Update for Corrie Clark

Former Banffite Corrie Clark just learned while she didn’t win the 2012 Banff World Media Festival’s competition for the spot of official blogger, she was offered a prize as one of the top four bloggers.

“The Banff Media Festival provided me with a ticket as one of the runners up and I couldn’t be happier!” said Clark in an email. “So I’ll be there at the festival this year. Let’s see if the Banff World Media Festival can discover me not once, but twice!”

The festival takes place June 10 to 13 at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.

Former Banffite blogs to win spot in 2012 Banff World Media Festival

A former Banffite is one of four finalists chosen from the Canadian blogging scene who eagerly wait for the announcement of Tuesday’s final vote tally to determine the 2012 Banff Media Festival’s official blogger.

At stake is a pass to the 2012 Banff Media Festival, valued at around $1800, as well as airfare and a room at the Banff Springs Hotel during the festival from June 10 to 13.

Photo provided

Heralding from Vancouver but with close ties to Banff, Blogger and single mother Corrie Clark is one of the four hoping to win.

“I specifically started this blog because I want to go back to Banff,” she said.

Clark lived in Banff in her early teens and it is here that she began her career in media. At 12 years old she saved up her babysitting money for the entrance to the Banff Television Festival.

“It actually really inspired my whole career,” she said. Clark worked as a writer and an actor but is currently focused on producing. “I joke that I want to be the Betty White of Banff.

“I am passionate about television and film and I actually hope in the future I am one of those people who actually changes that world,” she said. “I can’t imagine a better place to be than in a peaceful surrounding talking about something that you love.”

If Clark doesn’t win? “I’m open to sponsorship!” said the mother of three daughters. “I would probably need help getting there but I’ll wear a banner that says ‘so-and-so brought me to Banff’ the entire time!”

The voting for the blogging competition ended Tuesday at midnight and the announcement of this year’s blogger will be up by Wednesday, May 23.

Canmore student wins silver for science

Bow Valley student Ty Godfrey brought home a silver medal from the Canada Wide Science Fair in Charlottetown last weekend, his second time competing in the national science fair.

“The science fair was the same… but this year I would say the projects were way better,” said Godfrey, a grade eight student from Lawrence Grassi Middle School in Canmore.

Godfrey’s experiment studied the effect of the ultraviolet spectrum on the feeding habits of winter birds in the Bow Valley, a continuation of his experiments on birds and colour that sent him to nationals last year.

This year he used black light paint to access the UV range, colours visible to birds but invisible to humans without a black light.

“I think the judges really enjoyed it,” said Godfrey. “They said that it was really good and I controlled lots of the variables,” he said. Their advice was for him to further study the behavior and habits of the birds.

Godfrey’s prize for silver includes a medal, $700 dollars and a $2000 entrance scholarship to the University of Western Ontario.

While the young student says he is not ready to be thinking about university yet, a $700 cash prize is nothing to sneeze at for any age. No word yet on how he plans to spend his prize money.

Notre Dame Des Monts celebrates 10

More than 100 students at Notre Dame Des Monts celebrated the school’s 10th anniversary last week, highlighting its growth from only 16 students in 2002, something Principal Sophie Leclairs attributes to growing francophone community in Canmore.

“The francophone community is really supportive, really active,” said Leclair. “They are quite involved in the school as well as lots of other organizations.”

Unlike a French emersion school, Notre Dame Des Monts requires one of the student’s caregivers to be native francophone. Leclair said this ensures the mandate of the school is not only to preserve the language but the culture as well.

“To me time flies and I am amazed that it has already been 10 years,” said Leclair who has been the principal at Notre Dame for eight years.

When the school opened 10 years ago there was only one teacher, 16 students and a part-time receptionist. Today Notre Dame Des Monts runs two kindergarten programs and grades one to 11 making up 120 students. Of their current 10 teachers four have been nominated for Alberta Excellence in Teaching awards.

Last week’s anniversary celebrations included bilingual clowns, student performances and a potluck for the parents.

“I’m really proud of the school,” she said. “It is still a small school so we are always experiencing challenges but we have overcome those challenges.”

Next year Notre Dame Des Monts will expand their curriculum further by adding a grade 12.

Parks Canada keeps May Long dry

May Long campers on Tunnel Mountain said the Parks Canada alcohol ban in Banff National Park actually kept the park dry this year thanks to increased enforcement from police and Parks Canada staff.

“I think it is great,” said Mike King about the alcohol ban. King and his extended family

The King and Reid family gather around the fire pit at their Tunnel Mountain campsite of Sunday, May 20, 2012.

have been coming to Banff for their May Long camping for years.

Despite the fact that it is the third year of the Ban, King said last year they saw a lot of people breaking the rules, partying with liquor in the campsite. But this year was cracked down on.

“The RCMP have come around a couple of times to the park,” said King, adding that this was the first year the Tunnel Mountain campsite was “dead quiet” at night. King and his family agreed the extra enforcement was a welcome change.

“I say stay away from the public places where there are children,” said Sandra Reid, grandmother of the King family sharing the campsite on Tunnel.

Patti Vickers, communications officer with Parks Canada, confirmed that Parks staff has stepped it up this year.

“We made some minor tweaks,” she said. “We were ensuring that our staff were scheduled to have regular interactions with campers to educate and explain the camping etiquette within the national park.

“Park wardens and Banff RCMP lent a hand in the successful long weekend camping experience as well.”

But Vickers also said another reason may be that campers are just settling into the alcohol free routine.

“Because it is a third year of the alcohol ban, both visitors and campers have come to expect the efforts of Parks Canada to ensure that camping on the long weekend remains a family friendly experience,” she said.

Despite many vacancies in the campground this year, Vickers did not attribute this to the ban saying that the visitor numbers were on par with last year.  “May is always weather dependent,” she added.

Where did the dedicated May Long partiers go? Kayla King said some of her friends chose to go to Drumheller Alta. to camp and drink for May Long.

While the King family said having a beer around their campfire would be nice sometimes, the ban is worth it to keep shenanigans away and keep them coming back.

The Unseen work from Ms. Church of Canmore Manor

It has been quite some time since my last post in this here blog but I have decided to dust off the cobwebs and get’er up and running again for the good people of Banff and Canmore!

Some necessary background: I just moved to Canmore Alta. to start an internship with the QMI newspapers Banff Crag and Canyon and Canmore Leader. Yup, that’s right, made it to my first intern position. Maria the intern.

And so, from my new mountain home I am pumping out community news on a weekly basis and while many of the stories are shared in the paper, some of the gems are missed. Hence, the blog.

From here on out, I am dedicating these pages to my Canmore and Banff stories that will never be seen in print but still deserve to be read/viewed. I hope you enjoy and spread the word about the intern’s special stash of news!

Cheers

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