Grande Prairie News 2015 - ARCHIVED
DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com features some of the news that changed Grande Prairie during the year 2015. Target store in the Prairie Mall announced they will be closing their store as well as Future Shop also closed its doors. This was the year that the NDP won the Provincial Election. The Phillip J Currie Dinosaur Museum had its Official Grand Opening on September 26, 2015.
MORE: Grande Prairie NEWS - 2001 To Present VIEW
GRANDE PRAIRIE NEWS - 2015


January 2015: Target has announced that they will be closing all their Canadian locations including the Grande Prairie. It wasn't that long ago that the store opened in May 2013. (enlarge photo)
January 2015: Tickets for the Grande Prairie Dream Home are now on sale. More Info. This years Dream Home is ahead of schedule with the opening planned for early February.
January 2015: Oil prices have fallen to about half of what it was a year ago, resulting in some of the lowest gas prices at the pumps in the Peace Country that we have since in the last 5 years. Some people are predicting a recession for later this year as businesses will be cutting back spending and laying off workers.

January 2015: Olivers Funeral Home celebrated its 100th Anniversary. Current owners Gene Krause says it was founded by Ontario native J.B. Oliver as the J.B. Oliver Funeral Home and J.B. Oliver Furniture Store in 1915. The current building was constructed in 1995 located at 10005-107 Avenue, right next to the Daily Herald Tribune in Grande Prairie, Alberta. (enlarge photo)
January 2015: Canadian Tire will be building a new store on the West end of Grande Prairie along 116st and next to the Westgate Centre. Opening is scheduled for fall of 2016.
January 2015: The Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce is celebrating 100 years in 2015.
February 2015: Special Olympics Alberta Winter Games were in Grande Prairie February 20-22, 2015. More than 500 athletes were expected to compete. Cross Country Skiing, Alpine Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating and more.

February 2015: Homebuilders in Grande Prairie are a bit cautious going forward. In January this year there were only 2 housing starts compared to 23 in January 2014.
February 2015: Grande Prairie Chamber of Commerce handed out its annual awards: Clem E. Collins Award (Chamber Volunteer) presented to Barb Metituk, Alberta Motor Association. Business Citizen of the Year Don Gnatiuk, Grande Prairie Regional College. Dan H. Minchin Award (Long-Term Business Achievement) Devco Developments Corporation. Above and Beyond Award awarded to Marilyn Cramer for her involvement with the World’s Largest Truck Convoy and the Special Olympics Alberta Winter Games.
March 2015: Robin Campbell, Alberta Treasury Board & Minister of Finance visited Grande Prairie and talked about future cutbacks due to the decreased revenue from the falling oil prices. A week later Premier of Alberta Jim Prentice also made a stop in Grande Prairie with a luncheon and question period.
March 2015: The February over-all sales numbers show a 37.6 per cent drop in sales in Grande Prairie which means 86 less homes were sold in February compared to the same month last year.
March 2015: Roy Bickell, long time resident of DeBolt and Grande Prairie passed away at age of 84. He was a farmer and also worked for Canfor and Ainsworth. He had donated his extensive collection of fossils to the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum.
March 2015: Ward Livingston resigns his position as Business Manager of the Hockey Team, Grande Prairie Storm. Ward Livingston had been an announcer for Q99 Radio in Grande Prairie previous to this for many years.

March 2015: Grande Prairie Dream Home OPEN. Tickets for the Grande Prairie Dream Home are now on sale. This years Dream Home was opened earlier than in past years. Sneak Peak - Interior Pictures

March 2015: MLA for GP Smoky Everett McDonald has been named Associate Minister of Agriculture as the current Minister, Verly Olson is taking time off for health reasons. The 2015 Peace Country Classic Agri-Show celebrated its 30th year.
March 2015: Actor Dan Akroyd will be back in Grande Prairie for the Amber Ball in September. The Harley Davidson fundraising ride will now be an annual event for the Phillip J Currie Museum in Wembley.

March 2015: Future Shops Close Across Canada including Grande Prairie Location. 66 stores closed permanently while another 65 across Canada would be converted to a Best Buy Store. (enlarge photo)
March 2015: Victory Church Celebrates 20 years, located near Royal Oaks. Charles Spencer High had its official Grand Opening. Grade 9-12, with 1,000 students.
April 2015: A location has been confirmed for a new Catholic Junior-Senior High School. It is hoped to be open in 2018 located in Whispering Ridge subdivision, northern part of Grande Prairie.
April 2015: Alberta Premier Jim Prentice announces Albertans will be going to the polls May 5th. Jim Prentice is with the Progressative Conservatives, challenged by Rachel Notley of New Democratic, Brian Jean of the Wildrose, David Swann of the Liberals, Greg Clark of the Alberta Party, Janet Keeping of the Greern Party, Len Skowronski of Socila Credit, Naomi Rankin of the Communist and Bart Hampton of the Albert First Party.

April 2015: Peace Windows in located along 100 Street (near Doug Marshall Motor City) Grande Prairie has closed as it filed for bankruptcy on March 31.
April 2015: Cash & Camping Lottery is on again with many prizes to be won. They have opened with display of prizes at the Great Northern Casino parking lot in Grande Prairie.
April 2015: Montana's BBQ & Bar and Fionn Maccool's Upscale Irish Pub are advertising franchise opportunities for Grande Prairie so these businesses may appear in Grande Prairie in the future.

May 2015: The NDP win the Provincial Election on May 5th. Wayne Drysdale, PC is re-elected in the Grande Prairie-Wapiti riding but Everett McDonald PC loses to Wildrose Todd Loewen in the Grande Prairie-Smoky riding. Overall the NDP swept the province winning in 53 ridings. Wildrose came in 2nd with 21 seats forming the official opposition. The PC's were left with only 10 seats that also included a seat by PC Leader Jim Prentice. The NDP won 41 per cent of the popular vote, the Wildrose won 24 per cent and the PC's had 28 per cent. Voter turn out was 58.1 percent Province wide.

May 2015:Three new VIDEOS of Pipestone Creek Campground. Pipestone Creek Park is located 17 km south of Wembley, AB. Pipestone Creek - Loop A: PLAY Video 2:34min...Pipestone Creek - Loop E: Play Video 3:32min...
Road to the Wapiti River: PLAY Video 2:17 min
June 2015: The Vacancy rate for Grande Prairie was 2.6% for April 2015 compared to 1.3% last year. The average rent for a 2 bedroom home is $1,216 per month compared to $1,173 last year.
June 2015: Long time resident of Grande Prairie Wes (Arthur) Murphy passed away on June 19, 2015. Wes along with Peter Maciborsky started Richmond Realty in 1963 and in the 1980's purchase the Re/Max Franchise then more recently the Sutton Group in Grande Prairie.
GRANDE PRAIRIE NEWS - 2015


July 1, 2015: GRANDE PRAIRIE CELEBRATES CANADA'S BIRTHDAY. There were over 100 entries in the 2015 Canada Day Parade that took place downtown Grande Prairie. Ken Connors of DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com has captured the entire Parade on video. You can see it here. View VIDEO> (28:24min)
July 2015: Longtime resident of Grande Prairie Elmor Borstad passed away at the at of 90 years. He was one of the owners of Borstad Cartage Freight moving company and Borstad Welding. He was the mayor of Grande Prairie in 1968. Also another longtime resident of the city Margaret Heath passed away. As recent as 2004 she was elected as Alderman.
July 2015: Township 71 (Formerly Rics Grill on 106 st and 99 ave Grande Prairie) will be closing their doors for good on July 18th, 2015. It has been less than a year since it opened after extensive renovations to the building.

August 2015: Spurs Cookhouse and Dance Hall has closed after being open for 4 years. Located near north side McDonalds in Grande Prairie along 100 Street. In previous years this spot was called "The Corral" and before that was the location of the Canadian Tire Store.
August 2015: The Bottle Depot (96 ave & Friendship Centre area) has plans on moving to the old Peavey Mart Location near London Drugs. It will be rennovated first.
August 2015: Farm equipment dealer, Agriterra Equipment, that was located near Windsor Ford along 132 Avenue, has now moved to a new location along the Emerson Trail, north of Grande Prairie. Grande Equipment was the name of the busines before Agriterra Equipment took over at the 132 Avenue location.
August 2015: Watson's foto source has moved next to Create a Portrait which is located south of SuperStore, 12125-99 Street Grande Prairie. It had been at the corner of the Bell Tower Plaza for many years. (Same building as Don's Mens Wear and Skyline Micro Systems.)
August 2015: A small strip mall has opened on the west side of Grande Prairie (corner of 116 street and 100 Ave) with Service Canada, Mint Health & Drugs, and Humpty's Restaurant now open.

September 2015: The Phillip J Currie Dinosaur Museum is now open located near Wembley. Official Grand Opening took place September 26, the same night as the Amber Ball. (enlarge photo)
September 2015: Canopy West Truck Accessories is now open next to Doug Marshall in Grande Prairie, 11308-100 Street. (old location of Peace Windows) Also Sangster's Organic Market has opened in Grande Prairie, 10408-67 Avenue.

September 19, 2015: Clairmont celebrated the 100 year birthday of their community on Saturday September 19, 2015 with a parade. DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com captured it in this video. View VIDEO> (6:07min)



September 2015: Video featuring the Grande Prairie Storm 2015-2016. This video captures some of the excitement of Grande Prairie's team in the AJHL. The Grande Prairie Storm are celebrating its 20th Anniversary in the AJHL in the 2015-2016 season. View VIDEO> (1:00min)


October 2015: PC Candidates win all 3 ridings in the Peace Country. Chris Warkentin easily won in the Grande Prairie-Mackenzie riding while Arnold Version won the Peace River-Westlock riding. Bob Zimmer, won the Prince George-Peace River riding. Compared to 2011 there was a big increase in the number of people voting.
October 2015: 2 new MAPS have been created and added to this website that shows the different depths of the lake. Snipe Lake: Depth Map, Lesser Slave Lake: Depth Map.
October 2015: The Grande Prairie Athletics have decided to not have a team in the NPHL this season. Large number of players retiring and many working shift work during the week, would mean it would be difficult to ice the minimum of 12 skaters for every game.
October 2015: Janina's Jewelers is closing their Sears location along 100 Street, but will remain open on the west side of the city.

November 2015: Chris Warkentin MP for Grande Prairie-Mackenzie, has been name critic for Agriculture and Agri-Food, a shadow cabinet potion.
November 2015: Rona Ambrose has been chosen as the interim leader of the Federal Conservative Party. She was born right here in the Peace Country, in Valleyview.
November 2015: If you have to pay a parking ticket or need an animal license, the location has changed in Grande Prairie and is now at the Enforcement Services Building at 9910-99 Ave, west of the Co-op Marketplace.
November 2015: Unemployment continues to rise in the Peace Country. In October it moved up from 5.5% o 5.7%. An estimated 11,000 jobs were lost in Alberta in the last while.

November 2015: Festival of Trees is an annual event at Evergreen Park, Grande Prairie. You can view 10 photos of some of the trees that were featured at this event. Click Here to see Photos
November 2015: Ken Sargent GMC and Sean Sargent Toyota have committed $1 million to the Hospital Foundation to enhance the health care for people in the region.

December 6, 2015: NEW VIDEO Grande Prairie Santa Parade. One of the biggest crowds were on hand to see the Santa Parade Downtown Grande Prairie. The warm temperature was the main reason as it was near the zero degree mark. Santa arrived. View VIDEO> (12:10min)
December 6, 2015: The 2016 Grande Prairie Dream Home Opens early January in Taylor Estates subdivision east and south of Grande Prairie.
December 6, 2015: Trend Home Improvements has moved to a new building and location, a few blocks west of Ken Sargent GMC along 102 Street, Grande Prairie.
More VIDEOS have been added to DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com that include a feature on Williamson Provincial Park, Sturgeon Lake: View VIDEO> (4:03min)...Lesser Slave Lake at Hilliards Bay featuring the Boat Launch & Beach: View VIDEO> (3:03min).......Hilliards's Bay Group A Campground: View VIDEO> (2:00min)...... Grouard, Alberta featuring downtown: View VIDEO> (3:21min)

GRANDE PRAIRIE NEWS - 2015
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