Plans are moving ahead to create a pride crosswalk downtown to paint a permanent symbol to represent the LGBTQ community in Drumheller.

On Friday, August 24 at 4 pm a rainbow painted crosswalk will be unveiled on Centre Street along 3rd Avenue W next to the downtown plaza, followed by entertainment.

The crosswalk will mimic what many other communities across Canada have done to provide a physical show of support of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and queer) members of their communities.

“It’s a long time coming for Drumheller and it’s something I always envisioned since I came out at 19,” says Brandon Frasso, president of the Drumheller Pride Association who is involved with the project.

“It’s about recognizing the LGBTQ community. There’s nothing here now that represents or encourages pride,” he says. “This is the first step for Drum to slowly progress into the future. There are people who are scared to come out and maybe they’ll be more willing to then.”

Town summer events coordinator Grant Daly says the town is fully onboard with the project.

“Everyone I’ve talked to so far is showing great enthusiasm,” he says.

The group is looking for as much volunteers and supporters as possible to attend the event and help organize festivities for the day. The best way to get involved is to like and contact organizers of the Drumheller Pride Association Facebook page and to “grab a brush” and come out to help in late August.

photo credit to Flickr user FlickreviewR, of the original rainbow crossing in Sydney, Australia

The Town of Drumheller is hoping to gather resident feedback this fall on whether or not to implement residential curbside recycling and organic waste collection in 2019. 

The idea has been entertained by council and town administration for years and the town will seek feedback from the public in a month or so on whether there is enough support for the idea. 

“We’re looking at it from a bigger perspective, not just if you want a blue cart or not,” says town CAO Darryl Drohomerski. “We will be asking why do you want these things, is it important for you to have a blue cart at your house or to minimize waste from the landfill.”

Drumheller is currently on a depot style system where residents sort their own recycling at the bins located on Railway Ave and on Highway 9. Residents currently pay $2 per month in their water bill for the service, but curbside recycling collection would cost residents more if implemented. Based on survey feedback once completed, if there was support for the idea, the town would begin to look at associated costs and implications for residents when they prepare their 2019 municipal budget. 

“We would analyze the results first and see what residents would prefer and then look at the idea afterwards, then present it to council to see if they are supportive of doing the work,” Drohomerski says, adding it would not be implemented until sometime in 2019. 

While curbside recycling would likely increase the amount of material recycled, keeping it out of the landfill, one advantage to the current depot system is it results in higher quality recycling which can be sold for more. When residents use blue carts, different recyclable material is mixed together and typically nets less money when sold. 

Before he arrived on town administration here, Drohomerski was the former manager of solid waste for Winnipeg, where he oversaw the implementation of a rolling waste collection service and a waste minimization strategy which reduced the amount of waste heading to landfills. He says the changes the city made to waste collection was ‘challenging.’

“Residents were really particular about the service. There was push back against the unknown.”

The town will look to survey residents in about five weeks and will be looking for as much feedback about the potential recycling and organic waste services from residents.