Wednesday, March 31, 2021 Vol. 44, No. 13
1 E 2 0 R 2 TU
YOUR LOCAL PAPER
L ICU CTION R E AG D S IDE! N 2 INS
Viking Daycare re-opens Agreement could provide more spaces and overnight service
$1 includes GST
Vandals destroy Easter eggs Patricia Harcourt Editor
Patricia Harcourt Editor
Viking St. Francis Daycare reopened as of March 15 and owner Shiv Dutt states he welcomes all who want to use the facilities. The daycare was one of the Town of Viking’s major goals to accomplish during council’s current term in office, which ends in October with municipal elections. The daycare accepts children from the ages of 12 months up to 12 years. It is located in a newly renovated building on main street which used to house the old pharmacy. “We definitely see a rise in demand now after reopening post COVID,” said Dust. “We envision increasing the daycare space in our community as demand has been soaring since we recently opened up. “We would like to accommodate more families, especially frontline workers,” he said. Town of Viking CAO Don McLeod informed town council recently that the new daycare has received requests from people working in local senior citizen establishments and hospital settings for overnight daycare
services to accommodate night shifts for workers. Without revealing the contents of the agreement with the province, the possibility of more daycare spaces and overnight services for Viking parents is a possibility in light of the province’s own press release last week. The province announced it was increasing childcare spaces in Alberta, using the title “Expanding childcare options for working parents.” Some Central Alberta communities will receive a total of 185 new childcare spaces in total. As well as Camrose, Olds, Red Deer, and Rocky Mountain House, Viking was named as a recipient for more child care spaces in this category. The daycare spaces for Central Alberta will include 22 overnight spaces, but the allocation as to which communities would get them was not specified. Upon receiving an inquiry about the potential for spaces, including possible overnight ones, Dutt confirmed he has an agreement with the provincial government but could not reveal its contents. “We are not allowed to do any press conference or release about this as a part of our binding agreement See DAYCARE P13
An “Easter Eggstravaganza!” hosted by Viking/Beaver FCSS included an Easter Egg Hunt last weekend in both Viking and Holden. It was supposed to be a fun time for families to enjoy an outing together and maybe win a prize. People were challenged to search the community for a wooden Easter egg and craft kits. There was also a special “golden egg” in each community, with the lucky finders of these winning a prize package. There were 30 painting kits left out to find in Viking and 20 in Holden. Those who found kits could participate in a Paint Night held over Zoom by the Camrose Family Resource Centre on Wednesday, March 31. The wooden eggs and craft kits that weren’t found during the hunt were supposed to be made available at the Holden Village office and Viking FCSS. Those who didn’t find a kit or were unable to take part in the actual Easter hunt were to be given kits to participate in the Paint Night. However, that plan went awry due to some fun wreckers. Viking Community Programmer Rachel Mayko reported that Easter eggs and kits set out in Viking were vandalized sometime between last Friday night or Saturday morning. “All 15 eggs I hid in Eastview Park were vandalized and/or destroyed,” she said. Instead of gathering up any leftovers at the park, she was busy making more kits Monday morning to give away to those who were not able to find them over the weekend. Mayko asked that those wanting kits phone the FCSS office at 780-336-4024 ahead of time to ensure she will have enough to distribute to everyone who wants one in order to enjoy the paint night on Wednesday evening.