review
weyburn Vol.111 No. 50 - Weyburn, Saskatchewan Wednesday, December 9, 2020 - 14 Pages
.com
Staying fit during COVID
Toys delivered to Family Place
Former local athlete and fitness coach Thomas Bresciani shares thoughts on training.
Weyburn fire fighters delivered donated toys to the Family Place, from their toy drive.
Page 6
ONLY 16 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!
Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40069240 Publication Mail Registration No. 09093
Page 10
1.25
$
(Includes GST)
Quota Carol Festival to be held over two weekends By Greg Nikkel The longtime Weyburn tradition of the Quota Carol Festival on the first weekend of December was partially
fulfilled this year, as Quota put their video online on Sunday, but the virtual festival will also be shown this weekend as well, on Dec. 13.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Carol Festival will not held in person this year, but it is being shown virtually online and on the
AccessNow TV community channel. But as organizer Heather Sidloski of Quota explained, in a Zoom presentation to the
Candy cane elves on ‘Fan Favourite’ float in parade
Review Photo 3488 — Greg Nikkel Halle and Brittany Barber sat among candy canes on the Barber Motors float, as a colourful part of the Parade of Lights held on Thursday evening by the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce. This float was awarded “Fan Favourite for Businesses” by the Chamber. Most of the spectators for this annual parade watched from or beside their vehicles to stay safely distanced, and lined the streets from Prairie Avenue through Third and Second Streets downtown and along Bison Avenue for the final leg of the route.
Tree lot successful event for Young Fellows Members of the Young Fellows Club quickly offloaded a trailer with 50 balsam trees on Monday evening, replenishing their stock that was nearly completely sold out in a week’s time. There were only about six trees left at the Weyburn Young Fellows Christmas tree lot on Monday morning, and those were balsams in the four-to-six foot range, with 30 trees on the lot on Saturday. A survey was put online
by the Young Fellows on Monday to determine whether they should bring in some more trees, but not many took the survey. Young Fellows tree lot chairman Trent Rommann said he doesn’t think the club has ever sold out of all of their trees, and added, “Definitely not in one week.” To put it into perspective, this addition of 50 trees brought this year’s total shipment of trees to 500, compared to the 900 trees the Young Fellows sold last year
in “normal” times. With the COVID pandemic throwing a wrench into everything, club members weren’t sure what a good number of trees was. Club member Ryan Bachmeier said that the trees were sold off the lot as soon as they arrived in Weyburn on Nov. 28, with some 50 trees sold just that day before they officially opened the next day. “Sales have been crazy. We were pulling the trees off the truck, and people were
standing in line to buy them,” he said. “Then during the auction day there was lineup of six or seven people out the door constantly to buy trees. This has been the craziest year for tree sales.” Ryan said that the balsams are “a nice tree, they are nice and full. They will look good in a living room.” All funds raised from the tree lot will be donated back to support the community projects of the Young Fellows Club in Weyburn.
Weyburn Rotary Club, complications arose as Access’s Regina office decided not to livestream the show, but will show it on the community channel on Sunday, Dec. 13. This was a problem for Quota, as the 67-year tradition has been for the first Sunday, which is Dec. 6 this year, so Sidloski pulled together some video performances she had access to, including the 2020 performances which were submitted to Quota as well as some past ones, and these were put on Facebook on Sunday. “We don’t fully understand Regina’s programming needs, but the Regina office (of Access) decided no, they wouldn’t livestream it, so we were pretty disappointed,” said Sidloski, adding they agreed late in the week to post a link for the show. “I’m not sure how long that link will last, but we’ll be sharing that link with Facebook.” She explained there may be copyright issues with some songs, and if Facebook algorithms feel a song is under copyright they may stop it from being shown. In order to have something up on Dec. 6, the Quota members decided to put together a video that they posted, which will include this year’s performances and some videos of school choirs. (The link to the video on the Review’s website is at www.weyburnreview.com/ news/2020-quota-virtualcarol-festival-1.24251097) “It’s a little bit complicated, and it’s caused us a little bit of stress, but this video will air on Dec. 6th, and you can watch the virtual Carol Festival on Access on the 13th,” said Sidloski. “When you see the excitement on kids faces, that tells you a little bit as to why we love the Carol Festival, and why it’s an integral part of our Christmas tradition.” Rotary member Brenda King commented, “For Bob and me definitely the Carol Festival kicks off our celebrations.” She passed on her congratulations to Quota
Young Fellows bring in 50 more Christmas trees
and to the Weyburn Review for the insert in the paper on Dec. 2 that included historical photos of past Carol Festivals, as well as quotes from various people about their favourite memories of the Carol Festival. “It gave us the opportunity to reflect on those who are near and dear to us and are now gone, like April Sampson and Isabelle Butters. We’re really looking forward to your show, and we thank you for thinking of a new way of organizing this for us this year,” said King. Another Rotarian, Mal Barber, recalled one year when the Rotary choir was performing at the Carol Festival and the power went out. “(Pianist) Tom (Schuck) could play by ear, and there weren’t a lot of men singing, because we didn’t know our words, but Tom made the piano sound beautiful,” said Barber. A fellow Quotarian, Melanie Sorensen, said that Heather should get much of the credit for the hard work she has put into getting the virtual Carol Festival up and online, which she pulled together in about three weeks’ time. “So when she says it hasn’t worked out the way we had hoped, it’s amazing it’s worked out at all,” said Sorensen, adding that June Fletcher was also a big help on the project as well. “Heather took it and ran with it, and she really needs to be acknowledged for that,” she added. “One of my best memories was of Gordon Liddle,” said Tom Schuck, the club’s pianist, making reference to a longtime former Weyburn Rotary member. “He was our music director for a very long time, and he’d always have us over for Christmas cheer after we did our duty. I hope to be able to do that some Christmas. Gordon was a great contributor to the music scene in Weyburn.” “I think we’re very lucky, both for the music festival and the Carol Festival. Music has been such a big part of Weyburn,” said Sidloski.
Review Photo 3772 — Greg Nikkel
Members of the Young Fellows Club quickly offloaded 50 more balsam trees from a trailer brought in on Monday evening to replenish their stock at the Christmas tree lot on Second Street. The club nearly sold out all of their trees within a week’s time, and decided to bring in some more to help meet the demand for Christmas trees.