As many of you know, I have been involved with the Ogilvie Wooden Grain Elevator Society (OWGES) since it was fairly new. The Society’s mission is to preserve and protect the last wooden Ogilvie grain elevator in the province of Alberta. It stands today, as it has for nearly 100 years, in the village of Wrentham, Alberta.

“The Ogilvie” as we lovingly call it, was originally built in 1925. A balloon annex was added in 1951. Sold to the Alberta Wheat Pool in 1960 and then into private hands in 1968, it has been owned by OWGES since December of 2014.

As you would expect, there are mountains of paperwork involved in operating a society of this nature and it has not been an easy journey. The economic climate we have been operating in for the last few years has not been conducive for raising funds to even preserve the elevator, nevermind actually undertake any restoration work.

I think everyone who serves on the Society’s board understands this is going to be a marathon and not a sprint. We’re still in the early stages of this race and we just need to keep a steady pace and moving towards the end goal.

I put together some drone footage of the Ogilvie while on a trip down south last month. There I met our President and founding member Jason Sailer at the elevator.  Check it out and then also check out a video Jonathon Koch did when he visited the elevator in 2016.

Visit the Society’s site at facebook.com/OWGES for more information. You can also follow us on Twitter or email us at owges@yahoo.com.