Peace River, Alberta

Peace River (originally named Peace River Crossing and known as Rivière-la-Paix in French) is a town in northwest Alberta, Canada. It is along the banks of the Peace River at its confluence with the Smoky River, the Heart River and Pat's Creek. It is approximately 486 kilometres (302 mi) northwest of Edmonton and 198 kilometres (123 mi) northeast of Grande Prairie on Highway 2. It was known as the Village of Peace River Crossing between 1914 and 1916. The Peace River townsite is nearly 1,000 feet (300 m) below the relatively flat terrain surrounding it. Pat's Creek used to be an open channel through the town but is now channelled through a culvert under the town streets, re-emerging at the mouth on the Peace River at the Riverfront Park. The population in the Town of Peace River was 6,729 in 2011, a 6.6% increase over its 2006 population. There are significant nodal settlements and subdivisions in the vicinity of the town on acreages along Highway 2 to the west, Highways 684 (Shaftesbury Trail) and 743 as well as the southwest portion of Northern Sunrise County. Regionally, there are various First Nation communities to the northeast, French-Canadian farming communities to the south and to the east, and Mennonite and Hutterite German-Canadian farming communities to the north and northwest of the town. Peace River was the site of the 2004 Alberta Winter Games. In 2010, Peace River, in conjunction with Grimshaw and surrounding municipalities, jointly hosted the 2010 Alberta Summer Games.