Magrath celebrates its 125th anniversary
By Lethbridge Herald on July 30, 2024.
Herald photo by Alexandra Noad
The FMX motorcross show was one of the highlights of the Magrath 125th town celebration on Saturday.Alexandra Noad
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The town of Magrath is home to about 2,500 people, but for one weekend every year it doubles in size with the Magrath Days celebration.
This year the down celebrated its 125 anniversary and people enjoyed all sorts of festivities from their annual softball tournament, bouncy castles, trade show, and BMX shows.
Ron Strate, a resident and former councilman of the town, says the town has come a long way from it’s irrigation roots which his ancestors were a part of.
“125 years we have come so far, especially if you look back at the original pictures. I have found the heritage of some of the first settlers here with the Ririe family. Kudos to those that came here. There were no trees, barren ground, and for them to help get the irrigation system going in southern Alberta was able to create what we have all throughout southern Alberta with water,” said Strate.
Magrath was first settled in 1899, before Alberta was even a province, by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were recruited by the Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company to construct irrigation works in the areas.
This was the first major irriagation project done in Canada and was made possible from the settlers’ experience with the extensive irrigation projects they undertook for their church in Utah and Idaho.
The irrigation project took water from Pothole Creek and supplied water to local farmers. At the time of its construction it was state-of-the-art and was a huge undertaking to build.
Since then, Magrath has grown to be a small community with the joy of being 20 minutes outside of Lethbridge city limits.
“It’s a perfect bedroom community for people that don’t want to live right in the city. We’re only 15 minutes from Costco, so you get everything. You get the best in smalltown life and and the city life as you want it,” said Strate.
This year the Magrath Museum held a scavenger hunt where the participants learned more about the towns history through the clues.
“The museum put on a great little event where it was almost like a survivor challenge is the way I looked at it. Everyone’s running around trying to find this rock and I heard from different people it helped them to appreciate Magrath’s history more,” said Strate.
Strate and his daughter even had to search for a newspaper from 1911 to find one of the clues.
Kristine Alston-Bly, president of the Friends of the Magrath Museum, says this project was inspired by a radio station down in Utah where there were clues to help people find a rock.
For this project participants bought a hat to receive a QR code to get the clues.
She says this event was a great success of promoting the museum’s new website and hopes to continue to make it a yearly tradition to help people learn about the town.
“We’re hoping to make it yearly. We’ll probably make a few adjustments,” said Alston-Bly.
Alston-Bly had several people stop her and tell her they learned something new from the project.
Another highlight of the weekend is the school reunions which often have floats in the parade. It is tradition to attack former teachers with water balloons. Strate is a former teacher and always has a blast attempting to catch the balloons and throw them back.
“I get pelted by water balloons every year because I have a teacher here and I went to school here. I graduated from here and so almost every float that went by with school classes was pelting me with water balloons, but it’s a good time. It’s fun and I caught some and threw them right back at them. I did have some. I got soaked pretty good today. Probably the best soaking I’ve ever got today, actually,” said Strate.
The festivities concluded with the annual fireworks show put on by the fire department.
While the town will go back to its quiet ways after this weekend, it shouldn’t deter visitors from checking out the town.
They have trails down by the Fish Pond and Pothole Creek with new signs with information on the history of the town as well as new basketball, tennis and pickleball courts near the baseball diamond. Magrath is also home to a beautiful golf course, which is a big selling point for the town.
More information on the town can be found at http://www.magrath.ca
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Cheers to Magrath for a fantastic 125th-anniversary celebration! The various events, from the scavenger hunt to the Buckshot Roulette fireworks, truly showcased the town’s spirit and history. Here’s to many more years of growth and community spirit!
he survivor challenge concept, combined with QR codes and historical clues, seems like a creative approach to make learning fun. It’s great to hear that participants found it educational and that the museum is considering making it an annual tradition @io games