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Hamlet of La Crete
Hamlet of La Crete
	— Hamlet —
	; Location of La Crete in Alberta
	Coordinates: 58°11′41″N 116°21′02″W / 58.19479°N 116.35045°W
Country	Canada
Province	Alberta
Census division	No. 17
Municipality	Mackenzie MD
	Government
- Type	Unincorporated
- Governing body	Mackenzie MD Council
	Area
- Total	1,672.83 km2 (645.9 sq mi)
Elevation	315 m (1,033 ft)
	Population (2006)
- Total	2,459
- Density	1.5/km2 (3.8/sq mi)
- Dwellings	752
Time zone	MST (UTC−7)
- Summer (DST)	MDT (UTC−6)

La Crete (pronounced /ləˈkriːt/, also spelled La Crête) is a hamlet in northern Alberta, located in the Municipal District of Mackenzie No.23. La Crete is about 56 kilometres southeast of High Level on Highway 697, or 800 kilometres north of Edmonton, Alberta.

The hamlet is located in census division No. 17 and in the federal riding of Peace River. It is administered by Mackenzie MD.^[2]

Temperatures can range from 30 °C (86 °F) to −50 °C (−58.0 °F).

The name "La Crête" means "the ridge" in French, which is how the earliest settlers described the area they settled.

[edit] History

La Crete was first settled in 1914 as La Crête Landing. When the first Mennonites arrived in the 1930s, they settled a short distance southwest of the original settlement on the current site of La Crete. When the first highways were built into the area in the 1960s, the population began to increase as new settlers arrived, and in 1979, La Crete was created into a hamlet.

During the summer months the La Crete Ferry, one of only seven ferries still operating in Alberta, shuttles vehicles across the Peace River on Highway 697 about 70 kilometres southwest of the hamlet. In the winter, an ice bridge is maintained at the same spot. This access connects La Crete to the Mackenzie Highway near Paddle Prairie, offering a considerable time saving when travelling to or from La Crete. During the spring and fall, when the river is unfit for the ferry and the ice too thin to support vehicle traffic, or at other times when the ferry is not operational, travellers must continue north to High Level, then east on Highway 58 before coming back south to reach La Crete. In the summer of 2006 a sandbar formed in the centre of the river, where the ferry normally crossed, forcing it to travel around it. The sandbar has grown to such a size that the ferry does not always run if the water level is too low.

[edit] Infrastructure

La Crete has walking trails that were paid using donations from the residents of the town.

La Crete holds a hockey tournament every year known as the Challenge Cup, where teams from all over northern Alberta come to challenge each other in hopes of winning the trophy.

[edit] Demographics

The predominantly Mennonite community had a population of 2,039 in 2003, more than double its 1995 population of 995. La Crete also acts as the hub for more than 5000 rural residents in the area.

In 2006, the community had a total population of 2459 living in 752 dwellings.^[1] With a land area of 1,672.83 km² (645.9 sq mi), it has a population density of 17.0 /km² (44/sq mi).

The residents of La Crete typically speak both English and Low German, and most businesses serve customers in both languages, often switching between the two over the course of business.