After a year-long celebration of the centennial of coal mining in the valley, the committee is holding its final event to honour the miners and the volunteers who made the celebration a success.
    2011 marked 100 years since the first commercial coal mine in the valley was established, and the community celebrated the milestone. This Friday they are honouring the volunteers who helped make the celebration a success at a private function. At the same time, the new gallery at the Badlands Community Facility is opening and its first exhibit will be part of the celebration.
    “It is exciting because Town Council felt it was really appropriate to open the new gallery in the new facility with the story of Drumheller and this is what this is,” said Linda Digby, executive director of the Atlas Coal Mine.
    The exhibit is called Through the Lens: Coal Town Years and it is a collection of images of the valley. These come from the Atlas Coal Mine’s extensive collections, as well as many of the images collected from residents to help celebrate the mining centennial.
    “Collecting images that depict life in Drumheller during the coal mining years is an ongoing process at the Atlas Coal Mine, which is an Affirmed Museum with the Alberta Museums Association.  These images are priceless for research and interpretation of local history.  It is impossible to show them all in one exhibit. Selecting images from our archives to show in this exhibit was fun, and involved some tough decisions,” said Digby.
    Some of the images also come from the Royal Tyrrell Museum’s archives depicting the early years of dinosaur hunting in the valley, continuing the narrative of Drumheller, as the coal industry collapsed and tourism became a major industry.
    Digby credits the Royal Tyrrell and its staff for helping display the collection. The photos will be displayed in groupings with like-themed images and displayed on canvas. The Communities Anniversary Grant the committee received from Heritage Canada helped to pay for the materials to complete the exhibit.
    “It is gorgeous, I think people will be delighted with how their history looks,” said Digby.
    The images will tell the complete story of life in the mining years; from the miners working to the social life, the homes and the commercial sector.
    “I think people will love to see the town from the view of an earlier era,” said Digby.
    The gallery will make its premier at a volunteer appreciation night on Friday, March 23, and will open to the public on March 24. Digby encourages the community to come see the works. The exhibit will only be installed until March 31, as there are more bookings for the space. Digby said there may be a chance the images will be displayed later in the year.

    Starland County has been at the forefront of utilizing solar electric generation technology, and want to get residents in the equation.
    Over the past few years Starland has employed solar technology at its water stations to great success. Most recently they installed solar panels on the top of its newly renovated county offices. Starland CAO Ross Rawlusyk stated the array has been up and running for about six weeks and is performing beyond expectations.
 Recently the Alberta government introduced a program that would assist rural residents in employing solar technology to help meet their power needs. The county did a presentation at the Delia C-2000 meeting on March 12.
    “There is some funding available for on-farm solar development under a program called Growing Forward. The province’s grant is up to $19,500 for on-farm solar installation,” said Rawlusyk. “What we are trying to do is work with people to try and put together a “farm package.” A consistent 10 kilowatt ground mount system that can be installed on any farm universally.”
     He said if there is interest from residents, they may be able to facilitate purchasing a number of these units, which would drive down the costs per resident.
    The technology has seen great leaps and bounds in the last few years. Rawlusyk says they are looking at a new technology called reflectorized systems.
    “You can actually get more energy output if you capture the sun directly and the reflection. So the panels are sort of teepee shaped so the sun hits the face and is reflected to the other side,” said Rawlusyk. “A 10 kilowatt system rates out to a 14 kilowatt system.”
    He adds a 10 kilowatt system could adequately provide an average farm with power.
    He said a system like this could cost about $50,000 to $58,000 to install. He states the County is looking at offering support along with the Alberta Government incentive.
    "About $19,500 would be eligible under the program the province has. The one thing we are looking at with council and the program, is seeing if Starland can contribute into that program as well. We are hoping to get it so it is a 50/50 overall matching grant. We don’t have it all approved, but as a staff, are trying to work towards it,” said Rawlusyk.
    He adds they have staff who work closely with Growing Forward and their role is to help farmers through the application process, and could get involved in helping residents.
    Rawlusk said it appears there is interest in alternative power.
    “We have our economic development plan together now and one of our initiatives is to try to encourage on-farm solar development within the county. We have had a lot of interest from farmers on alternative energy, trying to help with their long term energy bills,” said Rawlusyk. “We are looking at discussing with groups like ENMAX, maybe we can do something similar to the house program they have in Calgary, on a farm.”
    “I think there is interest out there and we are trying to put together a program that will help them on the financial front as well as the application and paperwork front.”