La Crete, Alberta

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La Crete is a hamlet in northern Alberta, located in the Municiapl District of Mackenzie No.23.

La Crete is about 56km southeast of High Level on Hwy 697, or 800km north of Edmonton, Alberta.

The predominantly Mennonite community had a population of 2,039 in 2003, more than double its 1995 population of 995. La Crete also acts as the hub for more than 5000 rural residents in the area.

The residents of La Crete typically speak both English and German, and most buisnesses serve customers in both languages, often switching between the two over the course of buisness.

La Crete has beautiful walking trails that were paid for using kind donations from the citizens of the town. La Crete holds a hockey tournament every year known as the Challenge Cup, where teams from all over Northern Alberta come to challenge each other in hopes of winning the Challenge Cup. Winters are beautiful in La Crete, temperatures can range from 0 degrees celsius to a chilly minus 40 degrees celsius. The name La Crete means "Rooster's comb" in French, which is how the earliest settlers described the area they settled.

[edit] History

La Crete was first settled in 1914 as La Crete Landing. When the first Mennonites arrived in the 1930s, they settled a short distance southwest of the original settlement on the current site of La Crete. When the first highways were built into the area in the 1960s, the population began to increase as new settlers arrived, and in 1979, La Crete was created into a hamlet.

During the summer months the La Crete Ferry, one of only two ferries still operating in Alberta, shuttles vehicles across the Peace River on Hwy 697 about 70km southwest of the hamlet. In the winter, an ice bridge is maintained at the same spot. This access connects La Crete to the Mackenzie Highway near Paddle Prairie, offering a considerable time saving when travelling to or from La Crete. During the spring and fall, when the river is unfit for the ferry and the ice too thin to support vechile traffic, or at other times when the ferry is not operational, travellers must continue north to High Level, then east on Hwy 58 before coming back south to reach La Crete. In the summer of 2006 a sandbar formed in the center of the river, where the ferry crossed, forcing it to move around it. The sandbar got to the point where the ferry had to be taken up onto the land. It is currently docked beside the Peace River, forcing drivers to go make a longer trip around High Level.

[edit] References

• La Crete Visitor Map & Buisness Directory
• Discover the Peace Country - La Crete