• The Okotoks Dawgs Black won their third consecutive 15U Canada Day Classic Tournament title with an authoritative 10-2 victory over the UBC Thunder on July 1 at Tourmaline Field. The Dawgs went a perfect 7-0 in the tournament, posting a quarterfinal win over White Butte and semifinal triumph over the Saskatoon Astros.
• A fire overnight on July 3 significantly damaged a retail space on Elizabeth Street in Olde Towne Okotoks. The blaze, which started around 1 a.m., impacted the building that houses Almira’s Mediterranean Grill, Okotoks Chiropractic & Massage Therapy and The Naughty Grape.
• A memorial to music legend Ian Tyson was unveiled at the East Longview Hall on July 4 in front of Tyson’s family, friends and music industry associates. The memorial on the building’s north side includes a plaque and a mural of Tyson strumming a guitar by Longview artist Matts Zoumer.
• Okotoks hiker Zach Rusk began a 1,200-kilometre trek for charity on July 12 by taking on his greatest wilderness challenge, the Great Divide Trail. Along with friend Mark Mitchell, Rusk embarked on a six-week hike from Waterton Lakes National Park en route to Kakwa Lake Provincial Park in B.C.
• A driver involved in a head-on collision on Highway 7 at 3:45 a.m. on July 12 was pulled out of a pickup truck fully engulfed in flames by a witness. The driver then fled on foot before being found by police near 32 Street. Alcohol was believed to be a cause of the crash that sent two others to hospital with serious, non-life-threatening injuries.
• High River chuckwagon driver Jason Glass secured his second Calgary Stampede Cowboys Rangeland Derby title by winning the Dash for Cash over Chanse Vigen and defending champion Layne MacGillivray on July 14 at GMC Stadium. Glass, who choose the number-one barrel after qualifying first in the aggregate, won the final heat by a comfortable margin.
• Seventeen-year-old Arianna Ramsay of Okotoks was crowned Miss Teenage Canada 2024 on July 14 at the pageant’s national finals in Toronto. A recent Holy Trinity Academy grad, Ramsay created H.E.R.O. Canada, an online platform that spreads awareness about the effects of bullying.
• Okotoks firefighters pulled one person from a house in Olde Towne after a fire was reported on July 18. Fire Chief Trevor Brice said the fire was primarily in the basement bedroom and one person was reported to be trapped inside with smoke coming from the home on Maple Street. The occupant was taken to hospital in non-life-threatening condition.
• Diamond Valley Coun. Veronica Kloiber submitted a letter of resignation to the Town’s CAO effective July 18. First elected to Black Diamond council in 2017, Kloiber will be moving out of town to pursue professional and personal opportunities, making her ineligible to hold office in Diamond Valley.
• The Western Canadian Baseball League All-Star Game and Home Run Derby drew a league-record crowd of 6,064 fans to Seaman Stadium on July 20. Fort McMurray Giants slugger Peyton McDowall won the Home Run Derby while Team East cruised to a 13-6 win in the All-Star Game.
• Firefighters from Diamond Valley, High River and Foothills County made their way to Jasper in July to help fight the wildfire. “It’s a privilege to be able to go and assist our brothers and sisters of the fire service in Jasper, and we hope to do our part to help them in this extremely tragic and unprecedented situation,” said Diamond Vally Fire Rescue Chief TJ Moore.
