MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - Travellers on a variety of roads in four Alberta counties, including Mountain View as well as urban centres within it, are advised to be on the lookout for cyclists Friday through Sunday.
The Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta’s Ride of Courage takes place July 12 – 14.
Participants on the three-day group ride, single-day Sunday ride, or virtual flex ride are raising money to help send kids affected by cancer to the foundation's Camp Kindle, located just outside of Water Valley in Mountain View County.
As of Friday afternoon, $249,391 had been raised toward a goal of $250,000.
Ride participants will be on a variety of routes throughout the three days in western Mountain View County, southwestern Red Deer County, southeast Clearwater County and northwest Rocky View County.
“Participants will yield or stop for oncoming traffic, prior to entering or crossing roads. No traffic will be stopped for the bike trip,” Mountain View County has advised.
Ride participants will depart daily from Camp Kindle, which has recently been granted a development permit by the county's municipal planning commission for a $2.8 million expansion.
The 160-acre property is located about half a kilometre north of Highway 579 on Range Road 61A north of the Water Valley rodeo grounds.
The development permit is for a proposed recreation resort - multipurpose building, dwelling, caretaker/manager - staff housing; and recreational serviced, outdoor participant - treehouse village.
The recreational resort multipurpose building will be 1,608 square feet and the dwelling, caretaker/manager - staff housing will be 2,689 square feet.
“The facility provides camping experiences for children affected by cancer year-round while also providing corporate camp rental facilities for school and corporate groups to contribute to the camp’s mission through rentals,” administration said in a briefing note to the commission.
“There are numerous buildings on site including dormitories, cabins, dining hall, pole barn, staff housing, maintenance shop, pool with change rooms, archer range, barbecue area and music hall.”
The new multipurpose building will replace the existing arts and crafts cabin, and will serve as a programming resource by featuring a teaching kitchen, indoor meeting spaces, storage and additional bedrooms for staff or rental groups.
The new staff housing will be next to the multipurpose building and will provide additional accommodation for up to 14 staff members within a six-unit building.
The treehouse village is proposed to be built north of the current building sites.
“These are unique ‘treehouse’ platforms within the forest that are fully accessible and interconnected. The treehouse village will be a unique and child-friendly place where people can gather, and children can engage in creative play.
“As currently planned the treehouse village installation would be a self-supported platform, not dependent on the trees in the area, but built around them and will be enclosed with secure railing and feature proper egress for safety.”
Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta purchased the property in 2009 and has been in operation ever since.
