ESTEVAN - The Roche Percee Recreation Site and Campground invited the community for their first-ever Commemorative Family Fun Day on Aug. 27.
Many people turned out to enjoy the last weekend of summer at this southeast hidden gem. The park provided a lot of free entertainment, including bouncy castles, dunk tank, yard games, glitter tattoo painting and hayrides. The crowd was treated to some delicious cotton candy, caramelized apples and a barbeque. Mickey and Mini Mouse also made an appearance to entertain younger guests.
Otto Neuman and Mike Bartolf, who used to run Tours and Trails, shared some old pictures and talked to visitors and volunteers about the history of the area. Some of the pictures they brought were over 100 years old and captured people using the park back before the 1900s.
Sheila Farstad with the Roche Percee Recreation Site and Campground board said they wanted to have more people enjoy their grounds, which offer beautiful views and great family time.
The Roche Percee Recreation Site and Campground board had an economic development meeting with the Town of Bienfait and the RM of Estevan earlier this year. And as a result, it was decided to put more effort into promoting the park to see it used more.
"They came and toured the park, and they said, 'You've got a gem here and a gem that is, for the most part, very underutilized.' So we listened to them, and they said they want to help us in any way that they can and would love to see us do some kind of event. So that was sort of the seed that was planted," Farstad shared.
While the conversations started in the winter, up until the summer the board wasn't sure if they would be able to put anything together.
"Six weeks ago, we decided we're going to do this," Farstad said. "It was very last minute."
Eleven new members joined the board to help the event happen, and those members brought in a lot of knowledge, energy, connections and ideas.
"Our board was quite elderly, and we've lost some of them in the last three years. So we were concerned about what to do with this underdeveloped gem, when we didn't have the people anymore. So it was nice to see that there was renewed interest in the community," Farstad shared.
Once the decision to invite the community over to the park was made, the board started brainstorming.
"We met a couple of times, and it was like throwing out ideas about things that we could do. And out of those 11 people, there was a lot of resources," Farstad said.
Working together, the revamped board was able to put together a great outdoor family fun day in no time. Not only did it offer a variety of activities, but it was also free of charge to the public.
"My thought was there's not a lot of things that are free. And that was a big thing for me that I wanted it to be free so that people could just come and enjoy, and there were no economic barriers for people," Farstad said. "That was sort of our overlying, if we can make it free let's make it. And so that's what we did."
The board had some funds set aside from the times Tours and Trails ran in the area, and along with donations from local businesses and people, they were able to make everything free to the public for the day.
"Tours and Trails used to do walking tours, and so that money was in the bank. And [we thought] if this is the end of Tours and Trails, this is a good way to go out with a bang," Farstad said.
She stressed that Tours and Trails was a group of individuals who were interested in historic events or places in the southeast. There are people on board from the Oxbow and Estevan areas.
"When they did the walking tours, they would take groups of people out and tour them around places that you can't get to. Often there are no roads, they're usually on private property, but they're significant places, like Indigenous places, Thunderbird rocks, things that you can't see or you can't access [on your own]. And then they would tell the history of the area, some of the rum-running, those kinds of things that are our history, are a part of this area, but we don't really know about, because it's not taught in our schools or whatever," Farstad said.
Tours and Trails was decommissioned by the government about 20-25 years ago, Farstad said. Prior to that, the park was more equipped. It had power, a playground, a telephone and camping and picnicking areas. Once Tours and Trails was decommissioned, the amenities were removed, and the park wasn't maintained for some time.
Around 2009, Farstad and her husband Richard started cleaning it up and making it available for people to camp down there.
Now, the Roche Percee Recreation Site offers wilderness camping at a cost, and everything else in the park is free of charge. People can come to enjoy a picnic or go for a walk to discover some great views and the peacefulness of the area. The park is open to everyone.
Farstad added that the park's flora has species that are endangered, and the board keeps it organic to ensure the plants can thrive. Besides, Roche Percee Park's location is an overlap of eastern-western migratory birds.
"We get bird watchers coming from all over because to see the birds that come through here, either you got to go way east, or way west to find them. And here it's an overlap," Farstad said.
