Considered the gateway to the Grasslands National Park, Val Marie's economy is largely based on wheat farming, ranching, and tourism.

Louis-Pierre Gravel, missionary and promoter of much French Catholic immigration to southwestern Saskatchewan, originally called this settlement Rivière des Français after the nearby Frenchman River.

Before coming to Val Marie, Passaplan served as the first Roman Catholic parish priest in Swift Current.

They studied the natural resources and agricultural potential of the Palliser area — including Val Marie — and reported the place as dismally dry, prone to drought, and unfit for habitation.

In 1877, Tatanka Iyotake Sitting Bull crossed from the USA into Canada along the Frenchman River (which flows through Val Marie) after his victory over General Custer at Battle of the Little Bighorn.

[2] By 1939, two irrigation reservoirs were built near Val Marie by the PFRA (Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Agency) in coordination with Ducks Unlimited.

On August 14, 2004, Grasslands – Where Heaven Meets Earth, a site-specific art performance, was held in the community and park.

The event was a collaboration of Canadian artists including Bill Coleman, Edward Poitras, Gordon Monahan, and Margie Gillis.

The West Block of Grasslands National Park lies 10 km east of Val Marie.

The park is home to over 12,000 teepee rings, indicating that the land was heavily used by indigenous people before it was used by cattle ranchers and homesteading.

[4] It can be a harsh climate, cold and windswept in the winter and often very dry for prolonged periods, broken sometimes by extremely intense rainfalls during the summer.

Between the Val Marie Hotel, Prairie Wind & Silver Sage (the museum), theatre/hall, and arena, there are many events taking place weekly.

The number of tourists that come to Val Marie for annual events or to use the Port of Monchy Border Crossing is unknown.

Services in the community include a gas station, a hotel/bar, a museum (which also includes a gift shop, coffee shop and art gallery), a café, a campground, art galleries, bed and breakfasts, an old convent that has been converted to an inn, a movie theatre, yoga studio, a hockey arena and curling rink, a library, a community centre, a town square, and a community-owned grocery store.