It started at the Kurt Browning Arena in Caroline 18 years ago.
It moved to the Sundre Arts Centre, then as it grew and needed more space, to the town's back-to-back curling rink and hockey arena.
It welcomed as speakers two premiers – Ralph Klein and Ed Stelmach – and oil and gas industry leaders such as Neil McCrank, then the chair of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board.
The Sundre Petroleum Operators Group (SPOG) Neighbour's Day brought together industry, SPOG-area residents, related non-profits such as the Parkland Airshed Management Zone and Greenwood Neighbourhood Place, and agencies such as the Alberta Energy Regulator.
It hosted one of the finest community lunches in Central Alberta.
It developed a trade show format that each year drew a greater variety of local stakeholders as well as corporate exhibitors.
Neighbour's Day implemented the SPOG vision of “a long term relationship based on mutual trust, honesty and respect, by way of sharing pertinent information and resolving issues to benefit all stakeholders.”
In the rough and tumble of oil and gas politics, SPOG and Neighbour's Day are honoured, not discredited, by their critics among alienated rural landowners and anti-oil activists.
They are disliked and attacked because the vision works.
However, they gained a social licence for oil and gas activity in the SPOG neighbourhood including unpopular and dreaded sour gas exploration, development and production.
Full disclosure. I was a Neighbour's Day volunteer when I lived northwest of Sundre.
As a rural resident whose life was impacted by the industry, especially sour gas activity, I believed in a balance between the environment and the economy and that SPOG and Neighbour's Day provided the opportunity to work for that balance.
This spring, SPOG decided to suspend Neighbour's Day in 2016.
That is a mistake.
It is a pity that SPOG won't be able to invite the Alberta premier who needs the lesson of its vision most – Rachel Notley.
Reshape the day to fit current realities but don't let the event die.
Neighbour's Day has been smaller and equally successful.
A smaller, simpler Neighbour's Day is better than none.
- Frank Dabbs is the editor of the Didsbury Review and a veteran journalist and author.
"They are disliked and attacked because the vision works."
