The Town of Midale will celebrate its 100th anniversary on the first weekend in August of 2003 and Mayor Currie Swenson hopes to use the occasion as a jumping-off point for the kind of promotion that will encourage people to move back home and spur more economic growth.

"We want the town to look spiffy for the anniversary," he said in a recent interview, adding that he hopes to expand the weekend to become a homecoming party, too. "Maybe we can call it the City of Midale that weekend."

The community of 496 enjoys a healthy school population of 200 students, with a new gym and home economics room under construction; a good mix of retired people and young families; recreation facilities that include an outdoor pool and a fairly new rink; and some new businesses this year.

The town has a new restaurant and car wash on main street and a local man has purchased the last grain elevator, with the intention of turning it into a grain cleaning business. The town council is ready and willing to encourage that prospect in any way it can, he says.

"There's a lot of potential here now and we need to start thinking about different things we can do to attract more people," says Swenson. "Hopefully, people will see it as not a bad place to live."

One of the methods he hopes to use is a new web page created specifically for the anniversary celebration.

The page will detail the plans for the weekend as they develop, including a parade, a thresher and antique car show and a ball tournament. Most events will take place on the museum grounds. Former Midale residents and their children and grandchildren, now spread far and wide, can register to attend events on the website.

Swenson sees the spread of that same computer technology as a possible opening for future economic and population growth.

"With computers, a lot of business could be done out of a small town. We need a lot of positive thinking," he said, at the same time acknowledging the difficulties facing a small town with few resources, when it comes to developing an economic development strategy. Swenson said the town spent $55,000 on a new sewage lift this year so he does not expect much in the way of capital expenditure next year, although there's some talk of sprucing up some of the roads a bit for the anniversary. He also predicts no increase in property taxes in 2003, unless the Saskatchewan government reduces municipal grants.

One facility that was becoming a real headache for the town was shifted in October to the Red Coat Waste Resource Authority in Carlyle. The authority began picking up garbage and recycling materials on October 1.

"It's too early to tell how it's going," said Swenson, but he hopes people will see the big benefit in the summer. With new provincial regulations outlawing burning at the dump, the prediction of large provincial fines for municipalities whose dumps catch fire, the cost of garbage control, and the problems with rats, council was more than ready to turn it over to Red Coat, he said.

"It looks like it will be a better solution," he said, although it is a bit more expensive for residents, and about half the population were opposed when the proposal came up. They worried about a higher cost and a requirement to recycle materials, he said. The town will continue to organize a spring and fall cleanup when residents can dump larger goods like chesterfields.