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$264,000 in culture grants for St. Albert

Province funds baseball, judo, community hall renos
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CATCHING CASH — The St. Albert Men’s Slow Pitch Association has received $73,488 to renovate Meadowview Ball Diamonds. The grant was part of the $11.7 million distributed by the Alberta government to arts and culture groups on Jan. 16, 2025. CHRIS COLBOURNE/St. Albert Gazette

St. Albert community groups will get to spruce up their facilities this year with the help of some cultural cash from the province.

Alberta Arts, Culture, and Status of Women Minister Tanya Fir announced some $11.7 million in grants on Jan. 16. The cash was distributed to some 226 non-profits through the Community Facility Enhancement and Community Initiatives programs to support arts and culture.

Some $264,143 of that money went to seven St. Albert non-profits, the province’s grant database shows. The biggest share, $98,800, went toward the operations of the Arts and Heritage Foundation of St. Albert. The smallest went to the Muriel Martin Fundraising Society, which used its $5,847 grant to buy climbing wall mats for Muriel Martin Elementary.

Capital grants

The St. Albert Men’s Slow Pitch Association received $73,488 to redevelop Meadowview Ball Diamonds, which is located next to the city’s trestle bridge and the Sturgeon River.

Association operations co-ordinator Lynda Holden said this grant (which the group got last spring) would help fund renovations to the group’s dugouts and concession stand, both of which date back to the 1980s.

“They were pretty well original,” she said, and were now wracked with rotting wood and inadequate plumbing.

Holden said the association planned to completely redo its concession area, adding stainless steel tables, beverage coolers, and a screen to keep out dust from the ball diamonds. They also plan to rebuild the dugouts (which have been sinking), replace the on-site HVAC systems, and install new LED lights. Renovations were about 75 per cent complete and would hopefully be finished in time for the start of baseball season on April 28, allowing the association to host bigger tournaments.

The St. Albert Tokai Judo Society is using its $43,932 grant to modernize its dojo on Riel Drive.

The judo club built the dojo back in 1991 and has never renovated it since, said club president Mark Hicks.

“We did this on a shoestring budget in 1991,” he said, and put in a lot of features (such as a group shower) that aren’t needed nowadays.

Last summer, volunteers tore up the old foam-backed dojo floor and replaced it with a spring-loaded one that should help soften the blows students take when they get tossed to the ground, Hick said. Contractors were now refinishing the floors in the upstairs viewing area and rebuilding the change rooms, adding benches, new showers, and a wider entrance hall to the latter. New LED lights and heating systems were also set to go in this month.

Hicks said the club would cancel five days of lessons this month to accommodate the renovations. The showers also won’t be available. The renovations should be finished by the end of January.

Hicks said these renovations would support St. Albert kids and the dojo’s longevity.

“We have not really done anything to that club for 31 years, so it’s like a fresh new club.”

The St. Albert & District Community League received $23,625 to replace the heating/cooling system atop the St. Albert Community Hall.

That system dates back to the 1970s and has made for some freezing winters and boiling summers in the hall, said community league treasurer Michael Clulow. They had hoped to replace it last year, but had to wait on the results of an engineering report to see if the hall’s roof could support the new system. The new system should be installed this spring.

The Visual Arts Studio Association of St. Albert and the Africans & African Descendants Friendship Club of St. Albert also got money through this round of grants.

Visit extranet.gov.ab.ca/env/previous-grant-recipients-database for a list of this year’s grant recipients.




Kevin Ma

About the Author: Kevin Ma

Kevin Ma joined the St. Albert Gazette in 2006. He writes about Sturgeon County, education, the environment, agriculture, science and aboriginal affairs. He also contributes features, photographs and video.
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