Tucked into the prairies roughly 25 kilometres east-southeast of Camrose, the village of Bawlf sits in a part of central Alberta surrounded by neighbouring communities such as Daysland, Rosalind, Ohaton, and Kelsey. Its origins trace back to 1905, when the Canadian Pacific Railway surveyed the townsite on land belonging to Gilbert Hansen. The first train rolled through in 1906, and by 1909 regular passenger and freight service was running between Edmonton and Winnipeg. The village takes its name from Nicholas Bawlf, who served as president of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange at the time the community was founded. The Province of Alberta officially incorporated the Village of Bawlf on October 12, 1906, though an overseer managed local affairs until 1908, when the first elected council – consisting of R. H. Anderson, P. O. Paulson, and Edwin C. Hardy – took office. A fire in 1913 destroyed five local businesses, marking one of the more difficult early chapters in the village’s history.
According to the 2021 Census of Population, Bawlf is home to 412 residents living in 164 of the village’s 176 private dwellings. That figure represents a modest decline of 2.4% from the 422 residents recorded in 2016, which was itself up 4.7% from 403 in 2011. The village covers a land area of 0.89 square kilometres, giving it a population density of approximately 462.9 people per square kilometre. Local governance is handled by a five-member council supported by a chief administrative officer. One of the more enduring community institutions is the local curling facility, which has its roots in a 1937 project funded partly by a $250 donation from Joe Ohman and a $175 loan from the village council, using a building surplused by the Town of Camrose. A replacement curling building was constructed in 1955-56 at a cost of $8,642, rented to the Alberta Wheat Pool for seven years, and finally opened for curling in 1962, with artificial ice added the following year. Education in Bawlf is centred on Bawlf School, a K-12 institution serving around 350 students from Bawlf and nearby communities including Round Hill and Rosalind, and recognised by the Fraser Institute for its academic and athletic achievements.