Legacy Farm Project moving to next development stage
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Legacy Farm Project is moving into the next stage of its development, which includes the planning stages for the new barn, and the occupation of their highway commercial land.
“This new barn will house the permanent and dedicated classrooms for legacy farm educational programming. It will also house our museum and living archives in partnership with the Western District Historical Society,” said Scott Silva, director of business development for the Legacy Farm Project. “What is really great is we are going to have a full service kitchen … we are going to have a creamery set up … and then of course, we are going to have a (nearly) 7,000 square foot programmable event space that will allow us to bring in our schools during the week, (and) also any large functions that really require an event space.”
Silva explained the space will be easily able to accommodate anything from corporate events to weddings, to performing arts inside the new barn.
The new space will have a seated capacity of 150, with space enough to host live music and performances.
According to Silva, as the Legacy Barn is experiencing a high volume of bookings this year. No site work for the new historical barn will begin until, by estimate, the end of October or into early November.
“That is all pending permits, approvals and submissions, but that is the timeline that we are working with and … we will not disrupt the summer events that are planned,” said Silva. “It should only take a couple of months for Remuda (Building Ltd) to do their work and then starting early 2025 is when we would be doing the interior buildout because that will take several months.”
Silva added a primary focus of the project continues to be addressing the classroom and educational components for the Legacy Farm. This is reflected in the memorandums of understanding established with Golden Hills and Christ the Redeemer school divisions, Olds College, and other associated learning centers.
The Legacy Farm Project will also maintain 25 acres of highway commercial frontage along the TransCanada highway, directly south of the local Walmart in Strathmore.
“That is the highway frontage land of the Legacy Farm Project, it is off market, and it is remaining off market, but we have some interested parties already at the table, and we are entertaining others from interested parties,” said Silva. “The reason why we say that is because it is key that whoever is to come into that development space aligns with the legacy vision and that means an agricultural focus – everything from potential tractor dealerships, service equipment, to agricultural supply companies.”
More information regarding the continued development of the Legacy Farm Project is available through the project website.