Sibbald Gentleman’s Club (Closed)

The location is far eastern Alberta and in the little community of Sibbald. There off Highway #9. A faded sign taped to the door declares: “Warning, nude entertainers appearing within premises. Some patrons may find this offensive. No minors. Picture ID only. $10.00 cover charge. Sibbald Bar & Hotel.” Did we read that right? A peeler bar?

Really…here, in this quiet village? Who’d have ever thought it. While the Sibbald Hotel has been around for a long time and the bar was probably just a regular small town watering hole for much of its history, it’s last incarnation as a stripper bar is a fascinating chapter. We know the girls didn’t perform all the time, but still, it seemed to be a big selling point.

This article, from 2016, is one of those lost to a recent system crash and rather than restore directly from backups, it was given a new life. We’ve updated and added to the info, but are still using original photos. They should be reshoot at some point though.

Hundred of articles (from 2012-2016) were affected by this annoying little event and any worth saving will be reposted like this. Likely with a rewrite, but not necessarily with new pics. Any bad stuff (and we’ve spewed out our share of tripe) will be deleted and forgotten of.

Now on with the story…

Who was the Sibbald Hotel Bar’s target customer when it came to strippers…the handful of people that live in town? The population in recent times has been the range of thirty to forty and even if we add in folks residing on nearby farms it’s not a big pool of customers. Many of these people are older and traditional in their ways, so we’re not certain that’s the demographic for a successful nudie bar. But who knows?

Were they hoping to catch passing motorists on the highway a little north of town? “Boy, I’m sure weary from the open road….hey boobies! Stay in the car kids, we’ll be back in an hour!” It seems unlikely, but perhaps it happened once in a while.

How about people from other towns in the area? Sure, but don’t be seen or the rumour mills will be put into motion. The only thing faster than the Internet is small town gossip, or so folks from these places often tell us. Local oilfield workers flush with cash, in the mood for a little edgy fun, and looking for a release might be a possibility too.

Let’s consider the Saskatchewan market. It didn’t click at the time of the original post, but now makes sense. The border is only a dozen kilometres away and more relaxed drinking rules in Alberta, plus time zone differences, made this bar an attractive target for those just over the border. Now it kind of makes sense. Those hard working boys in SK love a good time so how could they resist?

Still, the peelers were probably just icing on the cake and not the main motivator to come.

“I grew up 45 minutes away, in Saskatchewan where the legal drinking age is 19. Since Alberta’s legal age was 18, we’d go there for the novelty of drinking in a bar. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s there were indeed still strippers. Lol!” – Sheena.

“When I lived in Alsask, SK (just across the border from Sibbald) in the 80s, the Sibbald Hotel was still operating. Some of the clientele came from the Canadian Forces Radar Station that operated at Alsask until 1987. From time to time, the Hotel had a Ladies Night, when they would bring in male strippers. – Larry.

“Yes the Hotel was famous for its strippers and upstairs activities–the reason it lasted so long was Kids could drink at 18 in AB but 19 in Sask–plus Daylight savings time–they got an extra hour of booze…” – Kent.

The subject ruffled a few feathers too…

“It was more a strip bar they did have strippers once in a while but people came for miles to have a good time there they had live bands there once and a while to and it was a lot farther back than 2010 it was more like the 80’s you do a little more fact finding before you run a story like this.” – Mitchell (here’s some periods for you – sorry we’re just a bit mischievous today —> ….)

The response: “We don’t doubt for a second the Sibbald Hotel was other things at other times. In the context of this silly little piece, we touch on its last incarnation, that of a peeler bar before it closed for good. Our facts, they come straight from the horse’s mouth – a sign plastered to the door declaring naked girls can be found inside.” – Us.

Now, another big question: where would the girls come from? The place is literally in the middle of nowhere and probably well off the normal stripper circuit. An exotic dancer (when it was more popular) could do well bouncing between Calgary and Edmonton. Maybe hit some other major centres now and then for a bit of variety but why venture off a productive route?

We can’t see how remote strip club would be seen as an attractive place to work if getting naked for money is your thing. But as others have pointed out, and we’ve heard from tons of readers, I guess with all the well paid rig types, and boys from from just across the border made the place busier than we would have guessed. Still, seems like such an odd location to find exotic dancers. You have to admit that!

It’s assumed the girls bunked in a room upstairs. We think the last owner, or who ever ran the place, also resided up there.

What did the locals think? Did they voice their displeasure? Make a shake finger motion as they drove past? Did the community call out the business or simply accept it? It’s not sure what kind of push-back the Sibbald Hotel Gentleman’s Club received, but we suspect there must have been some.

To get some backstory we attempted to call the number seen on the sign but no one ever answered. Too bad, we’d love to get inside the head of the former owners…if they’re even still around. You gotta know this is one interesting story and far more involved than we can touch on.

There’s this hotel and the community hall across the road. The latter displays the date 1929 and that it’s very similar in appearance (sans the later ad-on sections) and from about the same time suggests they share a common lineage. The same builders perhaps?

The Sibbald Gentleman’s Club closed sometime around 2015-ish (records differ). This establishment was the last very business in town and now it’s all quiet down there on Main Street. There’s the hotel, some empty lots, the town’s small RV park which we’ve never seen anyone using, and the community centre mentioned earlier.

The Sibbald Hotel once offered rooms, but this practise ended some time before it closed. Not that anyone was going to overnight here anyway. Maybe they did back when roads were local affairs and people travelled by train (the railway station was once right across the road), but not these days. The rooms were probably old style, small with only a bed and sink, with shared facilities as the end of the hall. Even if available, and in good shape, they’d be a hard sell these days.

Ghost lettering spelling out “hotel” and done vertically, can be seen on the left-front pilaster. The parapet, that raised section mid-point on the roof, likely held more signage at some point.

We’ve been back to Sibbald a couple times since and the hotel still looked the same on these visits, but the stripper notice vanished at some point. The beer taps have run dry, the hotel is closed and the girls have retired, but somewhere in the memories of former patrons, the Sibbald Gentleman’s Club lives on.

Know more about the town (new tab): Sibbald Alberta.

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Bay Island One Room School (1919-1950).
Coleman Alberta (Sam’s Service Station).
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Date of adventure: July, 2016.
Location: Sibbald, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society (old phonebooks), Misc UofC Archives and chats with locals.

The Sibbald Hotel is closed.

The Community Hall across the road is similar architecturally.

“Warning, nude entertainers appearing within…”