OLDS — This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Olds & District Historical Society.
No special celebration is planned so far, says chair Donna Erdman.
“We’re not having a 50th party. We’re including that in everything that we’re doing,” she said during an interview with the Albertan.
However, Erdman said a cake-cutting ceremony may be undertaken during the society’s Spring Fling event at the end of May.
Erdman said in 1974, a group of community residents approached town council with the idea of setting up a historical society to preserve the community’s history and heritage. Council approved the idea and the society was born.
The society’s beginnings were humble, Erdman said.
“The very first museum was a small exhibit of items – call them artifacts – that were in a corner of the town office,” she said.
Over time, that collection grew.
Edrman said later, Alberta Government Telephones/Telus moved out of what is now the Mountain View Museum & Archives.
She said the town gained possession of that building and made it available to the society.
