Carbon hosted their first soapbox car derby in 20 years on Saturday, June 30.
    Crowds gathered at Essex Street on Saturday morning to watch over 30 racers compete in the event which was revived by the Carbon Legion and the community. The last race happened in 1997.
    Carbon Legion president Kim Starchuk said they were expecting four or five competitors but were blown away by the interest in the event. She says some funds were used from a former skate park committee which disbanded and the idea of hosting a soapbox derby were floating in the community.
    “So we said if there was interest then we’d do it. Based on the turnout we will absolutely be doing this again next year,” Starchuck said.
    “You’re really seeing all kinds of things that people come up with,” said volunteer Brian McHugh. “We have dads here who are 30 or 40 and are telling their kids that they did this when they were young. It’s awesome.”
    Three cars which were run in the original derbys in the 90s were brought out of storage for the event.
    Carbon mayor Bryan Peever participated in the event and also made cars for participants who did not have the means to make their own.

Delia village has committed funds to a number of large infrastructure projects, including upgrading their water reservoir and repairing their water pump-house.
    Over the next five years the village will make an addition to the water reservoir which was found to have insufficient capacity. A study done in 2006 suggested if the village had a major fire or if there was an issue with the supply of water from the treatment plant in Hanna the reservoir would run out of water within hours.
    “We’ve basically been waiting for funding to be in place since then,” said village CAO Mark Nikota, adding that costs had increased to $1.5 million from $1 million since the initial study was done.
    The project is slated to be completed by spring 2019 with funding coming from both federal and provincial governments, as well as the village and Starland County. Council will borrow money to complete the project since they will have to pay for the project now and will receive portions of the grants on a yearly basis, but they have already budgeted for interest payments over the next five years.
    In addition to the pump house repairs and reservoir upgrades, the village has committed to contributing to school additions at the new school being built. Council has earmarked $100,000 to help with items the provincial government will not pay for such as a larger gym and larger library.
    The village will also be replacing some sidewalks in the community over the next two years using grant funding.