ESTEVAN - The Estevan Chamber of Commerce has announced that its Farmer Appreciation Evening is to be held in its traditional format this spring.
The festive night, which attracts hundreds of people many of whom are involved with the agriculture sector, will be held on March 30 at Beefeater Plaza. For the past three years, the event was cancelled, and in 2021 and 2022, the Farmer Family of the Year Award was handed to the winning local families at their farms due to pandemic restrictions and concerns.
Some details, including the guest speaker for the night, are still being finalized. Farm family nomination forms are available at the chamber's website at estevanchamber.ca. The deadline to submit the filled forms will be March 9, which gives the community a little more than a month to nominate the most-deserving local farmers and ranchers.
Jackie Wall, Estevan Chamber of Commerce executive director, said the finalized details will be published on their website as soon as they become available, but in general, the night will be similar to how it used to be before COVID-19 hit.
"It'll be very similar to pre-pandemic, and we cannot wait to get back to that format," Wall said. "We're just confirming a few things."
The night will include supper, a guest speaker, the celebration of the Farm Family of the Year and more.
The chamber will consider the nominations that were submitted the previous year, but Wall said that if people who nominated farming families before want to update the submitted packages or even make sure the nomination goes forward again, they should reach out. They also hope to receive some new nominations.
"We will look at previous nominees. We have not done that yet, as we wait until we have the nominees from this year in," Wall noted.
The nomination form is one page long, but it can go longer depending on the history of the family's involvement.
"It just depends on the nominee and the extent of their history and their involvement in the community," Wall said.
The form asks for the family's name, address and the RM they are in. It also asks to provide brief information about the nominee's farming or ranching history, past and present, as well as special awards, achievements, recognitions and accomplishments. The person nominating a family is also asked to explain why they feel the nominee should receive the Farm Family of the Year Award.
"It's quite open, because all the nominees have a very different history and very different levels of achievements, and accomplishments, and commitment to their communities," Wall said.
Tickets for the night, which is always a sell-out, will become available soon with more information coming as well.
