For the past 47 years of my life, I have lived in a small town. For the past 36, I have called Carlyle my home.
I have nothing negative to say about any of the surrounding communities, but because it is Carlyle, I am biased and want to highlight the benefits of living here. Here is hoping I can bring a smile to your face.
The trademark of downtown Carlyle is its centre-lane parking. You must be careful but there is rarely an accident.
Carlyle isn’t really in the boonies. We are two hours from Regina, Minot, Yorkton and Brandon. We are only an hour from Estevan and an hour and a quarter from Weyburn.
Carlyle is the gateway to Kenosee Lake and the Moose Mountains. White Bear First Nations is home to over 700 Indigenous people.
In Carlyle, you can walk five blocks to visit your 97-year-old mother in a Level 4 care home. (I do this all the time).
You must decide which beautiful grass-green golf course you want to play. They are only 15 minutes from each other. If you have a season ticket at either Carlyle, White Bear or Kenosee Lake, you receive a discounted rate at the other two on weekdays.
I think Carlyle has the best water in Saskatchewan. You don’t need a water softener and you don’t have to haul jugs of drinking water into your home. You don’t need a Brita or any of those other fancy filtration systems. When you wash your whites, they come out white. In both of our car washes, a spot-free rinse is a spot-free rinse.
Carlyle has a street sweeper, and our streets are cleaned often. You can collect and bag your leaves and debris and place them in your back alley. Our town will pick them up without charge. Foreman Todd Thompson and his very capable crew provide the best snow removal coverage in the province.
Like the cities, Carlyle is home to several fast-food and sit-down restaurants. Carlyle has over 100 businesses and services that a larger city has to offer.
You can drive downtown and forget to bring something from home. You can retrieve it within a minute. (I also do this all the time.)
We only have two speed zones.
You can skate and you can curl. We have many sports, recreation and service clubs to choose from. Carlyle has two fitness centres. We have a beautiful Lions Park with six ball diamonds surrounded by a walking path.
We have excellent minor hockey, lacrosse, karate and ball programs. Both our senior hockey (Cougars) and ball (Cardinals) teams are competitive. Most towns we compete against in leagues are within an hour’s drive of Carlyle.
Only 10 minutes away, the village of Manor hosts professional bull riding every July. In August, the town of Arcola is home to a professional rodeo.
Every autumn, surrounding towns get together and organize their annual fall suppers. It provides an opportunity to reminisce with old friends and meet new ones.
We have great live and local talent that will thoroughly entertain you through the Cornerstone Theatre Group. Carlyle Fun Dayz, Homespun and the Dickens Festival are all annual gala events.
In closing, the benefits greatly outweigh the negatives of living in a small town. The people are friendly, neighbourly, and always willing to help. I am proud to be a citizen of Carlyle and southeast Saskatchewan.
