As the Weyburn and surrounding area prepares to mark Small Business Week, there is a lot to celebrate here that people may not be aware of, not only of what is going here in the southeast, but on a province-wide scale.
First of all, looking around the city and area, one can see a lot of development and construction going on, in addition to the continuing busy level of activity in the southeast oilpatch. The city is continuing to finish off its renovations and additions to the two arenas, Crescent Point Place and the Tom Zandee Sports Arena, as well as construction is continuing on the new sewer lift station beside the Soo Line Museum.
There are roof improvements being carried out on the museum itself, and the historic courthouse is undergoing extensive renovations as well; Crescent Point Energy recently opened their new offices in Weyburn, and the Crossroads Industrial Park is busy with new ventures going in there, including farm implement dealers, a new shoe wholesale warehouse facility, and a 96-man oil worker camp to name just a few of them. In the city, work on the new Boston Pizza restaurant is underway.
There are residential lots being sold by the City of Weyburn, and new homes are being built, although the wet weather experienced through the spring and summer has hampered some of that activity. As dry weather has been in place in the Weyburn area for the last while, this has helped both area farmers and work crews in and around the city be able to catch up some on their projects.
Certainly there were some effects of the economic slowdown nationally and around the world in the last year or two, but in many ways the oil-related activity in the southeast was able to continue on unabated, helping to maintain a healthy level of economic activity here when other areas of the country were weathering the recession.
We should celebrate the fact that the Weyburn area is again bustling with energy, and the prospects look good to continue into 2011.
