October 14-20 is Small Businesses Week and in Drumheller there is a full slate of events planned.
  This is the 33rd annual Small Business Week and the theme this year is “Aim High! Invest in Your Future.”
    “Entrepreneurs across Canada are aiming high—investing to build better, more competitive businesses,” according to the Small Business Week website. “To grow, they need the right people, technology and business skills to beat the competition both here and abroad. BDC Small Business Week™ 2012 is about sharing stories of success and helpful, practical advice on how to succeed with those who are ambitious for their companies.”
    Drumheller will be a busy place this week with a number of events planned to celebrate small business, bring awareness to the role small business plays in the community, and learn about what is offered.
    The week kicks off with an open house at the Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce Office. This is a chance to enjoy a coffee and pastry and network with members of the board and staff.  This is a great opportunity for members and non-members to get reacquainted with the Chamber of Commerce and how it serves its members and the community.
    On Wednesday morning, David Papp will be the featured speaker at Breakfast Before Business.  He is one of Canada’s leading authorities on IT and will be making a presentation on using social media to augment your business and create a buzz. Breakfast Before Business is 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at Canalta Hotel’s Cretaceous Conference Centre.
    On Friday the success of local businesses will be celebrated at the Badlands Community Facility.
 The Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce is hosting its Business Excellence Award. Once celebrated along with the Rotary Club’s Celebration of Excellence, the award program has taken a bit of a hiatus.
    This is back at a business luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Awards will be presented in five categories including Business of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Rookie Business of the Year, Downtown Business of the Year and Business Professional of the Year. The selection committee received over 30 nominations.

    The Royal Tyrrell Museum picked another armful of trophies, this time from Interpretation Canada for their education programs.
    The Tyrrell earned a bronze medal in the Personal Interpretation category for their Junior Palaeo Investigators program and a bronze medal in the Non-Personal Interpretation category for its Passport to the Past, part of the Dinosaur Adventure Hour program.
    “It is nice to be recognized for the work that the museum does,” said Earle Wiebe head of education at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, “recognized among other interpreters across Canada, it recognizes the whole process.”
    The Junior Palaeo Investigators program is aimed at Grade 2 and 3 aged students and is designed for school groups. Wiebe explains students learn how palaeontologists use clues from the past to learn about ancient life.
    “It is very interactive and engaging program where they are looking at evidence,” said Wiebe.
    The Passport to the Past is used during the Tyrrell’s Summer public Dinosaur Adventure Hour program for kids ages 3-6 and is used to track their experiences and what they learned from the program as they go through the museum galleries.
    “It is a really neat well developed booklet that was produced here by our design studio and education team,” said Wiebe. “It looks like a passport but for kids, it as lots of pictures and stickers.”
    This is certainly not the first time the Tyrrell has been recognized by Interpretation Canada, In fact they have won four awards in the last two years alone. Wiebe said it is a collaborative effort.
    “It is a team effort in both of these cases. The education team works closely with the design studio and our fabrication department for material for the program,” he said. “It is not just a one or two person project, it is many people putting it together, so everybody gets recognized for these projects.”