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St Albert, AB
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St. Albert is a city in Alberta, located northwest of Edmonton, on the Sturgeon River. It was originally settled as a French Catholic community, and is now an affluent suburb. Originally separated from Edmonton by several miles of farmland, the 1980s expansion of Edmonton's city limits placed St. Albert immediately adjacent to the larger city on St. Albert's south and east sides.
HistorySt. Albert was founded in 1861 by Father Albert Lacombe, who built a chapel in the Sturgeon River valley. The chapel has since become an historic site staffed with historical interpreters and is open to the public in the summer season. A few years after its founding a group of Grey Nuns moved to St. Albert from Lac Ste. Anne.
Arts and CultureLocated in the heart of downtown, St. Albert Place is the focal point of many community events and activities. Designed by world-renowned Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal, its sculptural symmetry mimics the curves of the Sturgeon River that runs behind it. Built in 1984, St. Albert Place was designed as a "people place", housing a unique combination of civic government and cultural activity. Currently it houses the St. Albert Public Library, Musée Heritage Museum, Visual Arts Studio and Arden Theatre, as well as City Hall and associated city government services.
HistorySt. Albert was founded in 1861 by Father Albert Lacombe, who built a chapel in the Sturgeon River valley. The chapel has since become an historic site staffed with historical interpreters and is open to the public in the summer season. A few years after its founding a group of Grey Nuns moved to St. Albert from Lac Ste. Anne.
Arts and CultureLocated in the heart of downtown, St. Albert Place is the focal point of many community events and activities. Designed by world-renowned Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal, its sculptural symmetry mimics the curves of the Sturgeon River that runs behind it. Built in 1984, St. Albert Place was designed as a "people place", housing a unique combination of civic government and cultural activity. Currently it houses the St. Albert Public Library, Musée Heritage Museum, Visual Arts Studio and Arden Theatre, as well as City Hall and associated city government services.
St. Albert has a rich arts scene. St. Albert is home to a writers' guild and painters' guild and renowned bands like Social Code hail from St. Albert. The Arden Theatre is a popular venue for many plays and musical performances.
Festivals and EventsThe Northern Alberta International Children's Festival in St. Albert is one of the longest-running children's festivals in
North America, attracting over 40,000 participants over 5 days, at the end of May. During the five days of the Festival, children experience sights and sounds of many different cultures while learning through the medium nearest and dearest to their hearts - by playing!
The mainstage events feature a host of international artists from Scotland, Netherlands, USA, Mexico, Cuba, New Zealand, and (of course) Canada offering performances of puppetry, music, dance, acrobatics, clowning and theatre that will amaze and delight.
The Kinsmen Rainmaker Rodeo starts with a parade that winds its way through the heart of St. Albert. After the parade, the rodeo begins, with exciting rodeo events, midway, and musical performances.
The Outdoor Farmers' Market, held in downtown St. Albert, is Western Canada’s largest outdoor farmer's market, attracting over 10,000 people every Saturday from July to September. You can find locally-grown fresh produce, hand made products and crafts and listen to the music of the buskers.
As many as 6,000 participants come to St. Albert to enjoy Rock'n August, a week-long festival held to celebrate the rumbles of chrome pipes and the rim shots of classic Rock and Roll music. Hotrodders come from kilometres around with their masterpieces to show them off and look at the creations of others as well.
Other annual events include the St. Albert Rotary Music Festival.
Education- K-12 Education
St. Albert is an anomaly in that the Catholic school district is the public system, and the Protestant school district is separate. In all other areas of Alberta this is reversed, the public system is either Protestant or non-religious.
School districts
Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools (Public): The third largest Catholic school division in Alberta serving 17 schools and approximately 7600 students. St. Albert Protestant Schools (Separate): Serving over 6000 students taught in a non-denominational setting.
St. Albert is also home to the North Central Francophone School Board. Their schools name is "La Mission" located in the Heritage Lakes sub-division.
- Post-secondary Education
The NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) St. Albert campus, located on St. Albert Road, offers courses in Business Administration, Office Administration, Ophthalmic Dispensing and Veterinary Administrative Assistant.
- Continuing Education
The St. Albert and District Further Education Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing life-long learning opportunities to citizens. Through Further Ed a wide range of courses are offered by members.
The STAR Literacy Program matches volunteer tutors with adults who wish to improve their reading and writing skills.
Sports and Recreation- Parks
The Red Willow park trail system winds its way all through St. Albert.
- Facilities
In September 2006, a $42.77-million multi-purpose leisure centre, Servus Credit Union Place, was built. Included are a recreational aquatic centre, kid's play area, the already exisitng Troy Murray and Mark Messier hockey rinks, a 2000-seat performance rink, two soccer fields, 3 basketball courts, a large exercise room featuring state of the art equipment, a running track and more. This was a highly controversial building as many of St. Albert residents thought it was unnecessary, the vote was barely 50/50. ; however most of the voters in the civic election favoured the construction of this facility.
There was some controversy in 2006 when the city announced that they were renaming the Mark Messier and Troy Murray hockey rinks, and were going to offer these rights for sale. The two rinks, which together were known as Campbell Arena, were originally named after these local hockey stars shortly after the arena opened in 1992. There was such a controversy, which included an article in Sports Illustrated that mayor Paul Chalifoux decided to repeal the decision. The Campbell twin arena has since been added onto as part of the creation of the St. Albert Multi-Purpose Leisure Centre (now Servus Credit Union Place).
- Hockey
St. Albert will have a team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League starting with the 2007/2008 season. Known as the St. Albert Steel, the team will move from Fort Saskatchewan and will play in Servus Place. In 2004, the city's previous Alberta Junior Hockey League team, the St. Albert Saints, which had been one of the most prestigious teams in the league during its life and produced players such as Mark Messier and Mike Comrie, moved to nearby Spruce Grove. This move, allegedly due to the age and small size of Akinsdale Arena, caused some consternation amongst the citizens. Despite a brief effort from fans to save the team, in August 2004 the newly re-named Spruce Grove Saints played their first game in Spruce Grove's Grant Fuhr Arena.
NHL hockey star Jarome Iginla, captain of the Calgary Flames, is originally from St. Albert. He played his entire minor hockey career in the St. Albert Minor Hockey Association, which included stints with the Bantam AAA Sabres and the Midget AAA Raiders. It was during the 1992-93 season with the Raiders that Iginla, then an under-age midget player, scored 87 points to lead the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey league in scoring. Following this season Iginla joined the Kamloops Blazers as a 16 year old.
Other hockey players that have played in St. Albert are Fernando Pisani, Paul Comrie, Mike Comrie, Troy Murray, Stu Barnes, Brian Benning, Steven Goertzen, Rene Bourque, Jamie Lundmark, Steve Reinprecht, Brent Gough, and Drew Stafford.
External linksCity of St. Albert
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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