Downtown businesses will be getting a break from the water line improvement project that has been happening downtown during the summer and fall.
    The project aimed to replace the cast iron water lines with newer pipes.
    The chilly weather has put the plans to continue on hold. At the moment the work has progressed to Centre Street, by Gus’s Corner Restaurant and S&S News.
    “We’re doing some cleanup work and laying some concrete,” said Allan Kendrick, Director of Infrastructure for the Town of Drumheller. “We should be done by the end of the week.”
    Water services will return to normal, parking spaces will return, and the roads will no longer be blocked by construction.
    The news comes as a relief to business owners affected by the work, especially because Christmas is approaching. Many cited the construction as the primary reason for a drastic decrease in customers.
    “We had less sales, people couldn’t use the street, there was no parking, then they put construction right in front of the door,” said Narinder Tambar, owner of S&S News. “People didn’t know we were open.”
    “They did a good job, but it’s been taking too long,” said Shirley Briault, owner of SJ Fashions. “They should’ve started earlier.”
    “I’m glad it’s over, it affects the business,” said Abe Cagla at the Badlands Barbershop.
    Similar sentiments were expressed by most businesses. Some are worried that the disruption drove shoppers to other, more accessible stores.
    Work may be done for now, but things will continue in the spring.    The entire project is long term and is slated to take 10 to 11 years to complete.
    “We’ll be doing more in other back alleys in the downtown area,” said Kendrick. “There should be less of an inconvenience for businesses.

    A brisk snowy evening didn’t stop about 30 residents concerned about violence to take back the night last Thursday, November 17.
    The Big Country Anti Violence Association (BCAVA) organized the candlelit march through downtown Drumheller. Mayor Terry Yemen led the march of the dedicated through the blowing snow.
    It has been about 10 years since the event was held in Drumheller. It was part of the Association’s campaign to raise awareness of issues of violence in a community during Family Violence Prevention Month in Alberta.
    Family Violence Prevention Month began in Alberta in 1986 through a grassroots campaign in Hinton. The Alberta Legislature supported the effort and made it an ongoing provincial initiative every November.
    “It is important all throughout the world, and we are making our own statement in Drumheller as well,” said Marian Ewing of the BCAVA.
    The ceremony began at the Civic Centre when participants lit 14 candles representing the 14 women killed at the École Polytechnique Massacre in 1989, while reading out the names of the victims. Within the dark hall were the Silent Witness project silhouettes, each representing an Alberta mother or child who was murdered by a husband, parent, partner or intimate acquaintance.
    Support for ending the silence that allows violence to permeate was shown as dozens of residents signed their names to certificates pledging the speak up for those who are silenced.
    After the ceremony, participants lit their own candles and proceeded into the night, heading south on Centre Street to Railway Avenue and heading west to 1st Street and looping back to Centre Street on 3rd Avenue before returning the Civic Centre.
    The BCAVA hope to revive the Take Back the Night march to make it an annual event.