Ice Cream in the playground
The last of our summer ice cream socials will be on Sunday, August 24th, from 12:00 - 1:00 at the Rossdale Playground (100 street, 94 Ave).
Free ice cream for the first 50 residents. Rain or shine.
The event is sponsored by the Rossdale Community League.
Green Shack at the park
The green shack will be open until August 21 for free afternoon fun for the kids. Mon to Fri from 2.30 to 5.30 p.m Activities include crafts, ball activities, and games.
Change in the Rossdale executive as Lynn and Natalie bid adieu
The following story was written and submitted by an appreciative neighbour.
Well, it maybe hard to believe but after 37 years living in Rossdale Lynn Parish will not officially be elected to the Rossdale Community League Board! At the AGM on June 26th Lynn, as Acting President, officially retired from the board. Although Past Presidents can but not officially remain on the board for one year, Lynn has offered her depth of knowledge and mountains of experience to the new board for 2025 as a past president
After the board meeting Lynn sat down with a couple of fellow Rossdalians to discuss the huge accomplishments and projects that she has been working on for these past 37 years. Many of the community who now live in Rossdale would not have even been born when Lynn fought the good battle against expansion and subsequent decommissioning of the EPCOR Rossdale Powerplant!
Quite frankly if it hadn’t been for Lynn’s dogged determination and attention to detail we could very well have a 510 mega watt powerplant with 3 new gas turbine generators spewing out a toxic ice fog that in the winter would have completely blocked out the sun for 3 sq kms of downtown Edmonton.
Working with CONCERV (Concern Citizens for Edmonton’s River Valley), Indigenous communities, city council and the provincial government the 5 year battle was against significant expansion of the Rossdale power plant to meet the provincial power grid requirements (FYI Calgary does not have a power plant in the middle of THEIR city!) We would have had a very different river valley around the Rossdale neighbourhood had the plans been successful.
Now that the Rossdale Power Plant is a designated provincial historic site what’s the future of the Power Plant you ask? What could we do as a city with that incredible space? It is interesting that other cities who have decommissioned 100-year-old power plants have turned them into numerous artistic and cultural centres. The Bankside Power Plant in London UK, a similar plant in size and location, has been turned it into the Tate Modern Art Gallery a major artistic tourist attraction in the heart of London.
Have you noticed that lights now adorn our Rossdale power plant on special occasions such as Oiler Playoff hockey or Canada Day? Thank Lynn and former City Councillor Michael Phair for hosting think tanks about the future of the plant and coming up with a simple and low-cost idea.
Both Lynn and Natalie have said that even though we may have “lost the battle” with the development of the fire safety and training facility to a full-fledged fire hall we certainly won the war as the permit that was authorized by city hall and the community limits the expansion of the footprint and operations of the firehall. The result is that we have an attractive firehall in the neighbourhood that are good neighbours. Did you know that one of the conditions that was accepted was that there are no sirens till the firetrucks reach Rossdale Road or 98 Avenue, only visible lights. In addition, the city agreed to use some of the land to create Linear Park aka “Mag-Pie Park” by the residences on 94 Avenue. Now becoming quite mature with the vegetation the park is a wonderful place to walk your dog, sit and relax or listen to a music concert organized by the community league
Both the decommissioning of the power plant and the development of the firehall required hundreds of submissions and attendance at an ungodly number of meetings over many years. As a full time lawyer with a young family Lynn, along with key board member Natalie Bunting were our key persons and both of them attended almost all of these meetings.
“The road to hell is always paved with good intentions” is a phrase Lynn uses with aplomb as she says so many of the issues that impact our Rossdale neighbourhood also impact the city. She says that we have had to be on top of these local issues and work very closely with EPCOR and the City for the development of West Rossdale, the redirection of Rossdale Road, the Gondola issue, the flood mitigation project around the south end of the EPCOR water treatment facility, the residential parking ban bylaws and the new Gene Dub residential project in North Rossdale.
Our excellent relationship with the ReMax Ball Park and the various ball clubs that have used the park over the past 20 years has resulted in great revenue for the community league and the free tickets to the River Hawks games for residents of Rossdale that we enjoy. These finances have been superbly managed by Natalie Bunting as our Community Treasurer who this year too is retiring from the Board but will continue on as an financial advisor to the new Treasurer. The Riverhawks have also been very responsive to noise issues or private event rentals that may have caused community concern and of course Lynn and Natalie have been at the centre stage for this relationship
Lynn as the longest serving Rossdalian Board Member and President is proud of commissioning art in our neighbourhood with the Mother Earth sculpture on the frontside of the river on 95 street, the art under the James Macdonald bridge and Magpie Park (love ‘em or hate ‘em the birds are beautifully and artistically displayed), the redevelopment of 2 playgrounds over the past years, the redevelopment of the deck and terrace of the hall, first community to implement solar panels on the community hall and the stewardship of most likely the best financial balance sheet of any community league in Edmonton. All of this leadership has come from Lynn and Natalie over these many years. We have been very blessed to have Natalie’ extensive financial accounting background and stewardship to keep our finances in the black! Natalie has oganised numerous casinos which have been a main source of revenue for the league, completed and obtained numerous grants, over saw he mural under the James McDonald Bridge and the renovations to the hall interior.
We have been fortunate that with a strong financial base we can have our wonderful and complimentary Christmas Party in December with all the trimmings, ice cream socials in the summer, fall musical concerts in Mag Pie Park AND the fact that membership to the community league is free for all Rossdale Residents! Thanks again Natalie!
We have a lot to be grateful for living in our wonderful community of Rossdale and Lynn Parish has her fingerprints on all the above. A huge thank you goes out to Lynn and to Natalie for all their leadership and stewardship in making this the best place to live in Edmonton!
P.S. If you would like to extend a note of appreciation to Lynn or Natalie, you can submit it to rossdalecommunity@gmail.com.
