Most Excellent Road Trip – Days 4 and 5

Days 4 and 5 were jam packed – so much so that I didn’t have time to write separate blogs.

Thursday started in Grande Cache with meeting with the president of the Chamber of Commerce and several leaders from the Municipal District of Greenview. Both were great learning opportunities. We then hit the road passing through Grande Prairie on our way to Fairview. One of my favourite Canadian landscapes is the drive through the Peace River Valley. The Dunvegan Bridge is both picturesque and iconic. We spent the night in a parking lot at our Fairview campus – we truly are becoming RVers (although we have not yet stayed at a Walmart).

Friday morning was spent with the mayor of Fairview and the reeve of the municipal district of Fairview, and then in meeting several business owners from the broader community. We had a wonderful discussion about our Fairview campus – its past, present, and possibilities for the future. We then hopped back in the RV and drove to Valleyview, where I met with the mayor and councillors.

We thought, having left Grande Cache, that our animal sightings were largely behind us. We were wrong. There was a plethora of novel sightings from Grande Prairie to Fairview. We saw a moose with her calf – which was likely no more than a week or two old. The mother was walking with normal stride. The calf ran all-out to keep up. It was poignant. But also made me nostalgic for Rocky and Bullwinkle. About ten minutes later we discovered a rather unlikely fellowship – a female moose and female deer. They were hanging together. Of course, as academics, my wife and I turned to “the google” to see whether this was normal or unusual. Turns out that moose are technically deer – the largest member of the deer family. Truly an odd couple but each seemed to enjoy the company. And then a short while later we came across another black bear. We thought this was most unusual given how far we were from the mountains and rivers. He waved his behind at us, and slowly sauntered away.

Let me close with the last three “get to know” segments – Fairview, Valleyview, and the Municipal District of Greenview.

Fairview is one of two towns in Alberta with the same name – our Fairview is larger and better known. The town has a little more than 3,100 people. As with many of Alberta’s towns, Fairview grew over time from a hamlet to a village before gaining town status in 1949. Both the town, and Fairview College, were formed based largely because of a single industry, agriculture.

Valleyview – a little over an hour’s drive from Grande Prairie – has a little under 2,000 residents. Its economy centres on energy and agriculture. Being at the confluence of Highways 49 and 43, it is a gateway to other communities.

Finally, let me briefly describe the Municipal District of Greenview (the MD). Many of the communities we serve are in fact a part of Greenview – this includes Grande Cache, Grovedale, DeBolt, Ridgevalley, Crooked Creek, Valleyview, New Fish Creek, Sunset House, Little Smoky, and Fox Creek. The MD is massive – the largest in Alberta and bigger than some European

countries. They are both large, and sophisticated, and should be viewed as an important partner for GPRC.

So, this ends my most excellent journey. I will send out a last blog tomorrow to summarize my learnings.

We learned and had fun.

Your friend,

Glenn