Latest News March 2023
This past season has brought a renewed spirit and a number of important activities for Leduc West.
Fundraising
Members have been active in supporting Casino and Bingo events for fundraising. These activities happen on an ongoing basis (about once per month) and we are always looking for people who will help support the fundraising we need in order to keep the wheels rolling! If you are interested in helping out at these events, please contact info@leducwestantique.com
Leduc Country Lights
The Country Lights event was bigger and better this year and saw over 16,000 people visit the LWAS site, many for the very first time. This generates a great amount of interest and of course much needed funding that helps to support LWAS activities. We have a very important and mutually supportive arrangement with the Leduc Kinsmen and are excited for what the future holds.
Burak Building
The Executive have engaged with Jacqulynne Burak to resolve a Land Title issue and this now allows LWAS to begin transition of the Burak Building into an additional historic display venue as well as use of the north half of the building for our maintenance shop. There is work to do in order to prepare the building for the coming season but we are excited to be able to honor the tremendous work of the late Marg and Wally Burak as key members of LWAS for many years.
Bylaw Update
As an organization registered under the Societies Act in Alberta we are required to keep our bylaws up to date. At our next Annual General Meeting we will be asking for a vote to adopt updated bylaws that may be reviewed HERE. This will help keep us in line with regulations but also helps better define how we will operate going forward. Please take a moment to review the proposed bylaws.
Upcoming Annual General Meeting
The AGM is coming in April. There are positions available on the Executive Board and recruitment for board members is underway. If you would like to stand for any of these positions please reach out via email to Paul Collis p.collis@shaw.ca who is gathering the info for the elections and he will be able to answer your questions.
We will be reviewing our previous year financial report and looking at plans for the coming year. Please plan to attend.
Location: Leduc Rapid Bingo Centre 5910 50 St, Leduc
Date: April 3rd (Monday) Time: 7pm
Financial Transition
We are making a transition from our previous accounting system to Quickbooks. This will allow us to save some money on fees, while allowing for better integration of our expense reporting and online (website) sales of admission, memberships, etc. This transition will take a little bit of time but is happening as we enter into a new fiscal year in order to minimize any rework.
Strategic Planning
One of the key goals the Executive Board has identified for 2023 is the development of a Strategic Plan for the society. This will provide a roadmap for our facilities and activities and will help us define our goals moving forward.
On Saturday, January 28th, we held our first strategic planning session in an effort to help define the Society's activities for the next several years. Additional sessions will be held in the near future. This is an opportunity for you to participate in the planning process and bring your ideas and thoughts forward to the strategic planning team.
We are also interested in hearing your thoughts on future displays, activities, and events that you would like to see incorporated into our future. If you are not able to join us for the sessions please drop us an email with your thoughts! You can send your info to us at: info@leducwestantique.com at any time.
Exhibitor Agreements
The Executive have been hard at work creating an Exhibitor Agreement that will spell out the use of Leduc West Buildings for display of historical vehicles, artifacts and collections. This is an important goal as there is currently no formal agreement in place and this makes it challenging to manage the transition of exhibits and collections and to manage the facilities at LWAS in compliance with the law and regulations and in a fair and transparent way.
Our goal is to have the Exhibitor Agreements in place by May 1st of this year.
Membership Portal
An important initiative in terms member engagement was undertaken in November and December. We have found that the LWAS membership list had grown very out of date. Volunteers took on the task of contacting everyone we could call or email in order to validate our membership list info. We even sent out a postcard to our members if we were not able to call them or connect via email. This was a time-consuming task but has helped us validate our current membership at 386 lifetime or yearly members.
In order to ensure that we don’t lose track of our members in the future we have established a membership portal available on the web. This database helps us to stay in touch and allows members to update and manage their own information and communication preferences. We encourage all members to check out their profile info by following the links to update their membership info.
The first step is to make sure we have your current email address. You can email us at membership@leducwestantique.com to gain access to the portal.
And now for the best part…
The Doors Are OPEN!
Well, more specifically the doors will be open as we are planning public activities at LWAS this summer. We all know the past few years have been difficult with health restrictions, etc. so we are very excited to have the following activities on the LWAS Calendar for the 2023 season.
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May 27 & 28
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LWAS Swap Meet, Tractor Pull and Music Series
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This event will feature vendor tables, displays and activities and the first Tractor Pull of the season. In the evening the first concert of the Music Series features “Prairie Sky” a terrific group of musicians who perform country, old time and bluegrass music sure to make you want to dance!
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June 17
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The Stage @ Leduc West presents: Nathan Carroll and the Leduc West House Band
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The second in our Music series, this evening event will feature local musician Nathan Carroll and the Leduc West House Band with music that will make you want to dance. The evening will be a party with some familiar songs and outstanding musicians! |
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July 22 & 23
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LWAS Annual Exposition, Tractor Pull, and Music Series
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Our biggest event of the year will include public tours, exhibits, a parade of antique vehicles, and Tractor Pull, along with a Sunday evening concert with “The Jivin’ Belles”. This group performs music that is heavily influenced by the close-harmony style of the Andrews Sisters and others from the 1940’s. https://www.thejivinbelles.com/music
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August 26
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The Stage @ Leduc West presents: band
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The fourth event in our Music series features a terrific gypsy-swing influenced group “The Misery Mountain Boys”. This group is a modern take on the music of the 1930’s and present an energetic and fun style that will make you want to jump out of your seat. https://miserymountainboys.com/video
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September 9 & 10
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LWAS Country Harvest Event, Tractor Pull Provincial Finals and Music Series
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The final event of our summer season naturally is the Harvest event… This event will include public tours, exhibits and the Tractor Pull Provincial Finals event. Our final music performance of the season will feature “Celtera” and as their name implies is steeped in the music from the Emerald Isle and Scotland.
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The Stage @ Leduc West – Music Series
This five event music series will see live performances at the Stage @ Leduc West during the above events. The series highlights music that would have been heard on radio during the first 60 years of broadcasting in Canada. This is the type of music that connected communities together at dances and events throughout rural Alberta.
You can now purchase individual tickets to the music series soon on the Leduc West web site. Tell your friends. We look forward to seeing you there!
Volunteers
As you can see, we have a great slate of activities planned, but none of this happens without YOU. Volunteers are the life-blood of LWAS and we cannot hope to make this happen without your support and effort.
If you have any particular area of interest in helping with these activities please take a moment to send us a note at: info@leducwestantique.com we would love to connect with you!
Here are some particular volunteer needs that you may want to consider:
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On behalf of the Executive Board.