City of Lacombe Mayor Grant Creasey. (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Alessia Proietti

Growth and community spirit in 2021

Focusing on the positives; a look-back on 2021 with Lacombe Mayor Grant Creasey

Jan 14, 2022 | 12:35 PM

Has it been mentioned that the pandemic made 2021 a difficult year? Lacombe Mayor Grant Creasey is choosing to look past this inevitable topic, and emphasize the positivity that arose in the community throughout the year.

“This past year has been certainly full of challenges and many of those are ongoing. Thankfully, we’ve had many great spots too that I prefer to focus on,” said Mayor Creasey.

He pointed to the $40 million in developmental projects that have happened up until the end of October 2021, the highest since 2016. He was particularly proud of the renovations made to council chambers and the City’s completion of the upgrades made to Highway 12 with the help of provincial government funding.

Alongside growth in businesses and licenses, Creasey shed light on the prosperity of bright moments in the community.

“It’s great to have those types of events that bring people back to some idea of normalcy and give them hope that we will work our way through this process and come out the other side stronger and better,” said Mayor Creasey. “People are just thankful to have the opportunity to get together and enjoy their lives.”

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To name a few, in July, the Lacombe Days Festival had a parade, live shows, and games and Canada Day saw a mobile band play through the city. In September, the 10^th annual Culture and Harvest Festival had performances by the Red Deer Aboriginal Dance Troupe, artists, and scarecrow decorations around the city. In November, the Light up the Night Festival showcased vibrantly lit homes, gingerbread house contests and Christmas plays.

Although the mayor admitted it was too soon to know what events would be taking place this year, he had many other priorities still top of mind.

“I am probably more encouraged now than what I have been over the past half a dozen years with some of the things that we have under consideration for our horizon,” he said.

Not only does he expect to see a plan come to life for the Canadian Tire land development, but he also has a focus for better utilization of resources regarding municipal waste.

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Matthew Goudy said his focus for 2022 is to see the new committee’s redevelopment of the downtown plans come to fruition.

On his end, he aims to maintain a sustainable level of service and funding for the city and its residents, which has been tricky with the pandemic’s added challenges that haven’t gotten any easier with time.

“Your other work has taken a back seat to dealing with the pandemic,” said CAO Goudy. “You see efficiency elsewhere suffer because of those reallocated resources.”

Thankful for residents’ understanding and resiliency, Mayor Creasey said he hopes the community’s strength not only stays, but overcomes the global hurdle victoriously.

“It’s pretty heartwarming to see some of the charitable works that continue to go on in the city that I love and see all the positive interactions that people still have and once again reinforces just how fortunate we are to live in such a great community.”

“I’ll be honest with you, I hate even mentioning the word anymore; people have grown so tired of COVID but the fact of the matter is it’s still a reality we must deal with,” he said.

“I’m hopeful that we are working our way through this pandemic and like everyone, I look forward to the day we can see all these changes in our life in the rearview mirror.”