Last weekend our community acknowledged our amazing volunteers and the dedication they display by  being there for the causes that help keep things running around here. The occasion was the annual municipally sponsored volunteer dinner  and at that event the one and only Anita Ferguson was called up to the stage for the volunteer of the year award. You just don’t get any better than Anita when it comes to commitment to community.  There are so many that are pitching in but it is becoming tougher and tougher as interest in volunteerism is waning. People burn out and interest groups are always looking for new blood. 

Ever since I was a youngster I have had a fascination with caves. It has never left me and I find myself inevitably drawn to any dark shadow or interesting feature of any depth in a rock face. I guess that is why I didn’t “bat” an eye when I went to work 2 1/2  miles underground  in the Vicary Mine while in college. Spelunking is probably a in-bred after effect of my coal mining family history.

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) has been supporting a provincial travelling exhibit program (TREX) for over 45 years now.  It provides every Albertan with the opportunity to enjoy visual art exhibitions in their community.  

The following is a reprinting of a profoundly interesting submittal to the now defunct Elk Valley Miner in 2011.  The introduction below the title of the article says. 

“Compiled and written by Harold Travis (S.S.M . CP).”

The Ukrainian bandura is more than an instrument. For generations, travelling kobzari carried history in song. Russian imperial restrictions and Soviet repression sought to silence them. Today, the bandura’s revival has become another note in Ukraine’s resilience. 

On Friday, Jan. 30, musicians and community members gathered for the opening of a special exhibit on the second floor of the Crowsnest Museum celebrating the 100 year history of the Crowsnest Community Orchestra. The evening featured selections by a five string ensemble and charcuterie provided by Country Encounters.

On Saturday, Jan. 31, Crowsnest Allied Arts kicked off its latest offering to the public entitled “No Particular Topic.” This annual show is a blend of artistic styles from local and area artists, and this year’s show has a lovely mixture of styles and subjects. The show will run until March 1. Be sure to drop by. The gallery is open seven days a week and is a great place for gifting or indulging in local art.

After surviving Robbie Burns Day with Glenallachie single malt and haggis from Bon Ton Meat Market, then recalled the legendary winter of 1995 and 1996 in Fernie when a trip to the Elk River Inn produced a tongue in cheek “prediction” from three shaggy Shih Tzus whose shadows sealed the joke and sparked another round.

From a teen immigrant in a Saskatchewan coal mine to cutting props on Crowsnest Mountain and building early logging roads, the Juhlin family story traces how Magnus and Grace carved out a self sufficient life in the backcountry above Coleman.

From the historic Pepsi mural to the rebuilt neon sign and front canopy, the Roxy Revival is all about process. Don Budgen explains how careful research, skilled trades and community fundraising are bringing Coleman’s landmark theatre back to life.

The Crowsnest Pass Public Art Gallery is showing David Harrison’s solo exhibit, Works on Paper: A Retrospective, through Dec. 7. The art educator and conceptual painter reprocesses urban graffiti into geometric matrices that explore decay and abstraction.

CNP Allied Arts Association will host a community visioning workshop on Nov. 9 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. as it plans a new community art hub after Alberta Transportation purchased the gallery building for Highway 3 widening. The gallery remains open in Frank with a Nov. 8 exhibit launch.

Kinnear challenges removal of a healthy, century old Blairmore cottonwood, saying the park path could have curved to save it. Calls for a heritage tree inventory and council review process after more utility tree cuts, including a 19th Street cottonwood and firs felled in 2022.

This story started with an invitation by my brother to go to the Middle Kootenay Pass to my father’s favourite huckleberry patch and where he had buried dad’s ashes some years ago.