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k e e w s i h t
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2024
The Wardens to bring music of nature, the mountains By Greg Nikkel, SaskToday.ca The Wardens will bring their unique blend of original songs and stories about Canada’s protected wilderness areas to the Cugnet Centre stage, as they are the next artists to be featured by the Weyburn Concert Series on Thursday, Oct. 24. The Rocky Mountainbased band’s music reflects the lands protected as Canadian National Parks wardens. Scott Ward, now retired from the Park Service, plays along with longtime partner, Ray Schmidt, who is a current serving park warden in Jasper, Alta., along with fiddler Scott Duncan, and Nico Humby on the standup bass and mandolin. Ward noted the group came into being after he and fellow warden Schmidt played at a reunion of park wardens from across Canada, held in Banff. They started playing together more, and formed
as a group in 2009. Ward plays standup bass and guitar, while Schmidt plays mandolin, guitar and standup bass, enabling the group members to switch roles around on stage in between the telling of tales from the mountain parks. “Ray and I have written most of the songs about our lives as wardens. It’s about the land and the people, plus Ray has a couple of songs about the prairies,” said Ward. He noted that they have incorporated a visual element into their show, as videos and photos will be shown on the big screen behind them to illustrate what experiences or stories they are singing about. Ward spent 35 years working for the National Parks, spending about half that time as a back-country warden on horseback, and the other half working in search-and-rescue in Banff National Park. He also spent three years working in the Pacific Rim Park on the west coast of Vancou-
ver Island. Through OSAC (Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils) the group will be doing a tour to 19 Saskatchewan communities, with 10 this fall and another nine in the spring, and in between they will tour in the U.S., from Great Falls, Mont., to California, Washington and Oregon. “Wherever we go, it goes over really well,” said Ward, noting they have shared their music all across Canada and the U.S., from PEI to Prince Rupert, and from southern California to Alaska. He characterizes their music as folk and western, and is entirely acoustic with tight harmonies, which audiences appreciate no matter where they have played. The Wardens are currently working on their fifth album, and will have CDs available at the concert in Weyburn along with copies of a book about park warden life written by
a good friend of theirs. “We enjoy meeting people, that’s a big part of the show for us,” said Ward.
They have done shows in Saskatchewan before, but this will be the first performance in Weyburn.
“We’re looking forward to coming, for sure. We always enjoy playing on the prairies,” he said.
The Wardens to bring stories, songs to Weyburn The Wardens will bring their unique blend of stories from Canada’s National Parks and songs to the Weyburn Concert Series on Thursday, Oct. 24 at the Cugnet Centre, starting at 7:30 p.m. There will be videos and photos displayed with the songs, and many stories about their adventures will be shared. Photo - submitted
Councillor asks for investigation to 16th Street project
By Greg Nikkel, SaskToday.ca Weyburn city council approved a request from Coun. Larry Heggs for an investigation into the city’s tendering process, after the City needed to replace the company doing the 16th Street storm main replacement project. He noted that from the start, there were questions about the wide variance in bids made on the project, with the winning contractor, Folspire, based in Ontario but was able to meet the requirements of the project in their bid. “Throughout the project, I personally asked in July, August and again in September whether the contractor was meeting the contract’s requirements. I was repeatedly assured that the project was progressing as planned,” said Coun. Heggs. “However, on Sept. 12,
the contractor, Folspire, was released from the contract with the City of Weyburn,” he added, with A&B Concrete of Weyburn then engaged to complete the project. “I believe it is imperative that we review this contract and the bid process to ensure such issues do not arise in future projects,” said Coun. Heggs in making the motion that city administration conduct “a thorough investigation and post-mortem review of the bid process for the 16th Street Storm Main Water Replacement project.” Mayor Marcel Roy wanted it clear that there would be no finger-pointing or blaming about what happened with this project. Coun. Heggs said from what he understands, everything was handled properly, so the review
would be to look at if there are improvements that could be made. Coun. Mel Van Betuw
commended the city for acting quickly and making the decision to finish the project, and not have it
sit unfinished over the fall and winter. Coun. Heggs said this review would not happen until after the
Skies alive with the Northern Lights
municipal election, set for Nov. 13, and would likely get underway in January with the new council.
Photo – Greg Nikkel, SaskToday.ca
The iron bridge on the Weyburn Golf Course road was silhouetted as the Northern Lights were dancing brightly in the skies above, on Thursday evening. The P&H Inland Terminal can be seen in the background to the right.
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