Scapa set to Celebrate 100th

By Gwen Snell
Freelance Journalist

Scapa Athletic Association will celebrate the 100th anniversary of incorporating the Hamlet of Scapa on August 15 – 16, 2025. Local organizers Peggy Sauter and Leo Erion are encouraging former residents to provide their contact information so that organizers can ensure that everyone is aware of the activities being planned. Sauter indicated that while they have some info regarding former landowners and homestead families, it can be difficult to reach people. "To be honest, with the advent of cell phones, contact information is hard to come by. We are basically relying on word of mouth."

The committee has been busy with plans. According to Sauter, a "social evening and registration is planned for Friday. Saturday begins with a pancake breakfast and parade and ends with a beef on a bun supper." Other plans may include a round-trip self-guided driving tour. Suggested tours would consist of railway sidings, school sites, and some farmsteads. "There is also Antelope Hill Park, the Lee Brainard Memorial Site, and St. Peters Lutheran Church to be noted."

When asked why she wanted to be involved with the event, Sauter stated: "I am personally interested in working on this project because I think it is important to preserve our rural Alberta History. The road from Scapa to Hanna is still referred to as the Snake Trail in reference to the many curves that once had to be navigated around sloughs and Dowling Lake. It is hard to imagine that village that was once there, the difficulty in travelling that distance, and the hardship endured by the early pioneers. "

A shadow of its former boom days, Scapa was surveyed into four lots and three elevator sites in 1925 when construction on the CNR line connecting Hanna to Warden reached the area then known as Fennellsville. The name Scapa was chosen by the first postmaster. At one time, this prairie gem boasted two stores, a restaurant, a post office, a garage, a pool hall, a blacksmith shop, a barber shop, elevators, two schools, stockyards, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, the Catholic church and the hall which was built in 1929. Eventually, the population dwindled, with the last year of school in 1968, and all that remains is the hall, which now serves as the community centre for those in the surrounding area. 

While it may be early in the process for some, organizers urge people to connect. "We would like people to send an email to this account; scapa25infobysauter@gmail.com, showing their interest in attending. As our plans are finalized, we can then easily send out all the information and RSVP invitations. Our celebration will be open to the public, but we will need hard numbers to organize our space and food requirements."

Interested persons can also phone or text Peggy at 403-854-6565 or Leo at 403-854-2391.