Business View Magazine | April 2020

273 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE APRIL 2020 STONY PLA IN, ALBERTA BVM: Does Stony Plain have a young or aging demographic? Choy: “Our average population is about 36.3 years of age – a very young demographic that continues to grow. And that has a lot to do with the fact that we’re a small, close-knit community that looks out for each other and supports one another as we raise families. We’re also looking at providing more amenities to keep our residents employed and active in our community. We’re a bedroom community to the resource sector around here. The last time we checked, about 25 percent of our residents actually worked in Stony Plain, mostly in retail and commercial. The other 75 percent work within the Greater Edmonton region.” BVM: What industries are helping to grow your economy? Choy: “We’ve done a lot the last few years to promote tourism and culture; making sure our murals depict our history and that brings people should be completed at the end of 2021. Another big project happening in the core area is the relocation of the library - moving it from Forest Green Plaza to downtown Stony Plain. We’re making it more walkable, more pedestrian friendly. “Then when we finish phase four this year, we’ll do facades and look at partnerships and grant funding for business owners to help them refurbish their building fronts so that brings attractiveness to the downtown core. Our main street is quite healthy; about 90 percent full. We’ve done a good job of maintaining that small town look and feeling so there is a lot of support from residents and also visitors for shopping and lunch or dinner. As dollars get tighter we’re marketing to the surrounding region, not further out. We also have 42 km. of trails that are maintained year-round. As we have more housing developments, we’ll make sure they’re connected to the rest of the community and especially to the downtown.”