GRANDE PRAIRIE NEWS - 2022
July 2022: Thousands of people lined the streets for the Grande Prairie
CANADA DAY PARADE held July 1st, 2022. DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com captured the entire parade on VIDEO. The edited version is close to 20 minutes long and includes the names of each entry as they appear.
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July 2022: The
Grande Prairie Storm have named Eric Thurston as their new head coach for the 2022-2023 season. Thurston has more than 30 years of coaching experience including with the University of Alberta Golden Bears and more recentely head coach and general manager of the Drayton Valley Thunder for the past four years.
July 2022: City of Grande Prairie Councilor
John Lehners suddenly passed away. He was elected to City Council in Octobert of 2021 and previous to that was a trustee for the Grande Prairie Public School Board for 20 years. He was a partner of Beairsto Lehners Ketchum Engineering for 21 years before starting Design Works Engineering.
August 2022: The
Great Northern Casino in Grande Prairie has undergone some major renovations that include the outside of the building and inside. It features live bands, stand-up comedy, VLTs, slots and gaming tables.
August 2022: H&M Meats is closing their doors after almost 50 years in business. The owners are retiring and the store will close once all the meat is sold. As one of the employees said “it won’t be that long as there isn’t much left”. H&M Meats is located at 15025-100 Street, between Happy Trails and the new Nor-lan Chrysler location in Grande Prairie.
September 2022:
Nor-Lan Chrysler has moved to a new building along 100 Street, Grande Prairie. The new location is at 14809-100 Street. Archived Photos of the Dealership at the old location:
Main and Used.
September 2022: The new
Grande Prairie Composite High School opened in September as grade 9-12 students returned to the classroom. The new location, 10501-112 Avenue, Grande Prairie, is a bit south and west of the old school. In 1963 the High School first opened named the Vocational High School then changed its name to Grande Prairie Composite High School in 1970.
September 2022: Grande Prairie’s
Tenille Townes takes home FIVE WINS at the 2022 CCMA Awards. She won Entertainer of the Year, Album of the year (Masquerades), Female Artist of the Yea, Single of the Year and Songwriter of the year for “Girl Who Didn’t Care”.
September 2022:
CBC News has established a full-time permanent bureau in Grande Prairie to expand news coverage in the northwestern part of the province. The Grand Opening took place on Thursday September 15th at the Grande Prairie Library Building main floor area. (The CBC studio has been set up on the second floor.) CBC Edmonton AM Radio hosts Mark Connolly and Tara McCarthy were broadcasting live from Grande Prairie that included a number of local interviews with Dennis Vobeyda Principal of the new Composite High School, Grant Berg City Councillor and business owner, Louisa Robison CEO of the Peace Library System,
Jared Gossen Project lead for the Wapiti House and Saint Lawrence Centre and many others. They also introduced Luke Ettinger, the CBC Correspondent now based out of Grande Prairie.
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September, 2022: Grande Prairie breaks 61 year old
Rainfall Record on Saturday September 17th with 31.4 millimetres of rain. Another 14.3 millimetres fell the day before on Friday September 16th. That totals 45.7 millimetres of rain in just 2 days. This summer there was less rain than normal with a total of 26.9 millimetres in June, 33.1 millimetres in July and 27.2 millimetres in August.
September, 2022: The Grande Prairie Storm are back again this year. A new VIDEO features the players being introduced as they come onto the ice.
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October 2022: Wade Pilat won the seat on the Grande Prairie City Council. The
Grande Prairie By-Election took place October 17th to fill a seat left vacant after the passing of John Leaners. Pilat had 669 votes. Former councillor Kevin McLean came in second with 432 votes. Solomon Okifoh received 407 votes, Erik Gault 318, Robin Rochon 242, Tammy Brown 232, Frank Skolly 101, and Bryan Petryshyn 21.
October 2022: Daniel Smith won the
Alberta UCP leadership race and has become the Premier of Alberta. She won by only 53.7% of the vote while Grande Prairie’s Travis Toews was second with 46.2%. Brian Jean, Rebecca Schulz, Todd Loewen, Rajan Sawhney and Leela Aheer were all eliminated in earlier rounds.
November 2022: The
Grande Prairie Athletics are back on the ice after not played for 2 years because of the pandemic. Here is a video featuring the team, the GM (Mike Rappel) Coach (Glen Bauer) and some of the hockey action in the NPHL (North Peace Hockey League)
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November 2022: Grande Prairie has the cheapest rent out of 35 Canadian cities in October, 2022.
Grande Prairie’s average monthly rent for a one bedroom apartment was $968 while a two bedroom was $1,173. Vancouver had the most expensive rent as a one bedroom was $2,576 while Toronto’s average price was $2,478.
November 2022: The Peace Country felt the earth shake from
earthquakes from the area northeast of Reno, near Peace River. The first earthquake measured at 5.2 on the richter scale on Tuesday Nov 29 then over an hour later the same area record another at 5.8. It was felt in Grande Prairie, eastern BC, Whitecourt and even Fort McMurray. There were a number of after shocks.
December 2022: Grande Prairie’s
City Centre has a new sign as part of the rebranding of the downtown area next to 214 place.
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December 2022: The new DynaLIFE Medical lab has opened Decembeer 5th in the Lipon Building just north of Walmart in Grande Prairie. It replaces where you go to get lab work done. (No longer at Alberta Precision Laboratories at Junction Point and the one at the College). It also does not take walk-in patients and everyone will have to book by phoning or by booking on-line. Information for that will be on the lab requisition given to patient by the Doctor.