If you live in the Estevan area, there’s a pretty good chance that you attended an event in the Energy City this past weekend.
The United Way Estevan held its annual telethon on Oct. 26 and 27. It would be impossible to count how many people passed through the doors of the host site, the Royal Canadian Legion’s Estevan branch, during the telethon, because so many entertainers, volunteers, donors and spectators turned out for the event.
But when you consider just how many people were involved in some fashion, it’s likely in the thousands of people.
(There were hundreds of school students from the elementary schools and Estevan Comprehensive School alone).
Thousands of people attended the John Mellencamp concert at Affinity Place on Oct. 26 as well. They raved about the opportunity to hear one of the most famous singers in American rock perform so many of his most popular songs.
Hundreds of dedicated volunteer and paid on-call firefighters were in Estevan for the Saskatchewan Volunteer Firefighters Association’s fall training conference from Oct. 26-28. This wasn’t an event that attracted lots of local onlookers, but there were a lot of people locally involved with making the event happen, not the least of which were the dedicated members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service.
The firefighters who travelled to Estevan for the training school praised the efforts of the local fire department, the courses that were offered and the sites used for training.
An antiques and collectibles show was held at the Estevan Exhibition Hall on Oct. 26 and 27, with all sorts of interesting memorabilia available.
The Estevan Comprehensive School’s junior boys’ volleyball team hosted their annual home tournament on Oct. 26 and 27 as well.
And the Southern Plains Co-op held its second annual Trail of Terror down at Preddy Trail in Woodlawn Regional Park in the evening of Oct. 27, to the delight of hundreds of people in attendance.
(Incidentally, one of the more positive trends in Estevan in recent years has been the surge in the number of events offered for local residents. A few years ago, there would have been just a couple of events happening. Now there are several events to choose from on Halloween, and other events happening in the weeks leading up to the big day. And, of course, kids still get to go from door to door, and shout “Trick or Treat” on Halloween).
Anyways, there was a lot to choose from, in addition to the activities that you can do on a beautiful weekend in southeast Saskatchewan.
Obviously, it was a very busy weekend in Estevan, but the number of activities was not out of the ordinary. This coming weekend, for example, will be busy as well, with the Ev Johnson Memorial Adjudicated Art Show, the Brickery Lego show, two Power Dodge Estevan Bruins games, an atom hockey tournament and other activities for the community to enjoy.
Next weekend will be the annual Remembrance Day service, organized by the Royal Canadian Legion’s Estevan branch, a ceremony that will be particularly meaningful because it will be held on the 100th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
It seems like there will be something significant going on in the community every weekend until the Christmas holidays, which is impressive considering how busy people usually are in the final weeks of the year with Christmas parties and other activities.
So clearly it’s wrong to say there’s nothing to do in Estevan, unless you have decided to shut yourself off from the rest of the world and live the life of a hermit.
