Grande Cache founded in 1969 celebrates its 40th Birthday during Labour Day long weekend in 2009. This town flourishes as a result of a coal mine deposit nearby. Today, it’s home for 4000 residents. Surrounded by majestic peaks, rushing rivers, deep canyons, and tranquil lakes, the town offers many outdoor opportunities and is the gateway to the splendid Willmore Wilderness Park, where most lakes and mountains remain unspoiled and unnamed due to its remote access and travel is by horse, foot, bikes, or skis (750km of trails to explore!!!).
Feature Events:
Friday Fireworks (click here)
Saturday Parade (see below)
Sunday Miner’s Memorial (not attended)
Monday Farewell 50/50 Draw (not attended)
Saturday events include free pancake breakfast, parade, BBQ, penny carnival, mutts beer garden, Muskeg River Band / Laura Vinson, adult dance “The Emeralds”, and youth dance “Much Music”.
The town is planning to have 50th Anniversary in 10 years from today with the Time Capsule to be opened. Looking forwards to it. 
Grande Cache 40th Anniversary Celebration
For Friday night 40th fireworks, click here.
Grande Cache History
Few towns in Alberta have suffered the economic nausea of our roller-coaster economy quite like Grande Cache.
Dependent historically on the fickle coal and oil-and-gas industries, Grande Cache is intent on building a third economic pillar to support the town in down times — tourism.
Nobody knows more about the ups and downs of Grande Cache than Mayor Louise Krewusik. She and her husband have lived in the mountain town since it was created 40 years ago to support what was then called the Smoky River Coal mine.
As a one-industry town, Grande Cache has had “many ups and downs,” she says. “As the coal market went, so went the community.”
Other industries have helped to stabilize the town, notably oil and gas exploration and a lumber mill, and a federal minimum-security prison has ensured stable employment. Still, for a number of years, the town’s economy could be charitably described as rocky. Krewusik, a former teacher, remembers Monday mornings when she’d take attendance and find five or six students gone, having picked up and left with their families over the weekend.
“The early 1980s were particularly bad. I think they were the darkest days for the community.”
Smokey River Coal went bankrupt in 2000, and sold off its assets. The town fell back on its Weyerhaeuser mill, but in 2003, that, too, shut down. “Those were absolutely desperate times,” Krewusik recalls.
The loss of the mill and the coal mine spelled an “absolutely brutal time” for the community.
But the boom part of Alberta’s boom-and-bust cycle kicked in, and the coal mine, now called Grande Cache Coal, reopened in 2004. The Weyerhaeuser mill was sold to a B.C. company and renamed Foothills Forest Products, which also produces wood-stove pellets. The federal prison upgraded from minimum to medium security, which meant more hiring, and the Milner Power plant, which uses coal to produce electricity, has expansion plans.
This time, however, town leaders were determined to find a cushion against another downturn. Tourism was a natural.
Local operators took the lead, promoting their tourism-based businesses, including white-water rafting and horseback riding.
“They did the marketing, and they sparked a good deal of interest in Grande Cache,” Krewusik says. “Things just sort of grew.”
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It’s a small, isolated community of 4,200 in a pristine area 140 kilometres north of Hinton and 440 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
“We have 21 mountain peaks that surround the community, and the Wilmore Wilderness Park in our backyard, where there will never be any development. So out your back door, you can go hiking or mountain biking or whatever to just relax.”
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The town still could use more tourism operators, Wignes says. A 2008 report by Stantec Consulting concluded there is a significant opportunity for tourism in Grande Cache, and called for the town to begin the process of building a world-class resort. Currently, the town’s 440 hotel rooms will be booked solid for its signature event, the Canadian Death Race competition, held on the August long weekend.
Krewusik is optimistic that her town has seen the last of its near-death experiences.
“Things are looking up for Grande Cache,” she says. “People are looking for exactly what we offer — the pristine wilderness setting that is not busy, not overrun with tourists, where they can come and participate in activities unto themselves.
“Right now, it’s still pretty much unspoiled wilderness, and for a lot of people that’s a real draw.”
This Labour Day weekend, the town will host a variety of events to celebrate its 40th anniversary — with an optimistic eye to the future.
Read full article at EdmontonJournal
