Athabasca News

A semi hauling two tanker trailers of crude oil rolled over in a ditch along Highway 831 on Sunday morning, and traffic is down to one lane as cleanup of the oil spill continues, say Boyle RCMP.

Get your dancing shoes and sun hats ready: the Magnificent River Rats Festival kicks off on June 30 at Athabasca’s riverfront and runs until the evening of July 1. Kids will be the first to start celebrating.

A group of seven concerned town and county citizens has decided it will not wait for official bodies to consult the public on major projects in Athabasca.

Athabasca town council has passed the first reading of a bylaw that will allow it to borrow $5 million to put towards a new pool.

There are 308 federal electoral districts in the country, and in the last federal general election, the district of Fort McMurray-Athabasca had the lowest voter turnout of them all.

Members of the Alberta Teachers’ Association at Boyle School are inviting community members to come out to Boyle School on June 29 and support the Maul family, who are waiting to bring their adopted daughter home from the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Athabasca Good Samaritan Mission Association, which runs a food bank a 15-minute drive northeast of Athabasca, wants to expand. The current food bank facility is not large enough to store all the food the food bank users require.

“Aging in place” is a catchphrase that may soon be a reality for many Athabasca and area seniors if a local committee and Saskatchewan-based housing specialists have their way.

The Grassland Agricultural Society hosted the first annual Grassland ATV Mud Bogs last Saturday. Grassland used to have mud bogs years ago, but they were discontinued. Don Kravontka has started them up again in hopes of drawing people to the community. More than 35 riders came from all over the province to compete, and several hundred people came to watch. (above) Elise Kravontka was one of many Kravontkas to compete in the event.

Local Athabasca band Brandid is playing July 1 at 5:30 p.m. for the Magnificent River Rats Festival at the riverfront. Band member Kevin Verschoor said the band was established in 2007.