- OVER A BEER -
wITH cHANTELLE lABERGE
Today we are not having a brew. It is mid afternoon on a Monday and Stony Plain’s Cultural Development and Tourism Officer, Chantelle Laberge is knee deep in the summer season. Of course, this would not be Over A Beer if we did not discuss our beverages of choice. After a few articles now, you may have guessed, I am the lime topped Corona on the table. As you may expect, with a degree in Near Eastern Archeology and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Museum Management and Curatorship, Laberge would not pick a typical run of the mill drink, not even a flashy import. Craft beers, if she is partaking, are the suds of choice. Being from the Port Hope area in Ontario, she leans to Mill Street Organic. However, we are not in Port Hope “any more Dorothy”, so Laberge picks a Wild Rose Raspberry. Laberge moved to the Stony Plain from the Peterborough area near the end of 2013 and started in her current position in 2014.
Laberge was with Peterborough Economic Development when she decided that she wanted to get back to the roots of her degree. One day she just randomly typed cultural development into the ever-wise Google and the employment opportunity, for the position she is now in, popped to the top of the page. The opportunity was originally just Cultural Development with the Tourism title being added this past December to more reflect the work that she does.
Coming from Port Hope, Ontario where industry started to fade in the 1990’s. As the economy dropped, the people of the surrounding communities started to buy up properties in Port Hope as holiday destinations. With Lake Ontario it only made sense. The up shot of that is that now the community needed shops and stores to sustain the holiday crowd. Coffee shops, art galleries and small boutiques started cropping up to support the influx and needs of those used to a certain lifestyle. This helped to create a whole new industry in the area, tourism. To help support this new industry, a jazz festival was created and the old movie theater was converted into a live entertainment venue. Port Hope flourished.
In Stony Plain, Laberge has drawn on the experience of similar in size, economy and back ground as her native Port Hope. She had front row seats to the growth of the cultural and tourism industry. One of the drawbacks, if we can call it that, is the differences in Ontario and Alberta. Regardless of their background or homeland, new residents to the Stony Plain area quickly assimilate, fitting right into their new community, thus, they don’t expect some of the things they may have had back home. As Laberge grew to understand the community, she realised that we are truly not that different from anywhere else and so begin her plan to add to the cultural background of Stony Plain. I now add a bit of my perspective to the story. When Laberge approached me with this idea of a summer concert series, Dog Rump Creek Music was for sure interested. As we talked, I found that where she came from and where I came from, are two different places. And, where we are now is yet a third. Alberta, rural Alberta, is grain, beef, oil and country music. How could a small, new concert series possibly have blues, roots, punk… anything but country. We worked together and ended up with a list that probably reflected closer to country than not. Summer Sessions in Stony was created (see article on page ?). The event was attended by small crowds through the summer months, averaging about seventy-five per concert. I was happy with the success. However, we both knew that this could grow. Though I do enjoy live music of most types, Laberge opened my eyes to the possibilities of what could be done in Stony Plain, regardless of the grain, beef and oil. Through her and her out side perspective, not Albertan, she has facilitated the access of a broad range of live entertainment.