The night was perfect, according to one of Langdon’s busiest volunteers, except for one thing — a big thing.
Corrie Carrobourg went to the Chateau Lake Louise with his family to accept a Recreation Volunteer Recognition Award at a ceremony Oct. 28, and it was a grand ceremony. Very grand for Carrobourg, who was called on stage to accept the honour.
“There was no speech necessary,” Carrobourg said with a laugh. “I don’t like talking to large crowds and it was way larger than any crowd I want to be in front of.”
Regardless of the big crowd, Carrobourg is humbled to get the honour, which was signed by the Honourable Ricardo Miranda, Minister of Culture and Tourism while in attendance at the conference ceremony was lieutenant-governor Lois Mitchell.
What this means is that his peers in Langdon nominated him as someone who devotes countless hours of his time trying to improve his community, and his dedication isn’t going unnoticed.
“This is fantastic. It’s totally something that wasn’t expected in any way shape or form,” Carrobourg said. “There were a few people who stepped up and submitted me for it. I have to compliment them for taking the time and energy to even do that.
“That was great on their parts to go out of their way and do that. Kudos to them because it’s not something they had to do. It’s an exciting thing.”
Carrobourg is a member of the North Bow Recreation District Board and the North Bow Community Facility Board as both director and president for almost 15 years. He’s a founding member of the Langdon Recreation Centre Committee, as well as helping orchestrate the annual Langdon Father’s Day Run.
Along with participating as a volunteer coach and manager for his childrens’ sports teams, he’s part of the Langdon Volunteer Fire Department as well.
The main focus of his effort is working on the Langdon Community Campus, which is in Phase 1 of development on the south side of the hamlet. Eventually that land will have quad ball diamonds, a recreation facility and a high school.
After years of planning and development, Carrobourg feels quite a bit of satisfaction in seeing the work translate into something you can see progressing.
“It was nice that we saw some heavy equipment move onto the site,” Carrobourg said. “The snow started the next day but at least he gear is there. That’s a good sign.
“It’s something we waited a long time to see happen. I have to compliment the school board and the county because they have stepped up with some fairly significant numbers in terms of financing to start that process.
“We as a community group just hope we can continue to bring the community together and recognize there is a huge opportunity in particular with the quad baseball diamond to have that come to reality. We’re doing a lot of major fundraising right now and are working with some major corporations to get some sponsorship dollars to make that part of it happen.
“There’s still lots of work. There’s been a lot of work right from the get-go, but a lot of the work has changed. The focus is kind of shifting with what needs to get done. Hopefully see the successes in the end.”
Along with all he does in the community, Carrobourg is a father of three who runs D.O.C. Personal Training centre, which just celebrated a year in business at the current location.
For years Carrobourg lived in Langdon and commuted to downtown Calgary for his job as a personal trainer. He’s saving much more time now that he stays at home to work.
“I love the commute,” Carrobourg said. “It’s a nice drive living in Langdon and driving just to centre street. The old commute to downtown Calgary was getting old.
“You take an hour off your day just for commuting and you can redirect that other things. It for sure makes a difference.”
