With 2023 almost in the books, it’s time to look back on the highs and lows of the past 12 months around the Foothills.
Perhaps the most newsworthy occurrence in these parts this year happened way back on New Year’s Day when Black Diamond and Turner Valley officially amalgamated to form the Town of Diamond Valley. Merging two civic operations is no easy feat, but judging from the budget approved earlier this month —which included no property tax increase for 2024 — the union of the two neighbouring towns has been a fiscal success.
The biggest event of the year, the 2023 Alberta Summer Games, put Okotoks and Diamond Valley in the provincial spotlight and we certainly showed well under those bright lights. Housing, feeding, transporting and entertaining 3,000 athletes, coaches and officials was no small task, but a volunteer board of directors, augmented by an army of volunteers, made sure that everything ran smoothly.
Declaring September as the Month of the Artist was a boost for the local arts and culture scene, giving it a needed platform to not only showcase its abundant talents, but also discuss ways that the sector can move forward and become an even bigger part of the community.
It might be becoming old hat, but we can’t overlook the Okotoks Dawgs winning another Western Canadian Baseball League title in front of a sold-out crowd at Seaman Stadium in August. The league’s flagship franchise continues to excel on and off the field and has designs on a three-peat, among much else, in 2024.
Maybe overlooked because it was so gradual, but 2023 will go down as the year that things truly got back to normal after three years of varying degrees of chaos thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s hope 2024 brings health and happiness for all.
Happy New Year, everyone.
