Spring has sprung, and with it a long-time valley tradition is back as the folks at the East Coulee School Museum present the SpringFest.
Established almost 30 years ago, the East Coulee SpringFest has been a mainstay in the valley. Like most events, it took a hiatus during COVID-19. Festival producer Barb Steeves notes that last year they returned, albeit with a smaller event.
“It was a smaller affair because we could only have it in the School Museum, and numbers were pretty restricted,” she explains. “We have the hall again, and we are all set up for three venues again.”
The SpringFest is a great way to wake up your bones from the winter, with an eclectic mix of music in some of the most unique venues. The lineup inclined everything from roots, folk, blues and jazz.
“We have a fair amount of bands who have played before, but there are some new ones too,” said Steeves.
Some local acts include the Wayfaring Fiddlers, Thunderskirts and Cat Tyler. Recognizable names include Flint and Feather and the Sadlier-Brown Band.
The weekend cranks up on Friday night, May 5, at 6:30 p.m. with performances in the Green Room and the East Coulee Community Hall.
On Saturday, the music starts at noon at the Community Hall, Green Room and the Willow Tea Room Cafe, serving as venues.
“There are close to 40 different time slots and 40 different bands,” said Steeves. She notes that the artists all volunteer their time for the performances. The East Coulee SpringFest is one of the major fundraisers for the East Coulee School Museum.
“So many of them are on board to help support the museum, which is really nice.”
Tickets are available online by going to
https://ecsmuseum.ca/springfest/tickets/. They are also available at Riverside Value Drug Mart, and at the door.

Town of Drumheller and Village of Delia have come to an agreement for the Town to provide water and wastewater services to the village on a contractual basis, effective as of Monday, May 1.
Representatives from both municipalities met in the Drumheller council chambers on Friday, April 28 to sign the contract.
“It’s really difficult to have an operation run with only one employee, there’s no redundancy,” says acting Delia interim Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Bill Wulff. “And when working with something as valuable or as critical as the water supply, you have to make sure that everything’s up to date.”
Dave Brett, director of Infrastructure Services for the Town of Drumheller, says discussions surrounding the agreement have been ongoing for approximately six months.
Village of Delia will pay an agreed fee for routine annual and monthly maintenance, as well as an hourly rate for emergency work.
“Town of Drumheller has been providing (the village) as needed support historically when they ran into difficulties. This arrangement is formalizing that so that Town of Drumheller staff will be performing those oversight tasks and operation and maintenance aspects of the water distribution and wastewater collection system,” Mr. Brett tells the Mail.
He adds the two municipalities will formally work together to develop a plan which will allow crews to get these systems working to the level expected by the people of Delia.
Although the Town will be providing services to support the village’s water and wastewater system, it will not be providing the water flowing through the system; the village will continue receiving water from Harry Kroeger Regional Water Treatment Commission, which operates out of the Town of Hanna.
The agreement is currently for a one-year term, though Mr. Brett and Mr. Wulff say both municipalities are open to extensions.