The Town of Sedgewick hosted their Annual Christmas Party on December 8th at the Sedgewick Community Hall for approximately 65 attendees. The evening consisted of a look back at 2018, a heartfelt ‘thank you’ from Town Council to the staff, firefighters and many community volunteers and live music from Edmonton-based rock band Rockzilla. Long Service Awards were presented by Mayor Perry Robinson to firefighters Shelby Boyd (5 years) and Perry Warren (5 years), public works operator Brent Polege (5 years) and assistant CAO Thelma Rogers (20 years).

Shelby Boyd accepting a 5-year award

Fire Chief Tyson Armitage receiving a 5-year award on behalf of Perry Warren

Brent Polege accepting a 5-year award

Thelma Rogers accepting a 20-year award

The Town of Sedgewick is pleased to announce that multi-platinum selling American country music artist Clay Walker has committed to a performance at the Wild Rose Co-op Recreation Centre on Saturday, April 6th, 2019.  One of the most successful country acts of the past decade, Walker is known for doing whatever it takes to please an audience and combines a dedicated work ethic with God-given talent to regularly bring crowds to their feet.

After exploding onto the Texas honky-tonk scene in 1993 with back-to-back #1 hits “What’s It To You” and “Live Until I Die”, Walker went on to place 31 titles on the Billboard’s singles chart including other chart toppers such as “Dreaming With My Eyes Wide Open”, “If I Could Make A Living”, and “Rumour Has It”.  Throughout his career, Walker’s smooth, evocative voice and energetic stage presence has helped him score four platinum and two gold albums along with legions of dedicated fans and national acclaim.  After achieving total album sales of over eleven million and eleven #1 hit singles, he has recently released his highly anticipated newest single “Working On Me” featuring what is being coined as addicting grooves and tender-hearted lyrics.

Growing up in the Lone Star State, Walker knew early that he wanted to be a country recording artist and follow in the footsteps of friends Mark Chesnutt and Tracy Byrd.  At 16-years-old while working the night shift at a Super 8, he convinced a radio station to play a song he self-recorded on a cassette tape despite being against corporate policy.  This moment changed his life forever as a lengthy string of hits followed throwing him into the national spotlight.

Walker is making Alberta stops in Sedgewick, Brooks and Penhold. Tickets go on sale December 12th.

Despite his success, Walker has never strayed far from his Texas roots and lone star lifestyle.  In 1996 he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was told by his doctor that he would likely be in a wheelchair within four years and facing death in eight.  More than 20 years later, through a combination of hard work in managing his symptoms along with timely medical breakthroughs, Walker has become an inspiration to his fans and continues to be one of the hardest working country artists in the business.  “I think the best years of my recording career are ahead of me,” claims the country crooner.  “I believe if the good Lord wants it, who’s going to stop it?”

Walker takes to Campbell-McLennan Chrysler stage at 9pm on April 6th, with a to-be-named supporting act kicking off the show at 8pm.  The concert will be the third such show hosted in Sedgewick within the last 9 months with Canadian party-band Trooper rocking the venue in July and country singer Brett Kissel attracting a capacity audience in early November.  “We’ve had a couple of really successful shows already in 2018 that really exceeded our expectations,” said Town of Sedgewick CAO Jim Fedyk.  “Right now our plan is to space out two shows over the course of the year and try to continue with the current momentum.  We feel our area is craving this type of entertainment and so far, thanks especially to the tremendous corporate support, we’ve been able to deliver.”  Tickets for the show go on sale on December 12^th at 10am and can be purchased at the Town of Sedgewick’s administration office, Sedgewick or Killam Co-op grocery stores, or at ticketmaster.ca.

The Sedgewick Agricultural Society pulled off another Rough Stock Rodeo over the weekend. The event started off with a pancake breakfast and included a trade show and kids tractor pull before the big boys took to the arena at 3pm.

The rodeo is one of the biggest annual summer events in the area and the organizers seem to have it down to a science.  Hundreds of entertained individuals came out for the show and none were disappointed.  Congratulations to the Ag Society for hosting another terrific event in the Town of Sedgewick!

Looks pretty rough!

and a little rougher!

This hombre seems to be the roughest!

The first annual Gathering of the Clans Festival brought to you by the local Flagstaff Scottish Club turned out to be a great addition to Sedgewick’s summer scene.  Hundreds of attendees were able to browse the many vendors, watch the Highland Games and listen to some great music and other entertainment throughout the day.  It was truly a day where if you weren’t Scottish, you sure wanted to be!

The organizers were so pleased with the response, they vow to have another!  Special thanks to the folks that brought a taste of Scotland to Sedgewick!

Organizer Ian Malcolm gives his best pull and gets an ‘A’ for effort!

Mayor Robinson congratulates a dignitary. They could be brothers!

Councillor Stephen Levy has a go at the tug-o-war

A participant of the Highland Games gave an excellent throw here

The 9th Annual Movie in the Park hosted this year in Sedgewick turned out to be a big success once again.  Hundreds of families turned out for a showing of Disney’s The Lion King on a perfect calm night last Tuesday.  Festivities started at 5:30pm and went through most of the evening with great food, bouncy houses and of course a dunk tank with some of your favorite local heroes (or villians?) getting a taste of frigid water thanks to the many accurate arms in Sedgewick!

Thanks to Parents for Fun in Flagstaff, the many volunteers and Sedgewick Town staff who helped pull another great event together.

Mayor Perry Robinson goes for a dunk

Who knew pigs were so cute!

Chickens too!

Petting zoos are the best!

And they even had time for a movie!

After spending most of the summer studying the issue, Sedgewick Town Council gave first, second and third reading to Bylaw 542, The Outdoor Watering Bylaw on August 23rd.  The new bylaw replaces Bylaw 473 which was known as the Watering Restriction Bylaw.

The original Bylaw 473 was created to tackle the issue of low reservoir levels at the water treatment plant and although still a concern, loosens the restrictions somewhat and attempts to remove confusion regarding when residents can or cannot water.

“Bylaw 473 served its purpose for a number of years, but we’re now trying to evolve to a simpler and somewhat less restrictive bylaw that will hopefully be more convenient for our residents, yet still allow for protection of our potable water reservoir,” said CAO Jim Fedyk.  “The previous bylaw had different numbered addresses being allowed to water on different days of the week and we found that there was a lot of confusion about when you could or couldn’t water.  We’ve gotten rid of those limitations and have just tried to take a common sense approach to the subject by limiting watering of lawns during the hottest part of the day and limiting our regular restrictions to that.”

The new bylaw allows residents to water every day of the week, regardless of their house address.  It does require them to not water their lawns with a hose, pipe, sprinkler or irrigation system between the hours of 10am and 5pm (from June 1st to October 1st) which is when the heat of the day leads to much water loss through evaporation.  Watering from a watering can, hose with nozzle or a drip irrigation system would be allowed at any time of the day.

To protect the important water reservoir levels, the bylaw allows for further restrictions to be imposed by the Town at the discretion of the Public Works Foreman.  A Special Outdoor Water Restriction could further restrict the watering of lawns, usage of garden hoses, filling pools or hot tubs, using water dispensing recreational toys or other outdoor water usage.

In the event of an emergency, the bylaw gives room to declare a Total Watering Ban which would include the closure of the bulk water station.

Special restrictions or bans would be relayed to the public through notices on the Town’s social media sites as well as posters at the Town office and at the post office.  In addition, depending on the circumstance, the Town may also decide to place out street signage, make door-to-door visits or advertise in the local newspaper to make residents aware of such a declaration.

To review Bylaw 542, click on ‘Government>Governance>Bylaws’ at the top of this page.

Council discussed the following issues at their August 23rd, 2018 regular Council Meeting. (more…)

The Town of Sedgewick has announced that the Canadian Country Music Association’s reigning “Male Artist of the Year”, Brett Kissel, will be playing the Wild Rose Co-op Recreation Centre in Sedgewick, Alberta on Saturday, November 10th as part of his “We Were That Song” Tour. (more…)

Sedgewick Town Council has been working hard in 2018 on a number of capital projects. One of these is the revitalization of 47th Street (Main Street). (more…)

The Town of Sedgewick has signed their second naming rights sponsorship deal in a matter of weeks, the most recent is with Wes Campbell, owner of Campbell-McLennan Chrysler who has stepped forward as a sponsor for the Town’s new portable stage.  (more…)