Drayton Valley is a town in

central Alberta Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy. Geography Central Alberta is bordere ...

, Canada. It is located on Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail), approximately southwest of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. It is surrounded by

Brazeau County Brazeau County is a municipal district in central Alberta, Canada. It is located in Census Division 11. The municipal district was incorporated on July 1, 1988 from ''Improvement District No. 222''. On October 1, 2002, the name was changed fr ...

, known for its vast

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

fields. The town is located between the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventual ...

and the

Pembina River Pembina River may refer to: *Pembina River (Alberta), a river in central Alberta, Canada *Pembina River (Manitoba – North Dakota) The Pembina River is a tributary of the Red River of the North, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. Nationa ...

. The town was named after

Drayton, Hampshire Drayton is a residential area of the city of Portsmouth in the English county of Hampshire. Together with Farlington, its parent area, it makes up one of the electoral wards of the city. History The earliest mention of Drayton was as a manor ...

, the birthplace of the wife of one of the Alberta town's postmasters.

History

Prior to the 1953

boom, the community of Drayton Valley was sparsely populated. The main economic activities were

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

. Drayton Valley was incorporated as a village in 1956 and officially became a town in 1957. In 1955 a ferry was built to cross the North Saskatchewan River. The original bridge that replaced the ferry was eventually replaced by a new bridge in 2014.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, the Town of Drayton Valley had a population of 7,291 living in 2,897 of its 3,250 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 7,235. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Drayton Valley recorded a population of 7,235 living in 2,782 of its 3,116 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 7,118. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Economy

Oil and gas is the primary driver of Drayton Valley's economy. Agriculture and forestry also play roles in the local economy. A sawmill is located in the town.

Attractions

Drayton Valley's Omniplex is a community sports centre that hosts

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

ringette Ringette is a contact sport, non-contact winter team sport played on ice hockey rinks using Ice skates#Ice hockey skates, ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a #Equipment, blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice ...

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

. The town also has a public

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

, a

ski hill A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...

, a bowling alley, and the Drayton Valley Golf and Country Club.

Sports

Drayton Valley is the home of the

Drayton Valley Thunder The Drayton Valley Thunder is a junior ice hockey team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL). The Thunder are members of the Canadian Junior Hockey League and are eligible to compete for the Doyle Cup and National Junior A Championship. The ...

of the

Alberta Junior Hockey League The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) is an Alberta-based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. There are currently 16 teams in the league. The reg ...

. Drayton Valley is also home to the annual DV100 bicycle race.

Education

Drayton Valley has six public schools, two Catholic schools, and one outreach school. The public schools and outreach school are operated by the Wild Rose School Division while the Catholic schools are operated by the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School Division. ;Wild Rose School Division *Aurora Elementary School *Drayton Christian School *Evergreen Elementary School *

Frank Maddock High School Frank Maddock High School is a public high school located in the town of Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada. Organization Frank Maddock is part of the Wild Rose School Division No. 66. The school educates around 500 students in grades 10–12. The ...

*Frank Maddock Outreach School *H.W. Pickup Junior High School ;St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School Division *St. Anthony School * Holy Trinity Academy

Media

Drayton Valley is served by two weekly newspapers, the ''Drayton Valley Western Review'' and the ''Drayton Valley and District Free Press'' and one radio station, CIBW-FM, mainly playing country music. A

Christian radio Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk progra ...

station, CIDV-FM, was launched in 2009.

Notable people

* Diana Janet McQueen, Canadian politician, Progressive Conservative MLA (2008-2015) *

Dave Hakstol David Hakstol (born July 30, 1968) is a Canadian ice hockey coach, currently serving as the head coach of the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL). A native of Warburg, Alberta, Hakstol was the head coach for Sioux City Musketeers ...

, NHL Head Coach for the

Seattle Kraken The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1956 establishments in Alberta Towns in Alberta Former new towns in Alberta