Beer Parlor 4.0

On Friday June 2nd Margarit and I headed down to East Coulee.  We stopped in at the shop and unloaded our food and gear into the trailer.  Then we met up there with our friends Chris and Connie.  Connie had to work on the Friday and they headed out from Calgary right after work, and met up at about 6:00PM.  We headed back into Drumheller and stopped in at the Old Grouch's Cozy Cafe.  They were having their annual fundraiser for Stars Air Ambulance.  There was a silent auction, some bands playing, Stars merchandise, and food and drink.  We met up there with Frank and Chris and visited for a while.  We also ran into Mike, an old friend of Franks, who I hadn't seen for over 20 years.  Franks daughter Sabrina also stopped by.  The girls bid on some of the auction items and then later in the evening we picked up some pizza from Pizza 249.  This place is right downtown, and is a bit of a dive, but they make some of the best pizza I've ever had.  We took that back to East Coulee and visited for a while before turning in for the night.

Saturday June 3rd would be another edition of the Beer Parlor Project.  In 2022 we visited and documented three different small town hotel taverns.  This time around we were heading up to the Big Valley Inn in Big Valley.  We arrived in the early afternoon and had lunch and a beer in the tavern.  We introduced ourselves to Kim, the owner of the establishment, who had welcomed us and our little project.  After lunch we explored the town.  The Steam Train arrived from Stettler in the late afternoon.  In recent years the old Number 41 Steam locomotive had been down for repairs, and they had to run the tourist train with a diesel locomotive...  not quite the same.  But the repairs were completed earlier this spring and this was the second run of the year for Number 41.  We photographed the train station and the train.  Part of that train adventure is for the a group of outlaws to hold up the train.  They ride up on horseback with six shooters blazing.  The stop the train and hit up all the passengers for their money.  The proceeds are donated to charity.

Later the outlaws rode into town and hitched their horses beside the tavern.  They came in a had a few beers, and we visited with them and took some photos.  It was a fantastic afternoon, and a lot of fun.  This first outing of the 2023 calendar year for our project was a tremendous success.