Starland County has stepped up to show its support for the Badlands Community Facility with a generous donation.
    Last week Mayor Terry Yemen confirmed the Town of Drumheller had received a donation of $100,000 from the neighbouring municipality for the construction of the Badlands Community Facility. Mayor Yemen said he is appreciative of the support.
    “We are very happy to get that support from our neighbours,” said Yemen.
    Reeve of Starland County, Barrie Hover said the facility is valuable to the community.
    “We have quite a number of residents who do use the facilities, and we try to help all the groups around,” said Hoover.
    He said the facility could have a huge number of benefits for the region at large.
    “We are on the Economic Development committee and it will be tremendous for the whole area,” said Hoover.
    Starland CAO Ross Rawlusyk said they made the donation as a capital contribution. Possible further funding would now be done on a request and review basis, rather than utilizing complicated policy models.
    “In the future if they need money, if they have an issue or are putting together a facility that is benefitting our residents, ‘come and tell us about it, and we’ll try to evaluate how we can help,’” said Rawlusyk.
    He adds that Starland County could also use of such a facility.
    “We could make use of a facility like that for municipal events we get called on from time to time to host, so it is another facility in the region. It is another area we can work with Drumheller too. We can try to draw some of the traditional rural conferences or meetings to the facility,” said Rawlusyk.
    Fundraising Committee chair Jeff Hall is also appreciative of the support.
    “This is a positive step from another community partner outside of the valley,” said Hall.

     Like the tourism industry itself, the list of participants for the 2012 Canadian Badlands Tourism Development Conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM) is growing at a rapid pace. After being open for registrations for just one week, over 80 delegates have already registered.
    At the current rate of registration, the conference is on pace to welcome over 200 delegates. At the first Canadian Badlands Tourism Development Conference in 2011, organizers hosted 179 participants.
    “We’re thrilled with the early response” says Executive Director Bob Davis. “We believe this conference offers a lot of opportunity for learning, networking and especially for getting motivated to ‘raise the bar’ in tourism in the Canadian Badlands.”
    The 2012 conference offers a number of highlights including keynote speaker Donald Cooper, a Tourism Readiness workshop for small business, sessions on cluster building and working with media, a showcase of tourism products and stakeholders, and a VIP dinner with Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation Jack Hayden. The entire event will be held in the new Badlands Community Facility in Drumheller.
    The cost to attend the conference is $80 per person and includes lunch, all sessions, reception, dinner and showcase. For more information and to register visit, canadianbadlands.org/conference.