Estevan, the way I got to know this city before, was back in full power these past few days.
First, it was back the way I got to meet it in 2013. At that time, my first few trips to the Energy City took me through the endless white fields making up the landscape between Manitoba and Saskatchewan. And the only question I had then was, "Did the spring get lost?"
The spring of 2013 took its time to get to the Prairies. April snowbanks were a few feet deep at spots, and the last snow melted towards the end of May, which was terrifying for me. Coming from Russia I've been asked a lot if I was used to having harsh long winters. I thought I indeed was. But I've never experienced such an endless winter before.
(I'm also from the wrong region of Russia, where winters don't bring anything like the most-portrayed Siberian frigid weather, so I didn't build up a high tolerance for colourless cold life).
That winter beat all of my personal records. But fortunately, as I learned the next year, and the year after that, and the next one, the longevity of that winter-o-spring was rather exceptional.
It was the case until this April, when I caught myself thinking, whether or not the old Grinch completely lost his marbles and stole spring instead of Christmas. Watching growing snowbanks this Monday was tough, but I couldn't resist smiling at those memories from my first visit to Estevan and hoping that 2013 Saskatchewan's winter will remain unbeaten and unique.
But there was another side of Estevan that I was happy to see back after rather a long break. Last week the city was just endlessly busy with many big events. Estevan was back the way I got to know it when I just started working for the Mercury in 2019. The number of occurrences to cover was unbelievable, partially because I feel that over the past quiet years, I forgot how it could be. But our schedule was indeed loaded.
The week was already busy enough with a couple of important AGMs, some sports and the return of the Estevan Farmers’ Appreciation Evening, which was back to its pre-pandemic traditional format of a big, fun and festive gathering at the Beefeater Plaza. But over the weekend the Estevan community really got to rock the way it used to.
It was so busy that I eventually ran out of camera space halfway through the weekend. Estevan Farmers' Market's first sale and the Souris Valley Museum's Easter Egg Hunt, Estevan Kinette Club’s 75th jubilee and the Estevan Recreational Dance Club's big recital, the Estevan Wildlife Federation's annual fundraising dinner and auction and the Estevan and District Music Festival’s highlights and awards program, Estevan Mermaids' water show and Apex U18 AA Bruins’ series with Saskatoon.
All of those great events took a lot of planning, preparation and support. Several of them needed volunteers and sponsors, and they all needed participants and guests.
It was one busy weekend for a lot of people in the community, but it was also a lot of fun. The Wildlife Federation was able to raise close to $40,000 to eventually put it back into their projects and facilities. Kinettes celebrated endless achievements they can be genuinely proud of just to get inspired for achieving even more. Mermaids, young musicians and the ERDC dancers had unbelievable performances, entertaining the public and also wrapping up their year of hard work. And many families had a lot of fun at the museum, getting into the Easter mood.
Sunny Saturday had that positive true-Estevan vibe hanging in the air all over the city, and it also spread into not-that-sunny, but still really busy Sunday.
To tell you the truth, I was exhausted by the end of this weekend. So probably were hundreds of parents, whose kids are involved in multiple extracurriculars. But it definitely was good-feeling exhaustion. I don't know about you, but once I catch a bit of a break after days like this, I always want to dive into that drive again. So hopefully, Estevan will keep up with its busy life, just like it used to be before the world threw a somersault three years ago, and I will have many more busy weeks and weekends like this.
But now that the community events are back, we definitely need a bigger paper to be able to tell you, our readers, about everything that's been happening and is to happen in Estevan. And for that, we need our dear advertisers to keep supporting us the best they can. If big events can make it back, I'm sure we can make nice fat Mercury editions return as well. After all, it's Estevan's Mercury, right?
