Grand Falls (French:
Grand-Sault) (2006 population 5,650) is a
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
town located in
Victoria CountyVictoria County is located in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada. Farming, especially of potatoes, is the major industry in the county.-Communities:...
and Madawaska County within
New BrunswickNew Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only constitutionally bilingual province in the confederation. The provincial capital is Fredericton...
.
Situated on the Saint John River, the town derives its name from a
waterfallA waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation :Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. As it increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks...
created by a series of rock ledges over which the river drops 23 metres.
In 1686, Monsignor de Saint-Vallier (of
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
) was the first known person to mention in writing the magnificent falls for which Grand Falls is named.
Grand Falls (French:
Grand-Sault) (2006 population 5,650) is a
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
town located in
Victoria CountyVictoria County is located in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada. Farming, especially of potatoes, is the major industry in the county.-Communities:...
and Madawaska County within
New BrunswickNew Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only constitutionally bilingual province in the confederation. The provincial capital is Fredericton...
.
Situated on the Saint John River, the town derives its name from a
waterfallA waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation :Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. As it increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks...
created by a series of rock ledges over which the river drops 23 metres.
History
In 1686, Monsignor de Saint-Vallier (of
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
) was the first known person to mention in writing the magnificent falls for which Grand Falls is named. His words describing the area can be found on a monument erected at the mouth of Davis Park in 1986. The first governor of New Brunswick,
Thomas CarletonThomas Carleton was an army officer and Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick.Born in Ireland to Christoper Carleton and his wife Catherine Ball, he was the younger brother of Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester. As part of a military family, Thomas joined the British Army at a young age...
, established a military post in the area in 1791 known as Fort Carleton. The settlement was known as Colebrooke until 1890, when its name was changed to Grand Falls.
Economy
Three main industries reside in Grand Falls: potato farming, potato processing (The
McCainMcCain Foods Limited is a privately owned company established in 1957 by four brothers Harrison McCain, Wallace McCain, Robert McCain, and Andrew McCain in Florenceville, New Brunswick, Canada...
frozen food plant) and tourism. The town is also a local service centre for Victoria County.
Tourism centers around the St. John River’s falls and gorge located in the center of town. Two tourist attractions line the river, the Malabeam information Centre and La Rochelle. The Malabeam Center faces the falls and is across the Grand Falls Farmers Market located on Madawaska Rd. La Rochelle provides camping sites, access to the gorge via stairwell and a pontoon-boat ride that goes through the gorge.
The falls are also home to the
Grand Falls Generating StationThe Grand Falls Generating Station is a hydroelectric dam built on the Saint John River in Grand Falls in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and is operated by NB Power corporation. Its power house has a capacity of 66 megawatts with its 4 turbines....
which provides electrical power by use of a hydro electric dam completed in 1931 and provides 66 MW of electricity.
Among the main retailers of Grand Falls as of April 2008, there are Alliance Assurance, Sears,
Wal-MartWalmart Canada is the Canadian unit of Wal-Mart and was founded in 1994 in Mississauga, Ontario with the purchase of the Canadian Woolco stores from Woolworth Canada....
,
Canadian TireCanadian Tire Corporation, Limited is one of Canada's 35 largest publicly traded companies and operates an inter-related network of businesses engaged in retailing and services...
,
Home HardwareHome Hardware is a privately held Canadian home improvement, construction materials, and furniture retailer. Co-founded in 1964 by Walter Hachborn and headquartered in St...
,
DollaramaDollarama is a chain of over 600 dollar stores across Canada. The company is headquartered in Montreal and is Canada's largest operator of "all-at-a-dollar" stores. Many of its stores are located in the province of Quebec where the chain first began. The first Dollarama store was created at the...
,
Giant TigerGiant Tiger Stores Limited is a Canadian discount store in Canada and the United States founded on May 13, 1961, by Gordon Reid, who served as the Chairman and CEO. Reid opened his first store in Ottawa. The business was launched with a $15,000 investment, and first-year sales were $139,781...
,
Atlantic SuperstoreAtlantic Superstore is a Canadian supermarket chain of 51 stores in the Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island...
,
Staples Business DepotStaples, known in Quebec as Bureau en Gros, is a Canadian office supply retail chain, part of the United States-based office supply company Staples Inc. The Canadian operation is headquartered in Richmond Hill, Ontario....
,
Kent Building SuppliesKent Building Supplies is a chain of 33 retail home improvement stores in Atlantic Canada, owned by J.D. Irving Limited...
Shoppers Drug MartShoppers Drug Mart Corporation is Canada's largest pharmacy chain with more than 1,100 stores operating under the names Shoppers Drug Mart in nine provinces and two territories and Pharmaprix in Quebec....
,
HartHart Stores Inc. is a junior mid-sized department store dominated in the region of Eastern Canada. It was founded in 1960 by Harry Hart, in Rosemère, Quebec. Hart stores are based in the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario...
,
Jean CoutuThe Jean Coutu Group Inc. is a Canadian company headquartered in Longueuil, Quebec with its Jean Coutu Group U.S.A. Inc. in Warwick, Rhode Island. The company was once the second largest distributor and retailer of pharmaceuticals and related products in North America with nearly 2,200...
and more.
Activities
Among the main activities located in Grand Falls, one can visit the Grand Falls Golf Course, the Grand Falls Marina, the Museum, the Farmer’s Market (summer), the Sports Complex which also includes bowling, numerous camp grounds, and the Grand Cinema 3. The town of Grand Falls has acquired a new arena named the E & P Sénéchal center. The multi-purpose 1300+ heated seat arena opened in late August 2009.
Most tourist-centric locations are only opened during the tourist season.
Education
- John Caldwell School K-12
- Polyvalente Thomas-Albert High School
École Polyvalente Thomas-Albert is a Francophone public secondary school in School District 3 of New Brunswick. It is located in the town of Grand Falls in Victoria County.-See also:*List of schools in New Brunswick...
- Élémentaire Sacré-Coeur
- École Marie-Immaculé
- Centre of Excellence in Agricultural and Biotechnological Sciences (CESAB)
Culture
Grand Falls is the most bilingual town in Canada at 81.5% speaking
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
and
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
and is only one of two
municipalitiesA municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.The notion of municipality...
in Canada with an official bilingual name, the other is Greater Sudbury. (fr:
Grand-Sudbury)
Every year the town celebrates its Regional Potato Festival. This event coincides with the end of June and beginning of July, during the Canada Day weekend. It includes a carnival, a Broadway block party, a bistro with live entertainment, the Miss Grand Falls Gala, fireworks and several other events.
External links