About 100 people turned out Saturday afternoon at the Royal Canadian Legion branch 105 to celebrate 80 years in Olds. The occasion also marked the 70th anniversary of the Legion auxiliary in Olds, which was chartered on May 12, 1941.
Marc Swanson, president of the Legion, said he thinks it's important for organizations such as the Legion to celebrate major milestones. He added that everyone who turned out — including seven past presidents — had an enjoyable afternoon.
“We had a lot of our old members come back and … seven past presidents were here,” he said.
Lil Grover, president of the ladies auxiliary, said about five past presidents of that wing of the organization came out to celebrate the major milestone.
“We were very happy with the turnout. We had a lot of older people here. I was very pleased with it all,” she said.
Alberta-Northwest Territories Command sent their congratulations to the ladies auxiliary for the milestone.
The legion has had several homes in the community over the years, with the first one being a log building in Centennial Park.
After much fundraising a new building was built on the corner of 47 Street and 50 Avenue during 1949-50. That building served the Legion's needs until about 1965, when the Legion purchased its current building — a former bowling alley — for $33,000.
Extensive renovations were conducted on the building and completed in 1967. At that time, it was the largest hall in the community. The Legion took on another loan in 1973 to complete more renovations for a lounge and dance area.
