusiasm and experience in business and not-for-profits. We had a good level of comfort with his application and the ideas he brought to the table,” said Salvatore.

Chris Curtis
New executive director of Travel Drumheller

    Chris Curtis, the new executive director, feels he can bring another perspective to the marketing efforts of Drumheller.
    “I was really excited. I’ve been to Drumheller twice and the second time I was really overwhelmed by the scenery. It’s a beautiful and unique place,” said Curtis. “I think I can bring a unique perspective. I’ve travelled all over the world and worked in 45 different countries. Quite often, if you live close to something, you don’t see the beauty that other people, like a tourist, might see.”
    Curtis is preparing to make the move from Halifax. Upon arriving, he will start by engaging tourism sector businesses and see how best to move forward from there.
    “I’ve done a lot of work helping get into the tourism business as entrepreneurs,” said Curtis. “The best thing to do is to talk to people in the community and find, from those discussions, what needs to happen. I have some ideas, but it needs to be driven by the community and it’s my job to see that it happens.”
    Early estimates had the organization up and running this summer. The timeline has been pushed back slightly and the organization will move ahead once Curtis arrives in Drumheller.

    One of Drumheller’s most beloved features will remain largely closed for the immediate future.
    Sections of the Drumheller Nature Trail that were flooded two weeks ago will remain closed until Town of Drumheller crews are able to clean up the mud and debris that has inundated the trails.

Parts of the Drumheller Nature Trail continue to be closed following the flood two weeks ago. Lower lying parts of the trail were flooded and are now covered in a layer of mud. Town crews will be attempting to clean the trail intermittently, but the clean-up is being labeled a lower priority than repairing dikes and flood related damage.

    Stretches of the trail next to the river were blocked prior to the flood reaching its peak.  Since the flood, safety concerns are still present, including slippery conditions and possible erosion.
    “Obviously there is a concern. If our staff have ribboned it off, there’s a reason for that,” said Allan Kendrick, Director of Infrastructure Services for the Town of Drumheller. “There’s probably going to be more sinkholes or sloughing of the banks. We expect more issues to show up.”
    The wait for the trails to fully reopen may be longer than residents had hoped.
    “We have ten pages of things to get to after the flood. The trails are a lower priority than fixing sink holes on the street for example,” said Kendrick.
    However, town crews will be approaching the trail clean-up intermittently over the summer.
    “We had a couple of the guys on the trails this morning (Wednesday, July 10). The mud is tough to move and our guys are sliding all over. It’s still pretty greasy. We tried to clear a couple spots, around the train bridge and two or three other places, but I think it’s going to be an intermittent approach over the next few days if we get some hot, dry weather,” said Kendrick. “Some areas have eight inches and others have two. It’s something we’d like to get to, but we’re limited by the equipment we can get in there.”
    Since the flood, Town crews have been tackling projects that were placed on hold during the flood, such as cast iron water main replacement, street improvements, and hydrant flushing.
    In addition they have been working on repairing dikes, cleaning up damage on properties throughout town, and compiling a post-flood to-do list.
    “We’re working our way through the list. It’s an ongoing process and we’re working on finalizing our report. Then we’ll approach the provincial and federal governments to see if there is any money available for repairs and other work,” said Kendrick. “In some areas, we are looking at increasing the elevation of the diking and repairing any damage we can find.”
    For now, residents are being asked to refrain from using closed sections of the trail until town crews can clean and repair any damage.
    “It’s summer and everybody wants to get out and use the trails, including me, my wife, and dog,” said Kendrick. “We’ll get to it as quickly as possible.”