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Last updateFri, 20 Jun 2025 5pm

Waldorf celebrated in the Beer Parlour Project

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Most small towns have one, a historic hotel, in various stages of repair, a small group of locals, most known by a nickname, and a brass bar with cold drinks.
With the development of our country, came hotels, and often the only place that could be licensed to sell a libation was the hotel’s beer parlour.
Chris Doering, his wife Connie Biggart, and Rob Pohl and his wife Margarit have been getting to know quite a few of them. They are working on the Beer Parlour Project. This celebrates old-school hotel watering holes. They are documenting the history of the space, coming and learning stories from the locals and capturing it with modern digital photography as well as shooting scenics with vintage black and white film cameras.
On Saturday, June 14, they made a stop at the Waldorf Hotel.
Doering and his wife are history buffs and have been doing writing and research for years. They teamed up with photographer Rob Pohl and worked on projects. Often as they were working, they would be in a small town, and stop by the local watering hole for a snack and cool one.
“We did this a couple of times and we started looking around at these old hotels and noticed there's a lot of history right where were sitting drinking a beer and eating a burger,” said Chris.
This sparked an idea, that has grown into their project.
“We started thinking this could be a project. We’ve done coal mines grain elevators, but this would be a really people-oriented project as compared to the other ones,” he explains.
They have targeted 100-120 old taverns and have already visited over 30. They started planning in 2019, and then COVID-19 hit. They rebooted in 2022 and have been going strong.
Along the way, they have been documenting their work through collecting stories and taking photographs. They are posted at www.Beerparlourproject.com. They hope to eventually exhibit the work and possibly publish a book on their work.
He explains when they reach out to some establishments, there is a little suspicion on the other end of the phone, but after they explain what they are doing most are quite open. They spend an afternoon or evening with the innkeepers and the patrons, tour the space, and talk to the locals.
“Initially there was a lot of resistance and pushback. After about four or five, they are calling us now,” said Chris.
He explains they often go into the establishment blind to its history or reputation. They instead start the story from the people.
“We go in and learn what we can. We talk to people and say ‘Give us a story.’ We can often read about when it was built, that’s great, but let’s find out about the guy who brought a horse in, or did something interesting here,” he said.
The locations range from charming to downright scary, but he says they have never had any trouble. They respectfully approach the patrons and get consent before filming.
“Everybody opens up and sometimes they are lined up to chat,” he said.
In other instances, why have visited places where the only person to talk to is the owner.
To add to the charm Rob creates images using some retro camera equipment on this day he was shooting with an Ebony brand large format view camera with bellows, taking pictures on 4X5-inch black and white film. While the camera is from the 1990s, the technology goes back more than a century. It has its drawbacks in low lighting but brings a more authentic feel to the work.
Rob processes the negatives and then prints the work, while Doering assembles the background history, and posts the completed project to beerparlourproject.com.
Right now it is a labour of love, and they are not making any money from the project. They are paid in a lazy afternoon, with cold beer, good company and great conversations.


Nominations open for 2025 Municipal Election

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A new term of Mayor and Council for the Town of Drumheller and other municipalities across the province will be elected in October 2025, and nominations are open for those residents who are interested in putting their name forward as a prospective candidate.
The nomination period opened at the beginning of the year on January 1, and nominations will be accepted in person at Drumheller Town Hall up until 12 noon on the Nomination Day of September 22, 2025.
“The Town of Drumheller has created the 2025 Municipal Election Handbook to help guide prospective candidates,” shares Town of Drumheller Returning Officer Mitchell Visser. “It contains important information about the Town of Drumheller, such as how a municipality operates, how decisions are made, the responsibility and time commitment of an elected official, remuneration, and important bylaws and policies of the Town.”
Copies of the handbook, along with nomination papers, can be picked up in person from Town Hall at 224 Centre Street, or can be viewed online on the Town of Drumheller’s website.
Mr. Visser explains potential candidates are responsible to ensure they are eligible to run in the municipal election prior to submitting their nomination papers; eligibility requirements can be found in the Local Authorities Election Act Section 21 to Section 23.
While nominations are accepted up until noon on Nomination Day, Mr. Visser recommends anyone interested in putting their name forward as a candidate to submit their nomination papers “sooner than later.” Appointments to submit nomination papers can be made by contacting the Town’s Legislative Services department. There is no cost to submit nomination papers.
Election signage cannot be erected until after Nomination Day as per the Local Authorities Election Act. Additional information regarding campaign advertising and election signage can be found in the 2025 Municipal Election Handbook and the Town of Drumheller Election Signage Bylaw 13.21.
A registry of candidates, for both Mayor and Council, is currently available on the Town of Drumheller website at drumheller.ca/your-municipality/municipal-elections; as of press time, a single nomination for Council had been received.

Harvest Solar Farm in Hanna application denied

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The Harvest Solar Development in Hanna will not be going forward at this time after the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) denied its application.
PACE Canada Development has been working on A 15 MW solar development on 171 acres of private pastureland within the Town of Hanna, adjacent to the municipal airport. It has been met with considerable opposition.
By motion of the council, the Town of Hanna penned a letter of non-support to the developer and a Hanna Land Owners Group was formed, which encouraged residents to submit their concerns to be heard by the AUC.
PACE Canada, members of the Hanna Landowners Opposition Group, as well as the Hanna Flying Association and the Town of Hanna, all made presentations at the Hearing.
Many of the concerns centred around the safety of such a development near an uncontrolled airport. This included an emergency plan and issues with glint and glare coming from the installation.
On June 6, the AUC issued its decision. It noted its major concern was with it being in close proximity to the airport, which sees about 200 takeoffs and landings a year. With the proposed project, solar panels could have been within 120 metres of the centreline of the primary paved runway.
“The Commission finds that PACE provided insufficient evidence to persuade the Commission that the project and the Hanna Airport can safely operate together. The project would remove obstacle-free land on either side of the paved runway for aircraft performing emergency landings,” it noted in its decision. If an emergency landing by an airplane is needed due to, as examples, turbulence impacts caused by the solar arrays on aircraft landing and taking off, a bird strike, or for other reasons, then because of the project’s siting the aircraft may crash in the solar arrays. If this occurs, the solar arrays present a unique challenge for firefighters, resulting in a heightened safety risk for both firefighters and pilots.”
It also noted that PACE did not provide a sufficiently robust emergency response plan to demonstrate how risks are adequately mitigated, and found that the site is not suitable.
“Even if the Commission were to accept PACE’s submissions as to why the project would be in the public interest, including consideration of benefits such as reducing carbon in electricity generation, additional property taxes and creation of jobs, the impacts of the project in relation to safety are simply unacceptable. As a result, the Commission finds that the project is not in the public interest and therefore denies the application,” it noted.


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