News | DrumhellerMail

Tyrrell breaks Family Day record, expecting 10 millionth visitor

    The Royal Tyrrell Museum enjoyed one of its best seasons ever, and it looks like the momentum has continued, judging by the incredible Family Day turn out.
    The museum offered free admission on Family Day, and literally thousands took advantage of the opportunity to discover and rediscover the museum.
    Leanna Mohan, marketing coordinator for the Tyrrell, tells The Mail there were more than 3,200 visitors on Family Day.
    “It was the highest attended Family Day in the last 10 years,” said Mohan, "and 500 visitors were locals.”
    “Last year was a record breaking year for us and for Family Day we had almost one-third more visitors than last year.”
    Overall, it was reported last summer the Tyrrell was at a 15 year high in attendance. The August long weekend saw 17,741 visitors alone.
    Those numbers do add up, and the Museum is anticipating its 10 millionth visitor this coming summer.
    This year the museum is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Chamber commits $250,000 to community facility

    The Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce is the latest community group to step forward to support the creation of the Badlands Community Facility.
    The chamber, with a membership of over 200 businesses in the community, has pledged $250,000 over five years to the construction of the community facility. They made the announcement public on Monday, March 1, in the shadow of the World’s Largest Dinosaur.
    “Our board realizes the importance of this facility,” said chamber president Cindy Clark. “The Badlands Community Facility will increase the value of our community as a whole. This is a project we are proud to support and we are encouraging our chamber of commerce members to come forward with their donations to the project.”
    She said the board came out strongly in support of the donation.
    The chamber makes every effort to make Drumheller the best place to visit, live, work and do business.”
    It was fitting the announcement was made at the World’s Largest Dinosaur, because it generated the funds that have been dedicated to the community facility.
    The funds for the donation come from the World’s Largest Dinosaur Legacy Fund, a program set up whereby a portion of the funds raised through visitations to the World’s Largest Dinosaur and a percentage of the sales from the gift shop are directed back into the community. The donations will be made in installments of $50,000 over the next five years.
    “A facility such as this will be a huge benefit for Drumheller and area,” said Heather Bitz, DDCC manager. “This facility will provide another way to attract visitors to Drumheller for sporting events, tournaments, meetings and conferences. This will be an ideal venue to help attract visitors to Drumheller during the shoulder tourism season.”
    She adds, the legacy fund will continue to fund smaller projects. Biannually the World’s Largest Dinosaur Legacy Fund distributes grants, up to $3,000 to community projects. Recently, the funds have gone to the Badlands Artists Association and Communities in Bloom. These funds are distributed in March and September.
    Badlands Community Facility fundraising chairperson, Jeff Hall, commended the chamber of commerce regarding the work they do for the business community and their recent contribution to this facility.
    “The chamber of commerce is a leader in our community. To have an organization like the Chamber commit to this project at this level, shows there is a lot of community support for the project,” said Hall.
    The Badlands Community Facility fundraising committee has a target of $12 million for the complete Badlands Community Facility project. Since November, over $1.7 million has been raised. If you would like to receive more information on sponsorship or pledging opportunities please contact Jeff Hall at 403-823-7800.

Drumheller artist scores high with North America Body Painting Competition judges

While most people were thinking of ways to impress their significant other during the Valentine’s Day weekend, Drumheller resident, Lucie Brouillard, was busy painting (near) naked bodies in Vegas.
    Using sponge and brush techniques, she spent 6 hours on both Saturday and Sunday painting her visions on two themes, first on “Around the World" and then “Evolution” on models at the first ever North America Body Painting Championship, where body painters from all over the world competed in two categories: Sponge/Brush and Airbrush.
    Using the “classic” style, industry term for sponge /brush painting, and her interpretation of the themes, she won first prize, making it her 13th prize at top body painting competitions.
    Lucie fell into body painting by chance over 20 years ago.
    Back from a year in Europe after getting her BA in Fine Arts in Quebec, where she originates from, Lucie was looking for a way to make a living.
    As she had a keen interest in theatre makeup, a friend suggested she borrow her crayons and face paint at the Montreal Jazz Festival to earn herself some money.
    The suggestion paid off. Lucie then took her skills to Europe, where she lived in Holland for 10 years and face/body painted across Europe and the world, before returning to Canada and settling in Calgary.
    Two and half years ago, she and her family decided to move to Drumheller to provide their children a safer environment as well as for real estate opportunities.
    She now body and face paints at corporate events and teaches the art at conventions.
    In 2007, motivated by a desire to find out where she ranked “just for fun”, Lucie decided to enter the biggest championship she could find and tried out at the Seeboden World Championships in Austria.
        At this first attempt, she won third prize in the Body Painting Brush and Sponge category and 2nd place in Face-Painting.
    Since then, Lucie has won many trophies in Canadian, American and World Body and Face Painting championships and is currently the World Face Painting Champion.
    What she found she liked about body painting 20 years ago is what still motivates her today: the people she works with.
    “You make them nice and it’s almost therapy for both, because you exchange good vibes. If I work a lot, say a busy day of 8 hours straight, my body will be very tired but not my mind, and my heart will be nice and happy because the experience has been good, you have been told that you are good, you make people feel good. I don’t think there’s a job that makes you feel nicer. All in all, it’s a nice circle of people, we all deal with very gentle people, it’s a small but nice community.”

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