Just a Gal from Glidden: You can always come home
After spending the past twenty-eight years in southwest Saskatchewan, I moved back to Kindersley this week, the place of my birth.
I grew up on a farm just outside of Glidden and spent the first 18 years of my life here. I attended both Westberry and Kindersley Composite School, where I graduated in 1987. I never thought after I left to attend college in Medicine Hat that I would call Kindersley home again. I'd go back to visit my parents on the farm a couple of times a year until they retired to Medicine Hat in 2002. After that, the trips were few and far between.
I've enjoyed a career in communications for the past thirty years, working for such publications as The Farmer Stockman AdVisor, The Shaunavon Standard, and The Maple Creek News. I also ran my own publishing company Winquist Ventures Ltd. from 2009-2017, where I published 400 issues of the Gull Lake Advance / Advance Southwest.
Anyone who knows me knows that I have printer's ink running through my veins, I have an unbridled passion for the newspaper industry. Since I closed my paper in Gull Lake, I have always felt a bit lost in my career. I did some photography gigs and some marketing for a southwest meat shop, but it didn't give me the same excitement as the weekly newspaper. I started working as Managing Editor for the Maple Creek News in March 2018. Working for a corporation was never my first choice, but I was back doing what I loved. I figured this would probably be my last job in the industry. I drove back and forth from our home in Gull Lake for the first few months and then decided to rent a house in Maple Creek with our youngest two children. My husband stayed in Gull Lake with our oldest boy and drove to his employment in Shaunavon. Our son would be graduating in 2020, and we didn't want him to move during his final year. It wasn't an ideal situation, but you do what you have to do to pay the bills.
PHOTO BY KATE WINQUIST
Former Saskatchewan Wheat Pool No. 834 and No. 847 “B” grain elevators in Dankin. Both elevators were closed in 1975. The name “Dankin” came from combining the last names of Bob Daniels and Bill King, who were early settlers in the region.
I was a board member of the SWNA (Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association) when I heard the news of the closure of the Kindersley Clarion, West Central Crossroads and the Eston-Elrose Press in one of our Zoom meetings. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. The Clarion was the paper that I grew up reading. It was Kindersley's oldest business, established in 1910. When our meeting ended, I immediately emailed my superiors at the Alberta Newspaper Group. I explained that with these closures, along with the earlier closure of the Leader-News in November 2019 - there was no community footprint in the west-central region - that it might be possible to expand into that territory. There seemed to be some interest, not with a new publication, but to send up an existing paper for the area. Since I grew up near Kindersley, they asked if I would do some research into potential advertisers. I'll admit that I wasn't all that keen on researching without any financial benefit, and I put it in the back of my brain.
We'd had a pretty busy first part of the year for the papers in Maple Creek. We were meeting our targets when the coronavirus pandemic hit. I covered my last event on Sunday, March 15, 2020 - the Maple Creek Figure Skating Carnival. On Monday, March 23, we received notice that all employees were taking an immediate 20% pay cut and had our hours reduced to 30 hours per week. My sales commissions were also slashed by 50%. I called my husband, Robert, in tears. I knew that we couldn't afford to have me paying rent in Maple Creek and still pay our mortgage in Gull Lake. I made the difficult decision to give my notice at our rental house, and the kids and I moved back to Gull Lake before the end of April. I continued to drive back and forth Monday-Thursday, all the while thinking if my job would even be there for much longer. After all, it seemed like corporate-run newspapers were shutting down more and more frequently. Postmedia closed eight of their Manitoba based papers on April 28.
One night I got into a discussion with my husband, and I said, it's too bad that we couldn't start a new paper for Kindersley and area. I think one good quality paper could serve that area quite well. Believe it or not, he agreed with me, although he said that it probably wasn't the ideal time with the pandemic and all.
I got in contact with some colleagues and asked them what they thought.
"If anyone can do it, Kate, it would be you. You know the area, and you're crazy like the rest of us in this industry," one friend replied.
I started doing some digging. Who could print my paper? What was available to rent in Kindersley? How much had the area changed since I was there for a funeral seven years ago? I took a drive up through Leader, Eatonia, Glidden, Eston and back over to Kindersley with my daughter Jaidyn one day in early May. As I drove and told stories to my daughter about growing up on the farm, it was our stop at the Dankin elevators that I had an epiphany. My Dad farmed the land right beside those elevators for many years. I was the youngest of six children, but I was the only one fortunate to ride with Dad in the tractor - the one he bought in 1973 that finally had a cab. I may have been 47 years ago, but at that moment, it was like yesterday. I could hear my Dad singing "Go Tell Aunt Rody" to me while I sat on his lap. I could feel the dust and dirt in my fingers as I would "draw" pictures on the back window. I could still taste the stale water from the blue and white thermos. Tears welled in my eyes as I told Jaidyn how her great-grandfather planted the trees that were in the distance. I told her about sitting in the grain truck while Grandpa Drummond unloaded his harvest.
My Dad passed away in 2010. He and my Mom were always my biggest supporters. I knew at that moment that Dad would tell me to take a chance on a newspaper. I went back to Gull Lake and told Robert about my day and thought we should take a leap of faith.
I gave my notice at the Maple Creek News on June 3 - my 51st birthday.
As I laid in bed that night, I thought of a song by country artist Alan Jackson; You Can Always Come Home.
Spread your wings, don't be afraid to try
The world can be hard; you gotta live a little 'fore you die.
So open that door, step out in the bright sunshine.
Follow your heart, and remember any time.
You can always come home.
Wherever life's road leads, you can get back.
To a love that's strong and free
You never be alone; in your heart, there's still a place.
No matter how right or wrong, you've gone.
You can always come home.
So pack your bags, smile and say goodbye.
And chase those dreams, and when you lay down and die.
You know that there's someone praying for you every day.
Even if you never find your way
You can always come home.
Wherever life's road leads, you can get back.
To a love that's strong and free
You never be alone; in your heart, there's still a place.
No matter how right or wrong, you've gone.
You can always come home.
When I was young, my daddy said to me.
The very same words and I took those words with me.
When I was afraid, I'd pull them out and think.
Just how much they mean to me
You can always come home.
Wherever life's road leads, you can get back.
To a love that's strong and free
You never be alone; in your heart, there's still a place.
No matter how right or wrong, you've gone.
You can always come home.
I think you can come home and I'm happy to be back.