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Read featured articles from destinations along the Yellowhead

Manitoba
Celebrate the distinct culture, amazing scenery and brilliant yellow sunflower fields.

Saskatchewan
The sky’s the limit, with creative literary giants and rodeo greats.

Alberta
Renowned for its diverse culture, open range, and Rocky Mountain Playground.

British Columbia
Majestic mountains, mighty rivers, and coastal rainforests entice and invite.

Kalyna Country Tour

Vegreville is home to the giant pysanka, created to honour the 1974 Royal Canadian Mounted Police centennial as a symbol of the peace and security the Mounties had offered the area’s pioneers and their descendants Photo: Travel Alberta

Expect the unexpected in Kalyna Country! This fascinating tour will take you to bison, bannock, UFO landing pads, giant pysankas, pioneers and perogies. You never know what’s around the next bend!

Begin the tour departing Edmonton via the Yellowhead Highway # 16 East to Sherwood Park. Tour the Strathcona County Heritage Museum on Wye Road which showcases exhibits portraying Strathcona County’s natural and human history. Travel “Heritage Mile” and see the historical Smeltzer House, Monument Park and the Smyth Farm.

Continue east on the Yellowhead to Elk Island National Park, one of Canada’s smallest national parks, but one with the biggest mandate in providing the reintroduction of the nearly extinct trumpeter swan to its natural habitat. The Park is home to over 40 species of mammals, including a wild herd of wood bison, elk, deer and moose, plus over 230 species of birds.

Just east of the national park, you’ll find the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, where more than 30 restored buildings and costumed interpreters bring history to life. Enjoy wagon rides and savour bread fresh from the clay ovens.

Continue your parkland drive east on the Yellowhead to the village of Mundare, and a visit to the Basilian Fathers Museum & Grotto. Stop at Stawnichy’s Meats for a tour, and taste their internationally-renowned Mundare Sausage. Visit the world’s largest (Ukrainian) Sausage statue. Mundare is an annual competitor in the Communities in Bloom competition, winning the National award in 2003.

Further east along the Yellowhead is Vegreville, home to one of the most intricate and visually-stunning statues of a giant Pysanka (decorated Ukrainian Easter Egg). It was built in 1974 to commemorate the Centennial of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The 7.8 metre (25 feet) egg is mounted on a pedestal that allows it to turn in the wind. As well, Vegreville’s vibrant history can be explored in their regional museum and restored Main Street.

Continue east to Vermilion, the hottest town on the prairies! Home to fire, etc., the Alberta Fire Training School, students from across the country and around the world train here. Lakeland College boasts the award-winning Arboretum and also hosts many summer rodeo events. Tour the Vermilion Heritage Museum and take a quiet stroll through Vermilion Provincial Park.

Leave Vermilion and turn north on Hwy # 41 to Elk Point. See the huge, carved-wood statue of Peter Fidler, a Hudson Bay Fur Trading Company surveyor and the town’s 100-foot-long Historical Mural tracing the heritage of the area. Visit the Pioneer Museum where the must-see Fort George Buckingham House Interpretive Centre offers fascinating interactive displays of the historical fur trade history of the area. Elk Point borders the area where the Frog Lake Resistance took place during the Northwest Rebellion of 1885 – the Frog Lake Massacre National Historic Site. East of Elk Point on SH 646 is a cairn and interpretive trail.

Travel north on Hwy # 41 and head west on Hwy # 28 to St. Paul. Slip the soundtrack from 2001: A Space Odyssey into the CD player for the proper theme music to visit their tourist attraction, the world’s first UFO landing pad.

Head west from St. Paul on Hwy # 28 and south on Hwy # 36 to Two Hills which offers the Two Hills & District Historical Museum and their Heritage Park.

Head west along Hwy # 45 to Andrew to see the statue of the world’s largest Mallard Duck, a tribute to the waterfowl that rests at Whitford Lake on their migration path.

Continue west on Hwy # 45 to the beautiful Bruderheim Natural Area and the Town of Bruderheim at the junction of Hwy # 45 and Hwy # 15.

Leave Bruderheim and head south on Hwy # 15 to Fort Saskatchewan and the Fort Saskatchewan Museum. There are many sights here, including the Fort Saskatchewan Museum and Historic Site, Alberta Railway Museum and West River’s Edge, the newest park encompassing a wetland area and boat launch.

Continue south on Hwy # 21 to Sherwood Park and connect onto the Yellowhead Highway west to return to Edmonton.

Points of Interest

Strathcona
Strathcona County Heritage Museum
Heritage Mile
Sherwood Park Natural Area

MUNDARE
Giant Sausage Statue
Basilian Fathers Museum
Ukraina Park
Parkland Conservation Farm

VEGREVILLE
Giant Pysanka Statue
Historic Downtown
Vegreville Regional Museum
Vegreville & District Sports Hall of Fame
Rotary Peace Park
Our Lady of the Highway Shrine

VERMILION
Vermilion Heritage Museum
Lakeland College Arboretum
Vermilion Provincial Park

ELK POINT
Giant Peter Fidler Statue
Historical Mural
Fort George Buckingham House
Whitney Lakes Provincial Park
Frog Lake Massacre National Historic Site

ST. PAUL
Giant UFO Landing Pad
Saddle Lake Museum

GLENDON
Giant Perogy on a Fork Statue
Iron Horse Trail

VILNA
Giant Mushroom Statue
Historic Main Street
Iron Horse Trail

SMOKY LAKE
Giant Pumpkin Statue
CNR Station
Museum
Victoria Settlement

TWO HILLS
Two Hills & District Historical Museum
Two Hills Heritage Park

ANDREW
Giant Mallard Duck Statue
Andrew & District Historical Museum

BRUDERHEIM
Bruderheim Natural Area

FORT SASKATCHEWAN
Fort Saskatchewan Museum & Historic Site
Alberta Railway Museum
Stratotech Park International Raceway
Turner Park
West River’s Edge