Plamondon, Alberta

Plamondon is a small rural Alberta hamlet located northeast of Edmonton.

This community has a population of 336 (2001).

The community has two schools, the larger one bilingual, and a smaller french school which draws students from the entire region.

There are two hotels, two banks, post office, indoor hockey arena with artificial ice, a museum, and a rather large church.

History

The community was settled by Joseph Plamondon in 1905. Most of the families that eventually settled there came from Provemont, Michigan (now Leelanau County, Michigan).

On the outskirts of Plamondon is a community of Old Believers, a conservative Russian Orthodox sect whose ancestors broke from the Church after Patriarch Nikon's reforms in the mid-17th century. The schism, or "Raskol," resulted over reforms in church ritual and translation intended to better align the Russian church with Greek Orthodox practices. The Old Believers that live outside Plamondon are "bezpopovtsy," or priestless Old Believers, who believe that apostolic succession ended with Nikon's apostasy and therefore have no clergy and refuse the Eucharist. Most of these families moved to the area in the mid 1960's from Woodburn, Oregon, also home to a large Old Believer community. Many also came from Xinjiang province, China, by way of New Zealand, where they fled after the Communist revolutions in Russia and China.

Also holds an annual french hockey tournament. Frontenacs of University of Alberta have won twice.

Industry

The main industries in the region are logging and farming.