Val Marie

Val Marie is a tiny village in Southwestern Saskatchewan and is considered the gateway to Grasslands National Park.

Understand
Val Marie, population 126 (2016), is considered the gateway to the Grasslands National Park, with it being located adjacent to the West Block. Val Marie has a few services: a gas station, a hotel/bar, a museum (which also includes a gift shop, coffee shop and art gallery), a café, a campground, art galleries, bed and breakfasts, an old convent that has been converted to an inn, a movie theatre, yoga studio, a hockey arena and curling rink, a library, a community centre, a town square and a community owned grocery store. Some services are only available seasonally.

The nearest full-service centre is the city of Swift Current, located just over an hour to the north.



History
The community of Val Marie – Valley of Mary – was founded in 1910 by Father Passaplan, Louis Denniel, and the brothers François and Léon Pinel. Most of the early settlers were ranchers and farmers from Quebec and France. Val Marie incorporated as a village on September 13, 1926. By 1939, two irrigation reservoirs were built near Val Marie by the PFRA (Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Agency) in coordination with Ducks Unlimited. Over 10,000 acres (40 km²) are irrigated through the system which provides some stabilization through droughts which plague the area.

Originally settled by French ranchers, the village remained largely ethnically French and by the 1950s had 450 people. Amenities then included three gasoline stations, a hospital, convent, bakery, bank and several cafes and stores. The population declined significantly with low grain commodity prices and droughts in the 1980s. English is now universally spoken as the last unilingual Francophone resident died in 1981.

Get in
Val Marie is located at the intersection of Highways 4 and 18, about south of Swift Current and  southwest of Regina. It is about from the Morgan-Monchy Border Crossing from Montana, USA, and about  north of Malta, which has a train station on the Empire Builder Amtrak train.

Get around
The village is very small and is easily walkable; however, you will need a private car to get there.

Buy

 * Farmer's Market and Craft Sale on the first Saturday of every month from June to September. Event takes place in front of their Historic Elevator located on the south end of Centre Street.

Go next

 * Grasslands National Park − Val Marie is adjacent to the West Block, with the East Block located about 2 hours to the east.