Sylvan Lake, Alberta

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Town of Sylvan Lake
Location of Sylvan Lake within census division number 8 in Alberta, Canada
Area	9.48 km²
Population	8504 (2004)
Pop'n density	790.6 /km²
Location	52°18′29.5″N, 114°05′47.2″W
Altitude	945 metres
Incorporation	Founded: 1898 Incorporated: 1913
Province	Alberta
Census Division	8
MP	Bob Mills
MLA	Luke Ouellette
Mayor	Bryan Lambertson
Governing Body	Sylvan Lake Town Council
Time zone	MST (UTC-7)
Postal code	T4S
Area Code	+1-403
Town of Sylvan Lake.ca

Sylvan Lake is a resort town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located about 18 km west of the outskirts of Red Deer along Highway 11 or Highway 11A. It is situated on the southeast edge of Sylvan Lake, a 15-kilometre-long freshwater lake, in Red Deer County.

The lake is a popular destination for tourists from around Alberta, with over 1.5 million visitors each year. Popular tourist activities include sunbathing, swimming, water-skiing, and visiting the local Wild Rapids Waterslides.

Surrounding communities include: Rocky Mountain House, Eckville (West); and Red Deer (East).

Contents 1 Demographics 2 History 3 Climate 4 Education 5 Media 5.1 Print 5.2 Television 5.3 Radio 6 Politics 6.1 Federal 6.2 Provincial 6.3 Municipal 7 External links

[edit] Demographics

According to the mid-2001 census, the population estimates there were 7,493 people residing within Sylvan Lake, located in the province of Alberta, of whom 50.96 per cent were male and 49.03 per cent were female. The town has a very young population when compared to most of Alberta. The town’s population of teenagers (19 and under) is 33.2% compared with the rest of Alberta at 28.3%.

In mid-2001 census, a mere 6.6% of the population were of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with 13.2 per cent in Canada, therefore, the average age is 31.6 years of age comparing to 37.6 years of age for all of Canada.

In the five years between 1996 and 2001, the population of Sylvan Lake grew by 44.5 per cent, compared with an increase of 10.3 per cent for Alberta as a whole. This was a substantial amount of population growth, and has made Sylvan Lake one of the fastest growing communities in Canada.

Visible Minority Status

• White: 7,340 or 98.5%
• Chinese: 60 or 0.8%
• Latin American: 10 or 0.1%
• Black: 15 or 0.2%
• Southeast Asian: 10 or 0.1%
• Arab: 10 or 0.1%

Religion

• Protestant: 2,805 or 37.6%
• Catholic: 1,815 or 24.4%
• Other Christian: 380 or 5.1%
• Buddhist: 25 or 0.3%
• Eastern religions: 10 or 0.1%
• Other: 0 or 0%
• No religion: 2,410 or 32.4%

[edit] History

Sylvan Lake was originally settled by French speaking immigrants from Quebec and the United States. Arriving in 1898 from Michigan, Alexandre Loiselle and his family originally homesteaded the quarter section that later became the west side of today's Main (50th) Street and the businesses and homes immediately to the west.

The early twentieth century saw groups of Finnish settlers moving to homesteads to the south and west of the fledgling settlement at Sylvan Lake. With their arrival came the early business community, a general store, a blacksmith, a hardware store, post office, barber, restaurants and more. The completion of the Canadian Northern line to Rocky Mountain House and Nordegg in 1912 and the parallel Canadian Pacific in 1914 opened the west country to settlement and resulted in the incorporation of Sylvan Lake in 1913 under Mayor E. S. Grimson, a local hardware store owner. The anniversary of the founding of the town is celebrated every year in Sylvan Lake as "1913 Days."

Farming quickly became a mainstay in the area and in 1923 an Alberta Pacific grain elevator was built on the CPR line immediately north of what is now Cottonwood Estates. The elevator was torn down in the 1970's and the CPR line was abandoned in 1980 and subsequently removed. Since then, the right of way has survived as a natural area and walking path through Sylvan Lake.

Elevators were also constructed along the CN line and were used by local farmers in the mid-century decades. They were torn down in the late 1990's.

Even prior to the building of the railways, Sylvan Lake was quickly becoming a summer resort for families in Red Deer. With the coming of the trains, "the Lake" quickly became a favorite of families from both Edmonton and Calgary. Initially the summer visitors camped in tents, but soon the "Cottage Area" east of 46 Street and in "Lower Camp" on the southeast shore began to fill with summer cottages. In the 1930's and 40's people also began arriving by car and the areas around Norglenwold and Jarvis Bay began to fill up with summer visitors.

The influx of summer residents and visitors also brought businesses and services that catered to the ever increasing number of tourists. 1913 saw the first motor launch to take paying passengers on tours around the lake. A large boathouse was constructed in 1926, allowing visitors to rent a boat, canoe, swimsuit, or buy ice cream and pop as well as many other items necessary to a summer day at the lake. Regatta's were also held on the lake for a number of years beginning in 1923.

In 1928 the Dominion Government, assisted by the Sylvan Lake Women's Institute, built the long pier that jutted out into the lake from the bottom of Main Street. This pier was connected to the earlier WI Pier and formed a square area used for swimming and mooring boats. The first "waterslide" at Sylvan Lake was also part of this facility. The piers were prone to ice damage over the winter and were finally replaced by the existing "landfill" that now hosts beach volleyball tournaments and dragon boat racing as well as the entertaining lake tour on the "Zoo Cruise."

In 1983 Sylvan Lake found a replacement for its original waterslide in the construction of Wild Rapids Waterslide, which has become the largest facility of its kind in western Canada.

Another byproduct of losing the piers and later the government boat launch, was the construction of the Sylvan Lake Marina, home of many of the permanent boats on the lake, boating facilities, as well as a lake view restaurant and the Sylvan Lake lighthouse.

[edit] Climate

Seasonal Temperatures

• Winter -15.5 C (4.1 F)
• Spring 3.1 C (37.6 F)
• Summer 22.9 C (73.2 F)
• Fall 4.6 C (40.3 F)

Annual Precipitation: Rain: 385.2 mm (15.17 in) Snow: 165.2 mm (6.5 in) Total: 550.4 mm (21.67 in)

Average Hours of Sunshine: 2,125 hours

[edit] Education

The town has four public schools in the Chinook's Edge school district:

• Steffie Wioma Elementary School
• C. P. Blakeley Elementary School
• Fox Run Middle School
• H. J. Cody High School

The Fox Run Middle School's building is shared with the Mother Teresa Catholic School. Recently the government of Alberta has approved funding ($5.7 million over the next three years) for a new Catholic school called Our Lady of the Rosary. It will serve 300 students Kindergarten through Grade 6.

[edit] Media

[edit] Print

Sylvan Lake is serviced by one local newspaper. It is called the Sylvan Lake News. It also receives newspapers from Red Deer. They include:

• Red Deer Advocate
• Red Deer Express

[edit] Television

Sylvan Lake has no broadcast television stations in the vicinity of the town. It does however have access to 4 main stations by antenna:

• Channel 4: A Channel Edmonton
• Channel 6: Ch Red Deer (CH)
• Channel 8: CTV Edmonton (CTV)
• Channel 10: Global Edmonton (Global)

The cable television provider in Sylvan Lake is Shaw Cable. The main satellite television providers are Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice.

[edit] Radio

Sylvan Lake as no radio stations centered with in the town. However, it does get numerous radio stations from Red Deer. The most popular include: FM:

• CKGY (KG Country)
• Zed 99
• Big 105.5
• 106.7 The Drive

[edit] Politics

[edit] Federal

Sylvan Lake is within the Red Deer riding. It is a federal constituency, and is currently represented by Bob Mills who is a member of the Conservative Party. Here is the most recent federal election results:

2006 Results
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Bob Mills	38,504	75.7%
	N.D.P.	Kelly Bickford	5,054	9.9%
	Liberal	Luke Kurata	4,653	9.1%
	Green	Tanner Waldo	2,646	5.2%

[edit] Provincial

Sylvan Lake resides in the provincial riding of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake. It is also represented by Luke Ouellette which is a member of Progressive Conservative. Here is a graph of the latest provincial election:

2004 Results
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Luke Ouellette	6,206	55.45%
	Alberta Alliance	Randy Thorsteinson	2,242	22.02%
	Liberal	Garth Davis	1,816	16.22%
	N.D.P.	Chris Janke	585	5.22%
	Social Credit	Wilf Tricker	349	1.09%

[edit] Municipal

Sylvan Lake is governed by Sylvan Lake Town Council. It is consists of one mayor and six councilors.

The mayor is Bryan Lambertson. He was first elected to council in the 2000 by-election. He was then elected as mayor of Sylvan Lake in October 2001.

The six councilors are: Bart Dyrland, Judy Payne, Lynda Sills-Fiedler, Ken MacVicar, Frank Peck, Richard Backs. There was only incumbent who was re-elected in the 2004 elections. The councilor was Bart Dyrland.

[edit] External links

• Official web site of Sylvan Lake
• Sylvan Lake News
• Sylvan Lake Dragon Boat Festival