The Sedona Sister Cities Association hosted a town hall at Sedona City Hall on Saturday, Feb. 22, to hear presentations from Jeremy Elbourne, the executive director of artsPlace in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, Elwira Musialowicz-Cozzi, the director of the Jasielski Dom Kultury, the cultural center in Jasło, Poland, and Lukasz Zyra, the chairman of Jasło’s sister city team.

Canmore and Sedona entered a friendship agreement on May 19, 2023, as a precursor to a formal sister city agreement.

SSCA President Chuck Marr said that the goal is to finalize a sister city relationship with Canmore “by June” and a friendship agreement with Jasło “in August.”

Vice Mayor Hooli Ploog estimated that the Canmore sister city agreement would come before council on May 27.

Canmore, Canada

“Canmore started out life as a mining town,” Elbourne said. “July 13, 1979, is referred to in Canmore as Black Friday. That’s the day that the coal mines closed down for the last time. And at that point, Canmore was a pretty sleepy town of about [3,000] people, and continued that way until 1988, which was when Calgary hosted the Winter Olympics, and Canmore was home to the to the Nordic ski events … and all of a sudden, the world discovered Canmore and we quickly became a destination for people, less so for tourists, but more so for work, for where people want to live.”

Canmore now has a population of around 17,000. The meeting coincided with the 31st Sedona International Film Festival, during which Canmore director Leanne Allison’s documentary “Losing Blue” was screened.

“We care about maintaining our environment, sustainability, the Canmore council declared a climate emergency,” Elbourne said. “We care about wildlife. The Bow Valley is a very important migratory route for wildlife. There’s an organization called Y2Y in Canmore, [which] stands for Yellowstone to Yukon, in terms of the migratory patterns of wildlife that go through the valley.”

Elbourne added that affordable housing is an issue in Canmore and that Canmore is currently looking into increasing housing density by creating housing units “above a potential new art center.”

Jasło, Poland

Jasło residents will soon see posters in their town square showcasing “The Beauty and History of Sedona,” and the SSCA website states that the Jasło Gen Science Center and the Science Vortex of the Verde Valley are teaming up on projects to enhance STEM education in both nations.

“The Verde Valley Wine Consortium is thinking of sending a delegation to [Jasło] to represent our local wineries,” Danusia Szumowski, a board member of the Verde Valley Wine Consortium, subsequently said. “We’re hoping to do some kind of cross-cultural exchange in terms of bringing people in the industry here, and having people from the industry go there. Climate change is very real. We’re all trying to figure out how to manage that. What are the right varietals? How to do the farming, and each of our vineyard areas have unique challenges, and I think it benefits from [cultural] cross-pollination.”

“I am absolutely thrilled to share that on Sept. 17 or 18 — we are finalizing those dates — we are having a musical exchange of young artists with Canmore … we are going to showcase three rising artists,” SSCA Treasurer and Sedona Ballet founder Winifred Muench announced during the meeting. “Then we’re going to identify two or three Arizona-based classical musicians of similar ilk and we are going to have a free concert for Sedona on those days, for all of you to enjoy these young musicians, and then have a VIP party for a sister city fundraiser.”

Sister Cities

“The purpose of sister cities is to promote peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation,” Marr said. “It goes back to [President Dwight D.] Eisenhower, who started this as a people-people movement in the mid 1950s, and he had seen war, and he said, ‘The only way you’re going to build peace is that you have people work with each other and know each other.’ 

And that is the whole basis for now a worldwide effort called Sister Cities International.”

“Now we go to the other side of the globe,” Marr said. “About a year and a half ago, [SSCA member Edyta Wieczorek] came to one of our events, and she said, ‘I want to join Sister Cities and she says, and I want my hometown of Jasło Poland to be your sister city … she’s a dynamo. She’s put together a tremendous group of people.”

“[Marr] just told a nice story of coming to me a while ago with the idea, and I said, ‘Let’s do it,” Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow said. “I had no idea of the magnitude of the power of this group … and the amount of work that they can accomplish. It’s fantastic. It’s very inspirational to me. And I want to thank [Marr] and the board here for making this happen and bringing sister cities together. I really appreciate that.”

For more information about the Sedona Sister Cities Association, visit sedonasistercities.org.