A Soft Landing in Vulcan - Star Trek Capital of Canada
/As long as we were checking out the world’s largest dinosaur, we figured we should check out other possible interesting sights in the area. There were several, but the world’s largest bee, the world’s largest dragonfly and the ‘World Famous Gopher Hole Museum’ (yes, really!) were all too far away and in the wrong direction. Vulcan, however, the self-proclaimed ‘Star Trek Capital of Canada’ was right on the way (sorta).
As we headed south, Alberta’s badlands smoothed into rolling hills and pastoral scenes.
We were traveling on secondary roads through prairie lands. We watched as dark rain clouds passed just to the east of us.
Iconic grain elevators provided prairie photo opps.
Then we were in Vulcan.
Named by a Canada Pacific Railroad (CPR) executive who had a fondness for mythology, Vulcan, god of fire and blacksmith of the gods, is a small farming community and county seat in south central Alberta between Calgary and Lethbridge. Railroad tracks and grain elevators are predominant as you pass through the downtown streets.
The Vulcan Seed Cleaning Association Limited maintains a prime spot along a main road. It’s a quiet, peaceful, down-to-Earth kind of place… or at least it was.
Evidently the town fathers were looking for ways to increase the town’s coffers by attracting tourists and capitalizing on the town’s name seemed like a good plan. They began what appears to be a successful marketing campaign to pay ‘homage to Star Trek and Mr. Spock’s home planet’ transforming a farming town into ‘Vulcan - the Star Trek Capital of Canada’.
The Star Trek theme is evident throughout the town beginning with the starship Visitor’s Center which is as much a museum as it is an information outlet. Aliens are welcome including those from the USA.
Mr. Spock greeted us at the door.
Because it was Mr. Spock, Science Officer aboard the Starship Enterprise, that hailed from the planet Vulcan, it is Mr. Spock played by Leonard Nimoy who commands the most attention, although all the Star Trek characters seem to get a share of the tribute.
Entering the Visitor Center is like stepping into another world. We wandered through display after display taking in all the Star Trek memorabilia and trivia.
Stepping through an automatic door that makes the ‘whoosh’ sound so familiar on Star Trek, we were entertained by a cadre of Star Trek characters and creatures… some appeared friendly, some not.
We picked up a map of the self-guided walking tour to the ‘Trek Stops’ aka ‘A-Trek-tions’ around the downtown area.
It was fun. See some of the stops below.
Upon the town’s invitation, Leonard Nimoy graciously visited Vulcan in April 2010. A bronze bust and handprint is on display along the walking tour.
Street lamps and street signs play on the theme.
The town built a 31’ (9.5m) replica of the Starship Enterprise which has its own little park to attract attention along the main highway.
Plaques on the starship welcome you in English as well as Vulcan and Klingon. Not sure who did the translation… I’m pretty sure there’s a typo.
The local post office provides a special postmark on request for mail posted from Vulcan.
In case you’re interested, Vulcan now celebrates Spock Days on the second weekend in June and VulCON, for Trekkies, the last weekend in July.
We spent a couple of hours in Vulcan before moving down the road to Lethbridge for the night. As we entered the city, we caught sight of the Lethbridge High Level Bridge. Construction was completed in 1909. Built to replace 20 wooden bridges on the rail route between Lethbridge and Fort MacLeod, this is the longest-highest bridge of its type in the world and the largest railway structure in Canada.
Length: 1,623.860 m (5,327.5 ft)
Height: 96 m (314 ft) above river bed
The dirty laundry bin was burgeoning, so while I did the laundry, David gave Blanche a much-needed bath and filled her tank. Next stop was Walmart to replenish the larder and stock up for a week’s worth of upcoming national park stays. This turned out to be an outstanding Walmart… neat, well-stocked, good prices and a welcoming parking lot for overnight guests. The lot was a bit noisy during the night, but the price was right.
Next time, a tiny bit of Fay Wray and King Kong and then on Waterton Lakes National Park. Join us!