Patrick Kolafa
The Drumheller Mail

    The Boomtown Trail was awarded by the Governor General of Canada for its hard work and unique ways of showcasing the area.
    The Boomtown Trail Community Initiatives Society is a development organization serving East Central Alberta in communities brought together by its unique boomtown architecture. It encompasses member communities in the Highway 21, 9 and 56 corridors.
    They were awarded the Governor General History Award for Excellence in Community Programming for its program “Bringing History and Culture to Life.”
    “We have always been aware of the deep importance of this program to our region and we knew it could have broader reaching implications nationwide. We had no idea of just how important and how broad the reach. We have been contacted by organizations from coast to coast enquiring about the program and we are aware of a number that are implementing part or all of it in their communities,” said Boomtown Trail CEO Ken Duncan.    
    “The success of this program is due solely to the values and the hard work of all of the volunteers who have participated. Without them we would not even have a program let alone an award.”
    The "Bringing History and Culture to Life" is based on the idea that each community in the area as a “Colourful 5,” a cast of interesting historical characters in each community.      
    Bill Cunningham, member of the Boomtown Trail executive said Bob Willis developed the character Gabriel Dumont, Louis Riel’s lieutenant for the Prairie Steam Train. Using this as a template, other historic characters were developed in different communities.
    “Now the Village of Delburne has a lady who plays the first town telephone operator, and a young lady from Camrose plays Irene Parlby one of the Famous Five, whose life, much of it was spent around Alix,” said Cunningham.
    “What they do now with these characters is they will get three of them together on an evening and have dessert theatre. A couple communities have also done a “walk among us” which is a full day event centering on their main street downtown, for example.”
    Duncan recalled Phillippe Mailhot, one of the judges, in the presentation said, “There was an unprecedented number of submissions for this year’s award. So, the task for the judges was not an easy one. But, Boomtown Trail stood out because of its creativity and commitment to community engagement.”
    Members of the executive, administration  and a couple of the characters travelled to Ottawa to receive the award. There were a number of events on November 18 and 19, sponsored by Canada’s History magazine. 

    A former Morrin School student–turned Olympic athlete will be heading back to the Olympics, this time as a coach of the Russian Olympic team.
    Many in the area remember Florian Linder. The amateur Alberta track star went on to begin a career in bobsledding with the Canadian team in 2002. He was a competitior on the World Cup Circuit for many years and was a member of the Canadian team that went to the 2006 Olympics in Turin.
    After retiring from the sport, he served the program as a coach and was part of the team that trained athletes for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
    Following the Vancouver Olympics, Linder retired from coaching but stayed involved in the sport.
     “I hadn’t been coaching, and then in June of last year (2012) I received a call offering to be a coach with the Russian team,” Linder told The Mail, while he was in Calgary for  the World Cup Season kick off event.
    He said it was a tough decision now as a family man, factoring in the travel, but it was an offer he could not refuse.
    Linder is the technical starts coach and performance analyst.  He is one of three foreign coaches working for the Russian bobsled team leading up to the Olympics.
    He said while there is a difference in the culture of the team when comparing it to the Canadian Team, in both cases the athletes are dedicated to success and bring their best to their sports.
    Linder adds he has brought some new things to the team in regards to his knowledge and abilities, while at the same time, he has been learning as well.
    "At this level, all the teams have the knowledge, I just may bring a different way of sharing it,” he said.
    During the off-season he is able to be back in Calgary, where he makes his home, save for some training camps. During the season however, he is on the road,
    After the Calgary event, the World Cup circuit continues to events in the United States before heading overseas.
    He says the Russian bobsled team is strong going into this season and is hoping for a successful campaign leading up to Sochi.