Vote on rdnewsNOW’s top local news story of 2025!

Here’s your chance to vote on the top local news story of the year in Red Deer and central Alberta.

This list does not include top sports stories, as we’ll soon have a similar poll exclusively for sports.

The number one story of the year will be revealed on a special Year in Review episode of The Everything Red Deer Podcast on Dec. 26.

The poll will close at 10 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 19.

To take a look back at the poll’s twelve options, click the links below:

January 9 – Five people are sent to hospital after explosions inside a school bus mechanic shop near downtown Red Deer.

January 27 – Red Deer-based Peavey Industries, which operates 90 Peavey Mart locations, announces it will close all of them.

February 13 – Red Deer-North MLA Adriana LaGrange is named in a $1.7 million lawsuit filed by former AHS CEO Athena Mentzelopoulos.

March 21 – Red Deer is awarded $12 million from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund to fast-track investments over the next three years. In July, council says thanks, but no thanks for the funding.

April 28 – Burton Bailey is elected for the federal riding of Red Deer, representing the Conservative Party of Canada.

May 26 – The City of Red Deer announces it will seek a new operator for Red Deer’s Heritage Ranch area.

June 26 – Carnival Cinemas announces it will relocate downtown, to what was most recently the Welikoklad Event Centre.

July 11 – News gets out that the provincial government is planning to double the width of the QEII Highway as it passes Red Deer, causing it to cut through Maskepetoon Park and precious wetlands.

July 20 – Pierre Poilievre wins byelection in the federal riding of Battle River-Crowfoot, east of Red Deer.

August 13 – Charged in August, 33-year-old Ryan Allan Bell is sentenced in October to 10 years in jail in relation to the death of city employee Shelley Thornton.

October 20 – Longtime city councillor Cindy Jefferies becomes mayor of Red Deer, taking over from the retiring Ken Johnston.

December 5 – Red Deer-North MLA Adriana LaGrange joins Red Deer-South MLA Jason Stephan among the 21 MLAs facing recall petitions.