BOWDEN - The new community hall in Bowden is now officially the Paterson Community Centre after the $2.4-million facility at 2101 27 Ave. near Highway 587 was officially opened June 16.
That fact was underlined when Paterson Global Foods president and chief executive officer Andrew Paterson presented Expanding Horizons - Bowden Cultural Enhancement Society president Mabel Hamilton with a cheque for $100,000 for naming rights.
Then Hamilton cut the ribbon to officially open the 11,000-square-foot facility, flanked by Paterson, Bowden mayor Robb Stuart and Red Deer County mayor Jim Wood.
During the ceremony, several speakers thanked the Town of Bowden, Red Deer County, Paterson Global Foods, the provincial government and many individual donors for helping make the new hall a reality.
During her address, Hamilton said Expanding Horizons' first official meeting on the matter took place Feb. 28, 2015.
She recalled the committee's goal was to open the facility by this past New Year's Eve. That didn't happen. But it did unofficially open in April.
She said at first the committee looked at renovating the Bowden Lions Hall but quickly concluded that wouldn't work. They examined the pros and cons of some other halls.
"This one has a few different things that some other halls can't provide. For instance, we can sit down 350 people at a sit-down function. And we can have 500 people in a theatre style," Hamilton said.
"We might have a bit of trouble with that because we don't have 500 chairs," she said sparking mild laughter. "But we do have the capability of doing that.
"The good news I can tell you is this building and all the contents inside are paid for. We're pretty proud of that," Hamilton said, sparking loud applause.
"However," she added, "don't think the fundraising has stopped. We have a parking lot that needs to be paved, we have landscaping that needs to be done, on a list of other wishful things we'd like to have happen."
"I always say that the strength of our community comes from our volunteers. And there is nowhere more evident than right here in Bowden right now," Red Deer County mayor Jim Wood said.
"This is a state-of-the-art building. (That's) extremely important because you think about the purpose of buildings like this, whether it comes from the weddings to the funerals to the parties in between, the heart of our communities are these halls, and one of the most important things that we can in fact invest in is our communities," he said.
"This is what in fact will help make the community. That will bring investment into town and (bring) people who want to be here because there are things here," Wood said.
"And I see a lot of activity -- whether it's in town or outside of town, things are starting to happen in this region. So I want to congratulate Bowden."
Bowden mayor Robb Stuart said the Lions Hall, which the Paterson Hall replaces, held its grand opening on Aug. 4, 1948 "and served our community well for over 65 years."
"The old hall was the focal point of many community events and generations of urban and rural residents have many fond memories of that building," Stuart said.
"In looking at the Bowden history book, there are many similarities in how these two community halls came to reality. A few people with determination and vision conceived the concept and our wonderful community spirit brought forth many volunteers and sponsors.
"This community hall will be an asset to our entire community and it will enable our region to attract outside interests to the area," he said.
Paterson Grain is building a new inland export terminal just west of Bowden on the north side of Highway 587.
"This is the finest community hall that I have been in in Western Canada," Paterson said as he took to the stage. That sparked lots of cheers and applause.
Paterson noted his great-great-grandfather started the company way back in 1876 after coming to Western Canada.
"I can see today that many farmers were involved in this operation here because it's a total success. I can see from the finishing and the thought that's gone in here that it speaks of Canadian heritage," he added.
Also during the ceremonies, Certified Mechanical, which worked on the project presented a cheque for $10,000. Three local young men who worked on the project -- Marshall Bloomfield, Kaiden Rankin and Josh Richardson were lauded for their effort.
