麻豆视频

Sometimes you have to wonder if our cultural organizations and facilities are the best-kept secret in southeast Saskatchewan.

Most people in Estevan know that we have a library, an art gallery, multiple museums, live professional theatre in the summer months, multiple concert series and a variety of other options in our community to enhance our lives through culture.

But how many people have never been to the Souris Valley Museum? How many have only been to the library to drop off their children for a children鈥檚 program?

And how many people realize that the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum has so much more to offer than art, and the Estevan Public Library has so much more to offer than books?

Once you enter those facilities for events or programs, you realize how important they really are, and how well-run they are.

The newcomers who have come to Canada for work, and to improve their lives (and in many cases, the lives of their families), have also boosted our province with elements of their own culture that they bring. We get great food. We get great music.

If you were at the Canada Day Parade in Bienfait this year, you would have seen the Estevan Filipino Canadian Association perform their cultural dance as they made their way down the streets. It was a hit. (If you haven鈥檛 seen it, there鈥檚 a pretty cool video of it on the Mercury鈥檚 website).聽

It鈥檚 a similar story in a lot of other southeast communities. Many have a library. Some have a museum that is open for at least part of the year.聽

People who have been to the Bow Valley Jamboree in Oxbow each summer know how it places a spotlight on talented local and Saskatchewan-based musicians.

When we think of small-town Saskatchewan, we often think of hard-working inhabitants, connections to agriculture, great independent restaurants, and time spent at hockey and curling rinks during the winter months. We don鈥檛 always think about the cultural attractions or the talented people who have come from those towns and villages.

Culture isn鈥檛 necessarily something that people from outside of the province associate with Saskatchewan, either, but music, theatre, art and literature are a big part of day-to-day life here.

This province has produced some immensely talented people who have made big contributions on the global stage in their chosen artistic endeavours. We have also produced performers and artists who have stayed close to home, and have entertained people with their musical and acting abilities.

The independent music scene in Saskatchewan is still alive and well.

Culture Days is coming up at the end of the month. It鈥檚 a chance to promote the array of cultural opportunities that exist in this province. It might be a good opportunity to visit your local art gallery or museum for the first time in a long time. And there will be some events that will be well worth checking out.

We鈥檙e particularly looking forward to the return of the Collage Cultural Festival during the Culture Days weekend. It鈥檚 a great event for dance and music. And of course, there鈥檚 the great food that will be served that is always a hit with the news media.

So check out the Culture Days activities. Have some fun. Try something new. Remember how blessed we are to have the array of great cultural activities.

And be sure to mention to others how great it was. Let鈥檚 make sure that our amenities are no longer the best-kept secret in and out of southeast Saskatchewan.聽