Did You Know Rudy Swanson Recreation Park Was an Army Base?

In July 1908, the Camrose Agricultural Society was founded and hosted the Town’s first fair at the site of the current Rudy Swanson Recreation Park. For the next thirty years, the site was home to a yearly agricultural fair which showcased livestock, new technology, equipment, and production. However, when the Second World War began, the fairgrounds were adapted for a different use – an army, naval, and air force training base!

In 1940, the Camrose fairgrounds and the adjacent Normal School building were selected to become an army base. Approximately 10 H-shaped huts were built to accommodate trainees along with buildings for a mess quarters, medical services, and storage. Thousands of Canadian boys and men received their basic training at Canadian Army Training Centre No. 131 in Camrose with the community providing warm welcomes and entertainment for the trainees. After the war, the Camrose Agricultural Society was reinstated and began using the site again. In 1967, a recreational complex was added to the site.

This site is significant to the history of Camrose for both its connections to the tradition of farming and the Camrose Agricultural Society and its connection to Camrose’s contribution to the war effort during the Second World War.