Our Story
A Brief History (by Bob Teskey and Darwin Park)
While there have been cottages on Crimson Lake since the early 1930's, it is only relatively recently that Owners have been organized in any meaningful way.
The first cottages were 7 log structures built in 1932 where the public beach is now located. Those were followed by another log cottage on the south side of the Lake, built in 1933 and still in use today. It is now owned by Glen and Shannon Teskey. A couple of other frame cabins were built on the south and west sides of the Lake in the later 1930's.
New development started in the 1950's when the present cottage road was constructed in several stages and lots were opened up by the Province. No purchase price was required from lease holders and the lease payment was $5 or $10 a year. To the extent that there was any local government, it was provided by the Province, which administered the newly formed provincial park.
In those early days there was an "Advisory Committee" that was informally appointed by the Province and which gave advice from time to time with respect to park issues. Bob Teskey remembers his father, Willis being on the Advisory Committee along with Ernest Ross and Eddie Murgatroyd. Part of that group "blazed" the route for the cottage road on the southwest corner of the Lake. For those who wonder about the somewhat erratic route the cottage road follows to this day, that may be the explanation!
For many years, initiatives came as result of bureaucratic decisions - the Lake was unsuccessfully stocked with fish in the 1960's. Sometimes the initiatives were commercial - telephone service was introduced by Alberta Government Telephones (now Telus) in the early 1980's. And, as is always the case, sometimes things happened because a cottage owner took matters into his or her own hands - Bob Teskey polled cottage owners and got enough to agree to hook up for electricity, and as a result Calgary Power (which became TransAlta and then Fortis) introduced power to the cottage area in 1989. In 1997 the Rocky Gas Co-op decided to supply natural gas to the cottage area, and 10 cottagers signed up at a cost of $1900 each.
Crimson Lake has always been a bit of an anomaly, among Alberta's provincial parks. With a couple of minor exceptions, only Crimson and Cypress Hills have cottages. In 1986 the Province announced some major changes in Parks Policy. Further detail followed in 1987 and in April 1987, Darwin Park sent a letter to all cottage owners calling a meeting for the May long weekend to discuss the changes and other issues. The meeting took place in the Buster Creek Hall with over 100 people representing 59 cottages in attendance.
The "Group" under the leadership of Darwin Park as Chair sent a letter outlining concerns to the then Minister of Recreation and Parks, Norm Weiss. The concerns were categorized as relating to "the lease agreement", cottage services, and general issues. Other members of the ad hoc committee struck at the 1987 meeting were Ryan Park, Bob Teskey, Gordon Wright, John Bert, Bob Gibson, Dianne Owchar and Joyce Tiffen. This constituted the beginnings of the Crimson Lake Cottage Owners Association.
A second meeting was held on the May long weekend in 1988 (with 55 people representing 42 cottages in attendance) and at that meeting it was decided to form a registered society and to set the annual fee for membership at $10. Gordon Wright drafted the first bylaws of the association.
Since those early days, the annual meeting has always been held on the May long weekend and for most of those years at "The Hearth" in the Campground. Meetings have been held in snow, rain, blazing heat and in some years with ice still on the Lake. Usually it has just been cold! The membership fee has only recently responded to inflation and been raised from $10. A large proportion of the 89 cottage owners have participated in meetings. The Association has always taken the position that it speaks on behalf of all cottage owners whether or not they have paid their fees.
There have been three Presidents of the Association - Darwin Park, who founded the Association and led it through its formative years, Bob Teskey, and most recently, Greg McGrath. Many cottage owners have served as directors and helped in many ways.
Initiatives
Over the years, the Association has represented cottage owners or has taken initiatives in many areas including the following:
- representatives of the Association met with various Ministers and senior government officials to ask for changes to the standard lease form and its terms. While those terms continue to be slanted very much in favour of the Province, we have seen some important improvements.
- in the early 1990's significant improvements in garbage handling were achieved, only to be undone by bureaucratic decisions later.
- the Association contributed to the signage for the Amerada Trail.
- the Association had important input into the present Development Standards.
- the Association has included members of the Parks Staff in its regular meetings. The Staff provide updates with respect to Lake issues of interest and concern to Cottage Owners.
- responding to an initiative of Bill Paynter, the Association has coordinated volunteers from, the cottage owners to pick up garbage from the road between the Park entrance and Highway 11. Leadership for that work was later taken over by the Richardson family and most recently by the Carpenters.
- the Association has undertaken the necessary negotiations with Clearwater County to have the Cottage Road dust proofed.
- the Association took the necessary initiatives to obtain grant funding for the FireSmart program along the Cottage Road.
- the Association provided input to Clearwater County with respect to the need for proper sewage disposal availability at a reasonable cost for cottage owners.
- the Association purchased and distributed evergreen seedlings to cottage owners.
- the Association has had regular input into the environmental standards for the Lake.
- the Association encouraged, supported and publicized Marsha Brown's ambitious undertaking to complete and publish a history of Crimson Lake's Cottages.
- in 2013 the Crimson Lake Cottage Owners Association launched its Website (CLCOA.ca) to better inform the membership as well as the public about park events and programs, association activities and involvements, and other notifications and issues.
The cottages at Crimson Lake have never been formally organized into a "summer village" or other independent municipality. The cottages are formally part of Clearwater County which provides typical municipal services like roads and fire protection. Taxes are paid to the County. Because they are in a provincial park, the cottages are also subject to the oversight of the provincial government - both because of their leases and because of the provincial park. Lease payments are paid to the Province.
The annual meetings of the Association are held on the May long weekend. All cottage owners or persons with an interest in a cottage are welcome and urged to attend.
Signs of Crimson Lake
