Showing 114 results

Authority record

150th Anniversary Celebration Committee

  • MHM
  • Corporate body
  • 2008 - 2011

In 2011, St. Albert celebrated 150 years since its foundation in 1861. The 150th Anniversary Celebration Committee was established in 2008 with the Mission of organizing celebrations for this 150th anniversary that would engage citizens in the past, present, and future of the city. The Values of this Committee were inclusiveness, stewardship, respect, diversity, innovation, understanding, participation, and volunteerism. Margaret Plain was appointed Chair of the Committee in May 2008. Carol Watamaniuk was the vice-chair and the other Committee members were Barry Bailey, Abi Iskander, Kevin Jones, Susan Jones, Doug Kennedy, and Kent La Rose. Various sub-committees were formed to support and help the Committee, including Volunteer, Sponsorship, Partner and Operations support, Communications, Youth, Homecoming, and Rendezvous Picnic.

The Committee hosted and partnered in a variety of celebration activities over the course of 2011. There were numerous unveilings of arts and heritage pieces, such as the 150th Anniversary Quilt, George Todd Memorial, Millie Seitz Volunteer sculpture, Heart of Our Community Mural, and Star Woman sculpture. The opening of Founders' Walk and the grand reopening of the restored Grain Elevators were also included as part of the celebration. Other notable celebration events were a production of "The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon" from Jan. 14-16, 2011; the Canadian Western Bank Rendezvous 2011 Gala on Jan. 22, 2011; Family Day Snow Festival on Feb. 21, 2011; Cupcake Challenge on May 1, 2011; Meet the Street on June 12, 2011; Soapbox Derby on June 19, 2011; Battle of the Bands on July 1, 2011; Lehigh Hanson Rendezvous 2011 Homecoming event on July 16, 2011; Rendezvous Picnic on Aug. 28, 2011; and numerous parades.

Sturgeon Toastmistress Club

  • MHM
  • Corporate body
  • 1970 - 1996

The International Toastmistress Clubs was founded in California, USA in 1938 to promote the public speaking and leadership abilities of women. The St. Albert local chapter, Sturgeon Toastmistress Club, formed its initial interim executive in 1970 and held its first organizational meeting on Feb. 26, 1970. The first official executive included Marian Ladell as President, Laurie Saunders as first vice-president, Marie Neidig as secretary, and Margaret Doepal as treasurer. Deputy Mayor John de Bruin signed a proclamation naming the week of Oct. 25-31, 1970 as “Toastmistress Week.” On Nov. 26, 1975, Ted Langford the first male member was inducted into the club, and he later became president. In 1981, And Mayor Richard Fowler recognized the club by proclaiming October as "Toastmistress Month." In 1985, the parent organization was renamed International Training in Communication or ITC. The St. Albert club was disbanded in 1996.

Kinsmen Club of St. Albert

  • MHM
  • Corporate body
  • 1964 -

The Kinsmen Club of St. Albert was chartered May 4, 1964 with Michael Page elected Charter President. The initial formation was under the guidance of the sponsoring Edmonton Kinsmen Club. It chartered with a total of 33 members.

  • Service and fundraising projects include the minor hockey club, Kincinema, Tot-Lot playground equipment, fundraising for cystic fibrosis, Blood Donor Clinic, Skate-a-thon, Peanut Nite.
  • Built Kinsmen/RCMP Centennial Centre in Lacombe Park, KinEx Arena in Akinsdale, Kinsmen Korral Sports Park and Rodeo Grounds.
  • Established Kin national project: Shining Light Child Abuse Prevention Program.

St. Albert Kinsmen also have two auxiliary clubs: St. Albert Kinette Club (chartered in 1967) and St. Albert K40 Club. St. Albert Kinsmen Club were responsible for chartering the Fort Saskatchewan Kinsmen (1969) and Morinville Kinsmen Club.

The Kinsmen took on the sponsorship of a Rodeo in the spring of 1965 in conjunction with St. Albert's 104th anniversary and to raise funds for service projects. The first three rodeos were rained out leading to the name Rainmaker Rodeo.

St. Albert Festival of the Arts society

  • MHM
  • Corporate body
  • 1979 - 1990

The Festival of the Arts was put on in July in St. Albert annually from 1979 as part of the Summer Games celebrations until 1990 when the Society folded. It included Craft Fair and Sale, Exhibitions of art, poetry contests, dinner theatre and music review, outdoor plays and variety shows, writer's seminar, photography contest, citizenship ceremony and concerts. Kathleen Rowlands was president for a number of years.

Fyfe, Myrna

  • MHM
  • Person
  • 1941 -

Myrna Catherine Fyfe was born Aug. 20, 1941. She was the first female municipal councillor and provincial MLA for St. Albert. She served as a member of the St. Albert municipal council from 1973-1977 and for two terms as a Member of Legislative Assembly for the St. Albert Constituency from 1979-1986. Fyfe also served as President of the University Hospital Foundation for 22 year.

St. Albert Healing Garden

  • MHM
  • official opening, 15 Sep 2017

The Healing Garden was created along the Red Willow Trail across from St. Albert Place in 2017 to recognize and acknowledge the survivors of Indian Residential Schools in St. Albert. It is meant to be a therapeutic place of reconciliation that will bring awareness, education, and cultural teachings to the community. The Healing Garden is a community project led by a planning committee consisting of survivors of Indian Residential Schools, representatives from the First Nations and Métis communities, the United Church, the Catholic Church, the general community and the City of St. Albert. One of the first of its kind in Canada, the collaborative initiative between the City of St. Albert and greater community acknowledges survivors of Indian Residential Schools and provides a place of truth and reconciliation. St. Albert was home to two residential schools: St. Albert Indian Residential School (Youville, located on Mission Hill) and Edmonton Indian Residential School (current site of the Poundmaker's Lodge Treatment Centres, located about six km east of downtown St. Albert).

St. Albert Historical Society

  • MHM
  • Corporate body
  • 1969 -

In 1969, Father Colin Levangie, OMI recruited volunteers to update the displays at Musée Lacombe Museum which was established in 1929. One of the volunteers, Arlene Borgstede, directed two committees; one on the care of collections and the other on display work. The committee which cared for the collections was responsible for cataloguing and finding the provenance of artifacts which had no inventory. The ownership of the artifacts belonged to either the Oblates of Mary Immaculate or the Archdiocese of Edmonton. By 1971, the Father Lacombe Museum Board was formed to help administer the museum and the artifacts. At this point, Musée Lacombe Museum changed its name to Father Lacombe Museum. The Museum Board was incorporated in 1972 as the St. Albert Historical Society (SAHS) with Arlene Borgstede as president. The society was interested in managing, collecting and preserving materials related to the history of St. Albert as well as administering the Father Lacombe Museum and increasing public awareness of St. Albert’s history. In 1975, SAHS hired a permanent Heritage Officer to coordinate museum work, conduct tours and answer reference requests.
SAHS was also responsible for the establishment of the Albert Lacombe Historical Foundation (ALHF) in 1977. The ALHF formed in response to the Oblates’ plans to demolish Vital Grandin Centre, also known as the Bishop’s Residence. ALHF’s purpose was to sponsor, establish and administer a historical complex including Father Lacombe Chapel and Vital Grandin Centre on St. Albert’s Mission Hill. In 1978, SAHS conducted a historical buildings inventory. Once the province designated Vital Grandin Centre a provincial historic site, the ALHF disbanded. From 1977 to 1983, SAHS administered the Father Lacombe Museum during the summer months under the auspices of Provincial Historic Sites. SAHS was responsible for hiring staff, managing programs, receiving money to administer the chapel and paying for operations.
In 1980, SAHS undertook a project to restore the bells on Mission hill. Father Émile Tardiff, OMI believed that the bells were cracked so he rested the bells in a stone frame in 1957. Later, it was discovered that the bells were out of tune and not cracked and as a project for Alberta’s 75th anniversary, the bells were restored into a campanile. This restoration took place with the assistance of Canadian Pacific Railway and the federal government.
SAHS was extensively involved in the planning and development of St. Albert Place, the city’s civic, cultural and administrative complex. In 1983 the Musée Héritage Museum was opened. SAHS gave Musée its small collection of artifacts and Musée had to treat those artifacts as loans. Care of the artifacts and exhibits became the responsibility of the new museum under the City of St. Albert.
In 1988, SAHS organized a Homecoming to have a reunion for significant and founding families and individuals of the community. With the homecoming, SAHS undertook a project called Founder’s Walk. They laid out a shale walkway and plaques as well as planted trees to honour significant and founding families and peoples for St. Albert. The shale walkway was not maintained and, in 2006, the society initiated a project to make a new Founder’s Walk. The City of St. Albert, SAHS and a number of stakeholders and funding contributors were involved in the project. The new Founder’s Walk was completed in 2011 for St. Albert’s 150th anniversary and resulted in historical panels, landscaping and a walkway to honour St. Albert’s history.
SAHS was also involved in publications and much of their collection developed around their publishing activities. Their publications include St. Albert: A Pictorial History (1978), Black Robe’s Vision: A History of St. Albert and District (1985), and A Week in the Life of St. Albert (1990). SAHS also created videos regarding St. Albert’s History. In 2001, Then, Now and Forever was produced.
In 2011, the society undertook a Buffalo Hunt project to honour the buffalo hunt as a heritage activity that was crucial to the first settlers of St. Albert. According to the society, agriculture was not sufficient for the community to survive and the hunt was integral to the fecundicity of the community. The Buffalo Hunt project resulted in a statue erected on south-east corner of Sir Winston Churchill and Perron St.
SAHS was renamed St. Albert Heritage Society from 1998 to 2005, but returned to its original incorporated name in 2005. The aims of the SAHS from this point were to encourage an appreciation of the history of St. Albert by preserving and promoting the history of St. Albert and area.
The SAHS voted to dissolve the organization at their AGM on Sept. 26, 2020.

St. Albert Community Band

  • MHM
  • Corporate body
  • 1970 -

The St. Albert Community Band was founded in 1970 by its first director, Gerry Wennes, two members of the Lions' Club, John Kaminski and William Cuts, and its president, Gerry Buccini. The Band has continued to grow from its original 25 members to its current membership of over 70 musicians. The Community Band features a concert band, a jazz band, and smaller ensemble groups.

St. Albert National Aboriginal Day Society

  • MHM
  • Corporate body
  • 2009 -

The Society hosts and plans an annual event showcases and celebrates the Indigenous community through Dance, Music and Artisans of the Inuit, First Nation and Métis peoples. The first one held was in 2009.

Blodgett, Elke

  • MHM
  • Person
  • 1936 - 2018

Elke Blodgett was born in 1936 in Lepzig, Germany. Her father was a chemical engineer, who first taught her about caring for the environment and living off the land. Her first love of nature began with picking blueberries on her family's East Prussian estate. In her youth, she lived in England, Switzerland, France, Greece and the United States before moving to Canada in 1966. She was married to Ted [Edward Dickinson] Blodgett. She attended the University of Minnesota and completed her Bachelor of Arts Degree in a year and a half.

Blodgett moved to St. Albert in 1966. After exploring the St. Albert river valley and Big Lake, Blodgett became an all-round watchdog, resolving to do all she could to maintain its environmental integrity. She was a founding member off the Anti-Bypass Coalition, and was subsequently elected spokesperson. She was involved in gathering over 10,000 signatures in the 1997 petition to encourage city council to consider all possible routes for the western bypass. She also successfully lobbied for Big Lake to be designated under the Special Places 2000 program. She was a participant on the city committees St. Albert Red Willow Park Update and Parks and Open Spaces Committee. She is involved in continuous efforts to clean up the river valley, and to report transgressions to Alberta Environment.

Elke Blodgett is also an artist focused on pottery, particularly hand-building, raku, wood kiln construction, and primitive firing. Her works are in collections world-wide including the Banff Centre permanent collection, Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa), and the Consulate-General of Japan (Edmonton). She has been a part of many solo and group exhibitions. She has won dozens of prizes for her work including first prize in Reflections on Three Plains Ceramics Exhibition (Winnipeg), honourable mention in Showcase '80 Juried Travelling Exhibition (Alberta), first prize in Raku, Primitive Pottery and Wheelwork, (Stony Plain), as well as many purchase awards. She has also taught courses in hand-building, raku pottery and kiln construction.

Elke Blodgett passed away on February 15, 2018 in Edmonton, Alberta.

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