Sylvan Lake, Alberta
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| Town of Sylvan Lake | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country |  Canada |
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| Province |  Alberta |
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| Region | Central Alberta | ||
| Census division | 8 | ||
| County | Red Deer | ||
| Founded | 1898 | ||
| Incorporated | 1913 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Bryan Lambertson | ||
| - Governing body | Sylvan Lake Town Council | ||
| - MP | Bob Mills | ||
| - MLA | Luke Ouellette | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 10.83 km² (4.2 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 945 m (3,100 ft) | ||
| Population (2006)[1] | |||
| - Total | 10,208 | ||
| - Density | 942.3/km² (2,440.5/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | MST (UTC-7) | ||
| Postal code span | T4S | ||
| Area code(s) | +1-403 | ||
| Waterways | Sylvan Lake | ||
| Highways | Highway 11 Highway 20 |
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| Website: Town of Sylvan Lake | |||
Sylvan Lake is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of the city of Red Deer along Highway 11 or Highway 11A. It is situated on the southeast edge of Sylvan Lake, a 15 kilometres (9 mi) long freshwater lake, in Red Deer County.
The lake is a popular destination for tourists from around Alberta, with over 1.5 million visitors each year. Popular tourist activities include sunbathing, swimming, water-skiing, and visiting the local Wild Rapids Waterslides.
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[edit] History
Sylvan Lake was originally settled by French speaking immigrants from Quebec and the United States. Arriving in 1898 from Michigan, Alexandre Loiselle and his family originally homesteaded the quarter section that later became the west side of today's Main (50th) Street and the businesses and homes immediately to the west.
The early twentieth century saw groups of Finnish settlers moving to homesteads to the south and west of the fledgling settlement at Sylvan Lake. With their arrival came the early business community, a general store, a blacksmith, a hardware store, post office, barber, restaurants and more. The completion of the Canadian Northern line to Rocky Mountain House and Nordegg in 1912 and the parallel Canadian Pacific in 1914 opened the west country to settlement and resulted in the incorporation of Sylvan Lake in 1913 under Mayor E. S. Grimson, a local hardware store owner. The anniversary of the founding of the town is celebrated every year in Sylvan Lake as "1913 Days."
Farming quickly became a mainstay in the area and in 1923 an Alberta Pacific grain elevator was built on the CPR line immediately north of what is now Cottonwood Estates. The elevator was torn down in the 1970s and the CPR line was abandoned in 1980 and subsequently removed. Since then, the right of way has survived as a natural area and walking path through Sylvan Lake.
Elevators were also constructed along the CN line and were used by local farmers in the mid-century decades. They were torn down in the late 1990s.
Even prior to the building of the railways, Sylvan Lake was quickly becoming a summer resort for families in Red Deer. With the coming of the trains, "the Lake" quickly became a favorite of families from both Edmonton and Calgary. Initially the summer visitors camped in tents, but soon the "Cottage Area" east of 46 Street and in "Lower Camp" on the southeast shore began to fill with summer cottages. In the 1930s and 1940s people also began arriving by car and the areas around Norglenwold, Sylvan Lake Provincial Park and Jarvis Bay Provincial Park began to fill up with summer visitors.
The influx of summer residents and visitors also brought businesses and services that catered to the ever increasing number of tourists. 1913 saw the first motor launch to take paying passengers on tours around the lake. A large boathouse was constructed in 1926, allowing visitors to rent a boat, canoe, swimsuit, or buy ice cream and pop as well as many other items necessary to a summer day at the lake. Regatta's were also held on the lake for a number of years beginning in 1923.
In 1928, the Dominion Government, assisted by the Sylvan Lake Women's Institute, built the long pier that jutted out into the lake from the bottom of Main Street. This pier was connected to the earlier WI Pier and formed a square area used for swimming and mooring boats. The first "waterslide" at Sylvan Lake was also part of this facility. The piers were prone to ice damage over the winter and were finally replaced by the existing "landfill" that now hosts beach volleyball tournaments and dragon boat racing as well as the entertaining lake tour on the "Zoo Cruise."
In 1983, Sylvan Lake found a replacement for its original waterslide in the construction of Wild Rapids Waterslide, which has become the largest facility of its kind in western Canada.
Another byproduct of losing the piers and later the government boat launch, was the construction of the Sylvan Lake Marina, home of many of the permanent boats on the lake, boating facilities, as well as a lake view restaurant and the Sylvan Lake lighthouse.
[edit] Demographics
In 2006, Sylvan Lake had a population of 10,208 living in 4,277 dwellings, a 36.1% increase from 2001. The town has a land area of 10.83 km² (4.2 sq mi) and a population density of 942.3/km² (2,440.5/sq mi).[1]
According to the Canada 2001 Census, the population counted was 7,493 people residing within the town, of whom 50.96% were male and 49.03% were female. The town has a very young population when compared to most of Alberta. The town’s population of teenagers (19 and under) is 33.2% compared with the rest of Alberta at 28.3%.
In the 2001 census, a mere 6.6% of the population were of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with 13.2% in Canada, therefore, the average age is 31.6 years of age comparing to 37.6 years of age for all of Canada.
In the five years between 1996 and 2001, the population of Sylvan Lake grew by 44.5%, compared with an increase of 10.3% for Alberta as a whole. This was a substantial amount of population growth, and has made Sylvan Lake one of the fastest growing communities in Canada.
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[edit] Climate
Seasonal Temperatures
- Winter -15.5°C (4.1°F)
- Spring 3.1°C (37.6°F)
- Summer 22.9°C (73.2°F)
- Fall 4.6 C°(40.3°F)
Annual Precipitation: Rain: 385.2 mm (15.17 in) Snow: 165.2 mm (6.5 in) Total: 550.4 mm (21.67 in)
Average Hours of Sunshine: 2,125 hours
[edit] Education
The town has four public schools in the Chinook's Edge school district:
- Steffie Woima Elementary School
- C. P. Blakely Elementary School
- Fox Run Middle School
- H. J. Cody High School
There are also three private schools:
- Ècole Mother Theresa Catholic School (Part of the Red Deer Catholic School Division)
- Lighthouse Christian Academy
- Our Lady of the Rosary
The Fox Run Middle School's building is shared with the Mother Teresa Catholic School.
[edit] Media
Sylvan Lake is serviced by one local newspaper, called the The Sylvan Lake News.[2] It also receives newspapers from Red Deer. They include:
- Red Deer Advocate
- Red Deer Express
- Red Deer Life
Sylvan Lake has no broadcast television stations in the vicinity of the town. It does however have access to 4 main stations by antenna:
- Channel 4: CityTV Edmonton
- Channel 6: Ch Red Deer (CH)
- Channel 8: CTV Edmonton (CTV)
- Channel 10: Global Edmonton (Global)
The cable television provider in Sylvan Lake is Shaw Cable. The main satellite television providers are Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice.
Sylvan Lake as no radio stations centered with in the town. However, it does get numerous radio stations from Red Deer. The most popular including CKGY (KG Country), Zed 99, Big 105.5 and The Drive.[3]
[edit] Politics
[edit] Federal
Sylvan Lake is within the Red Deer riding. It is a federal constituency, and is currently represented by Bob Mills who is a member of the Conservative Party. Here is the most recent federal election results:
| 2006 Results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Conservative | Bob Mills | 38,504 | 75.7% | |
| N.D.P. | Kelly Bickford | 5,054 | 9.9% | |
| Liberal | Luke Kurata | 4,653 | 9.1% | |
| Green | Tanner Waldo | 2,646 | 5.2% | |
[edit] Provincial
Sylvan Lake resides in the provincial riding of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake. It is also represented by Luke Ouellette, who is a member of the Progressive Conservative. Here is a graph of the latest provincial election:
| 2004 Results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Progressive Conservative] | Luke Ouellette | 6,206 | 55.45% | |
| Alberta Alliance | Randy Thorsteinson | 2,242 | 22.02% | |
| Liberal | Garth Davis | 1,816 | 16.22% | |
| N.D.P. | Chris Janke | 585 | 5.22% | |
| Social Credit | Wilf Tricker | 349 | 1.09% | |
[edit] Municipal
Sylvan Lake is governed by Sylvan Lake Town Council. It consists of one mayor and six councilors. The mayor is Susan Samson. She was elected as mayor of Sylvan Lake in October 2007.
There were six councilors elected during the October election. They were: Joan Barnes, Judy Payne, Lynda Sills-Fiedler, Ken MacVicar, Frank Peck, Richard Backs. All but Barnes were incumbents.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Statistics Canada (Census 2006). Sylvan Lake - Community Profile. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sylvan Lake News
- ^ Radio stations in Sylvan Lake:CKGY (KG Country)Zed 99Big 105.5The Drive
[edit] External links
- Town of Sylvan Lake (Official website)
- Sylvan Lake Dragon Boat Festival
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Rimbey | Bentley | Lacombe |
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| Rocky Mountain House, Eckville |  |
Red Deer | |||||
 Sylvan Lake  |
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| Caroline | Innisfail | Penhold |
