City Notebook: Go jump in a pool

By COLLIN GALLANT on July 1, 2023.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

It’s Canada Day today, though, really, it’s been July since April.

But with the silence of school bells and browning of grass comes musings about summer activities, and with Canada Day, some discussion of community… hopefully.

On cue, the Kinsmen Club and the city announced last week that the local service club will again sponsor free outdoor public swimming in July and August.

It’s harder and harder to deny these venues are one of the really charming things about our city. Plan to visit one this summer. You’ll see.

And, despite losing two of four outdoor pools over the last eight years, they’re increasingly unique to the Hat as larger centres move away from quaint, and cost eclipses value as the general concern.

I grew up in a city without outdoor pools, but it also didn’t hit 40C very often. They are a refuge from the heat, a refreshment for the soul.

But they are also a topic of uneasiness, something to be coveted, and potentially a sore spot and tripping point in a seemingly never-ending discussion about the city’s future plans for recreation facilities.

One can hear the argument: how can you argue for protecting or upgrading facilities in older communities, when a third of Hatters in the south end have virtually no rec amenities 20 to 30 years after most of it was built?

That’s the danger anyway, but that could and should be avoided.

Wouldn’t the neighbourly thing be for residents of older communities to lead the charge in getting such new facilities built in newer communities?

You won’t get rich by making your neighbour poor, after all.

And note, that the Moose and Hockey Hounds arenas are so-named – along with the “Kinplex,” the “Rotary” Track and “Lions” Park – because of dedicated capital fundraising campaigns to get those facilities built.

Maybe that’s too long in the past. Maybe Hatters rely too much on city hall to do everything in our city. Maybe it’s time today’s Hatters got a bit more community minded and got involved.

Another thing

Calgary celebrated the unofficial “Neighbour Day” holiday last week to foster civic spirit on the flood anniversary. The idea isn’t for a huge city to-do, but rather encourage garage sales, block parties and other grass root events.

A new microgrant program from city hall to spur similar actions here is a good first step – it could cost $20,000 for 40 grants of $500.

Sadly there’s no comparable single day in Medicine Hat, where civic pride needs a jolt. And there’s a great name just sitting there (“Hatterday!”).

Promotions

– Late Thursday brings news that Selena McLean-Moore is the new head of Invest Medicine Hat, making big career news in the same week for two women whose names I constantly mix up.

McLean-Moore was formerly a longtime regional industry developer for the province. Also on my list of contacts was Sandra Moore. The former MHC college official took a job at Norquest College in Edmonton a few years ago. She was recently tapped to head up climate strategy for the province of Prince Edward Island.

A look ahead

Council will sit Tuesday following the Canada Day long weekend.

Local festivities include events and fireworks at the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede grounds, and gatherings at Kin Coulee Park. Further out, the Elkwater Community Association has an expanded program after it took over the townsite’s bike parade and birthday cake event last year.

Leader, Sask. has day events but is saving its fireworks for a Santa Claus Celebration in December. Leader-ites are encouraged to visit Burstall for its July 1 firework show instead.

100 years ago

A Dominion Day celebration included a headline lacrosse match between Medicine Hat and a team of Calgary all-stars on July 2, followed by baseball doubleheader vs. the Calgary Riversides.

It resulted in a clear sweep for the locals, reported the News this week in 1923.

The Moose Lodge also reported an enjoyable picnic and sports day, complete with a wives wheelbarrow race, that was held at the Beaver Dam Camp, loaned for the occasion by the Rotary Club.

South of the border, Jack Dempsey defended his heavyweight title in a “fast and gruelling” bout staged at Shelby, Mont., but the gate “fizzled” with only 7,000 seats paid in a specially built 40,000-seat temporary arena.

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Medicine Hat’s founding, the News ran a special front page editorial quoting Henry Ford that “it is only after the age of forty that fortunes begin to be made.”

Progress to this point may not be as much as Hatters expect or wish, but resources, gas and fame speak to the “possibilities still ahead for the Hat and to its place in the sun it will be bound to arrive in good time.”

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com