Year in Review — Chinook Honey owners toast retirement in February

• During its Feb. 1 meeting, Foothills County denied the proposed Oxbow Area Structure Plan that would have seen a large-scale neighbourhood developed in the northeast portion of the county following many hours of discussion and a robust public hearing.

• For the second year running, Heartland Café in Okotoks made the list as one of OpenTable.ca’s 100 Most Romantic Restaurants in Canada for 2023, among just 15 others in Alberta. Built into an old church constructed in 1906, the historic building lends a unique atmosphere to the restaurant.

• Social media was abuzz over grievances with the state of Okotoks roads following snowfalls at the end of January. The weekend’s warm up/cool down, snowy weather left maintenance crews in a tough spot with 15 formal complaints made to Mayor Tanya Thorn’s office and the transportation department in relation to the Jan. 27-28 snowfall.

• The hottest team in the Alberta Elite Hockey League U18 AAA standings, the Okotoks Bow Mark Oilers’ unbeaten run reached nine games on the first weekend of February to solidify the third-seed in the South Division with three games left to play in the regular season.

• The Foothills Ringette Association hosted the Foothills Freeze Tournament from Feb. 3-5, its first major competition in the history of the organization. The event featured 16 teams playing out of Okotoks, High River and Nanton.

• The Okotoks Alliance Church was burnt, but standing following a suspected arson. Firefighters were called to a fire on Feb. 5. According to the Okotoks RCMP, the cause of the fire was then under investigation by both the RCMP and Foothills County Fire Department with police saying evidence on scene, including a broken basement window and plastic cap for a jerry can, suggest the fire was intentional. 

• Dr. Calvin Booker, the services and research general manager at Okotoks’ Feedlot Health Management Services, was named the Western Canadian Association of Bovine Practitioners’ (WCABP) and Boehringer Ingelheim Canada 2023 Veterinarian of the Year.

• Marking its return after a two-year hiatus amid the pandemic, the eighth annual George Carey 9-Ball Tournament was back at five Okotoks venues as a celebration of the namesake’s 95^th birthday, concluding on Feb. 11 at In Cahoots.

 • TC Energy begun its construction on the Saddlebrook Solar and Storage Project on 434 Avenue east of the highway, which is expected to generate 81 megawatts of energy, enough to power 20,000 homes annually. This was the first utility-scale project to be fully developed and delivered by the energy company.

• Curlers Logan Thomas, from Okotoks, and Ben Kiist, from Foothills County, helped Team Davies capture the Canadian U18 Curling Championships with an undefeated week on the ice pebbled ice in Timmins, Ont. on Feb. 11.

• The Carstar Okotoks Bisons (35-3-0) blanked the Cochrane Generals 5-0 for their ninth shutout of the campaign in the Feb. 10 regular season finale with alternate captain AJ Belanger reaching the 100-point mark in his career with the Heritage Junior Hockey League club with two assists on the night.

• Chinook Honey Company owners Cherie and Art Andrews announced they were retiring from the popular Foothills institution to take a proper swing at retirement.

• The Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League held drafts in the Jr. A, Jr. B and Alberta Major Female divisions with a number of Okotokians hearing their names called including Blake Robinson to the Calgary Jr. A Mountaineers and Okotoks Jr. B Marauders, Caleb Armitage to the Marauders and Jordyn Payne to the Okotoks Ladies Raiders.

• Notebooks and pens were busy in the hands of many of the 25 attendees at MLA RJ Sigurdson’s EMS town hall on Feb. 21. The Okotoks Elks Hall was the first stop on a tour around Alberta by the parliamentary secretary for EMS reform to hear from frontline workers and members of the community on how best to improve the struggling system.

• The Coldest Night of the Year walk took place Feb. 25 with 93 participants hitting Okotoks sidewalks for a cause. The event, hosted by Baby it’s Cold Outside, raised $12,956 for local charities that serve people experiencing hunger, homelessness or other socio-economic issues.

• Skijordue returned to the Calgary Polo Club in DeWinton on Feb. 25. The day featured circuit, relay, sprint and long jump events followed by the popular novelty ‘lounge race’ with four teams entering a loveseat bolted onto skis and towed behind horses.