Last week I was in Alberta for meetings in Calgary, Edmonton and points in between. I made a quick side trip to Drumheller, mainly out of curiosity. I hadn’t been there since our kids were little, more than 40 years ago. Things had obviously changed a great deal, but one thing was obvious to me. As a designer and builder of mini golf courses, I saw the town as the perfect place to build such a facility. There were plenty of hotels and tourist businesses. A quick internet search informed me there are more than a million visitors annually, with young families being the main demographic. My visit prompted me to search through my stored files for a concept drawing created a quarter century ago for just such a project. We don’t have the bandwidth to expand our operation to include such a venture, but if someone out there does, we would love to design and build it for them.
Spinning wheel
We constructed the undershot waterwheel for Kraay Family Farm two years ago. The challenge was to build it in sections for shipping while keeping it easy to assemble and balance. The Kraay family installed it and built the sluice boxes. We fabricated the mining cars (hidden) to catch the tailings this spring. It was magical to see the wheel spinning slowly and majestically. The attraction is now a popular landmark and feature on the farm.
Kraay tire horse
It is always exciting to see our completed projects on site. We design and build them in our studio over many weeks or even months. We build larger projects in sections that we are not able to assemble in our shop. Smaller pieces look very different in the studio than they do out on site. Once we finish the pieces, we carefully load them onto trailers and send them down the road. Often, our clients generously take the time to send pictures, which we greatly appreciate. But nothing beats walking up to a fully assembled project to see it in its permanent home in person. Our clients often do a fantastic job of landscaping around them to make them fit perfectly into their surroundings.
My visit to Kraay Family Farm was magical. The farm was moderately busy, and the sun was shining warmly. Best of all, I was guided by Rachel & Reuben Kraay. They and their crew have made amazing progress over the last three years, since my last visit. As we strolled around the farm, we discussed ongoing challenges and dreamed a little of future projects to make the property even better. We appreciate being included in the farm’s journey. Stay tuned for exciting developments…
