Kenosee Lake is situated adjacent to Moose Mountain Provincial Park. Kenosee Lake has it all in one great area! Visitors can enjoy boating, fishing, skiing, swimming, water sliding, tennis, 50+ km of hiking/biking trails, ball diamonds, and playgrounds!
Balgonie is named after Balgonie Castle in Scotland and like all the communities located in the White Butte area has seen substantial growth over the last two decades. Grenall High is a regional school that serves all the schools in the area and is a hub of activity. Balgonie also boosts the only outdoor swimming pool amongst the communities along with some other great facilities. Cool historical fact is that Balgonie was home to William Wallace Gibson who designed and made the first Canadian models of an airplane which he tested off the roof of his store which was located in the Hyde Building. Watch the National Film Board of Canada’s short film, ‘The Balgonie Birdman’ to learn more.
The White City Museum was honoured with an award in October, the Museums Association of Saskatchewan (MAS) Award of Merit – Institution. The museum provides outreach programs to school and was nominated for their “White Butte Ecomuseum Ecology Heritage Project”.
The project gives students and teachers an opportunity to explore and discover natural features and wildlife on the prairie landscape. The experiential lessons include material on birds, pollinators, water quality, glacial rocks, mindfulness, and pasture management. The activities were created by University of Regina students with the teachers guide created by Dr. Adela Kincaid. Teachers work with the students to go through the activities, encouraging them to interact with the information, objects, and outdoor environment. This project has set the stage for future opportunities for community-based science and research and for disseminating results to the community and beyond through presentations, websites, and social media.
The MAS Award of Merit was given to the White City Museum honouring institutions with projects with a budget under $50,000. One of the museum’s ongoing projects, The White Butte Ecomuseum and Gallery, is a concept being developed through the Town of White City and looks to the whole White Butte ecoregion for its cultural heritage content, including White City, Pilot Butte, Balgonie, Village of Edenwold and the RM of Edenwold. Other museum projects include digital storytelling, featuring long time residents of the region and focusing on the history of the area.
The museum is governed by a board of directors and was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2018. There are many exciting projects ahead and the museum is looking for board members to help guide its future.
Take a look at their website!
Check out the 2020 Award Presentation Video
Photo and Content Courtesy of White City Museum website
Pangman has many recreation and cultural activities during the year, including Pangman Days, Street Dance, Baseball Tournament, Pangman Market, Craft Sale and more. There are many volunteer groups including the Recreation Board and Historical Society. This little community boasts a swimming pool in the summertime and the Pangman Public Library Branch strives to provide resources and programming all year long! The community is home to the Pangman Peaches team, which is a part of the Borderline Ladies Fastball League!
White Butte Trails Recreation Site is located north of White City and features close to 13 km of hiking/biking trails which transform into groomed skate and classic cross-country ski trails once the snow falls. There is also a 5km year-round hiking trail that is pet friendly. If you enjoy geo-caching or want something to keep you hiking partner/kids busy there are ample geocaches to search for as well. You will also find the quant looking Nordic Ski Shack along one the trails. Beautiful place to explore while physically distancing from others! #TownTour
The south east has several regional parks. Today’s Town Tour highlight is Nickle Lake Regional Park, located on the shores of Nickle Lake and Souris River. Families can enjoy boating, camping and swimming at the beach! The park also features ball diamonds and mini-golf! Located just outside of Weyburn!
Today we are exploring the City of Weyburn for our #TownTour! Built in 2016, River Park Spray Park offers a space for families to cool down during the warm summer months! And there is also the Turner Curling Museum, Weyburn Heritage Village and Soo Line Historical Museum – which displays the largest private silver collection within the world! Tatagwa Parkway consists of 180 acres of land adjacent to the Souris River as it meanders through the City of Weyburn. The Weyburn Leisure Centre features indoor and outdoor pools! There are tennis courts for residents to enjoy along with soccer and ball fields.
The community is super excited for the new Weyburn Recreation and Cultural Centre (WRCC), a multi-purpose sports, culture and recreation facility that will offer important healthy and accessible opportunities to the community. The facility will be completely accessible and will include an art gallery, pottery studio, multi-purpose rooms, indoor track, simulator room, mini gym, multi-use synthetic field, children’s play space and outdoor ice surface. There is no shortage of play in Weyburn!
What community projects/improvements have you been working on? We have done quite a few large projects this year, some of the highlights would be the dog park we built at the north west side of town. This was built from fundraising money, we had a proposal sent out to surrounding businesses and we were able to raise over $11,000.
We also underwent a large park rejuvenation project which included an irrigation system for our town square, refinishing all our picnic tables and cleaning up eye sores around town. A walking trail was also made that stretches around our Larson Park. On top of all that we are renovating our pool, which includes replacing all existing interior parts of the pool and placing a brand-new liner inside of it.
Our curling lounge is also under renovations which will now allow us to offer it as a multi-purpose facility. We are extremely proud of everything we have accomplished so far and will continue to upgrade and build to better serve our community.
Any challenges? The challenges we faced along the way were our staff size. With Whitewood being a smaller community, we have a small staff, so a lot was asked of our crew. They have done an outstanding job going far beyond their requirements for the betterment of our community.
What impact or benefits does this bring to the community and citizens? These projects will positively impact our community for years to come. All of these projects addressed community needs and requests. We will be able to not only offer better programming for our community but also better environments for our staff to thrive in. Everything was built with a purpose of impacting our community positively economically, socially and with the purpose of addressing the recreational needs.
Any upcoming projects or improvements in the future? As our curling lounge has undergone its renovations, our arena lobby will soon be going under renovations as well by 2021. We will also be recreating our baseball diamond #2 to have a grass infield and have a similar style to the Toronto Blue Jays field (Rogers Centre), this will begin in September of this year. We are in the process of developing our recreation and parks strategic plan which will outline our community improvement ideas for the next 10 years.
Cheer Story Submitted by Ryan Dale, Recreation Director/Facilities Manager, Town of Whitewood
Candiac at first glance this hamlet may appear a ghost town but don’t let appearances deceive you. It is a really cool place to explore. Candiac was a prominent polish and Ukrainian settlement. The Montmartre-Candiac area was the location of the first Ukrainian settlement in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada. There is a cool open-air museum of old farm implements and across the highway the Calvary Memorial Shrine right beside the well known Candiac Auction Mart. #TownTour
Pilot Butte means look out point and is named due to Butte Hill that stands 23 metres above the town that surrounds it. We took the opportunity to climb the infamous Butte Hill and enjoy the view that captures all the amazing recreation facilities including the construction of the new Spray Park! We also love the graffiti art painted on the boards of the outdoor rink/skate park. So cool to see this space doubling as a canvas for young artists. #TownTour
