It’s not a secret that Estevan is surrounded by numerous farms producing various crops, raising cattle and also investing their time into community wellbeing. A lot of hard-working families dedicate their lives to supplying not only the province and the country but also many other places in the world.
It’s time to recognize farm heroes. The community is asked to step forward and nominate the Farm Family of the year. This award is announced annually during the Farm Appreciation Evening, which will take place on March 26, at the Beefeater Plaza.
Alf Tide, the chairperson for the appreciation evening, underlined that it doesn’t take much effort to nominate somebody outstanding.
“It’s just a one-page form you fill in. You write a few things, the highlights of the nomination, and we take it from there,” Tide said. “So far we have just a couple (nominations), and we’d like to have two or three more nominations.”
There are not too many requirements to become the Farm Family of the Year.
“They have to farm basically within the 50-mile radius or a 100-kilometer radius of Estevan, be in one of the local RMs. Community involvement is very important. And basically be a farmer in grain or cattle,” said Tide.
There are no restrictions as of the size of the operation or age of the nominees. And if anyone is looking for applications, they can get the form from the Chamber of Commerce.
Tide believes that it’s important to recognize families who have the most impact on the community. They’ve been doing it for nearly 55 years, but they never run out of nominees.
“We’ve been doing it for a long time, but we always seem to find good ones (farm families) every year,” he said.
Farmers’ Appreciation Evening is a project of the Estevan Exhibition Association and the Estevan Chamber of Commerce. It usually starts with supper at 5 p.m. Then the Farm Family of the Year Award is presented to one of the nominees. The committee makes the decision on the winner.
Every year, there are also speeches by talented young speakers from local 4-H clubs.
“They usually come and give the speeches that they give at their clubs,” Tide said. “So the local 4-H clubs will be sending one 4-H member from each club to do a speech.”
Then, the main speaker proceeds with their main presentation. So far, the committee hasn’t decided on the guest speaker. They are working with a few possible candidates and will finalize their decision by the end of February.
