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.