Sig Bouliane
For 15 years small-town Saskatchewan has proved community spirit still lives--as witness the province's largest corn roast, started in 1989 in Vonda, population around 400, when Sig Bouliane, her parents and the hotel owner were given a large pot, probably part of a railway steam engine. They put it on bricks and roasted corn. People threw money into a bucket and raised $1200 to send a baby to Toronto for heart surgery. "It was such a nice community event we decided to do it again," Sig remembers.
By 2004 the event included a dance, a petting zoo and games for children and moved annually between four communities, Vonda, Prud’homme, Aberdeen and St Denis, with a combined population of about 1200. The money raised from the bar and dance stayed in the host town (one year they drank the bar dry) and funds from the roast went to a charity, chosen with the stipulation that the money stay in Saskatchewan. Volunteers from the charitable group helped shuck the corn, all 30 cases of it. Everyone paid to get into the roast and dance ($7 for adults, $3 for those 12 and under), including Sig and the other organizers. A liquor inspector was nearly thrown out for trying to get in without paying. Over the years, more than $45,000 was raised for charities and the same amount for the communities.
It all involved organization and enthusiasm, qualities Sig has in abundance. Born in British Columbia, she has lived most of her life in Saskatchewan. The owner of a café in Vonda, she acts as town secretary, is everybody's Mom and is town nurse for the kids when necessary. "I like small town living," she says, "where you know all your friends." She is said to run a tight ship; co-organizer Terry Weiderspohn notes, "Sig loves telling people what to do."
Eventually, attendance and money raised were down, probably because of the depressed farm economy and changes to licensing laws, so Sig thinks the corn roast of 2004 was the last. However, the fund raising will continue. Apparently there’s a hill just outside Prud’homme which would be perfect for a soapbox derby....
Sig Bouliane
