MAYFAIR — The crops are quickly ripening, although July wasn’t overly hot and many evenings were cooler. Have you noticed due to not much rainfall, the yellow leaves are gracefully falling to the ground and this is their resting place? August represents a symbol of many things to different people. I wish this month had an extra 10 days added onto it. Rushing to get the fresh veggies from the garden, amongst picking many wild fruits that need to be harvested. Knowing that the cabin and camping days will end shortly, but mostly retired individuals cherish being in campgrounds when there isn’t an abundance of noise once Aug. 31 rolls around. Why is it that the warmer months fly by too quickly and all we have left are treasured memories?
It was a super day of celebration for the Pelletier farm site near Mayfair in July. Congratulations to Jean and Rollie Pelletier on their 65th wedding anniversary, with 32 family members making this a special day. Seven years ago, they retired in a beautiful 55+ retirement condo in Saskatoon. She was the organist for All Saints Catholic Church in Mayfair for decades and Rollie was on different committees for the church and diocese. One of their daughters, Nicole and her family, also reside in the city and are a great help to this eloquent aging couple. My friends Leanne Cherwinski, Faye Liebaert and I had a lovely afternoon visit with them last week in their condo. They are still very interested in Mayfair community and like to stay in touch with everyone.
On July 10 and 11, close to 100 family members gathered at Diamond Hills Resort & Adventure Park northeast of North Battleford to celebrate the sixth family reunion of the Louis and Nellie Ewanchuk family. Louis and Nellie raised their 10 children, Joe, Pete, Paul, Antona (Kindrachuk), Kayla (Alexiuk), Carrie (Smishek), Blanche (Williams), Walter, Rosie (Kowalchuk) and Mary (Berggren), on a farm three miles west of Whitkow. 2025 marks the 110th anniversary of their homestead. Walter(deceased) and wife Stella resided there for many decades and their son Gerald and Francis are the present owners.
Many reunions for this family have taken place over the years. In 1991, 1996 and 2001 on the original homestead and 2009 at Blue Mountain (now renamed Diamond Hills Resort). In 2015, the reunion was held at the farm to celebrate the 100th anniversary (1915-2015) of the original home place.
Families arrived from every province, from British Columbia to Ontario. Activities included zip lining, family Olympics, Kaiser, bidding on silent auction items, visiting and reminiscing. Many delicious meals and sitting around the campfire were a “must.”
Audrey from Lloydminster, Stella Ewanchuk’s daughter, was the main organizer of this big undertaking. She thanked everyone for making the effort to attend this important event. Audrey says, “This is the third reunion we’ve had at this resort and I can’t think of a better location to host it.” She thanked the staff at Diamond Hills — Leanna, Ryan and Dimitri — for all of their help and for being flexible to make this another successful event. Audrey ended her speech by saying, “Family is not an important thing; it is everything.”
The reunion ended with a visit to the homestead and a much longer stop at Glasslake cemetery (northeast of Whitkow) to lay flowers on loved ones’ graves. They shared favourite memories of each of the 10 children of Nellie and Louis Ewanchuk. The families then moved to the Agri Villa in North Battleford, where they joined many others for the 2025 extra-large Ewanchuk reunion. Great memories were made on that wonderful July weekend.
Jessica Fournier of Mayfair graduated from Hafford Central School this past June. She is the daughter of Heather and Richard and plans on furthering her education at the University of Saskatchewan. Congratulations, Jessica.
A few days of cooler temperatures are always a welcome sight on the prairies, as the long weekend didn’t disappoint campers. The fire ban was enforced again due to the northern fires.
As one drives past many farm yards, one will see the combines are getting tuned up and repaired for a busy upcoming harvest. Everyone is hoping for at least a fair to average crop in our area, but a nasty hailstorm could change things in the “wink of an eye.”
