The white church that sits at the top of the coulee between Airdrie and Irricana along Highway 567 serves as a landmark for many travelling along that route, but not as many people have walked up its steps and through its doors lately.
While the century-old building has long served as a church for nearby Rocky View County residents, a committee is now working to branch out and get more community members into the facility for non-religious events. One way of doing that is by transforming the space into an event venue, perfect for hosting musical concerts.
The church was built in 1919 by the local members of the Church of the Brethren, who had settled in the area starting in 1908 from North Dakota. There was first a wooden structure in its place, where the community gathered. In 1968, it became known as the Irricana United Church.
According to its heritage designation, its value lies in its identity as an excellent example of a small rural church built on an Akron plan, which is defined by many of its features such as the way the seating is arranged and the small classrooms it contains.
Branching out to host community events at the church will help fundraising initiatives to assist in the upkeep of the heritage building as well as to build community engagement, said Jackie Taylor, a member of the Community Events Committee struck to explore optional uses for the building.
Taylor has been attending the church for around 20 years and said her grandparents and even her great grandparents attended the little white church known as the Irricana United Church.
Since the church was built, it has been maintained by volunteers and the parishioners. An average of 25 people continue to attend church services, which means there isn’t a lot of support to maintain the building, Taylor explained.
“It is a heritage building and because it has that heritage designation, any certain things we do to the building have to conform to the way it was,” Taylor explained.
When things need to be replaced, they need to be restored as it originally was, which can be expensive.
After consultation about how to save the building, it was clear the wider community was interested in entertainment close to home at a reasonable cost. As they started building an early lineup of live performances at the facility, the hope was to bring more of the community into the church building.
Taylor added the building needs some work to transform it into a more usable, friendly, community space but they hope to make those changes as their events attract more people. Once they gain some traction, Taylor hopes they can hire somebody to bring in events.
“Some of the other things we plan on doing with the building is, we're thinking it's a great place for an art venue, art shows, and even educational sessions,” Taylor said. “We just want to see people in the building and utilizing it. Some of it we'll have to charge and some of the stuff will be free, because we are still a church.”
First up, the folk duo Lewis & Royal will be taking to the stage at the historic Irricana United church on Sept. 21. The acoustic environment is promised to be a perfect place to enhance the sounds of live music, stated a press release.
With over 20 years of experience as a professional musician and audio engineer, Lewis Frere is joined by Royal, who has a background as an actor at the Albertan Rosebud Stage and a directorial role in the annual "The Canadian Badlands Passion Play."
“They're very interested in the heritage buildings and the history as well,” said Taylor.
Beginning in October, the church will also be on the Home Routes Tour circuit, a touring musical concert network connecting artists and communities.
Taylor noted that through the Home Routes Tour, all the money goes back to the artists who are provided sleeping quarters within the community. Artists will mingle with those in attendance before each show and create a fun community experience.
“We're really excited to hopefully share these things with the community,” Taylor said. “I guess what we really want to do is be more part of the community.”
