“What is it about Grande Prairie?” I was faced with the question that many of my family ask from time to time once again the other day. You see, they have all been here, and most of them have lived here. They all eventually migrated back to the Okanogan, and I have remained here, loyal to my “Home”. They can’t understand it and they make it sound like I live in some remote hell, far north of where anyone with any ounce of sanity would consider living.

Let me paint you the picture of their “jaded” opinions. Spring…1994…Or what was supposed to be spring…It was April after all. My dad got up to go to work and was once again faced with snow drifts up to his waist and the wind howling at about -50! He snapped! He packed up the family and headed home, vowing to never live here again. My sister and I remained, having found roots of our own. Eventually those “roots” rotted away and my sister returned to her home. I must admit that I did try at one time to leave, but the economy in southern BC didn’t suite my mentality at the time, and I found myself heading back to my northern home with the prospect of making a decent living, owning property and raising a family.

Grande Prairie was a city booming with prosperity and growing like crazy. I guess you could say I was caught up in the hustle and bustle. With people working hard, unemployment almost non existent, good friends, and contrary to the beliefs of my family, not bad weather, Grande Prairie offers me almost everything I could want in a home. That spring that everyone turned tail and took off was the last year in a long time that we suffered the bitter, endless grasps of winter’s fury.  I have seen the 10^th of December come and go many times with barley a skiff of snow and people about their Christmas shopping with out the bulk of a jacket. Sure the temperature still drops on occasion, like this past Wednesday for instance. At six am the radio declared that it was a cold minus sixteen outside and two short hours later the mercury was hovering at plus three! Where else but Grande Prairie does the weather change every few minutes? Where else but Grande Prairie can you shovel your drive way before work and pull weeds from your flower beds that afternoon?

So to my sister in law who said to me the other day (she has never been here and my brother won’t bring her) “What is so terrible about Grande Prairie? It can’t be near as bad as they make it sound!” I would say “It’s not!” It is a wonderful place to live, to work, and to play! I can shop in some of the best stores in the afternoon and hit the slopes for some night time fun. I can take in a live theatre production one evening and head out for some target practice the next! I can dine in the finest restaurants and sweat in the best gyms. Swimming, hiking, river racing, skating, skiing, sledding, Motocross, theatre, movies, shopping, baseball, football, hockey, and soccer. Highland games, Maple Sugar Festival, Street Performers, bike rallies. Parades, drive-in movies, drag wars and mud bogs. Hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, rock climbing, camping. I could go on, and I probably will the next time someone asks, “What is it about Grande Prairie?” I think I can honestly reply “What isn’t it?”

Congrats Priscilla!!!!! Priscilla was just nominated and voted in to be a representative on the Grande Prairie Regional Tourism Board. Priscilla will be an excellent addition to their team and we are looking forward to seeing what ideas and endless possibilites come up from their creativity.

Awesome job - we're are so proud of you!!!!!

I stood outside yesterday, the cold wind biting at my ears. Before me the scene unfolds as I imagine it has for the last 90 years. The soldiers standing at attention with statue like stillness. The crowd dotted with poppies watch almost silently. I wriggle in my boots. My toes are cold and my ears are freezing. I think about complaining…And then I am ashamed.

My griping attitude suddenly catches sight of the red ears of those statue soldiers with nothing more than a brush cut between them and their felt berets. The scene flashes through my mind and makes me repent of my complaints. I see the cold trenches. The mud, stained with the blood of fallen comrades. I hear the blasts and the yelling, I do not hear complaints…

My daughter’s voice rings in my head. “I don’t want to go, mom. Those men are so old; I can’t understand what they are saying”. I am more than horrified. It is one of those moments when you wish the good Lord would rapture you out of there…Or the ground would swallow you up. I am speechless. I cringe under the glances of her grandparents…And then I am ashamed.

I should have dragged her there. In her pajama pants, no makeup, hair awry. It would have served her right. It would have humored me to see her face when we walked through the Legion doors and those old men she expected to see were actually young men dressed in their uniforms, clean cut, clean shaven, a 16 year old girls dream…but I had left with her grandparents hoping that they would deliver the finger waving/tongue lashing she deserved.

Truth be told the fault was mine. This is my first Remembrance Day service. Sure I have attended the school assemblies, sang proudly to Oh Canada, and listened to the “old” men deliver their speeches. I have been proud of the recited verse of Flanders Fields delivered by the small voice of my child. What I hadn’t considered was the fact that it may be nothing more to them than words that rhymed. I took for granted that they would understand…I am ashamed.

As I study the weathered faces and teary eyes of the veterans that have proudly put on their uniforms and braved the cold wind to pay their respects and remember, I repent of ever classifying this day as an “old persons holiday”. These men and women were not old. They were teenagers when they went to serve their country. They were not much more than children when they sacrificed their futures, for what? For ours. For my teenagers, at home, enjoying a day off school, warm and…free.

So next year I can assure you that I will be joined at service by three teenagers. They will be well dressed, adorned with poppies and they will remember. They will honor the soldiers that gave them their freedom when they were not much older than they are. They will say a prayer for our troops today, and they will proudly sing Oh Canada. They will remember…As I will not forget.

Sipps Pub pulled out all the stops for their Grand Opening. The room was cloaked in darkness with just a flicker of light on each table. While we enjoyed our Halloween Treats.......out of the corner of my eye I could not believe what I saw......Sonny and Cher making a guest appearance. Back from the dead (Sorry Cher) and travelling together, and singing duets such as Have I Stayed to Long...they graced each table to mingle, chat and sign autographs.

Sonny and Cher enjoyed their treats with fellow celebrities such as Kat Von D, Captain Morgan, Mrs. Claus, The Joker and Tinkerbell.

Throughout the evening Kat Von D continued to entertain her table and won numerous prizes.  A lonely Old Man seen wandering the bar aimlessly, enjoyed the vast array of cocktails and mocktails flowing freely. 

The costume challenged folks endured many requests from those that celebrated the evening in style.  All told the evening catered to approximately 100 plus people.

In the end, a Happy Halloween was had by all. The ghosts and goblins that braved the eeriness of a cold All Saints Night ...............