The Town With the Painted Past

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Creating a special mural to celebrate the town's centennial thisyear, then, seemed an obvious choice.
The finished masterpiece will be unveiled during Stony Plain'sCentennial Homecoming celebrations, which get underway nextThursday.
Instead of a single artist, this mural was made by a hundred ofthem, all past or present residents of the town.
Participation was determined through a lottery, and the waitinglist was long. Eventually, 100 artists -- one as young as five --painted tiles 16-inches square, each part of a centennial "mosaic."Mural co-ordinator Stan Phelps, who has painted two of the town's27 murals, has had his share of sleepless nights trying toconfigure the tiles in his mind, but he is taken by the "communityspirit" inherent in the project.
"It seems like everyone in town is involved somehow," he said.
The idea, said Phelps, was to encourage each of the participants topaint some of the town's "local flavour" on to the tiles.
For Aiden Harke, that translated in to a blue sky shining on to afield full of dandelions, the five-year-old's favourite "flower."When Aiden's mom, Karen Rhyason, asked if he wanted to practisedrawing a few first, he declined, then sat down at the kitchentable and spent the next two hours bringing his vision to life.
"He loves doing artwork and he really wanted to be part of the(centennial mural)," said Rhyason. "His grandpa (Dale Rhyason) wasone of the original members of the mural committee." The mural isstill under construction -- and kept under wraps by Phelps.
It will stay that way until its unveiling during the big centennialbash.
The party starts Thursday evening with opening ceremonies at theStony Plain Community Centre, and continues throughout the weekendwith events and activities that include free pancake breakfasts,live entertainment, quilting, face-painting and ice cream-making.
Sheila Dekinder, a member of the centennial committee, will work inthe information tent, a perfect spot for someone who has lived inStony Plain for more than 50 years.
When she moved from Duffield with her older sister to go to highschool, there was no sewer, and the town ended at the site of itscurrent post office.
It was a bit daunting for the 17-year-old, even so.
"It was different than living in the country, that's for sure,"said Dekinder.
She remembers weekend dances at Kelly's hall, and eating sundaesand banana splits at the soda counter at Byer's drugstore.
She married her husband, Hilding, at Seba Beach, but they madetheir home and raised their family in Stony Plain. After Hildingdied two years ago, she moved into an apartment.
Despite its growth, said Dekinder, the town has managed to hang onto the things she has always liked -- friendly people, neatly keptproperties and an enduring sense of community.
"It's not that big yet that you can't just go uptown and see peoplefor a coffee, and that's nice," said Dekinder.
The town doesn't officially turn one hundred years old until Dec.10, the date of its incorporation in 1908.
In those days, people travelled on horseback and a trip to Edmontoncould take two days, depending on weather and "road" conditions.
About 1,000 people lived in the town then. There was a singleschool, a general store, a hardware store, two grain elevators, twochurches, a bank and a blacksmith's shop.
As precious as the past is here, the future is equally important,said Mayor Ken Lemke.
"There's a real need to offer people alternatives to big-city lifeand we view the town as being able to offer something a bitdifferent than other communities outside Edmonton," he said.
Today, 12,363 people live here, compared with 7,000 in 1995.
Like Dekinder, many residents say despite the growth, there isstill a decidedly small-town feel to the place, which is bothendearing and comforting.
There's not a big-box store in sight, and the biggest retailers areSafeway and Shoppers Drug Mart. The downtown is home to uniqueshops, galleries and restaurants, and regular customers pridethemselves on shopping locally.
The town's Multicultural Heritage Centre is home to a contemporaryart gallery, local archives, museum displays, a general store andthe Parkland County Demonstration Farm.
Rhonda Gibson is a market economist who transferred here fromSaskatchewan with her husband four years ago, but didn'tnecessarily want to live in the city. Stony Plain, and itsproximity to Edmonton, seemed an ideal choice.
"We enjoy the town and the small-town feel, we enjoy ourneighbourhood," said Gibson.
"There's lots to do, it's wonderful for our kids and we have accessto Edmonton for shopping or other activities we want to do.
"I don't think I would feel the same way if we had moved to alarger centre. Stony Plain has become more than just the place Ihang my hat -- it's home."
How Stony Plain Got Its Name
In the early 1700s, a small band of Stoney Indians from the Dakotasarrived in the foothills east of the Rocky Mountains, between theBow and Athabasca rivers. The area west of Fort Edmonton was calledthe Stoney Plains due to the Stoney Indians and the fertile plainson which they liked to camp.
In 1886, carpenter and cabinet maker John Leod McDonald moved hisfamily to the area and in 1892 applied for a post office to benamed for the region, dropping the "e" from Stoney to discouragethe notion that the area was strewn with stones.
It turned out that Stony Plain was also claimed by a settlementnearby, which today is known as Spruce Grove.
McDonald persevered and won the name Stony Plain, not only for hispost office but for the town as well.
In 1906, the Edmonton, Yukon & Pacific Railways built a rail linewest from Edmonton. It missed Stony Plain altogether, prompting thetown fathers to decide to move the small community to the railwayto establish a new townsite. The first train puffed its way intoStony Plain on Dec. 11, 1906. By then, the village's population hadincreased to more than 1,000. It was incorporated as a town on Dec.10, 1908.