INNISFAIL – When Nathan Speelman was just 12 years old in April of 2000, he stood near 54th Street and sadly watched the demolition of the Pioneer grain elevator.
It would be the last wood country grain elevator the town would ever have along the CP rail line.
At one time, Innisfail had as many as eight country grain elevators, with their local history stretching back almost 90 years before the First World War when Alberta Pacific Company Ltd. became the first grain company to build an elevator.
“At the time I was not happy to see the last one go,” said Speelman, now 33, and currently a facility assistant at the Pioneer grain elevator in Olds that has been in operation since 1982. His father was the manager of the long demolished United Grain Growers (UGG) grain elevator in Penhold.
“Being so close to the industry it bothers me every time I hear about one falling,” said Speelman.
But another has risen in Innisfail.
On April 13, four Town of Innisfail employees, after a quiet and almost secretive construction, installed a new grain elevator not far from the CP rail line at White Rock Garden.
No, it’s not a typical 70-foot-high classic “prairie giant” grain elevator that once dotted the western Canadian landscape by the thousands.
It’s much more modest, but inspiring.
The four Innisfail Parks Department employees, led by foreman Brad Wilson, created a nine-foot tall by four-feet wide by five-feet deep commemorative grain elevator that honours not only the demolished Pioneer structure in 2000 but the many others that were once the lifeblood of the town and area for decades.
Wilson said the idea to create a commemorative grain elevator was triggered last summer when staff was trying to find a “multi-tasking” solution for horticulturalist Braden Wilson, which included his work at White Rock Garden.
“There is no plumbed-in water there, so he would have to go with his truck and stand there and water everything by hand,” said Brad, adding the solution was to install a 1,000-litre tote - a reliable water source at White Rock Garden. “It frees him up to be able and go weed in another part of the garden.
“On April 13 we just put that grain elevator there with the tote inside,” he added. “We built the elevator around it so basically it hid it. Nobody wants to look at an ugly, ugly, ugly water tote.”
Construction of the grain elevator last winter was left to Brad and Steven Vincent, a parks operator. Vincent and Cora Desnoyer, parks operator, took on the responsibility to paint the structure. Vincent also took care of the wheat symbol that adorns the front side near the top of the new commemorative grain elevator.
“We wanted it to be accurate. People knew the Pioneer elevator and we wanted people to see something they already knew and recognize,” said Vincent, of the classic red colour of the Pioneer elevator.
He added Steven Kennedy, the town’s director of operational services, helped with the historical background and provided photographs, including one of the last fallen Pioneer.
But Brad also felt it was important to give the creation a “spin of their own”, as it's painted with the name Innisfail Wheat Pool 2022.
“That is why we went with the Innisfail Wheat Pool as opposed to anything else,” he said. “We know we are not historically accurate but we brought it in to bring the past in the present.”
And this gift, as initially secretive as it was, was surreptitiously introduced to members of town council on April 13.
“We kept it hidden from council everyone as a surprise. We were doing a tour with a few of the councillor members and we brought them over here and we revealed it to them, and they got their picture taken with it,” said Brad. “It was kind of a surprise for them but it’s a nice project for us.
“For the most part everybody seems to like it,” he said, adding there has been public feedback. “It is something different. People weren’t sure what to think of it, and they were asking what it was.”
As for Speelman, he likes what the four Town of Innisfail employees have done. He’s a hardcore and passionate believer that country grain elevator heritage should never be forgotten.
So much so, he’s also a collector of old country grain elevator items, like a distributor wheel from the last wooden country grain elevator in Westlock, tin from the recently dismantled Lake of the Woods elevator at Elva, Manitoba and the manager and emergency contact sign from Penhold’s UGG elevator.
“I grew up in it,” said Speelman, a 15-year Innisfailian who now lives in Penhold. “I think anything, a mural, painting or a little statue is a good way to honour what was once there.”
