Vegreville facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Vegreville
Town
Town of Vegreville
Vegreville egg
Vegreville Location in Alberta Show map of Alberta Vegreville Location in Canada Show map of Canada
Country	Canada
Province	Alberta
Region	Central Alberta
Census division	10
Municipal district	County of Minburn No. 27
Incorporated
• Village	April 4, 1906
• Town	August 15, 1906
Area  (2021)
• Land	14.08 km2 (5.44 sq mi)
Elevation	635 m (2,083 ft)
Population  (2021)
• Total	5,689
• Density	404/km2 (1,050/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−07:00 (MST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−06:00 (MDT)
Forward sortation area	T9C
Area code(s)	+1-780, +1-587
Highways	Highway 16 Highway 857
Waterways	Vermilion River

Vegreville (Ukrainian: Вегревіль) is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is on Highway 16A approximately 103 km (64 mi) east of Edmonton, Alberta's capital city. It was incorporated as a town in 1906, and that year also saw the founding of the Vegreville Observer, a weekly newspaper for the region.

A large percentage of Vegreville's population is of Ukrainian Canadian descent, and it is home to the Vegreville egg, the world's second largest pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg).

Geography

Climate

Vegreville experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb).

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Vegreville recorded a population of &&&&&&&&&&&05689.&&&&&05,689 living in &&&&&&&&&&&02463.&&&&&02,463 of its &&&&&&&&&&&02735.&&&&&02,735 total private dwellings, a change of -0.3% from its 2016 population of &&&&&&&&&&&05708.&&&&&05,708. With a land area of 14.08 km² (5.44 sq mi), it had a population density of 404.0/km² (1,046/sq mi) in 2021.

In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Vegreville recorded a population of 5,708 living in 2,429 of its 2,734 total private dwellings, a -0.2% change from its 2011 population of 5,717. With a land area of 14.08 km² (5.44 sq mi), it had a population density of 405.4/km² (1,050/sq mi) in 2016.

The Town of Vegreville's 2012 municipal census counted a population of 5,758, a 1.3% decrease over its 2010 municipal census population of 5,834.

Arts and culture

Due to Vegreville's close relationship with the 41 Combat Engineer Regiment, a Canadian Forces Reserve unit based in Edmonton, the Regiment is the only Canadian Forces unit with Freedom of the Town and parades held on Remembrance Day in the town.

Pysanka Festival

The July Pysanka Festival showcases Ukrainian culture in Alberta

The Annual Pysanka Festival Occurs during the first weekend of July, being founded in 1973.

The 2015 Festival currently features:

• 5 grandstand shows
• Cultural Variety Showcase (dance groups, instrumentalists, bands, vocalists)
• Pioneer Village with highlights of how rope-making and blacksmithing
• Ukrainian music
• A Zabava (evening Dance) featuring Kolomeyka music
• display of folk arts with instruction on creating Pysanka (Ukrainian Easter eggs)
• Yarmarok (a fair or market place)

The festival is currently organized by the Vegreville Cultural Association, with the help of many community volunteers. The current Community objectives of the Association in relation to the festival are:

1. To foster understanding among all people and to enrich the Canadian Mosaic by promoting the arts and culture of the Ukrainian people, and of people of other national, racial, or ethnic origins, and of people of other cultures, who settled in Canada.
2. To promote and afford opportunity for cultural and social activities.
3. To encourage and foster and developed among all people and recognition of the importance of culture to people.
4. To enrich the culture of various peoples in Alberta.
5. To foster understanding among all people of the culture of people in Alberta of various national, racial, or ethnic origin.
6. To provide a meeting place for the consideration and discussion of questions affecting the cultural interests of the community.

The festival has hosted many different types of performances, including Cheremosh, the Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton, and the Kubasonics.

Attractions

Vegreville's pysanka, the largest Ukrainian Easter egg in the world, was created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1974 and to celebrate Vegreville's ethnic heritage. On July 6, 2009, the pysanka was one of four attractions featured on the first set of the Canadian Roadside Attractions Series of stamps issued by Canada Post.

Economy

The primary economic base of the town is agricultural.

Infrastructure

The town is bisected by Canadian National Railway's Vegreville Subdivision, a rail line connecting Vegreville to Edmonton in the west and to Lloydminster in the east.

Notable people

• George Bures Miller, artist
• Kyle Brodziak, NHL player
• Dennis Kassian, NHL & WHA player
• Cam Cole, journalist
• Linda Craddock (b. 1952), visual artist
• Laurence Decore, Ukrainian Canadian lawyer, former mayor of Edmonton, Alberta, and former leader of the Alberta Liberal Party
• Roderick D. Fraser, 11th President of the University of Alberta (1995 - 2005)
• Herschel Hardin, writer, playwright, and politician
• Simma Holt, journalist, author, former Member of Parliament, and Member of the Order of Canada
• Daymond Langkow, former NHL forward
• Don Mazankowski, politician and federal Deputy Prime Minister under Brian Mulroney
• Virgil P. Moshansky, Ukrainian Canadian jurist and former mayor of Vegreville
• David Motiuk, Catholic bishop of Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton
• Lillian Sarafinchan, Canadian visual artist, teacher, and production designer
• Brent Severyn, former NHL defenseman
• Valerie Sweeting, curler

Images for kids

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  Vegreville, 1924

• 

  Vermilion River in Vegreville