Vegreville
Vegreville is a town of 5,700 people (2016) on the Yellowhead Highway in East Central Alberta, approximately 100 km east of Edmonton. It is home to the world's largest pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg).
Understand
Incorporated in 1906, Vegreville is primarily an agricultural community and has strong historical ties to the Ukrainian immigrant community.
Grand Trunk Pacific's rail line (now Canadian National Railway's Vegreville Subdivision) from Lloydminster reached west through Vegreville to Edmonton by 1909. The GTPR was completed to Prince Rupert in 1914 and financially ruined by 1919. CN79458, a red caboose retired in 1993, is on display in Elks Park off 48th Street.
Visitor information
- 🌍 Vegreville Visitor Information Centre, 4500 Pysanka Avenue, ☏ +1 587-790-0923, alangkow@vegreville.com. May 5-Sep 25.
Get in
By car
Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) (Prince Rupert BC to Portage la Prairie MB); exit onto Highway 16A into town.
By bus
- Rider Express, toll-free: +1-833-583-3636. Operates a route between Edmonton and Regina with stops including in Vegreville, Vermilion, Lloydminster, North Battleford, Saskatoon, and Davidson.
By plane
- Vegreville Industrial Airport (CEV3). Has a 4000-foot runway but no scheduled flights.
By train
Passenger service to Vegreville ended in 1975. The former station is now a restaurant and event space.
Get around
- Central Taxi, 5005 47th St, ☏ +1 780-632-6822.
See
- 🌍 Our Lady of the Highway, just east of town on Highway 16A. Ask the blessings of Our Lady to protect and direct travellers in their journeys. Seven-foot high shrine sculpted in Italy from Carrara Marble (Italian White Marble) and erected by the Vegreville Knights of Columbus.
- 🌍 Vegreville Pysanka, Elks / Kinsmen Park. Painstakingly constructed from thousands of individual aluminium pieces, this oversize Ukrainian Easter egg (batik pysanka) stands three and a half stories high and is 9 m (31 ft) long. (By comparison, the "Big Bird" muppet would be tiny at a mere 8ft 2in.)
- 🌍 Vegreville Regional Museum, 5029 45B Ave, ☏ +1 780-632-7650. Former Agriculture Canada research station (1956-1995), the museum and Vegreville & District Sports Hall of Fame highlight community development with local history exhibits, classic farm machinery, community history books. There is a corn maze nearby. By donation.
Do
- 🌍 Elks/Kinsmen Park, off Highway 16A, ☏ +1 780-632-6800. A fully restored CN caboose is open every day of the year. Tourist info, souvenirs, snacks, 93-site RV park and camp site with shower and rest rooms, picnic facilities, playground, tobogganing hill and outdoor fitness area.
Events
- Country Fair. For Three days on early August.
- Pysanka Festival. Three days, early July. Celebration of Ukrainian culture.
Eat
- 🌍 Vito's Steak & Pizza House, 4925 50 Ave, ☏ +1 780-632-3999.
- 🌍 Loco burro Fresh Mexician Grill, 5341 50 Avenue #210, ☏ +1 780-632-7722. M-F 11AM-8PM.
- 🌍 Albert's Family Restaurant, 5337 50 Ave, ☏ +1 780-632-6411. M-Sa 7AM-8PM, Su 8AM-7PM.
Drink
- 🌍 Vegreville's Unwind Bar & Grill, 5341 50 Ave #160, ☏ +1 780-631-0487. W-Sa 11AM-3AM, Su 10AM-5PM. Fries, sandwich, nachos, hotdogs, wings and burgers.
Sleep
- 🌍 Vegreville Suites, 6539 Hwy 16A West, ☏ +1 780-632-2094, toll-free: +1-855-836-3399, fax: +1 780-632-6312, fd@vegrevillesuites.ca. Check-in: 3PM, check-out: 11AM. 80 rooms and suites, on-site convenience store, meeting facilities, Wi-fi.
- 🌍 Vegreville Garden Inn, 6401 50th Ave, ☏ +1 780-632-2895, fax: +1 780-632-2502. Check-in: 3PM, check-out: 11AM. 44 rooms with fridge, microwave, TV. Homestead Lounge open 10am-2am.
- 🌍 Wild Rose Inn, 6001 50th Ave, ☏ +1 780-632-6263, toll-free: +1-800-939-9925, fax: +1 780-632-2810.
- 🌍 Vegreville Municipal Campground, 4500 Pysanka Avenue (Highway 16A and 43 St), ☏ +1 780-632-6800 (on season), +1 780-632-6403 (off season). Check-in: Powered campsite: $30/night, non-powered campsite: $25/night. Picnic tables, gazebos, stoves, fire pit, hot showers, accessible playground and outdoor exercise equipment.
Nearby
Mundare
Mundare is a small town about 24 km (15 mi) west of Vegreville, near the intersection of Highway 15 and the Yellowhead Highway in the heart of Kalyna Country.
Go next
- Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, a pioneer village living museum at the eastern edge of Elk Island National Park on Highway 16.
| Routes through Vegreville |
| Edmonton ← Mundare ← | W E | → Jct N S → Vermilion → Lloydminster |
| Routes through Mundare |
| Edmonton ← Elk Island National Park ← | W E | → Vegreville → Lloydminster |
| Edmonton ← Fort Saskatchewan ← | W E | → END |