Monday, February 11, 2013

A Little Alberta Rosebud

It's been 11 days since I posted my last entry.  I didn't mean for so much time to pass, but I think I ran out to stuff to blog about.  Then I remembered that there's always something to say so here I am again.  I also have to spend lots of time catching up with all my bloggy friends before they forget I'm here.

We got back into Canada safely, though not together.  Lloyd had an 'incident' with his passport when he first got to Arizona and I wasn't there to take care of such things, but he's here now and I'll save that incident for a later post.

Right now I want to write about a tiny town in Alberta that we detoured to drive through on our way from Lethbridge to Edmonton yesterday.  It is such a cute, unique, old (by Canadian standards) little town that we had never heard of but which needs to be brought out of hiding.

The town is called Rosebud.  It sits in the middle of Wheatland county, surrounded by rolling wheat fields and some oil pumps.  There are not many people living there, in the winter anyway.  After we thought we had seen everything there was to see and were heading down just one more road, we saw a wonderfully Canadian winter scene...complete with people...


...an old fashioned skating pond with a family out skating, and one adult cross country skiing there on the left.  You can see the shovels they used to clear the ice sticking up out of the snow bank, and the boy with a hockey stick looking for a pick-up game.


Those were the only people we saw in the town, except for an older couple out for a walk on the lovely warmish winter day.

Rosebud is actually a Hamlet, not a town, 35 km from Drumheller, near the site of the largest dinosaur excavations in America.  Rosebud itself was built to service the railway when it was built back in the late 1800s.  Now there isn't a gas station or a convenience store to be found.

But it is rich in art and culture.  In fact, it's all about arts and culture.


This is the largest of the several inns and B&Bs in Rosebud.  There are no large
commercial hotels or motels here.

And this is the back view of the Inn that you see when approaching the town

This was the only store in town, now converted to public use.  Before  the play performances
the audience congregates here for a big buffet, complete with live music.

One of the several museums in town.  

And a guest house.


The old Hotel Rosebud.  Notice the bicycles standing there in the snow.  We saw
these all over town and noticed that there was a sign on one of them instead
of a license, saying 'public transport'.  I don't know for sure but it seemed that they
were placed around town for people to use as they wished.

This building, also a museum, is attached to the house on the right, which is on
the street around the corner from this one.  We'll have to go back in the summer
to check it out.

This is the hotel from a different angle.  Notice the lovely old golden retriever
basking in the winter sun.

This looks like it might have started life as a barn but is now a country bar and grill.

These are two gift shops attached to the famous Rosebud Theatre.

I checked on-line to see what Rosebud is all about, since there was no one in the town when we were there to tell us.  It has the Royal Sproule Art Gallery featuring works by local artists, the Akokiniskay Art Gallery, featuring works by Alberta artists, the Rosebud School of Performing Arts, the Rosebud Centennial Museum, the Rosebud Theatre with resident actors, student apprentices and visiting artists, and the Akokiniskway Golf Course.

We'll definitely go back there in the summer when things are in full swing, maybe take in a show and explore the museums and galleries.

Just in closing, here are a few views around town.



Farm equipment sitting in the shade

Add caption

Tractors in a side yard

Add caption

Grain handling terminals

Cattails along the river bank

11 comments:

Mickey said...

A little treasure of a place on your trip home! Looks very interesting and probably even more to see in the summer!
Great pictures!

Bev said...

We have been to Rosebuds often to go to their Dinner Theater...It is a wonderful place!

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

Glad you are both home safely and will be waiting to hear about the incident. That place does look like it would be fun to visit. Strange though not having a store or gas station around.

Granny Annie said...

This post definitely makes the 11 days worth the wait. What a splendid place to find.

Southhamsdarling said...

Hi Pat. First of all, I absolutely love the new look of your blog. It looks lovely and fresh, and its a super photo of you and hubby! What a lovely name for that little town! I really enjoyed looking at all the photos. Thank you for the tour!

Kath said...

It will be interesting to see that town alive in the summer!! Thanks for the tour!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ellie said...

What a great name for a town. Rosebud - so pretty!!!
It looks like a pretty place too. Just look at that beautiful blue sky - what a lovely day you must have had.

Delena said...

I love the name Rosebud too. On the other side of names there is actually a hamlet (village) in Alberta called Dog Pound. Every name so unique and most likely a story behind each name!

Anonymous said...

Very good post! We are linking to this particularly great content on our site.
Keep up the good writing.

Stop by my web site :: adult baseball

Unknown said...

If you want a little more background for the hamlet of Rosebud. Visit rosebud.ca
Lovely pictures - winter is the holiday time for most people in this tiny place of less than 100 residents (including post-secondary theatre students) - they focus on schooling - take a theatre trip to Vancouver (1st years) and to London, England or New York (2nd and 3rd years) do a winter retreat etc. so its not surprising to find few people around. We've looked at gas stations but with most farmers buying bulk purple fuel that leaves very few to make it feasible. You just get in the habit of always buying fuel when you buy your groceries.