Grande Prairie

This is a very different city than Calgary or Edmonton. This city is almost completely driven by the price of oil. There is very little in the way of diversification. Now is the boom time. (Thanks largely to our paranoid friends in the south.) Anyway, I thought I’d post a few pictures of my surroundings in Grande Prairie. Just to give you a sense of what it’s like here.



The street sign for Grande Prairie’s city centre. You’ll notice that the sign also says Alaska. Just how far north am I? In some ways this is kinda a frontier town. People here are a tougher sort, not like the white collar Calgary folk.



This is the actual venue for the gigs here. It in a hotel called the Trumpeter. It’s a nice enough place, clean and modern (ish). The staff is friendly and so far it’s been a pleasant experience. I just wish they had wi-fi in the rooms. (Gawd, I’ve gotten spoiled.



The venue for the gig is right next to the big dance bar here. Apparently it was supposed to be a Cowboys just like in Calgary, but the deal went sour. Now it’s called The Corral. I walked past it last night, just in time to see a typical drunk boy scrap. Yee Haw… I always think it’s kinda funny. These monkeys think that fighting is a rite of passage.



12 bucks an hour at Mc Shitty’s! It’s not hard to tell that oil is 75 bucks a barrel. I went in there last night, and no one was over the age of 15. Labor shortages are the norm here now.