Innisfail Online Blog

Just got in from a walk with my dog Nickey.  It was a bit chilly, especially as we are less than a week away from April.  The weather (always an interesting topic) has been a might unusual lately – colder than usual with our share of storms it seems.  A few times mother nature has teased us with some nice warm sunny days, but then throws us back into winter.

I really like getting out around Innisfail, as they have an excellent walking trail system.  My hats off to the town of Innisfail employees who keep the trails cleaned so that those of us who enjoying walking can do so safely.  Good Job!

Out walking, I see the large piles of snow beside all the driveways from the recent snow storm.  I am sure that many are not happy with all the snow.  I know my boys were grumbling about shoveling.

But I am happy it snowed.  Being a farmer all my life – I never want to say no to moisture.  Especially as I farm out in Saskatchewan where we are not quite as blessed with summer rainfall as the farmers around Innisfail.  And these types of snows at this time of year are excellent for the farmers (unless you are calving).  The fresh snow seems to slow down the regular melt allowing more water to seep into the soil, as well as the new snow itself melts right where it lands, not all blown away in trees, fence lines and sloughs like the regular winter snow.  So the tops of the hills get some well-deserved moisture.  And this snow hit a good portion of the prairies, so I am sure farmers in places like Oyen, Compeer, Macklin and Kindersley are very happy with the extra moisture.

Around town a few activities happening.  Big news was the fire at Bigfoot sports on the corner of main street.  The fire wiped out the building leaving a regrettable whole in our classic looking main street.  More information on the history of that building can be found at the Innisfail Province in this excellent article.

The Innisfail Minor Hockey Association held their wind-up banquets this week.  On Tuesday night the young kids – from Tyke to Atom enjoyed pizza and some end of year reminiscing.  And then on Wednesday night the Peewees, Bantams and Midgets had their chance for Pizza, awards and horse play.

On a final note, I was at our regular monthly Library Trustees meeting last week.  Things at the Innisfail Library our going well, Colleen our librarian does an excellent job.  The library will be having a booth at the Innisfail Trade show coming up in April, an InnisfailOnline.com will be sponsoring the library booth.  So make plans to come down on April 17-18 to check out the library booth.  As for the new library that we are planning on building, the town has applied for funding through both the provincial and federal governments, so now we are hoping that things go well and we are able to move ahead with buidling a new – and desparately needed – Library.

Here at InnisfailOnline we are looking for volunteers to help make the site better.  We want this to be your home on the net.  So let us know if you can help us out by contributing a story, reporting the news, or any other ideas you have.

Thanks,   Jack Zenert

Check out the new video I just created and added to YouTube!

All around the town of Innisfail Alberta

Just read this – sounds like great news…

“The province has approved $32 million toward the first phase of a wastewater line for central Alberta.

Innisfail Mayor Ken Graham said the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission recently got confirmation from Transportation Minister Luke Ouellette that the province would back construction of a wastewater line from Innisfail to Springbrook.

That line ties into an existing line that connects the area to Red Deer’s wastewater treatment plant. Graham said the funding was expected but he was glad to get official word.

The first section of pipeline is expected to be completed next year.

The entire project is expected to cost $400 million and includes three lines – one south to Olds, another north to the Lacombe area, and west to Sylvan Lake. (The Canadian Press, Red Deer Advocate, ccg)”

The first snow has hit Innisfail this past weekend.  And more came Monday.  Not huge amounts, but it may stay around if the weather forecast continues to change.  Originally I thought it would all be gone by Tuesday at the latest as it was supposed to hit highs of 10-14 degrees celsius.  But that got revised to only 3-4 degrees celsius so not a lot of melting happening.  But by Friday it may be up to 6-7 so it may melt then.

With the snow it got me wondering about what the mountain conditions are doing. Sunshine has a base of 72 cm and has had 19 centimetres of new snow in the past 2 days.  It has 5 of the 12 lifts open for business.  Lake Louise has had 15 cm recently and has 2 of its lifts in operations.  So the season has begun.  I know my boys are very anxious to get out and snow boarding this winter.

One thing about having boys snowboarding is having to get geared up.  Boards, bindings, boots, and of course the brand name snowboarding jackets to look very cool on the hill.  I try to find deals, buy off season, etc but certain items are hard to get.  Especially with boots – never know what size they will be when the time comes – they grow so fast.

I would like to try to actively get the buy and sell area going and I think skiing and snowboarding gear may be just the ticket.  So if you have anything to sell – items you are not using, boots or boards your kids have grown out of – list them on our Innisfail Online Buy and Sell classified ad section.

We have completed a number of updates to the www.innisfailonline.com website lately.

We have revised the menu structure to make the site more accessible and easy to find the information about Innisfail that you are looking for or interested in.

We have some exciting new content, and more to come.  As well we have more jokes, more quotes, and more entertaining items yet to come.

We have added a buy and sell area where you can place free online classified ads.

We have added a photo gallery site where we plan to add many galleries of pictures of Innisfail and area as well as the activities happening around Innisfail.  If you have pictures you would like added let us know.

We have news feeds relating to Alberta News, Agriculture and more showing you the latest happenings.

We have added more links to local websites.  If you want your website linked to Innisfail Online please let us know.

And we have set up a simple forum for two-way communication between not only you and I, but also between you and your friends and colleagues.  A place to interact, exchange ideas, and help us improve Innisfail Online.

Take a look around – www.innisfailonline.com is your home on the net.