I'm sure many of you have seen the hit TV series Corner Gas. Many small towns on the prairies have similar set ups. One of those is the store in Balzac, Alberta. The Balzac Store has a wonderful café full of nostalgic decorations with old movie star photos, horse tack and saddle sales, and of course gas (which sells for less than in suburban Calgary only a few kilometers away). On the east side of the gas station along the railway tracks, sits a traditional prairie grain elevator housing the Balzac Seed Cleaning Plant. On the west side a couple of churches.
The fate of this corner is precarious as the Balzac mega mall and accompanying exit ramps have already forced the closure of the nearby garden centre. I was in the garden centre the other day hoping to find discounted perennials and it was already looking like a ghost town. I also noticed that the Balzac store had a "For Sale" sign on the side of it. I don't know what the fate of the store is as I didn't have a chance to speak to the owners about it during the busy lunch hour when I was there, but I suspect they will also succumb to the suburban "progress" of nearby Calgary.
If you get a chance, stop in and have a club sandwich special at the Balzac Store, fill up your car with gas, and enjoy the nostalgia while it exists. The Balzac Store is at the Highway 566 exit on the west side of Highway 2 (QE2) just north of Calgary.
UPDATE: The grain elevator of the Balzac Seed Cleaning Plant has now been leveled. I'm so glad I was able to get some photos of it before that happened.
3 comments:
I was extremely sad to see the Balzac garden center close, and its all so sad what is happening to Calgary's surrounding area. The city keeps talking about "progression" but they are literally bulldozing our history! Soon there will be nothing left of historical Calgary/outskirts, and all we will be left with is sprawling big-box malls. It forces people to give money to corporate giants because local business can not keep up with the giants. Its so sad. I live in Delacour, just past the egg farm on Country Hills BLVD by the way. I was trying to find information about the Balzac Garden Center closure and I found your blog entry. :)
I am also very sorry to see the closure of the Balzac Garden Centre and to see the "for sale" sign on the Balzac Gas Station. If it wasn't for the churches on either side of the station, I'm sure there would be imminent modernization of this rural icon.
I hope that whoever takes it over will preserve the heritage of this little piece of rural Alberta.
And the same goes for the Balzac Community Hall...thanks to the people of the community for their part in keeping the hall in such nice condition!
Sadly, now even the Balzac Seed Cleaning Plant (grain elevator photo) has been pulled down. I'm glad I got the photos when I did and wish I had gone back and taken some more shots. Had I known . . .
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