Saint Albert

St. Albert is a city in Alberta, located northwest of Edmonton, on the Sturgeon River. It was originally settled as a French-Catholic community, and is now an affluent, predominantly white suburb of Edmonton.

St. Albert was founded in 1861 by Father Albert Lacombe, who built a chapel in the Sturgeon River valley. The settlement flourished; a few years after its founding, a group of Grey Nuns moved to St. Albert from Lac Ste. Anne and although the city has since grown and diversified, it maintains an image as a French Catholic neighbourhood.

At present, the city plays host to the International Children's Festival, the annual Rainmaker Rodeo, various plays and musical performance at the Arden Theatre (which is part of the same complex as the St. Albert city hall and library, in a building designed by Douglas Cardinal) as well as a thriving weekly farmers' market outside City Hall in the summer months.