Columns & News

MainStreet Market has returned

A ribbon cutting was held for the first market of the season. From left, City councillor Agnes Hoveland, Camrose Chamber of Commerce second vice-president Grace Boden, Mayor PJ Stasko, executive director of Camrose Chamber of Commerce Aaron Morris, president of the Camrose Chamber of Commerce board Jennifer Fossen and director Wade Cummings.

By Adan Shaikh

The MainStreet Market has returned to downtown Camrose, offering locals another opportunity to shop at home while supporting Camrose businesses, farmers and vendors. The market, organized by the Camrose and District Chamber of Commerce, is held Thursdays on the centre block of Main Street between 49 and 50 Avenues.

“The MainStreet Market is being brought back because it was a much-loved community event and because people have been asking for it,” said Aaron Morris, executive director of the Camrose and District Chamber of Commerce.

“We’ve heard from residents, visitors, vendors and businesses about how much they missed it. There was a unique atmosphere that came with having main street filled with people, local products, food and activity. We felt it was time to bring that energy back,” he added.

Morris said the market is intended to benefit both vendors and downtown businesses by encouraging more people to visit the City’s core area.

“When people come to shop the market, they often grab a coffee, stop for supper, browse local stores or discover a business they may never have visited before. The goal is to create an experience that benefits not only the vendors participating in the market, but the downtown business community as well.”

Bringing the market back has required coordination with the City of Camrose, downtown businesses and vendors. Morris said organizers have worked through road closure approvals, insurance requirements, vendor recruitment and other logistical considerations to ensure the market could operate safely.

The market has already received a strong response from vendors. While not all registered vendors were ready for opening day, Morris expects participation to grow throughout the summer, with approximately 16 vendors registered for June 25.

“As the season progresses, we do plan on having 30 to 40 vendors join us week to week,” he shared. The market operates Thursday evenings, with the street closing at 4 p.m. and reopening at 8 p.m. to accommodate setup, market operations and tear down.

Morris does not see the market as competing with other local markets, noting it operates on a different day and time providing vendors with another opportunity to connect with customers.
If the inaugural season proves successful, the Chamber hopes to continue growing the event in future years.

“Our long-term vision is to build a market that not only serves Camrose residents but also attracts visitors and vendors from surrounding communities, creating additional economic benefits for businesses throughout the region,” he concluded.

For more information on the market or to register, visit www.camrosechamber.ca

The Bailey Beat

By Nadine Leming

The historic Bailey Theatre has a great lineup for the upcoming season with new shows being added. Tickets for all events can be found at www.baileytheatre.com.

The Bailey Buckaroos wrap up their season on June 28 at 2 p.m. The performance will finish on a high note when Tom Lichak joins the band as the special guest. The audience will truly enjoy this classic country music group.

Camrose Blues Festival will be hosting their Kick Off Party on July 16 at 7:30 p.m., featuring live local bands Rose City Rollers and Godfrey Blaque. This is a pay what you feel event with limited seating, so reserve your seats now. Come early to grab a bite at the Spotlight Bistro or at the food trucks that will be on site.

The second annual Camrose Blues Festival runs from July 17 to 19. This year they’ve assembled legendary performers and rising stars to provide an epic weekend adventure. Experience foundational melodies and navigate the roots of the Blues while enjoying the vibe with fellow music enthusiasts.

The Great Divide replenishes trees

Lucien Royer talked about the hardiness of white spruce trees and its importance as part of the native species in the area to volunteers prior to sending them out to plant the trees.

By Nadine Leming

The annual Great Divide event is a driving force for widespread tree planting as well as for the broader wetland and biodiversity initiatives. The Global Foundation for Social Harmony & Sustainable Development held a tree planting event on June 14.
The Great Divide planting site is a 20 acre property that was donated by Gene Eisert.

The Eisert property has become an experimental land for learning how to return thousands of acres of land in the Beaver Hills Biosphere back to native grasses and plants that now favours the growth of non-native and invasive grasses and plants.

This area has some wetlands mostly owned by Ducks Unlimited. It is near the highest elevation point in the biosphere feeding plentiful wetlands.
This area is called the Great Divide because on one side of the divide, water flows into the Battle River. The other side flows into the North Saskatchewan River.

The recent event focused on planting into treed areas that after several successive years of planting have helped determine the best places to plant.
The afternoon was hosted by the Global Foundation for Social Harmony & Sustainable Development, Miquelon Watershed Stewardship Committee and included members of the Battle River Watershed Alliance and the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance.

Winston Gereluk is the president of the Global Foundation Miquelon Watershed Stewardship Committee and led a ceremony inside the Medicine Circle honouring the sacred Indigenous land where volunteers gathered to plant the trees.

Gereluk said, “The 20 acres that the Great Divide sits on is jointly managed between us and the Edmonton Heyoka Healing Society.” The region serves as a living laboratory for sustainable development, conservation, and peaceful coexistence with local wildlife.

Gereluk shared greetings from Alberta’s Lieutenant Governor, MLA Rick Wilson and Caitlin Hilsen-Ashford, outreach coordinator with the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance.

Lucien Royer, also with the Global Foundation, spoke about the white spruce trees that are evergreen conifers native to Canadian boreal forests that were being planted that day. The afternoon saw 150 trees and 100 packages including 12 different native plant seeds planted.
The weather was perfect for the dedicated group to be outside restoring the land with indigenous life while respecting nature.

For more information on the Global Foundation, go to www.gfoundation.ca

Greg Wharry’s 1968 Volvo P1800S, 48 years on the road

Greg Wharry has modified his Volvo to reflect a balance of his own taste and the original characteristics of the car.

By Adan Shaikh

For nearly half a century, Greg Wharry has been behind the wheel of a car that continues to turn heads and spark conversations wherever it goes.
He has owned his 1968 Volvo P1800S for 48 years, rescuing it from less-than-ideal condition when he first found it parked at Kingsway Motors in north Edmonton.

“It was rough, but it was running. It had been vandalized so the interior was really messed up, but there wasn’t any rust, which was very unusual for these cars because they are very likely to rust,” said Wharry.

“A friend of mine put my name and number in the windshield. It was parked at Kingsway Motors in North Edmonton,” he shared.

Unlike the boxy Volvo sedans many people associate with the brand, the P1800S featured more laid back styling, a low stance and a distinctive coupe design. Its unique appearance remains one of the reasons Wharry enjoys owning the car today.

“So many people come up and ask me, ‘What is this?’ and when I tell them it’s a Volvo, they go, ‘No way.’ It’s a different body than typical Volvos,” he explained.

Under the hood sits the car’s original 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine paired with a four-speed manual transmission and electric overdrive.

While much of the car has been restored over the years, several key components remain original.

“The whole interior has been replaced, the engine is the original engine, it has 49,000 original miles on it. The paint job and all the bodywork was done back in 2014,” said Wharry.

The restoration also included a dramatic colour change. The Volvo did not leave the factory wearing the candy apple red finish that now attracts attention at car shows and cruise nights.

Over the years, the Volvo has accumulated countless memories. Wharry recalls one particularly memorable trip to Vancouver that tested both the driver and the machine. He drove through Jasper despite having virtually no working brakes.

“I used the emergency brake for stopping,” he said.

The trip ended safely, and the braking system has since been repaired. With functioning brakes and a carefully restored body, the Volvo is now ready for many more kilometres on the road.

Today, the bright red coupe looks a long way from the vandalized vehicle Wharry purchased decades ago and for him the greatest reward remains the reaction from people who encounter the car and how it stops people in their tracks and leaves them asking the same question: “What is it?”

Up next at the Lougheed Centre

By Nadine Leming

The Jeanne and Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre has a great lineup for the 2026-27 season.

Ten years ago, The Tragically Hip played their final show in Kingston, Ontario, bringing the whole country together. On August 22 at 7 p.m., The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration will bring the nation together again to mark that anniversary and to remember frontman Gord Downie with an epic watch party across Canada at select locations! Make sure you grab your tickets for this special event.

The Cabaret Series is known for intimate and great performances. The first show this season is no exception when Jessie Bird takes the spotlight at the Mayer Family Community Hall on September 19 at 7:30 p.m. This 18+ show the audience will experience a soulful evening of country-folk from the rising star from Camrose. Jessie is known for her heartfelt storytelling and themes of resilience.

Skerryvore takes the stage on September 26 at 7:30 p.m. and are three-time winners of Scotland’s Live Act of the Year Award. They have evolved from humble beginnings to become one of the country’s leading forces in a thriving music scene.

Skerryvore’s wide range of influences and talent produce a musically expansive, immersive yet intimate set that excites and captivates audiences.

Pumping up positivity

The Magoo Crew encouraged audience participation during their visit at the LPAC. The students were praised for being part of the show.

By Nadine Leming

As a well-known champion for youth, Superfan Magoo actively advocates for them as he spreads a message of love, positivity and resilience. The Magoo Crew uses traditional and contemporary elements that educate while entertaining.

Magoo is also known for his passionate fandom of the Edmonton Oilers.

Magoo and his crew came to Camrose to speak to students at the Lougheed Performing Arts Centre (LPAC) and to approximately 85 schools across Canada watching online.

The message shared was on full display through music, dance and motivational speaking. He communicated with students to stay positive and believe in themselves in the light of negativity. He said, “It doesn’t matter if you’re a youth or an adult, there is bullying going on and that is unacceptable.”

Magoo spoke to the fact that children are our future, urging students to stay in school and to stay away from drugs and alcohol. He expressed the importance of self-respect as well as respecting others around you, treating every human as an equal.

Throughout the entire performance the audience was treated to a strong message of positivity, love and resilience. Magoo had the students to look at the person next to them and tell them they were loved. He then instructed them to look in the mirror every morning and tell themselves “I love you.”

The Magoo Crew performance was part of the Augustana Campus and the Faculty of Education partnership with the LPAC to host this special presentation in honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day which is June 21.

It is part of the Augustana Campus Indigenous Speaker Series that promotes genuine allyship and engages the community with indigenous perspectives, cultures and traditions.

The Magoo Crew’s message served as a refresher to respect one another. They received a standing ovation from the students in attendance and the audience got a reminder of the obstacles that can be overcome together.

Spike to success

By Nadine Leming

Augustana Campus women’s volleyball head coach Steve Enright won the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) North Coach of the Year title once again. Enright assumed the helm of the Vikings in 2019. Over the past seven seasons, he has established himself as one of the elite leaders in collegiate volleyball. This recognition is voted on by his peers and is the fourth time he has received this honour.

Enright said, “It’s always a humbling experience.” He continued, “I think that award takes into account not just wins and losses, but how people view your program and how you treat people.” What made things especially nice is this year Augustana hosted the ACAC championships and the announcement was made at the tournament.

Enright talked about the strength of the team he has right now and commented, “They have to perform well in order for me to have a chance to win that award, and they did that.”

Under Enright’s leadership, the women’s volleyball program has been elevated to unprecedented heights. This year the women’s volleyball team finished fourth overall out of 64 teams in the country. That is the best any court sport has ever done in Augustana’s history.

Enright feels that next season the team can be a bit stronger than this past season and stated, “We’re kind of right in the middle of a strong window of competitiveness.”

As he continues to prepare for next season, Enright has created a standard of excellence built on preparation, resilience and a commitment to keep growing. He said, “The main core value we follow is that good people make great Vikings.”

When recruiting players, the team takes into consideration that the women fit the culture and are good people. He is deeply committed to developing well-rounded student-athletes, fostering a culture where athletes are challenged to grow both as competitors and as people.

Enright’s coaching success has garnered a lot of attention. In addition to his four coach of the year nods at the ACAC level, he has been nominated for the CCAA Coach of the Year three times.

He has also received the 2025-2026 ACAC Coaching Excellence Award and was a finalist for the 2026 CCAA Coaching Excellence Award. These awards go to the top coaches in all collegiate sports.

With Enright’s leadership, the women’s volleyball program at Augustana is in great hands for the foreseeable future.

Go the distance

Nadine Leming, Camrose Booster

Ray Law has raised $15,000 for the MS Bike Tour and will be riding his bike between Leduc and Camrose on June 27 and 28 in support of people diagnosed with MS, like his wife. He never saw himself as a cyclist, but now absolutely loves to ride. He trains all year for this event and one of his favourite things about riding his bike along this route is meeting some of the same people every year. The tour between Leduc and Camrose is the top fundraising area from across the province.

Purple Martin Festival

Adan Shaikh, Camrose Booster

Camrose Wildlife Stewardship Society (CWSS) held the annual Purple Martin Festival on June 13 at the Stoney Creek Centre. The event began with an informative presentation about track cams and cats by Gerald Romanchuk, wildlife photographer and executive director of the Edmonton Nature Club. Children’s activities took place alongside presentations throughout the day. One of the highlights of the festival was the pond dipping activity for children. With one parent sharing that her children look forward to the festival every year because of how much they enjoy the opportunity to get into water and learn about the aquatic bugs that exist in the ecosystem. From left, Charles d’Entremont, Marina Sederuik, Clara d’Entremont and Ray Giles, environmental program coordinator at Battle River Watershed Alliance. The children stood by the Stoney Creek and looked for aquatic organisms.

Classrooms without borders

By Nadine Leming

Newcomer youth often face unpredictable challenges when adjusting to a new community and school. Examples of what they experience include language and cultural barriers, not knowing what resources are available or how to access them among other obstacles they face.

These youth in Camrose are fortunate enough to have access to the Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) program helping to make the transition easier for these students.

These special workers assist students with learning English, provide mentorship and personalize support for youth. They also offer schools and other organizations to facilitate accommodating newcomers’ interests and build resources.

The SWIS program is funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and helps these students succeed in Canadian schools. Zoila de Paz-Gendreau is a Camrose resident and is a SWIS coordinator with Action for Healthy Communities.

She connects families to the services they need. Many times there is a language barrier that hinders the process, so newcomers can be paired with interpreters to assist them. Schooling is another major adjustment for children and youth. Learning how the Canadian school systems work versus the schools from where they came.

Zoila helps students and families navigate the adjustment to living in a new country. She said, “We help catch them up culturally and academically.”

She continued, “I love working with the children because they just absorb everything.”

She has worked with students that knew no English when she met them and has been able to watch them grow throughout the years until they graduate. Zoila commented, “It’s so rewarding to see all the time you’ve spent with them and everything that you’ve taught them has paid off when they graduate.”

For her, the best part of her job is being able to help a family and connect them with the services and resources they need to succeed. As someone who immigrated to Canada as a child, the reward for Zoila is seeing a newcomer parent smile, knowing their child is safe, understood and ready to learn.

For more information on SWIS, contact Action for Healthy Communities by calling 780-226-6723 or email camrose@a4hc.ca

3068 SALH Camrose Army Cadets awards night

Nadine Leming, Camrose Booster

The 3068 SALH Army Cadets recently held their awards night on June 9. The ceremony included an inspection of the Corps Reviewing Officer Major Jonathan (Jon) S. Perry before awards were handed out. It was an evening to celebrate the accomplishments of these Cadets who demonstrated leadership skills, dedicated service, physical and military training and outstanding community citizenship. These awards honour personal growth, perseverance and high standards of conduct achieved during their time with the program.

The Top Overall Cadet Award was presented by Royal Canadian Legion #57 President Tim Forberg, left, to Sgt. L. Pearce.

Reviewing Officer Major Jonathan (Jon) S. Perry, CD, B.Ed., Officer Commanding, Northwestern Area, RCSU(NW) inspected the Cadets prior to the awards ceremony and spoke a few words of congratulation.

Kids Can Catch

Adan Shaikh, Camrose Booster

Duke and Snö Doderai spent the day fishing with their family on June 13 at the Camrose Fish & Game Association and Alberta Conservation Association’s Kids Can Catch event. Snö went fishing for the first time and got over six fish in just a few hours.

Reflections

By Bonnie Hutchinson

Are you fixed or growth mindset?

Here we are, enjoying our longest days of the year, heading into summer holiday season. What am I thinking about? As the school year winds down, I’m thinking about research results described by Carol Dweck in Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

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Dweck describes two mindsets that shape our lives. The “fixed” mindset believes that we have fixed abilities that we cannot really change. “Failure” means we are in some way defective and cannot do anything about it. The “growth” mindset believes we can change and thrives on challenge. “Failure” is an opportunity for stretching our abilities.

In a study of hundreds of students, each student was given ten fairly challenging problems. All students were praised – most had done pretty well – but they were given two types of praise. One group of students was told, “Wow, you got [X many] right. That’s a really good score. You must be smart at this.” Another group of students was told, “Wow, you got [X many] right. That’s a really good score. You must have worked really hard.”

In other words, some students were praised for their ability and others for their effort.

The researchers found, “The ability praise pushed students into the fixed mindset… When we gave them a choice, they rejected a challenging new task that they could learn from. They didn’t want to do anything that could expose their flaws. In contrast, when students were praised for effort, 90 percent of them wanted the challenging new task they could learn from.”

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In follow-up parts of the study, four findings emerged.

Response to less than success. The students were given a harder set of problems in which most students didn’t do so well. The ability-praised students thought they weren’t so smart or gifted after all. Dweck says, “If success meant they were intelligent, then less-than-success meant they were deficient.” But for the effort-praised students, less-successful results just meant they had to put in more effort. It was not a sign of failure.

Enjoyment. All the students enjoyed the first round of easier questions. When the questions got more challenging, the ability-praised students no longer had fun. The effort-praised students still enjoyed the problems and even said the more challenging, the more fun.

Performance. As the questions got harder, effort-praised students had significant improvements in their performance. Ability-praised students got worse, as if they were discouraged by their own success or failure mindset.

Honesty. The researchers asked the students to write private letters to their peers describing their experience, including a space to report their scores. Forty percent of the ability-praised students lied about their scores.

Dweck’s comment: “In the fixed mindset, imperfections are shameful — especially if you’re talented — so the students lied about them. What’s so alarming is that we took ordinary children and made them into liars, simply by telling them they were smart.”

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In final exams students are writing this month, results, not effort, will be reported.

Results matter. In the work world, employers want people who are willing to learn new things and who already excel at the skills the job needs. Clients don’t care if team members tried hard and learned new things. Clients want results.

But when we focus on effort, that actually improves results.

I deeply appreciate the local piano teacher (and life lesson teacher) who, at the beginning of every recital says to the parents, grandparents and siblings, “We all make mistakes in life. I tell the students that what’s important when they make a mistake is to pick themselves up and carry on.”
What a great life message!

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I’d love to hear from you. If you have comments about this column or suggestions for future topics, e-mail Bonnie@BonnieHutchinson.com. I’ll happily reply within one business day.