Nobleford celebrates A Noble Vision film premiere

Movies tell a story. The Nobleford Area Museum’s latest archival project is a film entitled, “A Noble Vision,” which premiered last Friday at Noble Central School to great fanfare from local dignitaries and special guests in attendance to be one of the first to view the approximate 15-minute piece of history, which has been close to a year in the making.

“It’s a different piece for a museum,” said Lethbridge County Coun. Steve Campbell, prior to the the premiere screening.

“They’ve talked to quite a few former employees from the factory just to get their perspective on how things went — how things were built and how things were used in the fields,” added Campbell, as he noted museums are on top of the list to preserve the past, so younger generations can see what happened 50 or 100 years ago.

An archive was formed, said Nobleford Area Museum Society President Julie Pike, through interviews with former employees of the factory and family members.

“Museum members spent many hours contacting potential interviewees and compiling film, photographs and negatives — many of which we have never seen,” said Pike.

During a short speech to those in attendance at the premiere screening, Coun. Campbell stated, the Noble blade was a testament to the innovation and forward thinking of citizens and contributed to the community.

“The Nobleford museum has done a wonderful job preserving the past with all the displays from local citizens,” said Campbell.

Village of Nobleford Deputy Mayor Marguerite Wobick said the Nobleford Area Museum Society has done a wonderful job with keeping the village’s history alive.

“This success of the village is attributed to the many volunteers who have preserved the history of our village. Our foundation is the history of Charles S. Noble, a visionary farmer who decided to manufacture the blade,” said Wobick during her speech, adding Noble’s innovative invention was a blessing during the 1930s and 1940s.

Little Bow MLA Ian Donovan said during his speech what truly makes rural Alberta amazing is Alberta’s volunteers.

“We can look back at all the things that was there in the history and what made us what we are today,” said Donovan, in regards to the film, which was made from the tireless efforts of volunteers.

“It’s exciting for me as a farmer just to be able to look back on our history and show what’s made us where we are today,” added Donovan, noting Nobleford is one of the fastest growing communities that has gone from 600 people to over 1,300. Donovan said as the village moves forward it is good to preserve its history.

Bridget Pastoor, Lethbridge-East MLA was on hand at the special screening on behalf of the Alberta Culture minister.

“It was here that the Noble blade was founded and certainly has made its mark throughout the world. It’s certainly something to be proud of,” said Pastoor, during her speech. Pastoor added it was a day to celebrate creativity and ingenuity of Albertans such as C.S. Noble.

“He was the first inductee into the Alberta Agricultural Hall of Fame. It did help put Nobleford on the map and it also put Alberta on the map,” said Pastoor, adding retaining history is one of the most important things a community can do.

After the screening, Donovan added the film is truly what Alberta is all about and that is innovation.

“This was innovation back in the 1930s to deal with what Mother Nature was dealing us and that was a lot of dry years in this area for a lot of the homesteaders that came out here. In order to do that, agriculture farmers are usually pretty good at being innovative and this is just a prime example of what Charles Noble did,” said Donovan.

Kirk Hofman, Village of Nobleford chief administrative officer (CAO) said history is in the hands of those who write it and preserve it.

“Compliments to the museum society  for putting together such a wonderful piece of history that will archive our existence here in Nobleford for many years to come,” said Hofman, after the screening.

One of C.S. Noble’s family members were in the audience last Friday afternoon at the special screening. Fraser Noble, C.S. Noble’s grandson, thought the film was well done.

“They did a good job of editing and the format, the pictures and everything, were combined in a really nice manner,” said Noble.

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