2025 Year in Review

Posted on January 8, 2026 by Vauxhall Advance

January

During the Town of Vauxhall meeting on December 6, 2024, Jackie Seely, Donor Relations and Development Officer for STARS, gave Council a presentation about STARS in hopes of receiving funding support from the Town.

On December 1, 2025, Seely stated, STARS will be celebrating their 40th anniversary.

New Years reflections and resolutions rarely play out so quickly and dramatically. On Jan. 6, Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as Canada’s prime minister. Once the Liberal Party selects its new leader, Trudeau’s tumultuous ten-year run will come to a close. He made the announcement on a cold, grey Monday morning in front of Rideau Cottage, humbly admitting that his time had come.

In December 2024, the Vauxhall Ag Society received a grant of $15,000 from the Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta.

“Our organization applied for the grant to go toward the new multi-purpose building project at the Vauxhall Rodeo Grounds,” said Jo Jones, Vice President of the Vauxhall Ag Society and Judy Leeson, Vauxhall Ag Society Rodeo Grounds committee member.

Jones and Leeson say that the decision regarding the grant was made by the Community Foundations board of directors and the Vauxhall Ag Society was presented with the grant money on December 12, 2024, at the Vauxhall Ag Society Rodeo Grounds by Arlene Parkinson, who is on the board of directors for Community Foundations. 

Lethbridge Polytechnic is once again partnering with industry, farmers, academic partners and government representatives from across Western Canada for the 2025 Irrigated Crop Production Update. The first one under their new polytechnic designation.

During the Town of Vauxhall Council meeting on January 20, Sergeant Stewart Gemmill of the Taber/Vauxhall RCMP detachment presented the detachment’s statistics for December 2024.

Gemmill explained that in December 2024, the detachment responded to 98 calls for service in the M.D. of Taber, three calls for service in Barnwell, and 20 calls for service in Vauxhalll, making a total of 121 calls for service.

 In keeping a finger on the pulse of southern Alberta’s presence in Ottawa, Southern Alberta Newspapers follows Bow River MP Martin Shields and speaks with him occasionally for his latest updates. Last month, Shields made a number of comments in the House of Commons, and one seemingly insignificant remark caught our attention. The remark didn’t scream ‘urgent news,’ but rather displayed a character trait that seems commendable in a politician: namely, a voice calling for respect and accountability.

 The discussion in the House had been centred on the business of supply when an MP from Thornhill, Ont., Melissa Lantsman, asked Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes for a chance to voice a ‘question of privilege.’

During the 2024 Vauxhall Snowflake Frolic in December, Vauxhall Mayor Kimberly Cawley had encouraged those attending the Frolic to stop by the soon-to-be-new Town Office in the old Scotiabank building, enjoy hot chocolate, and visit with members of Town Council.

Cris Burns, Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Vauxhall, however, stated that the building was originally acquired in November 2022, and demolition work began in the winter of 2023/2024 with the completion date yet to be determined.

“The project is still active,” said Burns. “Demolition of unneeded walls and the replacement of walls in the new floor plan have been constructed, drywall is a bit better than 50 per cent complete and there is still some wiring required.”

In her State of the Region address on Saturday afternoon, Municipal District of Taber Reeve Tamara Miyanaga highlighted the municipality’s various bylaw updates and hamlet development in the area, among other key milestones.

Miyanaga was the third speaker in the four-part address at the Taber Community Centre Auditorium, which also featured presentations by Taber-Warner MLA Grant Hunter, Town of Taber Mayor Andrew Prokop, and Town of Coaldale Mayor Jack Van Rijn.

February

The 2025 Vauxhall Figure Skating Carnival will be held on March 14 at 7 p.m. at the Vauxhall Arena.

Tami Plumb, Communications Chair for the Vauxhall Figure Skating Club Board and parent of one of the figure skaters, says that the theme of this year’s event, an event that is organized by both the Vauxhall Figure Skating Board and parents annually, will be ‘Light Up the Night.’

A Taber woman spent decades hiding in plain sight as a fugitive from American justice and her true identity has now been revealed. Sharon Kinne was accused of killing her first husband and her married lover’s wife in the U.S. in the early 1960s before she fled the states and was convicted of killing another man in a hotel room in Mexico.

 Kinne was convicted of murder in Mexico and served almost five years in prison before she escaped in 1969 and vanished without a trace. In the early 1970s, Kinne showed up in Taber as Diedra (Dee) Glabus and blended seamlessly into the community, never raising any suspicions that might have tied her to a murderous past.

Bow River MP Martin Shields will not be seeking re-election in 2025. 

On Feb. 7, he released a letter informing the public of his decision. Since 2015, he has represented the riding which he won handily both that year and in 2019. He has been a popular and respected leader who vouched for southern Alberta’s best interests while at home and in Ottawa.

Petra Klempnauer, Treasurer for the Vauxhall Ag Society, says that the society needs to replace the existing aged ATCO trailer at the Rodeo Grounds, which are located just one mile east of the town of Vauxhall. 

“The current aging ATCO trailer isn’t large enough to allow people inside when there are inclement weather conditions,” said Klempnauer.

Klempnauer says that the project is currently in the ‘blueprint stage’ and the 40’ X 60’ multi-use building project will start construction this spring. 

Vauxhall town council received a budget request to purchase some trucks for the town during their regular Feb. 3 meeting.

Speaking on the request, CAO Cris Burns said the request was in the council’s approved capital project plan for 2025, and concerned two items on that list: the purchase of a pickup truck and a gravel truck. Burns said that the town has gotten a deal on a pickup truck they could pick up immediately.

In January, the Vauxhall and District Regional Water Commission received reports from residents regarding an unusual taste and slight tint in the drinking water.

Upon receiving reports from residents, the Commission says, water operators immediately began monitoring and testing the water to identify any potential causes, and determined that elevated manganese levels were the primary cause. 

During a recent M.D. of Taber Council meeting, M.D. of Taber Chief Administrative Officer Arlos Crofts brought a Request for Decision before Council regarding contributions to the Enchant Cemetery Foundation.

“This Request for Decision outlines what has been happening over the last few years with respect to facilitating donations for the purpose of the Enchant Cemetery,” said Crofts. “Administration has come proposing a solution or process whereby the M.D. of Taber could consider an annual contribution for some of that maintenance and upkeep that the Enchant Cemetery Association provides for the benefit of the M.D. of Taber and its rate payers and cemetery users.”

Rink upgrades and other potential 2025-29 capital budget inclusions were discussed at a recent Vauxhall town council meeting.

The first item discussed during their regular Feb. 18 meeting concerned some additions of upgrades to the town’s arena. The ice rink upgrades compose of a Zamboni room ($100,000), ammonia room ($95,000), new boards ($200,000), ice surface floor ($1,800,000), and curling club walls and doors ($20,000). In total, the project has a budget of $2,215,500, although CAO Cris Burns said they may be able to get some expenses down. The projected would be largely funded through grants and reserves, so the town would not need to take out debentures for it. According to the budget document shown during the meeting, if approved, it is slated for 2025.

On February 24, Joseph Schow, Government House Leader, Minister of Tourism and Sport, and MLA for Cardston-Siksika, spoke about the work that the Government of Alberta plans to do during the spring session of the legislature, which reconvened on February 25.

Budget 2025, MLA Schow explained, will be tabled on February 27 and stated that the introduction of a new budget is always ‘exciting.’

In addition to Budget 2025, MLA Schow stated, this session will see the introduction of a suite of around 20 pieces of legislation that will allow for the implementation of measures announced in Budget 2025.

March

On February 28, Joseph Schow, Government House Leader, Minister of Tourism and Sport, and MLA for Cardston-Siksika, spoke about how Budget 2025 will help ‘break down barriers to sport and recreation’ in Alberta.

The beginning of March saw the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball Jets begin their spring season with a handful of games. As part of their “pre-season”, the Jets kicked off March with games against the Prairie Baseball Academy from Lethbridge.

“We’re lucky to have a great partnership with the Prairie Baseball Academy in Lethbridge so we have played four games against them,” stated Les McTavish, head coach of the Jets. The varsity team actually hasn’t been away when we’ve been playing, so it’s been really good. We’ve been able to face the varsity pitching staff but then then the JV hitters yeah, so I think that really helps with our development side of things and getting us ready for our big trip. We leave tomorrow for Vegas and that certainly helps our development. They have better arms and more arms like we would see when we’re down (south) playing the top teams in the (States).”

A digital marketing company made a partnering pitch to Vauxhall town council to encourage people to move there during a recent meeting. 

During their regular March 3 meeting, Vauxhall town council received a pitch from YOLO Nomads.

Having started in the ‘90s as simply teaching English, YOLO Nomads aims to help digital nomads – or people who can work from anywhere – find the information, contacts, and help they need to settle into smaller communities around the world for a better quality of life, and help smaller communities get the word out about how great they are. 

See next week’s Advance for more Year in Review