PENHOLD – Sometimes bigger is better.
Especially when it refers to a growing community.
Town of Penhold officials recently released the 2019 municipal census results which continue the upward trend of recent years.
The town’s new population as of April 1 is now 3,563. That number is up 8.7 per cent from 3, 277 in its last municipal census in 2016.
“That’s just under 300 people in the last three years and 100 houses,” said Penhold mayor Mike Yargeau. “It highlights the fact that we’re a growing community with young families.”
That increase in population came during some challenging economic times, he noted.
“Even though you see a downturn and less housing starts, we haven’t built as many houses as we have historically, but we’ve still grown by close to nine percent,” he said. “That’s a mixture of new residents with a lot of babies mixed in too.”
The census gathered data and information between April and June.
Residents had several ways to complete their census forms, including online and in person.
Yargeau said the new figures are an accurate representation of the town’s growth and its citizens' participation.
“We are confident that we have captured 99 per cent of the residents in town,” he said. “About 50 per cent (of census forms) were completed online, about 24 per cent were completed door to door and the remaining (numbers) were captured from phone calls from town staff.”
He said the town tries to conduct a census every two years.
They are optimistic about future numbers in Penhold, he noted.
“I think we’re going to see continued growth and even more growth,” said Yargeau. “We’re starting to see more housing starts this year than over the last two (years). We’ve got Junction 42 coming in and again, we’re one of the youngest communities in Central Alberta. I don’t expect that to change any time soon,” Yargeau concluded.
