New Brigden to rebuild community hall after December blaze

By Joan Janzen

The community of New Brigden lost their hall due to a fire in December of 2022, the day after the community children’s Christmas concert was held. It was a devastating loss for the community in east central Alberta, but there was no known cause for the fire.

The New Brigden Hall was destroyed by fire on December 22. The community has voted unanimously to rebuild. PHOTO COURTESY NICOLE BLAIR FACEBOOK

According to information in the New Brigden history book “From Buffalo Chips to Natural Gas,” the previous hall was a 47’ x 80’ cement block building that cost $70,000 to construct in 1976.

As a result, a meeting was held on January 10th at the elementary school to discuss the available options. Approximately 45 people attended the meeting and voted unanimously to rebuild on the same site.

Jim Ness and Larry Ness had bought the land for $50.00 for the original New Brigden Community Hall, which was built in 1976. They also poured the concrete for the foundation. Jim attended the meeting and noted the hall had good insurance coverage. The community has one year in which to enter a claim.

Grants were listed that could help with the project. Those grants are: New Horizons Grant, Community Enhancement Grant, and Covid Community Enhancement Grant.

The community began the process of rebuilding, and the communities of Acadia Valley and Eatonia were willing to share the plans for their community halls. In addition, a group was recently organized and toured renovated halls to get ideas for the new building.

A questionnaire will be sent out to each family, where they will be able to list their top priorities for the new hall. A 3D program will be developed for a new blueprint design, and a grant committee, fundraising committee, and building and design committee were formulated.

A follow-up meeting will be held in two weeks’ time when ideas for the blueprint will be discussed. An insurance representative will be present at the meeting.