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It would be so easy to say “Bragg Creek Performing Arts presented its first show in 1980, thanks to Ursula Beckedorf”, and leave it at that. However, in all honesty, I cannot leave you with that simple insignificant statement. So here is the story in Ursula’s words and if you can imagine a soft enthusiastic Bavarian accent, her voice too. (Ursula exclusively detailed this section).
It was 1980 and Alberta was celebrating its 75th anniversary. A group of us were talking and someone mentioned that the Alberta Government was planning on presenting “some plays” in rural Alberta to increase cultural awareness.
Now at that time there wasn’t much going on in Bragg Creek. A lot of people were moving away and our biggest event was Bragg Creek Days and the Bragg Creek Days Parade.
The Bragg Creek Days Parade was a big deal. Everyone went out to Elkana Ranch with their cars, trucks, buggies, and horses and got ready to roll. Ralphie Klein was always there to say “Hi” to everyone, help with the floats, and generally have a good time. I think this was before he became Mayor of Calgary. Then the parade would get on the road, usually about 2 hours late.
So we decided we would like to take advantage of the Alberta Government’s cultural program. We did some investigating and found out that Alberta Culture would present these “Cowboys and Coffee Shop” musical plays free to rural Alberta communities. It was the perfect price range. Besides, we figured we could use the hockey rink, provide chairs or bleachers and be set for the show.
Then we met with a representative from Alberta Culture and were told “Oh NO! This will not do. You must have a stage and it must be covered. What if it rains? The instruments will get wet.”
We now had some work to do. We were able to rent a stage and chairs for about $1000.00 and were able to arrange a tent (from someone in Bragg Creek) for $600.00. This meant selling tickets to break even. I think they sold for $6.00 each or two for $10.00, but I’m not sure.
Then we started selling door to door, telling our story, and near begging people to purchase the tickets. The community was wonderful. Almost everyone purchased tickets. In fact one gentleman gave me $60.00 for tickets and then no one ever showed up.
Now it’s the day before the performance. Our group got together and the big tent went up. The surprise was, it was donut shaped and had a big hole in the center of the roof.
When the troupe arrived, they looked at us, they looked at the tent, and they looked at the hole, then said to us “No! What if it rains? The instruments will get wet.”
It was a challenge but Doug Grant, Sig Beckedorf, and some others worked all through the night climbing ladders and attaching borrowed tarpaulins to cover the hole.
The musical play was put on, Alberta celebrated her 75th birthday and Bragg Creek Performing Arts was born. At this time the group was known as the Bragg Creek Performing Arts but was a group under the umbrella of the Bragg Creek Artisans. In the late 80’s it moved under the umbrella of the Bragg Creek Community Association.
In 1981 the group decided to continue presenting performances in Bragg Creek. Jean Williamson offered the use of Elkana Ranch, free of charge, as long as it was on a Thursday. The price was right so three shows were put on that season. The Loose Moose Theatre also did some shows at Elkana.
The Average attendance was between 250 and 350 per show and the entry fee was approximately $12.00.
However there was one performance that became very popular because of a rumor. The rumor was that the play called “Cruel Tears” written by Ken Mitchell, was “outstanding and should not be missed”. It was a play with “hurtin’ music and a hurtin’ plot”.
Being typical Creekers, approximately 300 tickets had been sold by the time of the performance. However, it very quickly changed. People kept coming up and wanting to buy tickets. The show was sold out and there were no tickets left, but there were still people wanting to enter. What to do? The only sensible thing, go behind the scenes, find the neatest looking tickets, and resell them.
There were over 400 people in attendance for that show. People were sitting on seats, hay bales, the floor, and leaning against wall, but everyone had a great time.
Performing Arts was still presenting at Elkana Ranch when we arranged to have a group named Arete Mime Troupe perform. They informed us that they required a 24’ X 32’ stage for their show.
So over the Christmas holidays a group got together at Sig and Brad Bradshaw’s Sawmill (which is now Pam and Bruce Rodger’s Sanctuary), to build the infamous “Stage”.
“The Stage” (and you have to say this word with a groan at the end), as it is now known, has been used for Bragg Creek Days, Springbank High School Graduations, Fundraisers,
Bragg Arts Plays, and not least of all Bragg Creek Performing Arts Spotlight Series. It was also used for the George Fox fundraiser after the fire in 1998.This is another Ursula Beckedorf story.
One of the more memorable shows during my time with the Bragg Creek Performing Arts group was a woman named Prima Donna.
We had been up to Edmonton to investigate acts for the Bragg Creek Performing Arts shows. We saw a troupe named Prima Donna that performed an opera based on Mozart’s music. They were fabulous but they were twice the price that we could afford to pay. So I spoke to the lead female singer, I think her name was Mary Lou Fallis, to offer them a deal. I offered to cook the whole troupe a real Bavarian meal before the performance if they would meet our price.
They accepted our offer of food.
The performance by Prima Donna was not only good, but also unique. The show was ready to start when this scruffy looking bag lady started slowly moving up the center aisle. Eventually she made it to the front of the stage. By this time she had the attention of quite a few people in the audience. She stopped for a moment, and then plunked one of her bags on the stage. Then a minute later placed the other bag beside it (it was a diaper bag), and by this time she had everyone’s attention. She turned around and then hoisted herself up until she was sitting on the edge of the stage.
With no forewarning, she broke into an aria from Mozart. What a magnificent and memorable show!
In the late 1980’s the venue moved to the newly built Elbow Hall (also know as the original Bragg Creek Community Centre).
The Bragg Creek Performing Arts group continued with their tradition of presenting excellent shows, and also started donating equipment to the community. They purchased over 500 of the green padded chairs, a number of stage lights and sound equipment.
Also during this time, the Bragg Creek Performing Arts decided to run a dinner theatre as well as the Main Series performances. The dinner theatre continued for a couple of years but was stopped so that it would not conflict with the Bragg Arts group.
Then there was the fire of 1998 and everything was lost. The season was already booked so a venue had to be quickly found. Banded Peak School came to the rescue.
The Banded Peak School was home to the Bragg Creek Performing Arts for two years until the new Community Centre was built.
This story is a favourite of Wilson Winnitoy.
The Romaniacs, started by Calvin Cairns of Stringband fame, were to perform in Bragg Creek.
The Romaniacs were famous for telling stories about touring and during a show were notorious for having a “special” contest. This contest would have some lucky person in the audience going home with a huge kolbassa.
At one point in the show, one of the members of the Romaniacs began telling the story about traveling through rural Saskatchewan. While touring, they came across a small town named Climax. Now the big question of the night, which would get the winner a kolbassa, was “What is the name of the newspaper in Climax, Saskatchewan?”
Without thinking, one of our fine Performing Arts volunteers, Tom Robson, jumped up and yelled “THE MONTHLY CLIMAX!”
Tom went home with a kolbassa.
The new building was open for business for the 2000-2001 season.
It was built with performances in mind and had a permanent stage, with entrances to it from the side and back. This made it perfect for the Main Series, but still meant that we needed to use “The Stage” (don’t forget the groan) as a thrust stage for the Spotlight Series.
There was only one problem with the new building; the flat ceiling in the main hall caused a serious feedback problem when the sound system was used. Everyone agreed that there was a serious and terrible problem that had to be dealt with.
Several community groups got together with one thing in mind… fix the sound problem.
Quite a bit of time, effort and money went into the project but the treatment was successful. The sound is wonderful. You may not be able to hear a pin drop because of the number of people in the hall, but if you could, it would sound as clear as a bell.
We have moved from 6 volunteer members in 1980 our first season; to ~ 30 at the end of 2008 - 2009 our 28th season. At the start of the 2009 - 2010 season our membership looked like this:
One of the main goals of the Bragg Creek Performing Arts is to provide high quality entertainment at affordable prices.
The price of a ticket was $12.00 in 1981. For a ticket of equal value (Main Series, single adult) the price is now $25.00.
We now run two distinctly different series: the Main Series, which is concert style seating and made for the whole family and the Dinner Series, which is for our adult customers, and is a dinner theatre with full meals and a full service bar.
Since the new building was opened, the Bragg Creek Performing Arts group has contributed the black chairs, the sound equipment, the lighting equipment, and of course “The Stage” (don’t forget the groan) to the community.
We still rely on yearly grants from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts to keep our prices down.
This ongoing commitment from the Alberta Government, from our volunteers, from our wonderful community and from our audiences has enabled us to feature performances such as:
With 30 successful years under our belt, we happily look forward to this our 31st incredible season!
Bragg Creek Performing Arts 2003 - 2011. All performances at Bragg Creek Centre.
Tickets online, at Spirits West, Bragg Creek Centre, or call 403-949-4114
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