During a magnificent fall day last Friday, Oct. 3, 17 enthusiastic citizens of the Town of Ponoka and districts jumped on the comfortable Lions’ bus for a very interesting tour through the rich and rolling hills of north eastern Alberta. These guests included members of the Ponoka and District Recreation Board, mayor and town council, Kinettes and Lion’s Clubs, minor hockey, swim clubs, soccer, and representatives of our Filipino Community Club. They received a warm welcome when they visited the towns of Bonnyville and Wainwright, which have similar populations as Ponoka. Prior to the bus tour, invitations were sent out to all service clubs and sport groups in the community to attend this unique sight-seeing and new idea seeking adventure.
The purpose of the daylong bus tour, which was promoted and organized by the Ponoka and District Recreation Board, was to visit and view the culture and recreation facilities of these busy communities and to meet with their town and county councils, recreation boards, staff, and other officials. A Subway lunch was provided along the way compliments of the Town of Ponoka, with the trip and volunteer driver Frank Thomiser courtesy of the Ponoka Lion’s Club, with Recreation Board Vice-Chair Peter Hall acting as the tour guide. Everyone on the daylong excursion had a wonderful time, were really impressed by the facilities they toured, and had lots of great questions for their congenial hosts at both Bonnyville and Wainwright, including the availability of funding, grants, corporate sponsors, as well as construction and operational costs involved.
A quick glimpse of Wainwright
Wainwright is an active and friendly town with a busy retail district, many amenities, an extremely popular community centre, and an armed forces base that accommodates over 1000 soldiers and staff.
Their community centre, which has been referred to by the citizens of the town and districts as the ‘heart of the community’ since its inception, features a six-lane swimming pool, weight rooms, arenas, racket ball courts, three halls with movable walls to make into one large field house, a large common area and kitchen, along with a walking track and climbing wall. The curling rink is separate but located in the same area, with lots of parking spaces available for all the facilities and functions.
The staffs of the Wainwright Community Centre seemed to really enjoy their jobs, and were all dedicated to promoting year round maximum use of all areas. The ongoing regular and new programs activities are provided for all age groups and families from tots to seniors, with absolutely no restrictions on children participating or visiting the facility. The Ponoka visitors were very impressed during their morning visit to see several classes of school students using the centre for various sports activities.
Welcome to Bonnyville
The next stop for the Ponoka contingent was the bustling Town of Bonnyville, which is also of similar size to our community, and features an active retail district, and also serves and works very closely with the 11,800 plus population of their surrounding municipal district. Everyone in the area is extremely proud of their fabulous new community centre, which they also refer to as the ‘heart and soul’ of their community.
This large facility includes a field house added on to two arenas, a small kiddy skating area, a field house with seating for 1000 people to host entertainment and special events, a walking track, climbing wall, lots of rental space for multi-usage, and big common areas with in-house catering. The facility, which plays hosts to an average of 1300 participants every day all year round, also features lots of parking in the area and a permanent farmers’ market, and everyone involved are committed to maximum year-round usage and promotion of all facets of their community centre. Another exciting addition to these very active culture and recreation programs will be the completion of phase two planning of the community swimming pool.
So what is the next step?
Following the successful tour, both Ponoka and District Recreation Board Chairman Barry Neath and Town Councillor Carla Prediger stressed that this was only the first step in reaching out to everyone in both the town and county to generate some very positive energy, ideas, and visions for our culture and recreation facilities and programs as we advance into the future. Over the years, we have established and enjoyed many amenities and successes in and around our great community, but just like everywhere else in bustling Alberta, there should always be exciting new challenges, steps, and exciting plans that will attract new families, businesses and industry into our friendly fold, for the ongoing benefit and enjoyment of generations of all age groups and walks of life in this thriving community with such great potential.
The newly formed Ponoka and District Recreation Board is led by the Chairman Barry Neath, and also includes VC Peter Hall, Julie Feregan, Ryan Koehli, Tyson Matejka, Town Councillor Carla Prediger, and Recreation Director Wes Amendt. Current projects and plans for the board include a new Ponoka Community Centre, as well as the establishment of a day-by-day electronic calendar that will be available to everyone in and around Ponoka, and will list all of the Culture and Recreational activities that are scheduled year round. This fall, Ponoka Town Council will meet with the recreation board to discuss the information and ideas that they gathered during the tour, and then hopefully begin to establish an action plan for the future from which they will share with everyone in both the town and county of Ponoka. It will take a lot of work and co-operation, and it will not all happen overnight, but if all of our sports organizations, service clubs, volunteers and citizens young and old can come together and express their needs and share their ideas as a strong community team, then who knows what might be accomplished for tomorrow and our future generations?