Sherwood_Park,_Alberta

Sherwood Park, Alberta

Sherwood Park is a hamlet located east of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in the Specialized Municipality of Strathcona County. Sherwood Park was first established in 1954/55 on Smeltzer farmland, east of Edmonton. With a population in 2005 of 55,063, Sherwood Park has enough people to be Alberta's seventh largest city and, although Sherwood Park technically retains the status of a hamlet, the Government of Alberta recognizes the Sherwood Park Urban Service area as equivalent to a city. Its population as of the 2001 census was 47,645 and its land area is 70.98 km² (27.4 sq mi). With this information, Sherwood Park remains the largest hamlet in the world.

History

In the early 1950s, developers John Hook Campbell and John Mitchell envisioned a satellite town of 100 houses to accommodate employees of the industries east of Edmonton. In 1953, they received approval from the Municipal District of Strathcona for the development of the residential hamlet named "Campbelltown" and in September 1955, the first model homes were opened to the public. Later in 1956, the name of the hamlet was changed to Sherwood Park – Canada Post would not approve Campbelltown, since there were several Canadian communities with similar names.

Governance

Sherwood Park is governed by the Strathcona County Council, and the Chief Elected Official (called mayor) is Cathy Olesen.

Economy

Sherwood Park has a strong economy with over $9.0 billion worth of major projects completed, announced, or under construction. A roadway known as Refinery Row lies west of Sherwood Park and includes some of the largest industrial facilities in Western Canada, including Esso's Strathcona Refinery. The hamlet also boasts very low crime rates, including a near zero violent crime rate.

Demographics

As of 2006, the community had a total population of 62,943 living in 21255 dwellings. With a land area of , it has a population density of .

Media

Sherwood Park's newspaper is the twice-weekly Sherwood Park-Strathcona County News, (one of its former editors, Kenneth Whyte, has emerged as a powerful figure in Canadian publishing). The Sherwood Park News and Strathcona County This Week newspapers, both owned by Bowes Publishers, in turn part of Sun Media Corporation, merged in November 6, 2007 to become Sherwood Park • Strathcona County News. Other newspapers commonly read in Sherwood Park are the Edmonton Sun and the Edmonton Journal.

Education

Sherwood Park's two school boards are Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) and Elk Island Catholic Schools (EICS).

The public high schools found in Sherwood Park are Salisbury Composite High School and Bev Facey Community High School, as well as Strathcona Christian Academy (a K-12 school). The Catholic high school is Archbishop Jordan High School.

Sherwood Park is also formaly home to Canada's first charter school: New Horizons Charter School, a public charter school that offers a gifted education program for students from kindergarten to grade 9. It is now located in Ardrossan

Sports

Sherwood park is the Football universe

The most significant local sports team is a hockey squad, the Sherwood Park Crusaders. The Crusaders play in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. In addition to the Junior "A" Crusaders, Sherwood Park has a well respected Midget "AAA" hockey program, dating back to the mid-1970s, that has produced several top calibre players including former and current NHLers Gerald Diduck, Jim Ennis, Tyson Nash and Cam Ward. In 2003, a new hockey program was introduced, named the Sherwood Park Kings Athletic Club which includes levels from Peewee to Midget and with the highest level being the Midget "AAA" program.

Sherwood Park is also a significant football community. At least one Sherwood Park High School Football Team has been to the Alberta Provincial Final since the 1999 season. The Bantam team, The Sherwood Park Rams, have won provincials 5 of the last 6 season.

Baseball has also become a very popular and important sport in the community. In 2008, the Sherwood Park Dukes began their first season in Sherwood park playing at Centennial Park in the Wester Major Baseball leauge.

In August 3-11th, 2007, the County of Strathcona and the hamlet of Sherwood Park hosted the 2007 Western Canada Summer Games. The games included 2 300 athletes, coaches and officials from the four western provinces and three northern territories. In addition, around 2 800 volunteers helped make the games a success.

Notable Residents

Cam Ward - NHL goaltender
Ken Hitchcock - NHL coach who coached the highly successful Sherwood Park Midget AAA entry in the (now) Alberta Midget Hockey League early in its existence
Andrew Ference - NHL defenceman
Jason Maas - CFL Quarterback
Gerald Diduck - former NHL player
Blair Betts - NHL centerman for the New York Rangers