There is a relatively small window of nice weekends in Saskatchewan, made even smaller as events are generally sandwiched between spring seeding and fall harvest in order to have a chance for grain farmers to join the festivities.
The problem of course becomes events soon begin to overlap with others, and for those wanting to attend there are family barbeques, day trips to the lake, fishing, golf and a dozen other activities we try to cram into our summer when the temperatures are warm and there is no need to shovel snow to get to the car.
To the credit of many in the community events continue to be held, new ones added to the busy schedule included, meaning we can enjoy ourselves without necessarily having to travel for holidays.
This past weekend Invermay held its annual fair, while locally new events, a travelling food truck wars and the inaugural Rally Round the Mill were held.
Next up we have two days of stock car racing at Yellowhead International Speedway, while a paddling regatta hits the water at York Lake, a bike and run for Hope Air hits the streets and Yorkton co-hosts the Provincial Disc Golf Championship with Melville.
At the heart of all these events, and dozens more in the city and region, are an army of volunteers putting in incalculable hours readying for and holding the events. They work so that the rest of us can simply show up and enjoy the events.
Without our volunteers; fire fighters cooking pancakes, Lions Club barbequing burgers, people righting downed barrel racing barrels, helping line disc golf fairways, or doing post event clean-up, the varied events would simply not happen.
Since often, like the Rally Round the Mill and the Bike & run for Hope Air, events have a fundraising element going toward a range of worthy causes, the volunteer effort is even more important.
It’s not always easy to get people to donate to all the good causes that exist in the city, but donating at a pancake breakfast, buying a burger, or going for a run, are fun things that also mean they are donating.
It’s all part of what makes a community a community, thanks largely to our volunteers.
