In just over a week, residents of Drumheller are encouraged to come out and show their civic pride by helping make Drumheller a cleaner place.
    On April 23, the day after Earth Day, Communities in Bloom, Encana, and the Royal Tyrrell Museum are sponsoring this year’s Valley Trash Challenge, where volunteers lend a hand and pick up the litter that plagues the town.
    All day, until 4 p.m., residents and businesses are asked to take some time, grab a garbage bag, and collect some litter that has been accumulating in the valley. Afterwards, between 4 and 6 p.m. the Heartwood Inn is hosting a barbecue with food and drinks provided by Encana.
    “It’s a chance for people to help the town,” said Trish Parker, president of Communities in Bloom. “I think if tourists don’t see all the trash, they’ll be more likely to stay or come back.”
    Across the street from the Heartwood Inn, in the area next to the recycling bins, a garbage dumpster will be provided for the bags residents fill.
    The Valley Trash Challenge was spawned originally from the efforts of Encana volunteers five years ago, explained Luigi Vescarelli, Community Relations Officer with Encana.
    “In the spirit of our volunteer program, we looked at an event that we, and our families, could do together,” said Vescarelli. “I got in touch with the Town of Drumheller and asked if they would be receptive to us going out and cleaning up some of the garbage.”
    Afterwards, other organizations began similar initiatives independently.
    “The Museum takes pride in keeping our trails and green spaces clean and free of garbage. Earth Day is the perfect day for us to concentrate on making a difference,” said Mike Dooley, public relations and new media coordinator of the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
    Everyone joined forces and the Valley Trash Challenge was born.
    Parker hopes the day will help encourage people to not litter and for residents to help keep the town litter free year round, for example cleaning up litter when walking a dog.
    “That’s one thing to be commended,” said Parker.
    Everyone is encouraged to come out, help, and enjoy the free barbecue afterwards.
    “It’s great to see the town  supports the initiative to make our town green and as beautiful as possible,” said Dooley.
    “There’s that sense of pride when you look at the town and it’s cleaner,” said Vescarelli.

The Badlands Community Facility has now been open for just over a month, but one area has remained off limits during that time, the new location of the Drumheller Public Library.
    On Saturday, April 14, the Library will open its doors to the public during their grand opening.
    The event will be the first chance for residents to check out the new Library. During the day, residents can be given a tour, there will be childrens crafts, coffee, muffins, and a cake cutting at 1:30 p.m. to celebrate.
    The move for the Library has been drawn out longer than had been originally planned. The plan prior to the facility being opened, was that the Library would open with the rest of the building.
    “We had shelving complications and it’s hard to control that,” explained Melissa D’Onofrio-Jones, director of library services. “Without shelves, we couldn’t unpack. But, the new shelves look good.”
    The shelves had to be painted and shipped to the Library, but delays pushed back unpacking. Some of the shelves only arrived on Monday, April 9.
    With the delays, library staff only began shelving the massive collection of books on Monday. By the next day, the majority of the books had already found their homes on the shelves.
    This is the first time D’Onofrio-Jones had been involved in moving an entire library collection.
    “I’ve never moved a library before. This was an interesting experience early in my career,” said D’Onofrio-Jones.  “It’s been as good as can be expected, it’s been a big move. I think the end product is great. It’s a library Drumheller can be proud of.”
    Library staff had packed most of the collection at the end of February and then Town of Drumheller crews began moving boxes over to the new facility in the beginning of March.
    Since the move began, the Library has been running partial service out of the Civic Centre. Rougly 300 books remained and residents were able to order books in from other libraries.
    “It went smoothly. I think the public appreciated being able to order anything from 200 plus libraries. I’m glad we did it, because we would have been closed if we didn’t have partial service,” said D’Onofrio-Jones.
    D’Onofrio-Jones went on to explain the downside was that programs had to be halted while the move was happening.
    The new location has a lot to offer, improving markedly beyond the Civic Centre location.
    “Come and see the new Drumheller Public Library,” said D’Onofrio-Jones. “It offers a lot of opportunities with the programs rooms, larger space, and reading areas. We’re excited to settle in and provide regular service.”