By Geoff Smith (@GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter)

Nobleford hoping for birthday gift from province: town status

Jan 22, 2018 | 11:33 AM

NOBLEFORD – Entering the village of Nobleford, visitors are greeted by a welcome sign that includes an antique farm implement: the Noble Blade.

In 1918, a village was established around the plant built by Charles Sherwood Noble to construct his cultivator. One hundred years later, that village – suddenly thriving – wants to take the next step and become a town.

Mayor Don McDowell said it’s no accident the community started to boom in the middle of the last decade.

“In 2004 the council of the day made kind of a momentous decision, if you will, to try to ramp up what Nobleford was,” he explained in an interview. Noble’s invention was becoming obsolete, and the town was starting to “slide backwards,” in McDowell’s words.

In 2004 Nobleford’s council decided to build a new water treatment plant, and made supply agreements with Barons and the surrounding county, which meant a new source of revenue. Next was a new subdivision.

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“It succeeded beyond anybody’s wildest dreams, and that was kind of the start of it,” McDowell said. More subdivisions followed, and lots sold quickly. He attributes their success to the low prices set for the lots. By the 2011 census the village had reached a population of 1,000: the threshold after which a village can apply to be a town. But McDowell said council decided to wait.

“The jobs in Nobleford had gone from maybe 20 jobs, 30 jobs in ’04 – there’s now more than 300 jobs in Nobleford and surrounding area,” he explained. “So, we are on very, very good footing.” The population, as of the 2016 census, was 1,278. There are new industrial developments, the school has been modernized, and taxes remain among the lowest in the province.

Town status is essentially ceremonial; any legislative, grant, or other changes are pegged not to status, but to the population itself. But McDowell said one area the community is lagging in is commercial development.

“We need services, because of this population. Now, if you were setting up a storefront, as an example, would you rather do it in a village or would you rather do it in a town? Obviously, ‘town’ has a better ring to is. It gives you the connotation of having more people, a better footing.”

Nobleford is 20 minutes from Lethbridge, and is considered part of the census metropolitan area. McDowell said residents will continue to rely on the city for major services like health care. But within the village, groceries are only available at a small corner store, and he said a community their size should have a full grocery store, or a place to buy hardware.

The village is now waiting for its application to be approved by the province, and a date. The village will mark its centennial Feb. 28 with a celebration at the Nobleford Community Complex.

“It would be nice, at our birthday party, to be able to announce to everyone that we have achieved the status of Alberta’s 95th town.”