Fort Macleod Mayor Bent Feyter stands in the town's historic commercial strip, which was saved from destruction from a quirk of history. Many events are planned here for the 150th anniversary of the founding of the fort in the leadup to the Canada Day long weekend.
The Town of Fort Macleod is celebrating 150 years of history with a long list of free barbecues and other events. The town sprang up around a fort built on the Old Man River to stop the American whisky trade — a key moment in the settlement of southern Alberta.Fort Macleod Mayor Brent Feyter stands in the town's historic commercial strip, which was saved from destruction by a quirk of history. Many events are planned here for the 150th anniversary of the founding of the fort.
In his view, the march west was one of the most dramatic moments in local history. Nearly three hundred men in red serge coats riding across the Prairies — with weak horses and meagre supplies, struggling across land stripped of resources by wildfire or bison migration. The town sprang up around the police outpost and grew quickly. The railroad came through and people believed this would be the centre of the new west. They built gorgeous brick buildings along Main Street and the town took out a large loan to support the growth.
Bruised Head is a Blackfoot elder who lives on the Blood reserve, just south of town, and is chair of the Kainai Board of Education. He said attitudes did change slowly. "Meeting with elders and hearing the original stories that they have of the North West Mounted Police marching west has been an honour and also very eye-opening," he said.
"We've seen a huge shift in terms of even the business mindset, with Main Street filling up with businesses, and our commercial industrial core massively expanding. It was about 40 per cent filled 10 years ago, and there's really next to no lots available there at all today.""It seems like the energy is here. Even with the demographic mix that we serve, it seems there's a young demographic from 20 to 40 that seems to be very, very prominent," he said.
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