It was the type of weekend that the Estevan area was looking forward to for 16 months.
Just days after the last of the Saskatchewan Public Health restrictions were lifted, a series of events were held in the community that brought large crowds together.
It started Friday night when the Estevan Motor Speedway hosted the first night of a double-header program. More than 90 vehicles were entered between six different classes each night, highlighted by the Western Canadian Late Models, which are always a big draw for the speedway.
Approximately 900 people were present Friday and another 650 were there on Saturday.
It was the first time the speedway could have more than 150 fans in its main grandstand since the end of the 2019 racing season.
(For more information on the races, see page A12).
Earlier in the day Saturday, the second Shop Estevan Day was held, with businesses part of the Shop Estevan initiative offering discounts for customers.
The other big draw Saturday was the Lockdown End Party street dance in the 1100-block of Fourth Street, organized by the Downtown Business Association, that attracted approximately 1,500 people.
Josh LeBlanc, one of the organizers of the street dance, called it an “amazing” night. He praised the atmosphere, the music supplied by featured acts El Guitaro and Fog Dog, and the conduct of the crowd.
“Fogdog and El Guitaro were really, really good,” LeBlanc told the Mercury. “The crowd seemed to love them. We received nothing but great reviews and compliments throughout the night on them.
“Everyone was smiling and laughing and having a good time,” said LeBlanc. “I don’t think I’ve seen that many people hugging and high-fiving in a long time. The bar was absolutely swamped all night. People were enjoying the refreshments.”
The attendance tally does not include the volunteers and other people who were helping to make the event a success.
LeBlanc said the Downtown Business Association’s budget was based on a crowd of 1,500-2,000 people, so they were happy.
The crowd was mostly well behaved. There were a couple of incidents towards the end of the night, LeBlanc said, but security was able to diffuse the situation and the Estevan Police Service performed walk-throughs during the night. Police said in a news release they were impressed with the organization of the event and the crowd.
LeBlanc believes it was great to have an event like this that brings the community together and attracts people of all ages.
“We had tonnes of people from outside of the community coming in as well. I know there were lots of people from Manitoba, there were people from Regina and Saskatoon, lots of people who live in Estevan, their friends came from out of town for the party as well, so we were pretty excited to see that.”
The number of people present soared after the speedway’s Saturday program was completed. The gates for the street dance opened at 9 p.m. and the music started an hour later. The timing was deliberate so that the street dance wouldn’t take away from the speedway’s crowd.
“We worked together to promote and we were super appreciative of that,” said LeBlanc.
The amount of money raised for the Downtown Business Association is not yet known, but gross sales were $67,000. He believes it’s one of the biggest fundraisers the association has ever had.
“Our hope is that money will be put into programming, beautification efforts and other bigger events throughout the year to help promote downtown and the merchants,” said LeBlanc.
LeBlanc expressed thanks to everyone who turned out, the sponsors and those who allowed the street dance to use their property.
“It was just amazing to see our community go back to doing what they’re so good at doing, which is helping each other out, having a good time and raising funds,” he said.
