Long time supporter and volunteer, Merle Morton, will be opening the 102nd Hand Hills Lake Stampede this coming June 1, 2, and 3.
    Morton has been involved with the widely known stampede since he was born. He lives only a mile away from the Stampede Grounds.
    “I’ve been at every stampede. Out of my 77 years, I’ve been at 76 of them,” said Morton. “I’ve been working there since I was about 15 years old.”
Morton will welcome people attending and officially call the weekend open under the announcers stand in front of the chutes.
    He has helped in every way imaginable including time as president of the Hand Hills Lake Stampede board.
    “I was pretty near on every position so those are probably some of the reasons why I was chosen,” said Morton.
    The local man is pleased to be selected for such an event.
    “I’m quite honoured they asked me,” said Morton. “They asked me quite a few years ago. I figured I was too young at the time to be perfectly honest, so I said I’d open the 100th Stampede but they got somebody else so they asked me this year.”
    The Hand Hills Lake Stampede Grounds are located 38 km east of Drumheller and 36 km south west of Hanna on Range Road 16-2 and Township Road 29-4.

    For more than 30 years, two sisters have shared a special birthday tradition.
    On April 30, Hilda Jackson celebrated her 76th Birthday, and her sister  Ella Beck gave her a card. This is the same card that, on April 2, Beck received for her  83rd birthday.
    In fact, the very same card has changed hands for more than three decades.
    The tradition started innocently enough on April 2, 1986, when Jackson sent the card to her sister. A few weeks later it landed back in Jackson’s mailbox. It was surprising for her to receive the same card, but the very next year she sent it back to her sister.
    Back then Jackson was living in Rocky Mountain House and Beck was in the Hand Hills. Today both are in Drumheller and the tradition continues. Originally it was a musical card, and each year they record a new birthday greeting. Over the years the card has grown and pages have been added.
    The two sisters got together on Tuesday, May 1 to celebrate Hilda’s birthday at the Diana Restaurant.
    Through the years and through many moves, the card has not been lost and has remained intact.
     Because their birthdays are so close together, Jackson jokes, “She (Ella) only has to hold on to the card for a month, I have to  care for it for the rest of the year.”