Bengough鈥檚 mayor, Dennis Mazenc, still believed his town was a great place to raise families in 2020, just as he did in conversation a year earlier.
鈥淏ecause we鈥檝e got all the facilities here 鈥� a swimming pool, a skating rink, a grocery store 鈥� we鈥檝e got everything.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檝e got our pool open right now,鈥� Mazenc added, also saying parents from Ogema, Coronach and other nearby communities have been taking their children to Bengough for swimming lessons.
Indeed, Bengough has a variety of amenities for a small town, including the Bengough Community Centre, the Co-op Grocery Store, the Bengough Credit Union, the Bengough curling and skating rinks, the library, an outdoor pool, a nine-hole sand green, a local pharmacy, the Bengough Regional Park and a K-12 school.
Health services in the town are limited as they are in most rural communities. However, the medical staff in Bengough are dedicated to keeping everyone in the town healthy.
Bengough has a local nurse practitioner who intends on staying in the area, because she married a local Bengough farmer as Mazenc pointed out.
At this time, the town鈥檚 physician is only in town on Mondays and the nurse practitioner is only available on Tuesdays, but nurses in Bengough are obtainable at the Bengough Health Centre on a 24/7 basis.
Laboratory and X-ray services in Bengough are accessible on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays (with the exception of holidays, or the third Friday of each month).
The Bengough Health Centre on 400 Second Street West has 24 level three and four long-term care beds, plus two multi-use beds for respite, convalescence and palliative care.
Mazenc is exceptionally pleased with the way his town reacted to the public health regulations imposed during the advent of COVID-19. Everyone in Bengough remained vigilant with cleaning standards, maintaining social distancing and they self-isolated when required to do so.
鈥淚鈥檓 proud of the community. We haven鈥檛 had a case here, so we鈥檙e lucky,鈥� Mazenc reported.聽聽
The population of this pleasant community, also known as The Gateway to the Big Muddy, has remained at about 337 or so, but recently people from other parts of Western Canada have been resettling in the community.
鈥淭he population鈥檚 pretty well the same, but there鈥檚 more people moving in from other provinces like Alberta,鈥� Mazenc said.
Bengough has recently updated their water treatment plant at the cost of $2.3 million. The reverse osmosis plant, which will open in August, received 1/3 of its funding from the provincial government and 1/3 of its funding from the federal government with the community expected to cover the remaining costs.
Future projects in the works for Bengough include decommissioning a landfill then building a new lagoon to accommodate the water plant鈥檚 expansion. 鈥淥ur water cells will have to be larger to accommodate the reverse osmosis water plant,鈥� Mazenc said in an interview in 2019.
Both projects are estimated to cost about a half million dollars each.
