Bowden mayor Robb Stuart is hoping there'll be more progress this year on an effort by the town's Expanding Horizons (EH) group to build a new community hall.
This past September, council agreed to provide $150,000 to EH so it can buy land to build the hall to replace the old Lions Club Hall which is deteriorating.
The group has bought land on the north side of Bowden, off Highway 2A in the Highway 587 area.
However, if construction on the land doesn't begin within five years, the land reverts to the town.
“That's mainly governed by the MGA (Municipal Government Act). You just can't give money out and then walk away from it,” Stuart says.
Stuart says progress on the project has begun.
“They bought it,” he says. “They're going to do some soil samples. They're actually approaching the county for some money.”
Stuart has fond memories of the old community hall.
“It used to be a real going concern and you couldn't find parking around there to save your soul,” he says. “The New Year's dance sold out a year in advance all the time back when I was a kid.
“There used to be activities in there. There was a gun club in there when I was young. Tons of stuff happened out of that hall.”
However, he says, over time, the hall simply became “run down.”
“We didn't take care of it,” he says. “And it was old when it got moved into town. (It had a) sandstone foundation, so the floors rotted away. It just cost too much to update it, plus the new energy efficiency stuff (requirements make it even more expensive to renovate).
“It'll be better if we can get a new one.”
"It used to be a real going concern and you couldn't find parking around there to save your soul."ROBB STUARTMAYOR OF BOWDEN
