Drumheller Public Library is celebrating 100 years since its beginning, and has some big things planned throughout the year to help engage the community in celebrating this momentous occasion.
Centennial celebrations kickstarted in June when the library announced it had begun fundraising to initiate a local chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
“We wanted kids to get their first books in January, and you have to register two months in advance so they have time to do that massive mailing,” explains Director of Library Services Emily Hollingshead.
The program, started by country music legend Dolly Parton in 1995, supports early childhood literacy from birth to five years of age by sending enrolled children one book per month from the Imagination Library.
Ms. Hollingshead shares, so far, 72 children are currently registered for the program, which equates to about 25 per cent of eligible children in the Drumheller Valley according to the 2021 Census; she has already heard from some parents that they have received their first book.
Due to rising costs per book, the library increased its fundraising goal from $20,000 to $25,000.
Ms. Hollingshead shares some $22,000 has been successfully raised so far, and is hopeful some grant funding will help bridge the final funding gap. Along with a $5,000 commitment from the Drumheller Library Society, the project has also received support from other community organizations and funds, including the Rotary Club of Drumheller and the Drumheller Fund. This fund was established by the Drumheller family through The Calgary Foundation to support community projects and is administered through the Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society.
As part of its celebrations, the library has also waived all fines up to December 31, 2022 for overdue, lost, or damaged library materials, for a total of $13,002 in fines.
The library is currently in the process of finalizing some plans to organize a large event for the community later this year to help celebrate its centennial, and is also planning to be part of the Canada Day Parade again this year.

Kneehill County council approved the cancellation of nearly $5 million of tax arrears and penalties on former Trident Exploration assets during the regular Tuesday, January 24 council meeting.
Property Tax officer Caroline Siverson presented the request to council and explained the arrears included levies from 2019 to 2022, as well as over $2.7 million in penalties, and some $8,500 in legal fees.
“Looking forward to 2023, there will remain assessments on assets that are under the Orphan Well Association; this will be around $250,000 on Trident assets,” Ms. Siverson explained during the meeting.
Prior to presenting the cancellation request, Ms. Siverson presented council with an overview of the process county administration takes regarding oil and gas industry tax arrears.
Ms. Siverson explained, once an oil and gas company declares bankruptcy, it goes into receivership and any valuable assets are sold; those assets which cannot be sold, called disclaimed assets, are then transferred to the Orphan Well Association (OWA) for reclamation. However, these disclaimed assets are still assessed by the province, leaving the municipality responsible for paying the provincial education requisition amount until such time as it is reclaimed.
The province does allow municipalities to apply for a tax credit equal to the education requisition on uncollectable oil and gas property taxes through the Provincial Education Requisition Credit (PERC) program. Ms. Siverson noted the county has so far received over $300,000 from the province through this program on other oil and gas properties.
The county currently has over $6 million in tax arrears owing across all properties for all years. Oil and gas tax arrears account for over 93 per cent of total tax arrears across all years, and 85 per cent of arrears in 2022; the total oil and gas tax arrears for 2022 total some $1.6 million.
The county has already cancelled some $4.18 million in tax arrears related to oil and gas companies since 2019.
Council unanimously approved the cancellation of $4,913,262.83 in tax arrears for Trident Exploration; this will reduce the total outstanding tax arrears to slightly more than $1.14 million.