A huge Canadian flag is flying in the North Saskatchewan River Valley.
Ryan Bater, executive director of Destination Battlefords says, “The flag is the last of the upgrades to the Battlefords River Valley Visitor Centre for this season.”
A variety of projects have been undertaken at the centre since it was established in the former Battlefords Wildlife Federation Nature Centre in 2014.
“In addition to the extensive renovations last winter and spring to the building, we installed solar lighting throughout the parking lot and in the yard and added a waterfall to our fish pond,” says Bater.
Other flags have been installed as well.
“In June we installed three 25-foot flags inside the yard – one Town of Battleford flag, one City of North Battleford flag and one Saskatchewan flag,” he says, noting the flags represent the three partners of the Battlefords River Valley Board.
“We just installed the Canada flag on Wednesday,” says Bater. “It stands 60 feet high and is placed at the entrance of the Trans Canada Trail next to the Battlefords River Valley Visitor Centre.”
It is already attracting attention.
“Part of its purpose is to draw attention to the new Battlefords River Valley Visitor Centre from the highway,” says Bater.
The property was originally known as Battlefords Superslide but the City of North Battleford took the property over when it fell out of use and by 1998 the Battlefords Wildlife Federation had leased and began operating it as the Battlefords Wildlife Federation Nature Centre. It was transferred to the Battlefords River Valley Board in 2014, with Destination Battlefords relocating there to offer visitor information services.
