Welcome to Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
Your Grande Prairie (Grande Prairie, Beaverlodge, Sexsmith, Wembley )
area contact is Delaine Haugen (REMAX Grande Prairie Associates Realty LTD.) Please refer to the "Relocating to Grande Prairie" section to the right for
the phone number, address, website, and email address to contact Delaine Haugen directly.
Ask about the Grande Praire REMAX MLS real estate homes for sale including residential houses, apartments, condos, duplexes, acreages and farms.
Grande Prairie summary
Grande Prairie is the main city in the northwestern part of the province of Alberta in Western Canada. It is located on the southern edge of the Peace River Country
(part of the Peace Region or simply "The Peace", as is often locally known, which encompasses much of northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia). The city
is surrounded by Grande Prairie County. The city of Grande Prairie is one of Canada's fastest growing cities and as of its 2007 civic census, its population was 50,227,
up 6.9% from the Canada 2006 Census figure of 47,076. As of 2006, the population of the Grande Prairie Census Agglomeration was at 71,868 (The census agglomeration has
now been expanded to cover the entire County of Grande Prairie). It is currently Alberta's 7th largest incorporated city by population. Grande Prairie is the largest
city between Edmonton and Fairbanks, Alaska along the Highway 43, Alaska and a portion of the Richardson Highway (Alaska) routes. It lies about 460 km (286 mi) and
2,480 km (1,541 mi) from each city respectively.
The city has adopted the endangered Trumpeter swan as an official symbol because it is near the migration route and summer nesting grounds of this large and graceful
swan. For that reason, Grande Prairie is sometimes nicknamed the "Swan City".
Major industries include oil and gas, agriculture, forestry, services, and technology. Grande Prairie is one of the most economically diverse cities in Alberta outside
Edmonton and Calgary.
Agriculture was the first economic mainstay of Grande Prairie since settlement began in the early 20th Century, and is still an essential part
of the local economy today. A variety of crops such as barley, wheat, canola and oats is widely grown in the Peace region, as well as livestock such as cattle, and
even buffalo (bison). Despite the latitude (north of 55°N), the climate is mild enough to allow for farming on a large scale to prosper. Daylight hours also tend to
be quite long during the summer at this latitude, aiding in crop production. The Peace Region is the northernmost major farming region in North America, and land there
is still being cleared for new farmland.
Although some oil and gas drilling has been ongoing in the South Peace since the 1950s, oil and gas exploration did not begin to occur on a large scale until the late
1970s. It was in the mid-1970s that the Elmworth gas field was discovered and exploited, causing the city to grow rapidly until the last oil boom ended in 1981.
Forestry is a major part of Grande Prairie's economy, for large tracts of forest lie to the south in the foothills and the Canadian Rockies. The Weyerhaeuser Canada
kraft pulp mill is one of Grande Prairie's largest employers and was opened in 1972. It was originally owned by Procter & Gamble until it was sold to Weyerhaeuser
Canada in 1992. Canfor runs a sawmill and lumber yard operation in the west side of the city. The Ainsworth OSB (Oriented Strand Board) plant opened in late 1995.
Grande Prairie serves as the economic and transportation hub for a trading area of nearly 250,000 people. Grande Prairie is also on the CANAMEX trade route linking
Canada, the United States and Mexico. Due to the fact that Alberta has no provincial sales tax and that Grande Prairie is fairly close to the Alberta-BC border,
there is a high number of shoppers from British Columbia. Hence, it is not unusual to see a large number of vehicles with BC license plates in retail and mall parking
lots in Grande Prairie.
The city boasts a number of parks and golf courses including the large Muskoseepi Park in the Bear Creek Valley and the Dunes Golf Course south of the city. Muskoseepi
Park has excellent bike trails extending nearly the entire length of Bear Creek within the city. Muskoseepi Park also has an outdoor swimming pool and a pavilion with
a cafeteria and an outdoor pond which converts into a skating rink in the winter. Crystal Lake in the northeast part of the city also has parkland, preserved wetlands
(great for birdwatching) and walking/bike paths around its entire circumference.
Recently there has been a huge upswing in the local music scene in Grande Prairie. This is attributed to the large number of younger citizens due to the economic growth
in the last five years. Bands such as This Conviction, Calculating Collapse, Halide, The Psychic Knife Fight,The Dharma Bums, and Emerson Drive are some of the more
popular. Cultural venues include the Bowes Family Crystal Centre (a concert hall and hockey rink — the local AJHL team, the Grande Prairie Storm, plays there), the
Grande Prairie Museum, the Prairie Art Gallery (closed due to a structural disaster), Second Street Theatre and Studio "Y?".
Golfing is possible as late as after 11 o'clock in the evening in early summer due to the northern latitude. Grande Prairie has three 18-hole golf courses nearby (Dunes,
Bear Creek, and Grande Prairie Golf & Country Club) and also a couple of 9-hole courses as well. Cross-country skiing and snowmobiling are popular activities during the
winter in the Grande Prairie area. There is a local ski hill called Nitehawk located south of the city on the south bank of the Wapiti River. Aside from skiing, Nitehawk
also has the only North American natural luge track certified for international events and over the summer months freestyle ski jumpers can practice using the Northern
Extreme water ramp facility. It is also active in luge as a naturally refrigerated venue, hosting the FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships in 2007.
The foothills south of Grande Prairie and around Grande Cache are popular year-round for hiking in the summer and for snowmobiling and other winter sports in the winter.
Kakwa Wildland Park on the Alberta-BC border, about 180 km south of the city, is a beautiful and mountainous natural area and is known for a beautiful waterfall called
Kakwa Falls.
Text & photo credits
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It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Grande Prairie, Alberta".
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