Victory victorious: ag society promotes community development

Ag societies can play an important role in regional economic development and rural revitalization.

The proof is in the Victory Agricultural Society, which recently produced a Community Showcase celebrating economic and community development in the R.M. of Victory and the Town of Beechy located in West Central Saskatchewan. Total population: 750.

“ Our ag society fair went by the wayside a few years ago,” said Lynn Connor, Treasurer and one of the remaining nine members of the Victory Ag Society. “But, we are a member of the Saskatchewan Association of Agricultural Societies and Exhibitions or SAASE, and the mandate encourages ag societies to be involved in economic development as well as education in agriculture.”

So, when four new businesses started up in Beechy and the R.M. of Victory within months of each other, the ag society took notice . . . and decided other people should, too.

“We suggested that all the grand openings be held at the same time – a big celebration. We talked to the businesses, the Town and the R.M., and we decided to have a Community Showcase – celebrating rural economic development. In addition to inviting the community to this celebration, we also invited a lot of the people and organizations responsible for policies that affect our district and its residents,” Connor said. “The entire community was involved and the ag society served as the umbrella organization for the event.”

The new businesses to be celebrated were a truck and car wash called Bernie’s; a new grain handling facility opened by West Central Road and Rail; a manufacturer of remote-controlled openers for plugged nozzles on agricultural sprayers, SprayTest Control Inc.; and a magnesium sulphate mining and Epsom salts processing company called Touchwood Resources.

“ Each of the new businesses was asked to invite guests who were important to their companies, and then all the guests were toured around to all of the new businesses and through the community and district. For example, West Central Road and Rail invited representatives from the Canadian Wheat Board, who also toured the salt mine operated by Touchwood Resources,” Connor said.

“The committee also invited representatives of various government departments and the local Member of the Legislative Assembly and Member of Parliament. We took the regional director of education on a road tour to show him how far the school buses travel. We discussed the whole bussing issue,” Connor said. “We also invited SaskTel because we’ve been chatting with the company for the last year about why it seems that everybody else, except Beechy, was getting high-speed Internet.”

“We told the SaskTel representative who came to Beechy that we needed high-speed Internet to assist with the community’s economic development – businesses and the school need high-speed Internet. So, SaskTel held a focus group meeting during our Community Showcase. We said that the future of education is the Internet – a lot of us here take university courses and agricultural courses by Internet. Learning on-line: we like it because we can set up our own schedule. Because, you know, we’re sort of isolated out here in Beechy.”

Beechy’s isolation is reflected in the title of an award winning play written and produced by the Beechy high school drama club in 1998-99: It’s not the end of the world, but we can see it from here. The isolation has also prompted Beechy to be part of innovative projects in health care and in transportation.

“I believe we’re among the first communities in the southern part of the province to have a nurse practitioner on our Primary Health Care Team, working collaboratively with our doctor. In fact, I believe Beechy was the first primary health services demonstration site funded under Saskatchewan Health's Primary Health Services Initiative. As well, the R.M. of Victory was one of the first to participate in a partnership agreement in 1998 with the Department of Highways and Transportation to regrade Highway #342 from Beechy to Kyle.”

It would appear that the people of Beechy and the R.M. of Victory are not afraid to try new ideas. As with other activities undertaken in the past, the concept of the Community Showcase was adopted, enthusiastically developed, and proved a great success.

“The guests came from all across Saskatchewan and were toured around. About 335 local people turned out for beef burgers served on main street – beef was chosen, of course, to support our beef industry. We had eight nine-by-13-inch cakes for the grand openings of the businesses,” Connor said. “Our entertainment included local talent, which included performances by Beechy’s Irish dancing students and the school’s Grade Four and Five Choir. The children wrote and performed their own song about Beechy. Yes, we do have an Irish dancing instructor here, a transplant from Edmonton, and people actually come to Beechy to take Irish dancing lessons. The day concluded with a street dance sponsored by the Elks Club with music by a live band called AWOL, local young people, who can play everything from waltzes to rock and roll.”

The demonstration of talent also included young people involved in agriculture.

“After supper, we had 4-H Parade of Steers because the kids had held their achievement day the week before, and this parade at the Community Showcase gave them a chance to sell their beef. This year, we allowed the sale of quarters and half-beef, which prompted more people to buy.

“I suppose in a way the whole day was kind of like a fair – but, it included more things than a fair. It was a great day and everybody said they had a really good time. And we’ve just heard that Beechy is on the list for high-speed Internet.”