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Cochrane helped light up Calgary Winter Olympics in a big way

Twenty-five years ago, I had hair, Alberta had a balanced budget and the Olympics were here. Everyone remembers the Olympics, but since we have so many new residents since 1988, I’d guess few would know the part Cochrane played.

Twenty-five years ago, I had hair, Alberta had a balanced budget and the Olympics were here.

Everyone remembers the Olympics, but since we have so many new residents since 1988, I’d guess few would know the part Cochrane played.

It really wasn’t that important and we didn’t win a medal or anything but it was great fun and many, many people saw the results and were quite impressed.

It all started around Christmas of 1987.

Mayor Wally Lepp talked to Jim Bates who at the time owned the Texas Gate Saloon and Restaurant and now is a very successful realtor in town.

Anyway Wally wished we could come up with something since the Olympics were only weeks away and it would be nice if we could put Cochrane on the map.

So we did.

Christmas of course means Christmas lights and so the thought was let’s do the five rings.

Everyone has Christmas lights they don’t use, so we suggested that after Christmas just bring your lights to the Cochrane This Week newspaper office and we would create something with them.

Well by the end of the first week in January, we were knee-deep in Christmas lights at the office of the Cochrane This Week newspaper which I happened to own.

And we did the five Olympic rings in Olympic colours on the hills on the north side of town.

Led by Jim Bates, with accomplices George Brun and the late Bob Aylsworth, the three Cochrane guys went up in the hills armed with bundles of Christmas lights, a peg and a length of rope that made the rings equal size.

And in keeping with the international flavour of the Olympics, they also brought along a decent quantity of good scotch.

Just snake bite protection of course.

The lights were rigged and ready to go.

In those days we used have a Christmas tree burn in late January so what better time to light the rings?

And who did it?

Well, the late Bill Pratt was one of the head honchos of the Calgary Olympics and a good friend so he came out and we burned the trees and then with much hoopla and a countdown Bill threw the switch and the five rings lit up on the hills above.

And man, they looked so good.

But it still wasn’t without a challenge or two.

The International Olympic Committee took a very dim view of using the five rings above our town without their approval.

They called.

I checked with Mr. Pratt and he told me to tell them to pound salt. Which I did — not in both official languages — and I have no idea if they did.

But the lights stayed on the entire Olympics and became very popular.

They could be seen from the ski jump hill and there were reports of commercial aircraft pointing out the Cochrane lights as they approached and departed Calgary.

Good business

Congratulations to Tom Powell and his Legacy Guitar business on opening a new location on Main Street.

It’s a combination coffee shop and studio and it looks great.

As I was enjoying a cuppa there last weekend, the thought struck me that it’s business people like Tom Powell that create the jobs, enhance the economy and make a town commercially healthy.

It seems like forever our town has been talking about downtown revitalization and I haven’t seen much change.

Maybe all the town needs to do is encourage the Tom Powells of the world to do what they do best. And they do it better than any level government.

And that ain’t all.

Rose and Geoff Dallyn have opened the BullHorn Saloon.

It used to be called the Texas Gate, but the Dallyns, who own and operate the PowderHorn Saloon in Bragg Creek, took it over and reopened last weekend.

They completely gutted the inside and made it very bright and welcoming.

They had a bit of an opening last Saturday night for a few of their closest friends and 400 showed up.

Then we have Mark and Michelle, who used to own the Texas Gate but have made a deal for the Rockyview Hotel, so we can expect exciting changes there as well.

All these great expansions and improvements and none done by any level of government.

Do you think we’ll ever get any level of government to spend as much on programs as they do on administration?

One can only hope.

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