One of Drumheller’s oldest churches is getting a facelift this month.
    Starting on Tuesday, demolition will commence on the front entrance and lobby of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
    “We’re going to be starting the demolition with the backhoe on Tuesday. We’ll be replacing it with a new entrance that is wheelchair accessible, with handicap washrooms. We have some members that are getting older, who weren’t able to participate, and we wanted to do a little modernization,” said Wanda Wiebe, treasurer of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Demolition of the front entrance and lobby on the Seventh Day Adventist Church will commence on Tuesday, August 6. Then, later in August and September the Seniors in Action for God with Excellence (SAGE), a provincial group, will help rebuild and renovate the church. For the time being, services will be held at the Grace Lutheran Church.

    To help rebuild the front entance, the church is receiving help from a provincial group of seniors dedicated to helping churches.
    “Our conference, the ogranization for the province, has a group called SAGE, Seniors in Action for God with Excellence. They’ll be coming in September, but we’re getting the demolition and concrete work done ahead of time, so when they come out everything is ready to go for them,” said Wiebe. “They don’t necessarily do renovations. They do various things that need to be done. It’s a service group of seniors, like painting, and they do a lot of more fun stuff, too. This will be their first major construction project.”
    Originally, the Seventh Day Adventist Church had intended to complete the renovation in May. However delays in getting SAGE to Drumheller caused the timing of the construction to be pushed back to August and September. Wiebe feels it was a fortuitous turn of events.
    “We were originally going to start in May, but we’re so grateful we didn’t, because with all the rain, we would’ve had a flooded church! The delays also let us come up with some better plans,” said Wiebe.
    In addition to a new entrance and lobby, a new family washroom with a shower will be installed. Any leftover funds will be used to do smaller renovations to the interior of the church.
    For the time being, the Seventh Day Adventist congregation will be meeting in the Grace Lutheran Church.
    “We’re going to meet in the Grace Lutheran Church. They’ve graciously allowed us to use their church for the months of August and September,” said Wiebe.
    The church is accepting donations, which can be made by contacting Wiebe at 403-919-8953.

It’s Dinosaur Derby Weekend and racers will be on the track for four shows at Dinosaur Downs starting Friday, and finishing up Monday afternoon.

    It’s chuckwagon racing time,  and this weekend the half –mile track at Dinosaur Downs will be packed with excitement as the wagons, and chariots barrel around at break neck speeds.
    The races are a summer tradition in the valley and in the second year of the Drumheller Stampede and Ag Society’s affiliation with the Alberta Professional Chuckwagon and Chariots Association (APCCA), it looks like a tradition that will continue.
    While this year includes more track time than ever with a four-day show, there is much more to the event than just racing.
    Everything kicks off on Friday morning with the sixth annual Minichucks for Charity races and Pancake Breakfast.
 This is hosted by Q91 and Drumheller Co-op at the Greentree Mall. They will be serving up flapjacks from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and the Minichucks for Charity races begin at 8:30 a.m. This pits drivers against each other in an all out race in a chuckwagon pulled by a tricycle. Lots of fun to compete, even more fun to watch, and all the funds go to charity.
    The area’s hardest working band The Cat Country Cougar Hunters will also be performing at the races and fans of Brad Paisley will get a chance to enter and win tickets.
    This Minichucks for Charity races is also a great chance to meet some of the racers who will be on the track starting Friday evening.
    Gates open on Friday at 4 p.m. at Dinosaur Downs and racing starts at 6 p.m.  A full slate of chuckwagons and chariots will be on the track.
    Driver Shane Cartier, loves the Drumheller venue and has always had great success ruining the  ‘big wagons’ and with the APCCA.
    He says the APCCA races offer more non-stop action, less breaks and comparable speeds on the track.
    “It is like the difference between racing dragsters and circle track cars. Dragsters are bigger and faster but only go in a straight line, but when you want more action and tight races you get a lot more of it in the little wagons,” he said.
    The action cranks up again on Saturday night, same time same place. Following Saturday’s race, there will be a Cowboy’s Cabaret at Dinosaur Downs. Stick around after the races for some music and fun.
    On Sunday, the racing continues at 6 p.m. and Monday’s main event begins at 2 p.m. Four days of racing gives each driver a shot at each gate on the track.