The ‘100 Years of Sport History’ in Red Deer display opened recently at the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.

It runs from January until December 2013 to correspond with the City’s centennial. Most displays tend to remain intact for two years at the most but this one will come down at the start of 2014 but there is plenty to see and discover.

The Hall of Fame approached the centennial committee to see if it could become part of those celebrations. A committee was formed to come up with what would be the important sports moments in the City’s history.

The City of Red Deer is celebrating 100 years in existence and in honour of the milestone the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame has dug down deep, piecing together 100 years of sports history.

“Once we had a general outline of what we wanted to do we approached the Centennial Committee to see if we could become part of those celebrations,” said Breanna Mielke, collections and exhibit coordinator.

You can find pictures, old skates, uniforms and all sorts of memorabilia which could trigger a memory or two but the display also pays homage to some of the venues within the City limits.

“Some of the facilities which helped the amazing athletes train. Some of the older sports which have roots dating back more than 100 years in the City.”

It’s basically giving residents an opportunity to reflect back on the sports legacy in Red Deer in conjunction with all the other history being spotlighted for the centennial, she said.

She mentioned it was tough to pick out one area which stands above the rest while doing the research into the parts of the display but more so it painted a great picture of what kind of a sports city Red Deer is and discovering some little known information.

“Red Deer used to have a ski hill that was right within the City limits,” she said referring to the Woodlea ski hill which ran along the west side of 40th Ave. as it sloped down towards Lindsay Thurber High School.

“When you look into the baseball history, for one year in 1912 Red Deer had a professional baseball team called the Red Deer Eskimos and they only played for one year because their funding ran out.”

Some of the exhibits in the Hall of Fame are interactive but this one has been set up as more of an informative attraction.

“We are planning to try to have a couple of events and aspects of the exhibit that are more interactive,” she said.

There is also a plan to involve the schools and have students create some artwork to go on display with the artifacts.

“There isn’t an interactive aspect directly related to the display but we are trying to make it as interactive with the community as possible.”

sports@reddeerexpress.com