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GRANDE PRAIRIE
ALBERTA, CANADA
GRANDE PRAIRIE NEWS - 2004 ARCHIVED
January 2004- More pages have been added to this website. A special page on Skiing has been added recently, with an overview of Skiing in Grande Prairie and area. Also a special page has been added on Service Clubs in Grande Prairie (Lions Club, Knights of Columbus, Elks, Rotary, etc) A special page called Seniors, provides information and pictures on the many lodges and senior apartments in Grande Prairie and where to go to get applications for Old Age Security, etc.
January 2004 - As of January 1st, the downtown parking rate has increased from 25 cents to 50 cents for one hour at parking meters. $1 and $2 coins will now be accepted. Aquatera opened is new electronic waste depot at the Eco-Centre at 10431-96 Avenue for collection of old computer monitors, laptops, printers, TV's and fluorescent light bulbs.
January 2004 - A 65-unit complex for low income families and people with disabilities will to be built just west of the Great Northern Casino on the west side of Grande Prairie. (110 Street and 107A Avenue.) The Grande Spirit Foundation will manage the building.
January 2004- Peter Biegel was named Realtor of the Year during the Grande Prairie Real Estate Board's awards ceremonies. Also the Chamber of Commerce awarded Rick and Penni Peterson, owners of Formula Transport, the Business Citizen of the Year. Ken Loudon of Sportswear Plus won the Clem Collins Award and Carl Linden won the Dan H. Minchin Award for his long term business and community achievements.
January 2004 - KFC has opened its new building on 108 Avenue and 100 Street, right next to the old location that originally opened in 1964. The new location now boasts a drive thru. Late afternoon on January 2, as the sun went down so did the old location. The old location pictured above, was torn down to make room for a large parking lot. The Haberman and Wagner family operate eight KFC locations in Grande Prairie, Fairview, Grimshaw, Peace River, High Prairie and Medicine Hat.
February 2004- Esquires Coffee House will be opening its Grande Prairie Location east of the Bank of Montreal in the West Side Plaza. (area east of Northern Metalic) . The new building is located at 101-10635 Westside Drive. Also Lewis and Wright Agencies is constructing a new building next to Mr. Mikes Restaurant on the Highway Bypass.
March 2004- The 10th Annual Grande Prairie Home Show took place March 12, 13, 14 at the Crystal Centre. This year's show consisted of developers, homebuilders, decorators, hardware and much more to create or furnish your home.
March 2004 - Spilchen's Country Fever takes place at the Evergreen Park, Grande Prairie July 1 -4th. This years line-up consists of Aaron Jake Goodvin, Samantha King, Doc Walker, John Michael Montgomery, Poverty Plainsmen, Beverly Mahood, The Good Brothers, Danny Hooper, Blackhawk, Williams + Ree, Dean Tuftin, Aaron Lines, The Wilkinsons, Deanna Carter, and Keith Urban.
Sports Expo was held April 2, 3 and 4, 2004 at Evergreen Park with a variety of sports exhibits.
April 2004- The first ever 2004 OILympics will be held at the Grande Prairie Airport May 8 and 9. Competitive events showcase the oil and gas industry. Also includes Mud Bog, Show and Shine, Dance and Fireworks.- Subway is building another location, this one will have a drive-thru and will be located next to the new Lewis and Wright Agencies building still under construction on the Highway Bypass. Tec Lighting closed it doors downtown, 10102-100 Avenue (old Royal Bank Building). The Bed Shoppe will be moving to this location in mid-May from the 11117-100 Street location.
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GRANDE PRAIRIE NEWS - 2004 ARCHIVED
| Thousands of people attended the 2004 Travel & Leisure Show at the Crystal Centre, Grande Prairie February 28 and 29. The event was sponsored by the Grande Prairie Tourism Association and the Mighty Peace Tourism Association which had over 70 booths. Many towns displayed information about their communities including the Town of Valleyview ( pictured is the Mayor of Valleyview, Norm Adolphson at their booth) The City of Grande Prairie, County of Grande Prairie, District of Tumbler Ridge, Town of Hinton, Town of Beaverlodge were also there as well as Big Country XX 93.1FM and YL Country/KIX 106. There was a variety of entertainment through-out the two-day event that kept the audience entertained. |  |
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The 19th Annual Agri-Show took place at Evergreen Park over 3 days, March 11, 12,& 13, attracting thousands of people throughout the Peace Country. (Pictured above, is the County of Grande Prairie No. 1 booth at the Clarkson Hall, manned by Walter Paszkowski.) Besides the many displays, the event also included the Northern Classic Bull Sale, the Peace Breeders Classic Showcase and Sale, and the Seed Fair. New this year was the Climate Change Show, a travelling exhibit exploring the serious challenges faced by climate change. |
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May 2004- The Farmers Market moves downtown Grande Prairie May 1 to the former Hansen Ford location at 101 Avenue and 101 Street. For over 20 years the Farmers Market has made its home at the Evergreen Park. It is h oped that the location would be more convenient to Grande Prairie residents. |
May 2004- Snappers/Champs located downtown on the corner of 99 Street and 101 Avenue has new owners and is undergoing major renovations. It will be changing its Snappers name to Duke's Country Club. Also the Smitty's Restaurant located at the Sears Plaza has been closed for some time, and recently Don Cherry's Sports Grill has opened at this location, 12335-99 Street. The Common Wealth Credit Union will open a 2nd location at the Patterson Village Mall (old location of TD Bank), The Real Canadian Superstore on the city's northside has added another 30,000 square feet to its building.
| More construction will be soon be underway in the area west of the Home Depot in the Gateway Power Centre along 100 Avenue. At this time there is only a sign indicating it will be the future home of Grande Prairie Chrysler Superstore and Grande Prairie Hyundai. A new RCMP building will be built south of the courthouse in the centre of the city and Safeway will build a 2nd location in present Coachman Village location next to Southview IGA on 100 Street and 84 Avenue. |  |
June 2004- Another 5 areas have been added to this website. Musreau Lake in Alberta, as well as Tumbler Ridge, Gwillim Lake, Kinuseo Falls, and Kistatinaw Park in British Columbia.
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July 8 2004- A freak storm brings a tornado down 100 street Grande Prairie ripping apart a number of trees, signs, roofs and starting a number of fires downtown. A few vehicles were damaged including one that was flipped by the storm. Also hit was the Great West Life building on 102 Avenue. Safeway had some roof damage and not far from it, Sports Traders had its east wall completely sucked out by the wind. The 2 story cement block wall fell on top of a number of boats in the adjacent lot. (pictured right) |
July 2004- Building Permits issued in the first six months of 2004 show Grande Prairie will break another record with about a 29% increase over last year. 732 building permits were taken out in the 6 month period. Construction continues on the new Credit Union downtown as well on the new Alberta Treasury Branch in West Side Plaza. It will be quite a few more months before they open. A bingo hall is to be built across the street from the Great Northern Casino on the west end of town and 400 more seats are to be added to the Canada Games Arena located downtown.
DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com has been featured in every Friday's Daily Herald Tribune (Grande Prairie) as well as every Friday of the Peace Country SUN newspaper (distributed through-out the Peace Country) over 15 weeks of the summer months. (May to Sept) The newspaper columns written by Ken Connors includes pictures and information on the many parks and lakes in the Peace Country that are on this website.
August 2004 - With so many business opening up it seems unusual that a few are closing. After more than 50 years, the Imperial Motors Esso Gas Station on 100 Avenue and 102 Street closed its doors. A decision made by Esso. Good Time Charlie's Pizza and Lounge located on 100 Avenue and 105 Street also closed. More construction on the Highway By-Pass has a very large mini-storage business soon to open just east of Midwest Home Furnishings.
September 2004- Bell World opened a new store at 11801-100 Street that will employ about 5 people and Old Hippy Wood Products opened another franchise location in the Centre 100 Plaza, located at 11012-100 Street.
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| September 2004- Another 5 communities/lakes have been added to this website to now total 70 areas. The Hamlets of Ridgevalley, and Woking are now on the internet as well as Swan Lake, Alberta , Spring Lake and Two Lakes. | Oct 2004- Construction continues on the new Grande Prairie Mazda, located at 12709-100 Street. It is scheduled to open at the end of October. Up until the 1980's it was the site of the Texaco Gas Station. | Oct 2004 - Widening of 100 Street on the corner of 100 Avenue, finally gets underway. The Old City Hall had to be torn down before the sharp bend in the road could be straightened. |
October 18 2004- Election was held in Grande Prairie. 8 Alderman voted in are John Croken, Gladys Blackmore, Bill Given, Margaret Heath, Gerry Mazer, Helen Rice, Carol-Lee Eckhardt and Dwight Logan. Wayne Ayling will be continue to be mayor, as he won by acclamation for his second term. The County of Grande Prairie Reeve Roy Borstad was upset by Leanne Beaupre.
October 2004- Greatwest Kenworth has moved into their new facility at the Four-Mile "Corner, just north of Grande Prairie. Since 1981 they had been located in the Richmond Industrial Park. The Turning of the Sod" ceremony is scheduled for October 29th, at 2:15pm for the Regional Waterline Project. The first phase is from the City of Grande Prairie to Clairmont to the north. Premier Klein will be in attendance for the ceremony.
Thousands of people lined the streets of Grande Prairie on Sunday November 28, 2004 for the annual Santa Claus Parade. Santa was joined by 39 floats. ENLARGE PICTURE.
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| Mayor Wayne Ayling (Rudolph) hands out candy to the youngsters. ENLARGE PICTURE |
The Grande Prairie Skating Club gets into the Christmas Spirit. ENLARGE PICTURE | The big moment everyone was waiting for...Santa and his live reindeer. ENLARGE PICTURE |
The best overall float in the Santa's Parade was Royal LePage Realty Grande Prairie. The best community club's float was the Grande Prairie Skating Club. Best commercial float was Costco. The best animal drawn float was Grande Prairie Stompede. The best Little People float was won by the 2nd Grande Prairie Scout.
2004 Santa Parade: MORE PICTURES: (01) (02) (03) (04) (05) (06) (07) (08) (09) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31) (32) (33) (34) (35) (36) (37) (38) (39) (40)
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November 2004- Royal Oaks Plaza (small business plaza) is under construction along the Highway Bypass just west of Midwest Home Furnishings. Safeway's 2nd location on the south side, will begin construction in the spring of 2005 with the opening expected in the fall of 2005. Also a $6-million Gymniks Gymnastic Centre is now under construction near the Community Knowledge Campus on 68 Avenue. This facility should be ready in the summer of 2005. October 2004- The Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce held its small business awards banquet honoring: SpeedPro Signs Plus as the Top Local Business under 10 employees, Aron Services for top Local Business with 10 or more employees, Cool Aid Society was the Featured Non-Profit of the year, Tab Pollock of Hi-Tech won the Employee of the Year, and Elite Moving won the Best New Business award. November 2004- The SAM awards honoring local builders was held at the Holiday Inn November 6th sponsored by the Grande Prairie Home Builders' Association. The Home Builder of the Year award went to Urban Escapes Ltd. The Award of Honor was presented to Andy Haugen. Service Excellence winner was Alberta New Home Warranty, Distinguished Trade - Certified winner was Builder's Electric Co., Distinguished Trade - Specialty was won by GP Flooring, Outstanding Supplier - Construction Materials was won by Home Hardware. Lauzon's Home Appliances won Outstanding Supplier - Specialty Materials. There was a tie in the Single Family, Under 1,100 sq. ft. without garage award with both Dirham Construction and Dueck Brothers winning this award. Another tie was in the Single Family, 1,100 sq. ft. - 1,300 sq. ft. with garage, with KCM Construction and Elaborate Homes winning this award. The Single Family under 1,100 sq. ft. with garage was won by Dirham Construction as well Dirham won the Single Family, Over 1,100 sq. ft. without garage. Single Family, 1,301 - 1,500 sq. ft. with garage was won by Cardon Homes as well they won the Single Family, Over 2,100 sq. ft. with garage. Single Family, 1,501 - 1,800 sq. ft. with garage was won by Dueck Brothers, Single Family, 1,801 - 2,100 sq. ft. with garage was won by Urban Escapes, Customer Choice - Small Volume was won by Urban Escapes, and Customer Choice - Large Volume was won by Gordey Homes. December 2004- Building permits for 2004 is up 26% over last year which include both residential and commercial construction. The Canada Games Arena adds another 288 new seats which brings the capacity up to 2,975 for hockey games and up to 4,685 for concerts December 2004 - The Grande Prairie Chamber of Commerce elected the new board chairman Darren Kjemhus, ATB Financial business financial service manager. Other directors include Felix Seiler of the Quality Hotel, Tracy Zuk of RBC Royal Bank, Tab Pollock of Hi-Tech, Cheryl McKenzie of Image Design, Brendan Dolan of Atco Gas, Jim Henderson who is Grande Prairie Regional College president, Cyril Gurevitch of Gurevitch & Headon, Ken Loudon of Sportswear Plus, and Bonnie Maguffee of R.Work Group. |
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NOW POSTED 2012 Events of the Peace Country
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