Viking () 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 at the intersection of

Highway 14 Route 14, or Highway 14, can refer to: International * Asian Highway 14 * European route E14 * European route E014 Argentina * National Route 14 Australia * Diamantina Developmental Road (Queensland) * Birdsville Developmental Road (Queensla ...

(Poundmaker Trail) and Highway 36 (Veterans Memorial Highway), approximately east 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 anc ...

. The town also lends its name to the Viking Formation, an oil bearing stratigraphical unit.

History

Viking was settled in 1909 by

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

n settlers Sivert Hafso and Ole Sorenson, from Norway. On 7 July 2005, the community ice arena was severely damaged by

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

. Construction began on a new arena, called the "Viking Carena Complex" and was completed on 17 August 2007. Viking celebrated its centennial in 2009.

Geography

Climate

Viking experiences a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Dfb''). Summers are warm with moderate rainfall while winters are long and bitterly cold.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Viking had a population of 986 living in 432 of its 490 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,083. 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 Viking recorded a population of 1,083 living in 460 of its 505 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 1,041. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Economy

The majority of economic activity is in the

agriculture 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 peop ...

, oil and gas,

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not t ...

, and

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ...

industries. Alberta Farmers Cooperative Elevator company elevator, Viking, Alberta 1913

Arts and culture

Viking won the national Communities in Bloom contest in 2000.

Attractions

Many parks and flower gardens are maintained throughout the town. One of the most notable parks is Troll Park, which celebrates Vikings's rich Scandinavian history with native plants, trolls hidden throughout the park, and a giant troll mountain.

Infrastructure

The

Viking Airport Viking Airport is an airport which is located northwest of Viking, Alberta, Canada. See also *Viking (South) Aerodrome Viking (South) Aerodrome is located southwest of Viking, Alberta, Canada Canada is a country in North America ...

is a small airport owned by the Town of Viking west of the townsite, with the

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transporta ...

airport identifier of CEE8.Canadian Owners and Pilots Association ''Places to Fly''
Viking Airport
As a flag stop,

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operati ...

's ''

The Canadian ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'' calls at the Viking railway station.

Notable people

* Cory Clouston, former hockey coach * Murray Dorin, Canadian politician, Progressive Conservative MP (1984 - 1993) * Don Mazankowski, former politician *

Donald Sanderlin Donald Sanderlin (26 February 1933 – 9 January 2013) was a Canadian sports shooter. He competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics and the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () ...

, Olympian *

Glen Sather Glen Cameron “Slats” Sather (born September 2, 1943) is a Canadian ice hockey player, coach and executive. He is the current senior advisor and alternate governor of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was the Rangers ...

, president of the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its ho ...

, former coach and general manager of the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

, and former professional hockey player * Sutter family, a

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

family that includes Brent, Brian, Duane,

Rich Rich may refer to: Common uses * Rich, an entity possessing wealth * Rich, an intense taste, flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling **Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting Places United States * Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated ...

, Ron, and Darryl, all of whom formerly played professional hockey in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

List of communities in Alberta The province of Alberta, Canada, is divided into ten types of local governments – urban municipalities (including cities, towns, villages and summer villages), specialized municipalities, rural municipalities (including municipal distr ...

List of towns in Alberta A town is an urban municipality status type used in the Canadian province of Alberta. Alberta towns are created when communities with populations of at least 1,000 people, where a majority of their buildings are on parcels of land smaller tha ...

References

External links

* {{Subdivisions of Alberta, towns=yes 1909 establishments in Alberta Beaver County, Alberta Towns in Alberta