Finding ways to attract visitors to an old railway station and elevator at Meeting Creek morphed into a driving tour of Camrose County.
Janine Carroll, managing director of the Canadian Northern Society that operates three heritage railway stations in Alberta, said the society was looking for ways to attract visitors to the Meeting Creek railway station when they came up with a countywide Prairie Fun Days driving tour.
With few staff and never enough volunteers, the well-preserved railway station built by the Canadian Northern Railway in 1913 and adjoining Alberta Pacific Grain elevator are only open by appointment or on special days.
Read Also
Farming Smarter receives financial boost from Alberta government for potato research
Farming Smarter near Lethbridge got a boost to its research equipment, thanks to the Alberta government’s increase in funding for research associations.
A driving tour of other historical sites helped the society attract visitors to the railway station.
“We looked at it as a way for people to access the station,” said Carroll.
Don and Berta Bertschi of Camrose, Alta., were among those touring the site full of artifacts and photos. It was the first time Don had been to the station since 1940 when his parents worked in nearby Edberg.
“When I was here before, it was a little bit of a town,” he said.
Today, only a few houses remain.
Carroll said his group approached the county for funding for brochures, signage and advertising and the one stop grew into a driving tour that included 10 other historic and cultural sites.
Stan Trautman, vice-president of the Duhamel Historical Society, jumped at the chance for the tour to add the St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church at Duhamel.
The historic church was built in 1883 from local logs and clay.
“I’m very, very proud of it. It’s very well looked after,” said Trautman, who has been a part of the historical society for 50 years.
The tour was also an opportunity to open the doors of Verdun School, a one-room school. It cost about $50,000 to restore it and the attached teacherage, said volunteer Cliff Bjornson.
The school once had 40 to 50 pupils, but was closed in 1952 when buses were introduced. The school was originally named New Berlin, but was renamed after the First World War for the Battle of Verdun in France.
The school opens annually for a strawberry tea to honour local pioneers.
Phyllis Blackwell said it was good timing the Prairie Fun Days tour coincided with the corn roast and model airplane flying event at Alberta’s Littlest Airport, located on her Bawlf farm.
Barb McDonald, tour co-ordinator, said creating driving tours is a great way for a rural community to show off its historic sites and attractions.
“I think it’s a great idea to have people tour around the county and have these places open.”
McDonald hopes more sites can be added to the tour and more money spent on advertising in future.
“A lot of the people with the little places were quite excited about the idea,” she said.
