Okotoks

Foothills Olympians are on full display at the Okotoks Museum and Archives.

A new exhibit highlights not only the Foothills area athletes competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics (Finlay Knox, Keyara Wardley, and Zak Madell,) but a few other familiar faces.

Having put a similar display together in 2021, Kathy Coutts with the museum says it seemed like a no-brainer to get another one going this year.

Road work will cause road closure in Okotoks.

Starting on August 6th, Volker Stevin Contracting crews will be doing asphalt paving and roadway upgrades on behalf of the Town of Okotoks along 48 Street East from 338 Avenue East to 400 metres south of Milligan Drive.

The work will include street cleaning, the application of hot oil, asphalt paving, line painting, and road repairs, and everyone can expect full road closures from 338 Avenue East to north of Milligan Drive from August 6th to 11th.

The Alberta Kennel Club's Summer Classic is making its way to the Okotoks Agricultural Society for the first time.

The dog show goes from August 2-5 with four all-breed shows, four obedience trials, five rally obedience trials, and five days of agility trials.

Other events include agility ring practice on August 1st, OFA eye clinic on the second, and a heart clinic from August 3-5.

The Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce will be hosting two new first-time events in the coming months.

August and September will see the first annual cornhole and pickleball tournaments, both of which will support local charitable organizations.

The chamber’s Executive Director Dawn LeMaistre says chamber members have been expressing interest in more interactive events, and given the continued success of their annual golf tournament, these seemed like a logical next step.

High Riverites will soon get another chance to share their thoughts on the High River Town Plan.

A second public hearing is being held, following the first one back in May.

It’s a chance for locals to address council directly about their thoughts on the plan and how it may affect them.

The public hearing is scheduled for August 12 at 3 p.m., just prior to the council meeting being held at 3:30.

The Okotoks Oilers have announced they are bringing in goaltender Ben Vatis who is from Phoenix, Arizona, and was born in 2006.

The 18-year-old will make his debut in the BCHL at the start of the 2024-2025 season with the Green and Gold.

Vatis played for the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes in the T1EHL 18U and the 18U AAA last season and posted a 1.88 goals against average with a .929 save percentage in the T1EHL 18U in nine games. In the 18U AAA league, he continued his dominance with a 1.69 goals against average and a .920 save percentage in 35 games.

For the second time in the WCBL's history, they have welcomed over 300,000 fans to ballparks across western Canada.

The WCBL announced that attendance could hit a new regular season record by the end, showing that baseball thrives in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

RCMP and other emergency services responded to a rollover near the Aldersyde overpass early Monday evening.

It happened in the southbound lanes of HIghway 2, just before the overpass.

Police are still on scene, though no lanes are currently closed.

A tow truck is also working to remove the vehicles from the side of the road.

It's not currently known how many people were involved or if there were any injuries.

Vulcan's Keyara Wardley and the Women's Team Canada Rugby Sevens move on to the semi-finals against Australia after beating France 19-14 in Monday's quarter-final game at the Olympics in Paris.

Piper Logan opened the scoring with a try 3:15 into the first half, and Chloe Daniels added a conversion to make it 7-0 shortly after. France tied the game up at the 7:57 mark in the first half.

Albertans could get another look at the Aurora Borealis early this week.

Several nights this week could see northern light shows thanks to geomagnetic storms.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced geomagnetic storm watches for July 30 through August 1 after a series of coronal mass ejections.