Coyote Flats Pioneer Village, Alberta

Several years back, while exploring southern Alberta, I came across some signage encouraging people to visit Coyote Flats Pioneer Village.  I’d not heard of Coyote Flats before, but I liked the name!  As I have an interest in old farming and pioneer history, I made a point of visiting Coyote Flats the next day and it was a lot of fun!

Coyote Flats is owned and operated by the Prairie Tractor and Engine Museum Society, the site being established in 1990.  Coyote Flats was certified by the Alberta Museum Society in 2009.  Its mission is to preserve the history and culture of farming and agriculture in Southern Alberta.  It has created one of the largest such displays within the province.

Coyote Flats is an open-air display which covers a number of acres.  The place is flat and easy to explore, and from several spots you can look down into the coulees of the Oldman River.

Coyote Flats recreates a prairie town and features about 15 relocated buildings from around southern Alberta, many of which you can explore, such as a school…

…a gas station….

…and a train station, complete with a snow-plow blade for clearing the train tracks in the winter….

There are a variety of shops….

There are some farm houses with period furnishings….

One of the most interesting relocated building is a Christian Reformed Church, whose pulpit provided last weekend’s One Clue Mystery photo…

The writing on the pulpit’s banner is in Dutch (many Alberta immigrants were Dutch Mennonites) and reads “Uw woord is de waarheid” which translates to: “Your word is the truth” (John 17:17).  George G recognized from this photo that we were at Coyote Flats church — great work, as always, George!

The church’s organ still worked and one of the museum’s volunteers gave me a brief performance.  It sounded pretty good!

Several other structures were built on site to house artifacts of early pioneer life, like this fire station which is a more recent construction.

One of the key displays in Coyote Flats is its extensive collection of antique farming equipment, like the tractor shown below.  The museum’s collection of farm equipment is too extensive to include in this post, and I’ll follow up with a separate blog highlighting it soon as I found it quite interesting.

If you visit:

Coyote Flats is located 2 km south of Picture Butte, Alberta, on Highway 843.  It is open seasonally from the Victoria Day long weekend (May) to Labor Day (September). It is generally open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 4:30 p.m  Admission fee is modest but cash only: $10 for individuals and $20 for families (same household).

Visitors can explore Coyote Flats through guided or self-guided tours, and the site hosts various events throughout the year, such as tractor shows, harvest days, and fundraisers; for example, tractor pulls, antique car and truck show, old time harvest displays and art shows.

You can rent as a venue for private events like weddings or other group events.

I spent a half day exploring the site, which provided me with a good experience.  If there had been a special event, I would have been there a full day.