WEYBURN – A former president of the Weyburn Ag Society, Don Payak, made a surprise donation to the board of the Ag Society from the Prairie Shelterbelt tree program he had been involved with.
“The donation from the shelterbelt program Don was involved with was a nice and welcome surprise,” said Tyler Metheral, the current president of the Weyburn Ag Society.
The board decided to use the funds of around $5,500 to purchase a trailer for the new portable stage, which has been built for the use of the Ag Society at their events, such as the Fair.
Metheral explained how the portable stage idea became a reality.
“The stage cover, with the side that folds open for a bigger stage, was an idea I had for a long time. We finally had saved some money for this project when I gave the idea to Mike Bell, and he ran with it, making it much better than I had planned,” he said.
“Not only did he design and work on the project, but he got most of the materials and labour to help build it donated by local businesses,” he added.
The new stage cover on was placed on Metheral’s trailer, because their old stage trailer could not handle the extra weight.
“This tied up my trailer most of the summer as we had rented the stage/cover out. So when we received the donation from Don, putting the money towards a new stage trailer that will last for years was an easy decision,” said Metheral, adding, “We plan to recognize the shelterbelt program and their donation on the stage/trailer.”
Payak was involved with the Weyburn Agricultural Society for 28 years and was president for two of them.
