The Crowsnest Museum is selling their annual historic calendars, with this year’s theme being the Alberta Provincial Police (APP).

The APP theme is strategically chosen, given that the upcoming year is a significant milestone in many respects. To start, March 1, 2017 marks the centennial of the Alberta Provincial Police formation.

The calendar’s images are tied in with the unique rum-running history during Prohibition in Crowsnest Pass.

“The photos focus around our local story of Prohibition, culminating in the shootout,” says Chris Matthews, the museum’s executive director, referring to the notorious shooting of Const. Stephen Lawson in 1922.

Several months’ photos are dedicated to this story and its characters. “There are a few pictures from elsewhere, like cool rumrunner stills, or how they would hide booze inside of cargo,” says Matthews.

Historic photos of the APP Barracks in Coleman, an old home brewing station and even a photo depicting smuggled whiskey found in hog carcasses are a taste of the images that can be found in the calendar.

Crowsnest Museum customarily uses historic photos from their own archives to fill the pages of the calendar. This year, several photos were also taken from Glenbow Museum archives in Calgary. “We have so many pictures in our collections that we don’t have to contact other institutions, but content-wise this year, we’ve had to reach out,” explains Matthews.

The sale of the calendar kicks off an array of upcoming anniversaries and events centered on the Pass’ flagrant rum-running past. In time for Canada Day celebrations, a brand new Legends of Prohibition exhibit will launch in the restored APP Barracks. The Calgary Opera will also be showing Filumena in February, a dramatic retelling of the shooting of Const. Lawson and the trial and hanging of Emilio “Emperor Pic” Picariello and Florence Losandro for his death.

Calendars cost $10 and will be selling at the museum and on their webpage, and at various hotspots around town. Proceeds collected from sales will go to museum operations.

Themes from past years centered on the 192nd Battalion during World War I, and the Hillcrest Mine Disaster. The museum has already begun compiling images for the 2018 calendar.

“It has to do with celebrations,” says Matthews. “That’s enough of a teaser.”