Sylvan Lake is a town in central Alberta

Central Alberta

Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta.Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is located 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) west of the City of Red Deer

Red Deer, Alberta

Red Deer is a city in Central Alberta, Canada. It is located near the midpoint of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor and is surrounded by Red Deer County. It is Alberta's third-most-populous city – after Calgary and Edmonton. The city is located in aspen parkland, a region of rolling hills...

 along Highway 11 or Highway 11A

Alberta Highway 11A

Highway 11A is the name of two alternate routes off Alberta Highway 11. The Rocky Mountain House section is referred to as 11A:02 by Alberta Transportation, while 11A:06 runs from Sylvan Lake to Red Deer.- Rocky Mountain House :...

. It is situated on the southeast edge of Sylvan Lake

Sylvan Lake (Alberta)

Sylvan Lake is a large lake in central Alberta, Canada. The resort town of Sylvan Lake is established on the shores of the lake, west of the city of Red Deer....

, a 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) long freshwater lake, in Red Deer County

Red Deer County, Alberta

Red Deer County is a municipal district in central Alberta, Canada in Division No. 8 and is where the City of Red Deer is located. The neighbouring municipalities of Red Deer County are the Clearwater County to the west, Lacombe County to the north, Stettler County to the east, and to the south are...

.

The lake is a popular destination for tourists from around Alberta, with over 1.5 million visitors each year. Popular tourist activities include sunbathing, swimming, water-skiing, and visiting the local Wild Rapids Waterslides.

History

Sylvan Lake was originally settled by French speaking immigrants from Quebec and the United States. Arriving in 1898 from Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, Alexandre Loiselle and his family originally homesteaded the quarter section that later became the west side of today's Main (50th) Street and the businesses and homes immediately to the west.

The early twentieth century saw groups of Estonianhttp://www.eesti.ca/ajalugu/et/2.html and then Finnish settlers moving to homesteads to the south and west of the fledgling settlement at Sylvan Lake. With their arrival came the early business community, a general store, a blacksmith, a hardware store, post office, barber, restaurants and more. The completion of the Canadian Northern

Canadian Northern Railway

The Canadian Northern Railway is a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its demise in 1923, when it was merged into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.-Manitoba beginnings:CNoR had its start in...

 line to Rocky Mountain House

Rocky Mountain House, Alberta

Rocky Mountain House is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada, approximately west of the City of Red Deer. It is located at the confluence of the Clearwater and North Saskatchewan Rivers, and at the crossroads of Highway 22 and Highway 11 .- History :The town has a long history dating to the...

 and Nordegg

Nordegg, Alberta

Nordegg is a hamlet in west-central Alberta, Canada within Clearwater County. It is located in the North Saskatchewan River valley in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, at the crossroads of David Thompson Highway and the Highway 734 spur of the Bighorn Highway.- History :The community was...

 in 1912 and the parallel Canadian Pacific

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 in 1914 opened the west country to settlement and resulted in the incorporation of Sylvan Lake in 1913 under Mayor E. S. Grimson, a local hardware store owner. The anniversary of the founding of the town is celebrated every year in Sylvan Lake as "1913 Days."

Farming quickly became a mainstay in the area and in 1923 an Alberta Pacific grain elevator was built on the CPR line immediately north of what is now Cottonwood Estates. The elevator was torn down in the 1970s and the CPR line was abandoned in 1980 and subsequently removed. Since then, the right of way has survived as a natural area and walking path through Sylvan Lake.

Elevators were also constructed along the CN line and were used by local farmers in the mid-century decades. They were torn down in the late 1990s.

Even prior to the building of the railways, Sylvan Lake was quickly becoming a summer resort for families in Red Deer

Red Deer, Alberta

Red Deer is a city in Central Alberta, Canada. It is located near the midpoint of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor and is surrounded by Red Deer County. It is Alberta's third-most-populous city – after Calgary and Edmonton. The city is located in aspen parkland, a region of rolling hills...

. With the coming of the trains, "the Lake" quickly became a favorite of families from both Edmonton and Calgary. Initially the summer visitors camped in tents, but soon the "Cottage Area" east of 46 Street and in "Lower Camp" on the southeast shore began to fill with summer cottages. In the 1930s and 1940s people also began arriving by car and the areas around Norglenwold

Norglenwold, Alberta

Norglenwold is a summer village in central Alberta, Canada. It is located on the southeast shore of Sylvan Lake adjacent to the Town of Sylvan Lake.- Demographics :...

, Sylvan Lake Provincial Park

Sylvan Lake Provincial Park

Sylvan Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park in central Alberta, Canada.It is located immediately north from the town of Sylvan Lake, in the western shore of Sylvan Lake...

 and Jarvis Bay Provincial Park

Jarvis Bay Provincial Park

Jarvis Bay Provincial Park is a provincial park in Alberta, Canada, located north from Sylvan Lake and west from Red Deer, along Highway 20.The park is situated on the eastern shores of Sylvan Lake, at an elevation of and has a surface of...

 began to fill up with summer visitors.

The influx of summer residents and visitors also brought businesses and services that catered to the ever increasing number of tourists. 1913 saw the first motor launch to take paying passengers on tours around the lake. A large boathouse was constructed in 1926, allowing visitors to rent a boat, canoe, swimsuit, or buy ice cream and pop as well as many other items necessary to a summer day at the lake. Regatta's were also held on the lake for a number of years beginning in 1923.

In 1928, the Dominion Government, assisted by the Sylvan Lake Women's Institute, built the long pier that jutted out into the lake from the bottom of Main Street. This pier was connected to the earlier WI Pier and formed a square area used for swimming and mooring boats. The first "waterslide" at Sylvan Lake was also part of this facility. The piers were prone to ice damage over the winter and were finally replaced by the existing "landfill" that now hosts beach volleyball tournaments and dragon boat

Dragon boat

A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft traditionally made, in the Pearl River delta region of southern China - Guangdong Province, of teak wood to various designs and sizes. In other parts of China different woods are used to build these traditional watercraft...

 racing as well as the entertaining lake tour on the "Zoo Cruise."

In 1983, Sylvan Lake found a replacement for its original waterslide in the construction of Wild Rapids Waterslide, which has become the largest facility of its kind in western Canada.

Another byproduct of losing the piers and later the government boat launch, was the construction of the Sylvan Lake Marina, home of many of the permanent boats on the lake, boating facilities, as well as a lake view restaurant and the Sylvan Lake lighthouse.

Demographics

Census History
Year	Population
1941	805
1981	3,779
1991	4,197
2001	7,493
2006	10,208
2008	11,115

The population of the Town of Sylvan Lake according to its 2008 municipal census is 11,115.

In 2006

Canada 2006 Census

The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16, 2006. The next census following will be the 2011 Census. Canada's total population enumerated by the 2006 census was 31,612,897...

, Sylvan Lake had a population of 10,208 living in 4,277 dwellings

House

A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...

, a 36.1% increase from 2001. The town has a land area of 10.83 km² (4.2 sq mi) and a population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 of 942.3 /km2.

According to the Canada 2001 Census

Canada 2001 Census

The Canada 2001 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 15, 2001. On that day, Statistics Canada attempted to count every person in Canada. The total population count of Canada was 30,007,094. This was a 4% increase over 1996 Census of 28,846,761. In...

, the town's population was 7,493, of whom 50.96% were male and 49.03% were female. In the five years between 1996 and 2001, the population of Sylvan Lake grew by 44.5%, compared with the average provincial increase of 10.3% for Alberta.

The town had a very young population when compared to Alberta in 2001. The town’s population of those 19 and under was 33.2% compared with the provincial average at 28.3%. Meanwhile, 6.7% of the population were of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with national average of 13.2%. The average age of the town's residents in 2001 was 31.6 years of age compared to the national average of 37.6 years.
Visible Minority Status

• Chinese
  Overseas Chinese
  Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
  
  : 60 or 0.3%
• Latin American: 10 or 0.1%
• Black
  Black
  Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...
  
  : 15 or 0.2%
• Southeast Asian: 10 or 0.1%
• Arab
  Arab
  Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
  
  : 10 or 0.1%
• Not a visible minority: 7,340 or 98.5%

Religion

• Protestant: 2,805 or 37.6%
• Catholic
  Catholic
  The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
  
  : 1,815 or 24.4%
• Other Christian: 380 or 5.1%
• Buddhist: 25 or 0.3%
• Eastern religions: 10 or 0.1%
• Other: 0 or 0%
• No religion: 2,410 or 32.4%

Climate

Seasonal Temperatures

• Winter -15.5°C (4.1°F)
• Spring 3.1°C (37.6°F)
• Summer 22.9°C (73.2°F)
• Fall 4.6 C°(40.3°F)

Annual Precipitation:
Rain: 385.2 mm (15.17 in)
Snow: 165.2 mm (6.5 in)
Total: 550.4 mm (21.67 in)

Average Hours of Sunshine:
2,125 hours

Education

The town has four public schools in the Chinook's Edge school district:

• Steffie Woima Elementary School
• C. P. Blakely Elementary School
• Fox Run Middle School
• H. J. Cody High School

Two Catholic Schools in the Red Deer Catholic School Division:

• Ècole Mother Theresa Catholic School
• Our Lady of the Rosary

Also, there is one private school:

• Lighthouse Christian Academy

The Fox Run Middle School's building is shared with the Mother Teresa Catholic School.

Media

Sylvan Lake is serviced by one local newspaper, called The Sylvan Lake News. It also receives newspapers from Red Deer

Red Deer, Alberta

Red Deer is a city in Central Alberta, Canada. It is located near the midpoint of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor and is surrounded by Red Deer County. It is Alberta's third-most-populous city – after Calgary and Edmonton. The city is located in aspen parkland, a region of rolling hills...

. They include:

• Red Deer Advocate
• Red Deer Express
• Red Deer Life

Sylvan Lake has no broadcast television stations in the vicinity of the town. It does however have access to three main stations by antenna:

• Channel 4: CityTV Edmonton
• Channel 8: CTV Edmonton (CTV)
• Channel 10: Global Edmonton (Global)

The cable and satellite television providers in Sylvan Lake are Shaw Cable, Bell ExpressVu, Shaw Direct and Telus Communications.

Sylvan Lake has no radio stations centered with in the town. However, it does get numerous radio stations from Red Deer

Red Deer, Alberta

Red Deer is a city in Central Alberta, Canada. It is located near the midpoint of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor and is surrounded by Red Deer County. It is Alberta's third-most-populous city – after Calgary and Edmonton. The city is located in aspen parkland, a region of rolling hills...

. The most popular including Kraze 101.3 (CKIK), KG Country (CKGY), Zed 99, Big 105, The River 100.7 and The Drive.

Federal

Sylvan Lake is within the Red Deer

Red Deer (electoral district)

Red Deer is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1908.-History:This riding was created in 1907 from Calgary and Strathcona ridings. At the time this was an overwhelmingly rural riding with only the then small town of Red...

 riding. It is a federal constituency, and is currently represented by Bob Mills

Bob Mills (politician)

Robert Mills is a former Canadian federal politician.-Early life:Mills was born in Young, Saskatchewan but moved at the age of twelve to Saskatoon. He attended the University of Saskatchewan and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Science and with an Education diploma...

 who is a member of the Conservative Party

Conservative Party of Canada

The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

. Here is the most recent federal election results:

2006 Canadian federal election, 2006 The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...  Results
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%	Conservative Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...	Bob Mills Bob Mills (politician) Robert Mills is a former Canadian federal politician.-Early life:Mills was born in Young, Saskatchewan but moved at the age of twelve to Saskatoon. He attended the University of Saskatchewan and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Science and with an Education diploma...	38,504	75.7%	N.D.P. New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...	Kelly Bickford	5,054	9.9%	Liberal Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...	Luke Kurata	4,653	9.1%	Green Green Party of Canada The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...	Tanner Waldo	2,646	5.2%

Provincial

Sylvan Lake resides in the provincial riding of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake

Innisfail-Sylvan Lake

Innisfail-Sylvan Lake is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. It is one of 83 current districts mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting....

. It is also represented by Luke Ouellette

Luke Ouellette

Luke Ouellette is a Canadian politician and current Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake as a Progressive Conservative.-Early life:...

, who is a member of the Progressive Conservative

Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta

The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta...

. Here is a graph of the latest provincial election:

2008 Results
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%	Progressive Conservative Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta...	Luke Ouellette Luke Ouellette Luke Ouellette is a Canadian politician and current Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake as a Progressive Conservative.-Early life:...	6,972	63.29%	Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...	Garth Davis	1,538	13.96%	Alberta Alliance Alberta Alliance Party The Alberta Alliance was a right wing provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Many of its members were former supporters of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance federal political party and its predecessor, the Reform Party of Canada. Members also joined from such other provincial fringe parties...	Wayne Edmundson	1,213	11.01%	N.D.P. Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...	Tophie Davis	702	6.37%	Green Green Party of Alberta The Green Party of Alberta, also known as the Alberta Greens, was a provincial political party in the province of Alberta, Canada.The Alberta Greens were formed in 1986 and received official party status on April 6, 1990...	Lisa Grant	469	4.26%	Independent	Anthony Haggarty	122	1.11%

Municipal

Sylvan Lake is governed by Sylvan Lake Town Council. It consists of one mayor and six councillors, who are elected every three years. The mayor is Susan Samson, she was elected as mayor of Sylvan Lake in October 2007.

There were five new councillors elected in the October 2010 election. The councillors are: Laverne Asselstine, Rick Grimson, Ken MacVicar, Sean McIntyre, Graham Parsons, and Dale Plante. MacVicar was the only incumbent

Incumbent

The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...

 re-elected.

External links

• Town of Sylvan Lake (Official website)
• Sylvan Lake Dragon Boat Festival