There are three towns in Alberta, and two of them have become known worldwide for different reasons. Neither of them are near where we live, but we've visited both. Let me tell you about them.

Viking is a town in central Alberta, near the Alberta/Saskatchewan border. Anyone who is a hockey fan will have heard of the Sutter Family, one of the most famour families in the National Hockey League. Six brother reached the NHL as players, and several eventually went on to coach in the NHL. Brent and Darryl Sutter both coached the Calgary Flames, our home team. Darryl is now head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, and Brent has retired. 

Vulcan is a prairie town in south central Alberta, between the cities of Calgary and Lethbridge. The town 'turned Trekkie' when the Star Trek television series was at its prime. The change began when several council members showed up wearing 'Spock Ears', just for the fun of it. It became a hit! Vulcan is now the home to the Official Star Trek Walk of Fame, and the host of the annual 'Trekkie' Convention. This town of 2000 people were honored to welcome Leonard Nimoy to their community in 2010. He had been encouraging Paramount Pictures to premier the showing of the new Star Trek movie in Viking, but there is no theater in town, so 300 residents travelled by bus to Calgary for the advanced screening of Star Trek XI in 2009. All this put Vulcan on the tourism map, a great boost in the economy of this "one-horse" prairie town. This is the Tourist Information Center.

The town name Vermilion comes from the red clay found in the river valley. In fact, one of the first businesses in Vermilion was the brick factory which operated from 1906 until 1914. Some Vermilion buildings built from brick from this factory are still standing. It is the home of Vermillion School of Agriculture and one of three demonstration farms in Alberta.

Tags: Alberta Hockey Star Trek Towns

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