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Alberta Online Encyclopedia


Current Developments

All of the businesses in Amber Valley have now closed. When the community's schools closed in the 1950s, school-aged children were bussed to the school in Athabasca.

During the 1970s, Operation We Care, an Edmonton-based program set up by LeVero Carter to attack racial stereotyping and to foster Black community ties, was introduced to Amber Valley. In 1975, Operation We Care transformed a pig barn into the headquarters of the Amber Valley Community Association. The Association held a homecoming celebration inviting the descendants of Amber Valley pioneers.  In 1978, the Government of Alberta erected a Point of Interest sign in Amber Valley to honour the pioneers who settled in the area. Another restoration project began in 1993 when the Amber Valley Community Cultural Centre was opened. A museum was established in the community centre. Meanwhile, the cemetery, which had been falling into disrepair, received significant upgrades.

Obadiah Place, a provincial heritage site that displays the two-storey house built in 1938 by Amber Valley settler Obadiah Bowen, was established by the Friends of Obadiah Place Society and the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation. The site features the house where Bowen lived until 1996, a baseball diamond honouring the Amber Valley Baseball Team, and a picnic and park area.


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