YORKTON - The days are getting longer, but regardless what some groundhog shadow might mean in the east, it’s still February in Saskatchewan and weeks of winter lay ahead of us still.
It’s that time of year we all seem to want to do something to break the monotony of winter, the excitement of the days leading up to Christmas now a somewhat fading memory, and the resolutions of New Year’s mostly broken.
So why, one must ask, do we not have a winter carnival in Yorkton?
The bookends of a winter festival have now been established in Canada. Hockey Day was Jan. 29 this year and Curling Day Feb. 5.
Take those two days and pack hockey and curling events around the respective weekends, add in some snow sculptures in the park, snowshoe races, a Christmas tree bonfire in front on the grandstand after a day of snowmobile drags, invite cross country skiers to a loppet at Deer Park, do a night time skate at Patrick Park, and well you get the picture, the city becomes a winter playground where everyone is invited – hot chocolates served at every restaurant in the city.
However, Yorkton has never been particularly good at seeing itself as a place where city-wide events are hosted.
We do very well at the one event on one weekend sort of thing. From the Parkland Outdoor Show to Sunflower to Harvest Showdown individual events are held and are successful, but rarely does the entire city climb aboard an idea so that it simply permeates the community.
Envision the Sunflower Festival across the city, with store windows painted, flower art at pARTners Gallery, restaurants serving a salad with sunflower oil and roasted sunflower seeds, or sunflower chicken salad sandwiches, and maybe a service club getting a few acres of city-owned land for a massive sunflower maze.
Or, could we turn the entire city into a farm-themed locale for Harvest Showdown week, making it a time to say a proper thank you as a community to area farmers. There would be more painted business windows, and a country singer at the Painted Hand Casino, a day of square dancing at the seniors' hall and other events around the city.
It would seem the core events are already in place, and the ideas plentiful, the ones here identified over an afternoon of thought – imagine the wonderful ideas which would emerge from the community if we put our collective minds to creating big – all-encompassing events.
