Thee Communit Th Communityy
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Volume 115, Issue 16
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
$1 Including GST
$1,500 raised by Killam Fire Dept. at Pancake Breakfast
CARY CASTAGNA PHOTOS
The Killam Fire Department held their annual Pancake Breakfast on Sunday, Oct. 18, with great crowds and great cooks. Residents came out to support the event, which raised $1,500 before expenses for the department. Fire Department members were showing off their cooking skills, with Captain Trevor Levitt flipping monster-size pancakes and Troy Zieffle taking on the sausages, while other members took care of eggs, and even french toast.
Sedgewick history buff hoping to revive Flagstaff Historical Committee Leslie Cholowsky Editor
On Tuesday, Oct. 25, Jeff Eckstrand of Sedgewick is hoping that there will be some interest in re-forming the Flagstaff Historical Committee. He says the committee was originally formed in the early 1990s and funded from the Calgary Olympics. “It was that committee who placed all the school historical site signs throughout the county,” he says. Eckstrand says the committee slowly fizzled out over the years, and he thinks the last meeting was about 1998. “Then they folded up, and the leftover funds, around $1,500, have been held in trust by Flagstaff County ever since.” Eckstrand didn’t know anything about the committee until he was recently talking to Joan Djos, Sedgewick historian, who handed him a file and said, “You might be interested in this.” Eckstrand also serves as a councillor on Flagstaff County Council, and the file pertained to the Flagstaff Historical Committee. Eckstrand said he checked with CAO Shelly Armstrong, who confirmed that funds were still being held in trust, and that he also received a massive file of former minutes and more from Flagstaff County, along with the information Djos had given him earlier. “I have the minutes of that previous committee. They weren’t going to stop
with signage at old school sites, they wanted to do the old country halls and churches, too. “Maybe we can build on their goals, or come up with new ones.” He says he’s noticed that some of the school site signs are in need of some maintenance, and adds, “If nothing else, maybe we can take the money and spruce up the signs. “The possibilities are really endless.” He says the Flagstaff County file on the committee contained written reports on a number of historical sites in Flagstaff County, like Treaty Hill, or travels through the county, like reports about Anthony Henday, or the Manitou Stone. “It’s right full of reports about local history. The original members of this committee were the pioneers, or were passionate about local history.” Eckstrand says the last surviving member of the original committee is Shirley Swanson of Sedgewick, and he’s hoping she will agree to come to Tuesday’s meeting and talk a little about the original committee. Eckstrand is himself a history buff, he belongs to the Sedgewick Historical Society and Lougheed’s Iron Creek Museum Society. He says, “Once I found out about the committee, I wanted to revive it, and see who is interested in participating. “It’s open to anyone, living anywhere in the region. We need to ask ‘What can
we do?’ ‘What do we want to do?’ and to find out who is interested in it.” He says he thinks the first meeting will be finding out who is interested, and figuring out how to go forward an what structure the group would take. He says, “I hope we have a broad focus, and look at farms, schools, and the county’s part of history.” He says the Barns of Flagstaff were a great start in establishing a rural history, but would like to see the focus expanded. “It doesn’t have to be a book, we’re not talking necessarily about that, or sitting with typewriters and editing. “The possibilities today are broader, and so are the ideas for what we can do.” For one thing, he would like to see Flagstaff’s history made accessible world-wide. He’s had experience with people from outside Canada asking him
for assistance in finding their own history from the region, or their ancestors. He thinks that even a shared site where people can share their photos and stories would be something interesting, a kind of living, breathing history. He also referenced Charlotte Curtis’s goal of having her obituary collection digitized as one possible direction a new committee could decide to go. He wants to make sure anyone interested is aware that this is not a Flagstaff County Council initiative, it’s not a Flagstaff County initiative. He’s hoping to see people of all ages come out, and bring lots of good ideas to the table, but mostly he is hoping that there is some interest in reviving the committee, and recording the rural history of Flagstaff County. Check the Classified Ads at the back of the paper for the exact date and time of the meeting.
The Flagstaff Historical Committee initiated the historical school site signs located around the region, then fell inactive in the 1990s. Jeff Eckstrand is hoping to revive the committee.