Today’s #TownTour presents the community of Yellow Grass! Yellow Grass is home to the Yellow Grass Communiplex which includes the arena and hall. This facility is a hub of activity in winter for skating and hockey. Families and children have a safe space to play at Allen Park during the warm seasons! And check out the Prairie View Historical Site as well as the Yellow Grass Public Library Branch, Southeast Regional Library located in a 1903 heritage building!
Our next #TownTour stop is in the Paris of the Prairies! Montmartre was settled by immigrants from France, which is where they got their village slogan. It was also twined with Montmartre, Paris through a formal signing between the mayors of both communities in 1961.
The community has a great variety of art and recreation opportunities available from an avid stick curling group in the winter to a variety or classes being offered through Centre 48. Add Kemoca Regional Park into the mix and there is no shortage of leisure activities!
Introducing South East District’s #TownTour. This summer, our staff hit the road to visit communities in the south east! First up, Town of Wolseley, Saskatchewan!
Wolseley, the town around a lake is full of interesting places to explore whether you are a history buff or looking for a little bit of family leisure time. Take a walking tour and admire some of the provinces significant historic buildings, the Wolseley Court House is the oldest surviving court house in Saskatchewan! Spend an afternoon at the beach and play at the spray park or enjoy a stroll across the historic The Wolseley Swinging Bridge before enjoying a movie at the Twilite Drive-In which is also a designated historic site. There’s always action to be found in the winter at the Wolseley Sportsplex and Wolseley Curling Club as well!
What types of projects has the Weyburn Arts Council (WAC) been doing? During the “shutdown” WAC rolled out the “Craft with WAC” series. Three (3) WAC members came forward and offered to host these videos, which lightened the load of responsibility. We tried to find crafts that utilized materials that would already be found in most homes. The craft was announced every Monday with a supply list, and on Wednesday there was a video teaching the craft. Videos were around a half hour in length. Some of the crafts we offered were homemade play dough, bird feeders, sock monsters, paper flowers and sidewalk chalk paint. You can find all the videos on our YouTube channel, and on Facebook.
We also rolled out the “Walking Gallery” found on 1st Avenue across from the hospital. With our galleries being closed, we wanted to find a way to still bring art to the citizens of Weyburn. We started by installing 12 works of art along a fence, which borders a busy walking route. The Gallery is open to the public, meaning that anyone who wishes to contribute a piece to the gallery is welcome to install it on the fence themselves. The goal of this project was simple: we wanted to bring joy and beauty and inclusion to the streets of Weyburn. In a time of being socially distant, it’s easy to feel alone. This was a way of staying connected.
We are also offering an “Artist Spotlight” program to our local makers. With our summer art sale having to be cancelled, we wanted to provide support and exposure for our local creatives. For many artistic people, if their opportunity to sell disappears, so does their money for supplies to continue creating. This program is free to any local creative, artist, crafts person, musician and more. To be featured, click here!
What impact or benefits does art bring to the community and citizens? Art has the ability to raise spirits and bring joy to our community members. A simple concept like the “Craft with WAC” or the Walking Gallery can make people feel less isolated. Art can bring light to the darkness.
The community response has been incredibly positive! We have reached a new audience by taking our art to the streets, if you will. Galleries can be intimidating if you’ve never been to one. By upping our social media presence during this time, we helped interest new patrons, helped keep kids entertained and hopefully helped our local creatives stay creative.
Any upcoming projects? We are holding our annual pre-holiday art market called “Gifted” in November. This year we’ve changed the format a bit to accommodate the uncertainty of our times. Registration forms are available on the City of Weyburn website.
Cheer Story Submitted by Regan Lanning, Curator, City of Weyburn
Describe your StoryWalk. Why did the community of Indian Head offer a StoryWalk as an activity? Our StoryWalk is set up along the Sunbeam Creek Trail which is a trail that runs through the middle of our town, the whole walk is about half a kilometer. What is super cool about our StoryWalk is that is a collaboration between a few organizations. This kit was lent to us by the Southeast Regional Library, and the library made this StoryWalk in partnership with South East District!
During the week of June 1st, we displayed the story “Plant the Tiny Seed” by Christie Matheson, which is such a cute story. Throughout the story, kids must wiggle their fingers, clap their hands, and they learn how to plant seeds. The StoryWalk was set up Monday to Friday from 8:30 – 4:30 p.m. for the public to enjoy. To make sure everyone had a chance to see this walk, we had a StoryWalk night on Thursday from 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. where we passed out little packages of seeds to everyone who came out to go along with the book. This was such a fabulous event and Communities in Bloom partnered with us to supply the seeds.
During the week of June 8, we changed the book and it is now exerts of “Ghost Stories of Saskatchewan” by Jo-Anne Christensen, and we will have another StoryWalk night for everyone. We offered this StoryWalk for numerous reasons:
What impact or benefits does the StoryWalk bring to the community and citizens? The StoryWalk brings many benefits, it increases physical and reading literacies, and overall, it brings people joy in a tough time.
Who participated? How did you get people to come out to try it? We had a variety of people come enjoy the StoryWalk so far, two (2) year olds to 13-year-old youth enjoyed the walk along with parents and grandparents. We cannot exactly know how many people have visited the StoryWalk during the day, but many people have told me they have visited it. During our StoryWalk night we had 35 people come and read the story!
Would you encourage other communities to consider a StoryWalk? I would HIGHLY recommend a StoryWalk for any community. It is a way to reach out to anybody and everybody and share in something together as a community.
Cheer Story Submitted by Makayla Heslip, Recreation Program Coordinator, Town of Indian Head
Join us for an even bigger national celebration where arts, culture, and creativity intersect – Indoors, outdoors, and online—discover the world of arts and culture across Canada!
Culture Days is extending beyond the traditional Culture Days Weekend to a more inclusive and interactive 4- week schedule of activities. Kicking off September 25th and running until October 25th, Culture Days is encouraging organizers to develop virtual or small group activities that will engage people in the arts and culture in their own communities and nationwide! (Gathering sizes will be based on public health restrictions for particular regions). Online registration opens June 8, 2020.
Here in Saskatchewan, Culture Days will continue to be an opportunity to highlight cultural activities and engage people from all areas of the province in free, interactive cultural activity. It’s an opportunity to find out more about Saskatchewan’s dynamic cultural community – and inspire individuals and families to spend time, over the Culture Days, to find out how they can make arts and culture part of their lives.
We have developed sponsorship opportunities to support Culture Days activities identified by communities. (The Culture Days Funding Assistance Program has been suspended). Due to the COVID-19 situation we had to reevaluate and adapt how these opportunities would work going forward. This year, SaskCulture will provide:
For more information on Culture Days in Saskatchewan and these sponsorships, contact Shelley Fayant at 306-780-9289 or sfayant@saskculture.ca. For more information on Culture Days, visit www.culturedays.ca.
The Agenda included receiving the financial statements and the report of the District’s auditor, appointing the auditor for the ensuing year, electing directors to the Board for the 2020-21 year, receiving the 2020 annual report of the District and approving bylaw changes brought forward.
Executive Director, Joni Hagen, reported that it is wonderful to pause and reflect on the work of the Board of Directors and the success of the district organization. Many accomplishments were highlighted including a 40% increase in workshop participants compared to the year prior and a 39% increase in newsletter distribution from 2019 to 2020. It was noted that South East District is a one-stop shop for sport, culture and recreation information and resources in the south east region.
Another highlight mentioned was the impact of the GROW Your Community Grant administered by the District, which supported 56 programs throughout the south east with $45,000 allocated in total. The complete report can be found at https://southeastdistrict.ca/pages/networking-opportunities
South East District is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to the volunteer Board of Directors – Ryan Dale of Whitewood, Tyler Hillstead of Weyburn, and Morgan Jones of Weyburn. They will join the 2020-21 board: Danielle Hoffman of Stoughton, Kristeen Cherpin of Radville, Sheila Guenther of Estevan, Joanne O’Sullivan of Kipling, Krista Klemmer of Weyburn, Mark Barnes of Oxbow, and Brian Chmarney of Pilot Butte.
“We are excited to welcome new additions to the Board of Directors who are bringing a wealth of expertise and knowledge to the table,” says Chairperson, Sheila Guenther.
The organization also celebrated employee service milestones – Joni Hagen, Executive Director, was recognized for ten years of service and Tara-Leigh Heslip, Community Development Consultant, for five years of service. This “milestone recognition” celebrates the contributions, accomplishments and relationships South East District employees build over time with the organization.
For more information, contact Joni Hagen, Executive Director, South East Sport, Culture & Recreation District, by email at ed@southeastdistrict.ca.
Karen Holloway lives in Wapella and was appointed to the South East Sport, Culture & Recreation District Board of Directors in 2015. Karen consistently offers her time and knowledge and has attended countless board and committee meetings over the past five (5) years. She will retire from the board in May 2020.
Karen works for the Saskatchewan Health Authority and is an advocate for the district’s programs and services wherever she goes. Karen has attended several conferences and events on behalf of the district, such as the 2018 Framework for Recreation in Canada Forum in Regina and District Cultural Gatherings and Workshops.
She is a Take the Lead! Trainer and has instructed several courses throughout the district. Take the Lead! is a program focused on fostering leadership skills in youth aged 11-14 and is administered by the Saskatchewan Parks & Recreation Association. As she connects with people in south east communities, she is always putting in a good word to let them
know about the district organization and the work we do.
Karen’s passion on the board has been focused on board recruitment, leading the Nominations Committee to cultivate prospective candidates while striving for diversity. Karen is also a chef and has graciously cooked for the board at our board retreats! One year, she taught us how to make homemade hummus! We will miss her fun and creative ice breakers that she coordinates for our board meetings and orientations!
Video-based programming and online learning is gaining momentum. With participants being unable to attend events in person, there is a significant demand for video-based learning! Libraries across the south east are taking advantage of this to stay in touch with their audience.
Submitted by Michelle Jensen, Branch Librarian, Redvers
Why are libraries doing online programming?
I have chosen to continue programming because I wanted to stay connected with my patrons and let them know that even though we are apart, we can still be together! Librarians do this job because they have a vested interest in their community and want to make sure that we can encourage our communities to become stronger by learning and growing together through literacy-based programs.
How are the libraries doing it?
I have recorded a new story time daily, as well as two (2) adult stories, and a couple of craft projects to do at home. The two adult story times have been a huge hit, and they can be found solely on the Redvers Public Library Facebook page. It is definitely worth a watch!
Any upcoming projects?
Right now we are in limbo. We are still planning for our upcoming Summer Reading Club and working on creating programs, but we have no idea as to when we will be able to proceed. I guess we will wait and see what the government comes up with in regards to slowly opening businesses.
Other comments?
We just encourage people to keep reading and keep their skills up. As librarians, we worry about the summer slide in reading so this year parents will need to stay consistent in keeping their kids reading as the “summer” got substantially longer! We hope everyone stays healthy and safe and continues to use all of the awesome resources available on the www.southeastlibrary.ca page, or on our Southeast Regional Library YouTube page!
South East Sport, Culture & Recreation District would like to recognize and thank our volunteers who have contributed their time and efforts to supporting our mission throughout this past year!