Village of Carbon gets federal funding for centennial

Carbon will celebrate its centennial in style, later this year, thanks to a one-time federal grant of $28,810.

The money was presented to centennial committee representative Donna Hay, Jan. 21, in Calgary.

The cash is quite timely for the Village, which was incorporated in 1912.

“Everybody’s struggling, but for a community like ours, it means the world to have that support from the feds to complete a project like that,” said Deb Grosfield, centennial committee member. “Without it we wouldn’t be doing near as much as we’re doing.”

The Aug. 9-12 celebration will include free breakfasts, lunches and suppers, live entertainment and lots of activities for children. A play will educate and entertain people with a series of three unsolved murders in Carbon from the 1930s.

“Our Carbon MP (Kevin Sorenson) was very adamant that Carbon get some cash because we haven’t done much of anything federally for cash,” said Grosfield. “It was just really amazing we did get that. We haven’t applied for a grant in a really long time.”

The Carbon grant was one of the larger ones given out by the federal government under the program, causing the committee to be “shocked and surprised,” according to Grosfield.

The Village is also working in conjunction with the Lions’ Club to create a centennial park, hopefully built in time for the celebration.