Fort Saskatchewan's famed flock of sheep marks milestone

It started, as most things do, as a pilot project, back in the summer of 1992 as something called the alternative turf maintenance program.

Now, 25 years later, the ewes are the signature tourism draw, synonymous with the city 25 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

• No kidding around goats being used to tackle noxious weeds at Edmonton park

Tourists flock to the Fort Heritage Precinct site from Thursday to Sunday during the summertime, to snapsheep selfies and petthe 53 woolly weed wackers.

"They're here because the people love them," explains Diane Yanch, culture director with the City of Fort Saskatchewan.

"We get hundreds of visitors each week to talk to the shepherd,to see the dogs work and, honestly, to feed the sheep."

But Yanch is hoping the sheep are enough of a draw to entice people to spend some time roaming the rest of the site.

"This place was built so we could tell the history of Fort Saskatchewan and how it began with the North West Mounted Police," she said.

The fort is areplica of the original outpostwhich dates back to 1875.

The $4-million reproduction featuring stables, a guard room complete with jail cells, theofficers' quarters andan ice house added this summer.

The Fort Heritage Precinct

7 years ago

Duration 2:38

Here are five things we learned about the Fort Heritage Precinct in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., we want to share with you.

The 11-hectare Fort Heritage Precinct site also includes Legacy Park, walking trails, a heritage village with church, school and courthouse, and a museum chroniclingthehistory of law and order in the west.

In 1913, the North West Mounted Police closed the fort and the province used the site to build a jail where prisoners did farmwork, made uniforms, or printed license plates.

"I think one thing that most people find fascinating is that there were executions held in Fort Saskatchewan," said Yanch.

Thirty-fourpeople were hanged from 1879 to 1960.

The jail closed in the late 1980seventually making wayfor the Fort Heritage Precinct and the sheep.

You can see more from the Fort Heritage Precinct on Our Edmonton. Saturday at 10 a.m. and Sunday and Monday at 11 a.m. on CBC TV.

'Fort Saskatchewan's new lawn mowers'

8 years ago

Duration 2:00

Watch this video from 25 years ago of the beginning of the "alternative turf maintenance program" in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.