The 87th annual Drumheller & District Music Festival continues to showcase local talent.
    The festival has been teeming with fresh performances from dance to piano to speech and more over the course of two weeks, beginning on March 20.
    The competitors can range in age from under four years old to 19.
    Multiple trophies and scholarships with amounts of $50 to $200 have been awarded in each discipline to commemorate a job well done.
    Twenty year Drumheller  and District and Music Festival Association (DDMFA) Chairperson Lynn Edwards gushes, “I find it all entertaining, it's fun and it's amazing to see the local talent. It's fun watching the kids grow up through the years.”
    The adjudicator of each discipline decides the top three individuals or groups based off of their own scoring and then chooses who will perform at the final concert on Friday.
    The awards and trophies will be handed out after two to three hours of entertainment.
    “There’s a ton of history, we have trophies that have  four generations of one family on them,” said Edwards.
    With the theatre and facility already booked for next year, the planning of the event begins in early October.
    The DDMFA committee has also been in search of new members who will eventually take over executive positions.
    “Some of us have been on the committee for so long and everybody has their job so it’s hard getting new people to join and get caught up,” said Edwards.
    The final concert will take place on Friday, March 31 at the Badlands Community Facility in Drumheller.

The Drumheller Dragons organization is proud to announce that they have named Kevin Hasselberg as the new Head Coach and General Manager, starting June 1, 2017.

“The Drumheller Dragons Management Committee is very excited about the new chapter we are about to begin with Kevin leading the team,” Dragons owner and Chairman, Blair Christianson commented. “He is a true professional, and after we spent some time with him, it is clear how well he fit into our culture here in Drumheller.”

“I am truly grateful for the opportunity the Drumheller Dragons Management Committee has entrusted me with,” Hasselberg said. “I am looking forward to being surrounded by great people that are motivated to build a culture of excellence, ensuring the development of their players and staff, and providing an entertaining brand of hockey to the fans of the Drumheller Dragons.”

Hasselberg is a native of Duchess, Alberta, and comes to the Dragons from the Pensacola Ice Flyers of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL), where he was the Head Coach and General Manager for the 2016-17 season. Before that he spent five seasons as the Head Coach and General Manager of the Battleford North Stars of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), winning two division championships and a regular season championship in his tenure there.

Hasselberg has graduated countless players to the NCAA Division I and III programs, as well as sending players to the University rankings. Dragons owner and Governor Rod Knelsen commented that “Kevin has a lot key connections with college and university programs all across North America, and we are excited to have him aboard starting June 1st.”

Kevin was formerly named the Assistant Coach for the 2010-11 U17 Canadian Pacific Team, as well as for the 2013-14 U17 Canadian Western Team, and in 2016 was nominated for the CJHL Coach of the Year.

Kevin will be in Drumheller this weekend for the Dragons spring training camp. Fans are welcome to stop by the Memorial Arena March 31-April 2 to catch the hockey action and preview the Dragons' top young prospects.