Who are the people in your neighbourhood of Empress?

By Joan Janzen

If you want to know who the people are in your neighbourhood, visiting the Empress Community Garage Sale on Saturday, May 13th was a great introduction. A unique feature of the village is its location, which includes a boundary on 2nd Street East, enabling visitors to place one foot in Alberta and one foot in Saskatchewan.

Pat Donaldson is a First Nations artist living in Empress. She is the owner of That’s Empressive Craft Gallery. PHOTO BY JOAN JANZEN

Two of Pat Donaldson’s paintings. The pie and plant sale was a huge success. PHOTO BY JOAN JANZEN

The village, of approximately 130 friendly people, held individual garage sales and served delicious homemade pie at the community hall, along with burgers and hotdogs. Anyone with a green thumb took the opportunity to check out their expansive plant sale. It was an excellent time for family and friends to visit the community.

Although the CPR Station wasn’t open for the occasion, it is a beautiful structure. It’s evident that the Empress & District Historical Society put a great deal of work into its restoration. It is in pristine condition.

Across the street from the community hall stands a beautiful historical building known as That’s Empressive Craft Gallery. However, it’s much more than a craft gallery. The owner and artisan, Pat Donaldson, was more than willing to share the history of both the building and her business.

In 1919, the building housed the Bank of Commerce until the railroad yard was closed, Pat explained. After that, the building was converted into a boarding house, with the family who owned it living downstairs and rental rooms available upstairs.

The owner looked after ten men with no running water, Pat said. After the owner retired, TD Bank decided to open a branch in Empress and bought the building for $3,000. They put on a new roof, updated the electricity, installed a new heating system and plumbing.

“They took out the chandeliers and put up a new ceiling,” Pat said. “And above the vault, there’s a slot in the floor where a gun was kept,” she said. It was accessible to the manager’s apartment upstairs in case of a burglary.

Eventually, the bank closed, and in the 1990s it was sold to an artisan when it became a jewelry store. Pat purchased the building in 2003. She arrived from Calgary, where she had been making a living as an artist, conducting shows across the country.

“I opened a gallery here, not expecting to make a living,” she said.

Now it’s the last store standing in Empress and includes an art gallery, gas station, gift store and grocery store all under one roof. Also available are Pat’s First Nations prints, note cards and art and jewelry.

“The first few years, it was only my own art, and then I added jewelry. The grocery store closed, and there was nowhere to buy necessities, so I installed fuel tanks and opened a store,” Pat said. “I just supply what people run out of. The nearest stores are in Acadia Valley and Oyen. It’s a necessary backup.”

Pat keeps the original bank vault stocked with food staples. She recalled her first day as owner. “A guy shut the vault, and the combination was inside the vault. Fortunately, the previous owner had memorized the combination, and I could phone her and reopen it.” Now the door of the vault remains ajar.

Although you would never guess, Pat is entering her ninth decade of life and isn’t slowing down. “I’m not bored, and that’s a good thing. I’m lucky I’m engaged with the world,” she said.

Besides having her craft gallery and its website, she has an additional website featuring her artwork called native-art-in-canada.com Pat is just one of the interesting and friendly people in her neighbourhood of Empress.