Vegreville is a town in centralAlberta, Canada located on Highway 16A approximately east of Edmonton, Alberta's capital city. It was incorporated as a town in 1906, and that year also saw the founding of the Vegreville Observer, a weekly newspaper for the region. A large percentage of Vegreville's population is of Ukrainian Canadian descent, and it is home to the world's largest pysanka.
In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Vegreville recorded a population of 5,708 living in 2,429 of its 2,734 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 5,717. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2016. The Town of Vegreville's 2012 municipal census counted a population of 5,758, a 1.3% decrease over its 2010 municipal census population of 5,834. In the 2011 Census, the Town of Vegreville had a population of 5,717 living in 2,429 of its 2,680 total dwellings, a 3.6% change from its 2006 population of 5,519. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2011. ;Age distribution:
display of folk arts with instruction on creating Pysanka
Yarmarok
The Vegreville Cultural Association organizes the festival, with the help of many community volunteers. The current Community objectives of the Association in relation to the festival are:
To foster understanding among all people and to enrich the Canadian Mosaic by promoting the arts and culture of the Ukrainian people, and of people of other national, racial, or ethnic origins, and of people of other cultures, who settled in Canada.
To promote and afford opportunity for cultural and social activities.
To encourage and foster and developed among all people and recognition of the importance of culture to people.
To enrich the culture of various peoples in Alberta.
To foster understanding among all people of the culture of people in Alberta of various national, racial, or ethnic origin.
To provide a meeting place for the consideration and discussion of questions affecting the cultural interests of the community.
Vegreville's pysanka, the largest Ukrainian Easter egg in the world, was created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1974 and to celebrate Vegreville's ethnic heritage. On July 6, 2009, the pysanka was one of four attractions featured on the first set of the Canadian Roadside Attractions Series of stamps issued by Canada Post.
Media
Vegreville is serviced by the Vegreville News Advertiser weekly newspaper. The News Advertiser is an independently owned newspaper which was established in 1950. The Beaudette family purchased it in 1970 and have been publishing it since. It has a free distribution circulation of over 10,000 which is about a 40 mile radius of Vegreville. It covers news, views and advertising in its circulation area which includes Vegreville, Lavoy, Innisfree, Minburn, Mannville, Viking, Holden, Bruce, Ryley, Tofield, Mundare, Hilliard, Chipman, Lamont, Andrew, Willingdon, Hairy Hill, Two Hills, Smoky Lake, Saddle Lake, Bellis, Brosseau, Wostok, Beauvallon, St. Michael, Myrnam, and Derwent. It is distributed by carriers or Canada Post in all these areas.
Infrastructure
The town is bisected by Canadian National Railway's Vegreville Subdivision, a rail line connecting Vegreville to Edmonton in the west and to Lloydminster in the east.
