Discovering Morinville: there's more here than you think.

Everything Morinville
Mar 14, 2025
4 min read

Updated: May 30, 2025

... or how the most surprising shop in town might be inside a gas station

Before I started building this site, I saw Morinville the way a lot of locals probably do: clean, safe, affordable, great for kids—and, if I’m being honest… kind of boring.

My days were like that of most commuters. Get the kids to school, head to work in the city, then knock out as many errands as possible on the drive home. In economic development speak, that’s called retail leakage—commuters spending little drops of money everywhere except their hometown.

This site started as a course project, sparked by a podcast about how we stop seeing the places we live. And sure enough, once I started looking around, I realised just how much I’d been tuning out. Shops in unlikely places. Unexpected finds in everyday stores. Events and programs I’d never even heard of because—like a lot of us—I just wasn’t paying attention.

That’s how EverythingMorinville.com was born. It’s part local business directory, part event calendar, part invitation to (re)discover your own backyard.

Small-town shopping: less predictable, more rewarding

Take power tools, for example.

If you need a weed wacker or a lawn mower, your first instinct might be to hit one of the big-box stores down the highway. But Morinville actually has a surprisingly strong showing:

Home Hardware (you probably guessed that one)
NAPA Auto Parts on 100 Ave (which really deserves a better name than “100 Ave”)
Smokehouse Grills in the industrial park
The Shell station by McDonald’s (yes, really—it’s also a Husqvarna dealer)
Tool Shed Rentals near Heritage Lake (because sometimes, renting is the smart move)

Turns out, Morinville might just be a destination for power equipment shoppers. Take that, St. Albert.

And beyond selection, shopping local means getting help from people who actually know what they’re selling—not a part-time clerk Googling the manual behind the counter.

There’s more to Morinville than just shopping

It’s not just about where you buy things—it’s about reconnecting with your town and the people in it.

When was the last time you...

Stepped inside the Musée Morinville Museum or browsed the shelves at the Morinville Community Library?
Spent an afternoon thrift-hopping, followed by iced Vietnamese coffee at Pho Morinville or bubble tea from Morinville Pizza Palace?

Explored somewhere completely off your radar—like the gift shop inside the Petro-Can that somehow channels early-2000s San Francisco novelty store vibes?

I thought I knew what was on offer around here. But I didn’t know about painting classes at Creative Cove, or that yoga sometimes happens at the Foxhole Canteen, or that Sturgeon Brewing hosts comedy nights.

And I definitely wasn’t appreciating the beauty of Cardiff Park enough—or the fact that you can rent paddleboards there in summer now.

Why EverythingMorinville.com exists

A lot of people want to shop locally, but it has to be easy. If you've ever tried to search online for something you need to buy or something you need to get done, you know the struggle: outdated websites and old directory listings, inactive Facebook pages, paid listings from not-one-bit-local businesses.

That’s where EverythingMorinville.com make all the difference:

Only local businesses and non-profits. No sifting through listings from other cities.
Up-to-date information. Monitored by real humans who live here.
A community resource. Local businesses, event organizers, and activity hosts can update their own listings, keeping the info fresh.

For residents, it means shopping locally is finally easy—you can quickly find what you need without having to guess or dig for details. For local businesses and non-profits, it means more visibility and a direct connection to the community.

Because people want to shop locally—but it has to be easy.

Search online and you’re hit with outdated websites, broken links, inactive Facebook pages, or paid ads for businesses that aren’t even close to here.

This site is different:

✅ Only local businesses and non-profits. No outside noise.

✅ Updated by real humans (hi!) who live here.

✅ Built to help, not to sell you something you didn’t want in the first place.

For residents, that means finding what you need without sifting through the digital junk drawer. For local businesses and groups, it means being seen without battling the algorithm.

Get involved—help shape the site!

This site works best when it's used. Here's how you can be part of it:

Local business or non-profit? Search for your listing. If it’s missing or outdated, use the Add/Verify Listing form and we’ll fix it up.
Hosting an event? Add it to the events calendar.
Local resident? Visit a shop you’ve never been in. Book a massage at a local spa. Get your next prescription filled at a local pharmacy. You might be surprised by what’s right here—and when you go, let them know you found them through this directory. It helps more than you think.