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Issue 43
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
ESTEVAN’S
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ECS principal Jeannot will retire in June The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) will have a new person at the helm in the next school year. Pat Jeannot, who has been the principal since the fall of 2013, has announced he will be retiring at the end of the 2019-20 school year, ending an education career that started in Carievale in 1987. “I’ve been in education for 33 years, and I felt that I’ve accomplished what I set out to accomplish, and it’s time for me to focus more on family,” he said in an interview with the Mercury. While he started in Carievale and finished in Estevan, most of his teaching career was spent in Oxbow, where he worked at the former Oxbow Prairie Heights School and the Oxbow Elementary School. Then he became the principal of the Oxbow Prairie Horizons School, which opened in 2010. He was the vice-prin-
cipal of the latter when he took the job at ECS. “I spent my entire career in southeast Saskatchewan, so I really appreciate the fact that in order to gain new experiences at different schools and new positions in education, I didn’t have to move out of this part of the province,” said Jeannot, who considers his time spent in the southeast to be a highlight. Jeannot was in the classroom for 16 years of his 33-year teaching career, and was an administrator for the other 17 years. Making the move to Estevan proved to be a very worthwhile change. “It’s been fantastic to get to know the kids,” said Jeannot. “Through my position, I’m able to see them in the classroom, in the hallways, through sports and things like that.” When he arrived at ECS, Estevan and the south-
ECS principal Pat Jeannot is retiring at the end of the current school year. File photo east region as a whole were in of that,” said Jeannot. “That community all made him the tail-end of the economic would be the biggest thing feel very welcome, and were boom. The economy is not that I could say, is I’m very very easy to work with. “I really appreciate the as strong as it was, and at- proud of how the staff has tendance at the school has responded to all the chal- quality staff we have here. lenges, and every opportu- They do so much for kids declined. But he’s pleased with nity we have and how the and it’s been great to be part how the staff members have community has been sup- of that. The community has responded to challenging portive during my tenure been very supportive, it’s here.” great to be part of the comsituations. The students, staff and munity to help the youth in “I’ve been very proud
our community.” Education has gone through some big changes over the years, particularly when it comes to technology. “As our society has changed, and with the introduction of new technology, we’ve introduced a lot of that technology into education to stay up to speed as to what society needs and what industry needs in our communities, and I would say that’s the biggest thing, is how we use technology as opposed to how we used to use technology.” The South East Cornerstone Public School Division is now advertising for Jeannot’s replacement. Jeannot said he will see what opportunities come up, such as substitute teaching that would allow him to be back in the classroom, but for now he is looking forward to placing his focus on spending time with his family.
Plans coming along for second Rafferty Rumble The preparations are going well for the 2020 Rafferty Rumble. Some changes are being made, but a lot of attractions will be returning for this year. The second edition of the resurrected event will be July 24-26 at locations throughout the community. Josh LeBlanc, who chaired the event, said they received a lot of feedback from a year ago, so they had to make some changes, most notably when it comes to the street fair downtown, which will run from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on July 25. Admission for the street fair will be $5 per person, except for children under three, who get in for free. Last year it was $20, but that covered both the street fair and the night-time street dance. “We’re also going to be increasing the number of bouncy castles and things like that, so there’s a lot more for kids’ activities and entertainment on the street,” LeBlanc told the Mercury. The live music, which was a big part of last year’s festival during the day, won’t be happening as much dur-
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The street fair will once again be a big part of the Rafferty Rumble. File Photo ing the day. The bands will be replaced with different children’s entertainers, such as magicians and singers. “We’re also launching the Rafferty Rumble Talent Search. We’re after people who can sing. If you have a band, bring a band down. If you can juggle, ride a unicycle,
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basically whatever talent you have, we’re just going to have a big community talent show.” Auditions will be in June, and then the talent search will run from 2-4 p.m. on the main stage downtown. The street fair will also include a downtown market,
vendors, show-and-shine, games and other activities. Downtown businesses have been amazing to work with, he said. For the second straight year, there will be the downtown street dance, starting in the evening. The Bromantics have confirmed they will be
back for the second straight year. Organizers are still waiting to hear back from two other bands. It will cost $20 to get into the street dance, regardless of whether people paid $5 to get into the street fair earlier in the day. “The street dance was
an amazing thing to see last year,” said LeBlanc. “Everyone is super pumped, and they heard lots about it.” They believe that at various times, there was about 2,500 people downtown during the street fair, despite the heat during the day that forced many people to go home and take a break. “We’re working on some stuff between the 4 o’clock and 8 o’clock hour to get people downtown,”said LeBlanc. Last year’s event had a lot of great bands, but there wasn’t a lot of people to watch them, especially in the mid-afternoon when people were trying to cool off from the heat. “In order for us to do the $5 admission, there had to be cuts in places, and unfortunately that’s where we had to do the cuts,” said LeBlanc. Proceeds from the street fair and the dance will be directed to the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum. Several other organizations will be running events in conjunction with the Rafferty Rumble. The Estevan Motor Speedway will kick off A2 » ORGANIZATIONS
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