KELSEY, Alta. (Staff) – Sitting under a group of silvery poplar trees on a vacant lot on main street is a red caboose.
One snowy day in January 1997 the shabby looking CN caboose, covered with grease and grime, arrived in Kelsey and was deposited where the Alberta Wheat Pool elevator used to stand.
No one is sure how, but along with the popular dinner theatre, the caboose may hold the key to Kelsey’s survival.
“The caboose is a symbol of the future,” said Kelsey farmer Don Gregorwich, who managed to talk CN out of the mothballed equipment. It took four years from the time Gregorwich first thought of the idea while having coffee at the elevator, until the caboose rolled into Kelsey.
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“I met an awful lot of nice people at CN along the way. We kind of kept in touch and one day it just kind of happened.”
The overwhelming success of the dinner theatre has allowed the Kelsey community to dream that it has the ability to attract something new to the hamlet, 30 kilometres southeast of Camrose.
By this time next year, community members want the caboose to be part of the hall where the dinner theatre is held.
“We want to put together some kind of strategy for rural development for our little spot. We don’t have a clue about what we’re going to do. The caboose is a short-term focus.”
A survey of residents should give the community ideas for development.
“As a group, we’re trying to decide what our next direction will be,” said Wendy Gregorwich.
The future may include continuing the popular dinner theatre. This year it took just over two hours to sell all the tickets to the nine-day run of the show.
“I wouldn’t even want to guess how many tickets we could of sold,” said farmer Dennis Anderson, in charge of ticket sales.
Asking the volunteer cast to do more shows isn’t realistic, said Gerald Pilger, of Ohaton, director of this year’s play Opening Night. Rehearsals begin in October for the February production.
“Where do you go from here and how do we handle what we’ve grown from?” said Pilger who was involved in the first production six years ago.
“I don’t know where we go from here.”
Although unsure of their next direction, Wendy Gregorwich said the theatre has been good for the community.
“The play has preserved the community of Kelsey, if not recreated it.”
The theatre has even spawned a 4-H drama club to channel the energy of the young people who want to be involved in the theatre.
“We’re trying to attract something new to Kelsey. I haven’t the foggiest idea of what it might be, but we need to lay the reason why young people may want to live in the area,” said Don Gregorwich.
