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Vol. 16, No. 37, Wednesday, August 11, 2021 www.LamontLeader.com
Agri Days back in Mundare after year-long absence BY JOHN MATHER After a year-long wait Agri-Days returns to Mundare on the weekend of Aug. 20 to 21. Sponsored by the Mundare Agricultural Society and the Town of Mundare, there are a couple of special activities planned to tie into the revived weekend event. The town will officially unveil the renamed Peter Polischuk Avenue prior to the beginning of the town parade. “The parade starts at 10:30 a.m. so we could have people gather a little earlier at 10 and dedicate the Avenue,” said Mundare Chief Administrative Officer Colin Zyla at the Aug. 3 council meeting where an update was provided. “That’s a good idea,” added Councillor Irene Talaga. Zyla added some family members and the mayor could make brief speeches during the dedication. The section of Railway St from Highway 855 to the traffic circle will be named after the long-time former mayor. Zyla also told council the bouncy castle and DJ were booked for Agri-
Some of the fun had at Mundare Agri Days in 2019, before COVID-19 cancelled events. Residents of Lamont County and Mundare areas are excited that the event will be back up and running August 20 and 21. Leader File Photos Days. The day will feature street performers and there will be an outdoor pub at the Corner Pub. To date seven people have signed up for the street market. Further information on it can be obtained by contacting the Town Office. There will be a ball tournament at Ukrainia and Victory Parks, but Zyla told council he wasn’t sure what the final number of teams would be. The Bench Exhibit will once again be at the Mundare Recreation Centre from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Entries for the bench exhibits must be dropped
off at the MRC on Friday, August 20 between noon and 4 p.m. Exhibitor tags and booklets are available at the Town Office. The parade will begin 10:30 a.m. The Mundare Fire Department will also host a pancake breakfast from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Zyla said there would be an open mike portion to the entertainment on the Main Street and people are hoping to contact the person who runs the bean bag event in Vegreville to see if they could set up at Agri-Days. Councillor Irene Talaga, who is the
bench show chair, said the show will be condensed this year and will be set up to maintain some social distance. “We have one director from town and the rest are from the rural area,” she told the council. “We need judges for the flowers, baking and the junior sections.” She added while she was looking for street entertainment for later in the day, she still was hoping possibly someone from council could act as the MC for the event. Councillor Jason Kowal wondered whether the DJ, who is hired for four hours, could also double as the MC. Zyla said he would be playing music in between the street performers. Talaga said the street performers could perform for up to half an hour each. Kowal said the DJ could introduce those acts and then he could shut down while the street performers were on. “When the street performer is done, the DJ can spin some tunes and then introduce the next act,” he explained. Mayor Mike Saric agreed, that proposal made a lot of sense. The council update was accepted as information.
County still holding off declaring agricultural disaster BY JOHN MATHER At a special council meeting Aug. 5, Lamont County Council held off declaring an agricultural disaster for the County. Agricultural Services Board Chair Daniel Warawa reported to Council both he and Agricultural Fieldman Terry Eleniak had been in daily contact regarding the drought conditions in Lamont. “I’ve brought in some barley heads this morning and it’s pretty hard to declare an agricultural disaster area when you see a crop like these,” he said passing the heads around for inspection. “Some people were out from the provincial agriculture department and a chemical representative from the Irma area and they couldn’t believe the
quality of crops we have in this area.” He said he had some phone calls from the south of his division and livestock producers were having a hard time of it. “Hay,” he said, is probably 50 per cent of last year’s crop… maybe less. But cropwise we really don’t see anything we can really call a disaster.” Eleniak agreed with Warawa. “We’ve been watching the county for the past three weeks and I’ve been touring the county looking at the crops and fields.” He said some of the disparity in crop production can be blamed on the soil conditions the crops are planted in. He said generally in the early spring all crops emerged quite well, but when the 10 days of extremely hot weather
occurred in July, it had a hard affect on those crops that weren’t properly root bound. Eleniak added it should be up to the producers to have some form of risk management in the form of hay, pasture, hail or crop insurance. “There are some crops out there that are poor, but I think Lamont County is in a better fiscal year, on the agriculture side, than we were last year. “Last year we declared an agricultural disaster because of the flood,” added Warawa. “And really what did we get? The farmers didn’t collect anything. It was more of an indication to the higher level of government that there was a problem.” Eleniak further told council he and other fieldmen across the province
were keeping in contact with provincial agriculture officials and if there were going to be any programs created to help the farmers, they would quickly convey them to the farmers. Councillor Neil Woitas said some of the larger producers in his division around Bruderheim were in pretty rough shape. Eleniak said he wasn’t suggesting the County not declare a disaster, but it might be premature. “What are we hoping for if we declare a disaster,” he asked. “If we’re hoping for some sort of payout that’s probably not going to happen.” Continued on Page 8
