As the hours ticked on over without power, Staff, parents and students in the Prairie South School Division were ‘in the dark’ literally, about plans for school and final exams that were scheduled to begin on Monday, January 25.
After... (more)02/02/10 5:16 PM
Kim Boerma, grocery manager at the Coronach Co-op, takes inventory of the t... »
As the town of Coronach came back to life after over 50 hours without power, news of the damage left behind began to spread.
Losses of frozen food and dairy products were expected at the local Co-o-p grocery story but water breakages were unfortunate f... (more)02/02/10 5:13 PM
Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night. . . nor snow banks, nor icy roads, nor fog will keep a hockey game at bay!! But no power will!
The Coronach Broncos were at the Coronach Sportsplex awaiting the arrival of the Estevan Bruins to play a sche... (more)02/02/10 5:13 PM
Darren Savard, Travis Switzer, Deric Ruttan, Matthew Atkins and Denis Dufre... »
You know you are in Saskatchewan when. . .
• your brand-new CD gets played first in the tractor!”
• when a strip-tease is performed by a person wearing a plaid flannel shirt . . . and a toque!”
Or so says Deric Ruttan, who recently performed in a flannel shirt and toque by candle light to a crowd in winter jackets and scarves.
After enduring 50 hours of no power, 48 hours of blizzards, blocked roads, streets and highways, no telephones no cell phones and no internet. . . Bengough hosted a concert!!
Gloria Simpson, member of the Bengough Municipal Arts Council (BMAC) that brought Ruttan to town said, “Well, when life gives us lemons, we make lemonade, right? And when life delivers Deric Ruttan and his entourage, in the midst of all this … what is a community supposed to do but have a PARTY! And, so we did!”
Ruttan and his four band members, three of them in toques, performed in a circle in the centre of the Big Muddy Inn in Bengough with one amplifier powered by a generator that Gloria’s husband Ron rounded up.
The show took on a really personal touch, with many feeling like they were sitting in on a band practice. Ruttan paused at one point to teach his band the chords for a song that they normally wouldn’t have in the show.
Ruttan kept a light hearted banter going throughout the night, quipping about his “lumberjack” outfit, Saskatchewan hospitality and the candle lit room.
“The Show Must Go On!” was really put to the test for this concert. Matt Harris, from Big Beaver, thought the night turned out really well, enjoying the intimacy of the acoustic show.
In March of 2009, Coronach and Rockglen area residents went without power for over 20 hours and in April of 2009, Coronach sat in the dark for another 11 hours, but the 53.5 hour power outage experience from January 23 to the 25 of 2010 shattered those records.
Just as the sun was setting on Saturday, January 23, the lights went out all across southern Saskatchewan. SaskPower customers, in the communities of Rockglen, Coronach, Willow Bunch, Bengough, Ogema, Big Beaver, Fife Lake, Lisieux, Harptree, Minton and surrounding areas were all, at some time without power between Saturday, January 23 and Monday, January 25.
When the sun rose on Sunday morning, residents all over the south country awoke to chilly homes. Those who hadn’t already, set to work gathering wood, setting up generators and checking on their neighbours.
The Coronach town council set up a central meeting place at the Coronach Elks Hall. In preparating for Y2K, the beginning of 2000, the Coronach Emergency Measures organization purchased a generator and prepared the hall in case of emergency.
This equipment is now available for the town to use in such cases as the recent power outage.
On Sunday, Coronach residents were welcomed to the Coronach Elks Hall where the generator was hooked up to provide heat and some power to the hall. Elaine Winter made a huge pot of soup to share and the Coronach Co-op donated meat, cheese, crackers and goodies for hungry residents.
Many people gathered at the hall to visit, play cards, study for impending exams or to just warm up.
