What a great community.....
Fox Valley, a Great Place to Live
There are so many reasons to consider making a move to Fox Valley. We've got just about everything you need to raise a family, enjoy retirement or lead an active single life. Here are just some of the benefits and facilities of life in Fox Valley:
1) Fox Valley School - K-12 plus pre-school - Village kids walk or bike to school safely while the rural/farm kids are bussed
2) Playgrounds - we feel confortable letting our kids bike to the playgrounds, even build tree forts
3) Inexpensive Housing - from rentals to re-sales you can't beat the cost of living in Fox Valley. Want to build your dream home for under $150K? We've got serviced lots for sale and builders in the area to supply ground up or ready to move homes. Our taxes are a fraction of the city levies.
4) Recreation Board - the board operates a number of facilites for your enjoyment. Three sheet curling rink and active winter club, Arena for hockey, public skating and lessons, indoor summer swimming pool, campground. The Rec Board also sponsors a theatre group that puts on plays each spring and we see a number of entertainers come thru the Village all year.
5) Valley View Golf Course- where can you belong to a nine hole golf course for $50 per year for a family? Got time for one round - only $3.00 The Valleyview course is operated by a volunteer group with active evening and Sunday group outings. Many members play almost daily.
6) Community Centre - join friends for weekly cards and other events.
7) Financial Services - Fox Valley has a branch of the Cypress Credit Union, a full service financial institution. Also Schmaltz Insurance Services has all your home, auto and personal insurance needs.
8) Nature at your doorstep - we co-exist with herds of deer and antelope and often see foxes in local fields. The abundance of birds make Fox Valley a great place for bird enthusiasts.
9) Local Sites for Seeing - From the Great Sandhills (20 minutes away) to the Cypress Hills ( one hour) and many sites in between we have wonderful places for leisure and recreation. Don't forget McLaren lake park and Deifenbaker Lake is an easy weekend jaunt with swimming, boating and fishing.
10) Dining and Entertainment - The Oasis is a great gathering place during the day for coffee and their kitchen produces mouthwatering meals and often a smorg. Also the Fox Valley Hotel and Sabs Saloon has snacks and pizza to go with a crisp cold one.
11) Shopping- with many stores such as the Car Wash, Valley Vendors, Murray's auto and farm service as well as the newly openned Dragonfly Arts and Cultural Centre and Prairie Bird Store you can get most things you need right in the community. We've got Blue Sage Services to provide hardware needs and Awenydd for laundry services, videography and computer services. We also have many home based entrepreneurs including Sunset Gourmet spices, meals and snack products, Watkins, and Pampered Chef items.
12) Neighbours Who Care - it's amazing how people in this community help each other. You've got to be here to experience it.
13) Active Church communities - your spiritual needs can be met within the community
Just another thought about living in Fox Valley - want a relationship with your bank? Cypress Credit Union provides a full range of banking services and guess what? the teller/rep might just know your name and realy care about you and your financial needs. When was the last time you were greeted by name at your bank!
Happiness Contagious According to Study
I know the last thing people want to hear are observations about the community from some new guy. To bad….. here it is anyway.
I've been wondering why I am so happy to be living in Fox Valley. I know the pace is slower than Calgary, the traffic congestion is non-existent, the general cost of living lower and nature is so much closer (homes, buffalo, deer and antelope). But I now understand it to be the happiness of the people in the community ("no discouraging words").
Everywhere I go, coffee at Harvey Dirk's Blue Sage Services (oh, Harvey will give you a shot but it's with a smile), the credit union, the Oasis, Post Office, Insurance or the Vendors. Everywhere I am greeted by happy people. I also see it when the ladies of the community have a big party, have great fun and deliver more than $12,000 to the community rec board. It's golfing together, curling, cards at the community centre and other places to play together.
It's also demonstrated in sharing meals and other social events. I've been to more pot lucks, community dinners, wedding banquets and yes even funerals where people come to share joy as well as grief.
And people come out to help each other when a situation calls for it - taking off the crop of for a farm family at a time of exceptional need, meals to the ill and their families, trips to Medicine Hat or Maple Creek to pick up needed items.
That happiness is a shared value in Fox Valley is no casual or fleeting thing according to a study at Harvard Medical School. Happiness is contagious. You can see the entire study athttp://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/337/dec04_2/a2338?eaf. According to the study “ Clusters of happy and unhappy people are visible in the network, and the relationship between people’s happiness extends up to three degrees of separation (for example, to the friends of one’s friends’ friends). People who are surrounded by many happy people and those who are central in the network are more likely to become happy in the future. Longitudinal statistical models suggest that clusters of happiness result from the spread of happiness and not just a tendency for people to associate with similar individuals.”
And it's not just the adults who seem to have found happiness. I am served with a smile by young people working at the Car Wash, Oasis and carrying the paper. Kids on the street wave as I go by. We sure want to reinforce this.
Anyway that's my rant. I apologize to any grumpy people that I may have offended but to them may I say - smile. And thanks for infecting me with Fox Valley Happiness.
My Community - by Ali Hudec
What makes a community? Is it the small amount of people united as one front, the thousand hellos as a result of knowing each and every person or the strength we provide each other whenever there is need? The answer is simple; a community is all this and more. I am proud to say that I come from a place that possesses not only these attributes but a great deal more including safety, guidance and reliability. Fox Valley is the true definition of a community and I love being a part of it.
I am truly proud of my community, Fox Valley. We have proven to be a strong unit through good times and bad, never turning a shoulder in the time of need. An indescribable feeling is created when you are able to walk through the streets of Fox Valley and know that you are safe. There is never a need for parents to worry about their children for the eyes upon each child are those of a friend. There is an old African proverb that states “It takes a village to raise a child”. Fulfilling this proverb, Fox Valley’s residents do not leave their children to tackle obstacles alone.
Well, take a stroll through our community and keep your eyes open. Pause as you watch all ages, neighbors and friends enjoying the happiness they have been offered. One may ask, what makes a community? I would say the mere characteristics of Fox Valley define that of a true community.
Village Welcomes 17 New Families
On April 7, 2008, the community formally welcomed 17 new families who have made Fox Valley their home over the past two years. Newcomers and long-time residents gathered at the Community Centre to meet, share treats and get to know each other better.
Quiet Streets
Childrens Parks
Prairie vistas