A national championship, a provincial centennial celebration and gearing up for changes in the public and Catholic school systems were some of the top local stories in the Weyburn and surrounding area in 2005.

Saskatchewan's Centennial was a major focus of attention throughout the year, starting with the launching on New Year's Day that was interrupted by a blizzard, and culminated in celebrations held not only in Weyburn but in every town and village throughout the region.

Many of the smaller communities held their celebrations in the summer with a Homecoming event, as did Weyburn with a week-long Homecoming in the first week of August, then the whole province was treated to regional celebrations and a provincially-funded fireworks show held simultaneously in 15 centres, including Weyburn, on the official birth-date of Sept. 4.

Weyburn also held other Centennial-related events, such as the Crop Checkin' Tour with Wide Mouth Mason, the Wheat Monkeys and Megan Lane.

Weyburn was the focus of the nation's hockey world in May as the Colosseum hosted the Royal Bank Cup Junior A national hockey championship, with the host Red Wings going on to win the national title for the second time in franchise history in a thrilling final telecast nationally on TSN.

The province enacted a new smoking ban at the start of 2005, and from the start, the Royal Hotel defied that ban, earning headlines when health inspectors from the Sun Country Health Region descended to hand out tickets on a number of occasions. The hotel's owners finally relented and obeyed the provincial regulations after one confrontation with inspectors and police almost turned violent. A rally was held in support of the hotel owners on the steps of the provincial courthouse, with picketers from all over the province converging to show their support.

Both public and separate school systems began to undergo some changes in 2005, including an election in June held for a new, amalgamated public board which will take over all public schools in the southeast part of the province as of Jan. 1, 2006. This new board spent the last half of the year gearing up to take over, with trustees elected for the city of Weyburn and from the rural areas.

On the separate side, the rural Catholic parents in Queen Elizabeth School's attendance area voted to form a Catholic board, held elections, then requested that the provincial Learning minister amalgamate that board area into the Holy Family School Division; this was granted, and will also take effect on Jan. 1.

The oil industry took centre stage with the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show in June, including Premier Lorne Calvert on hand as speaker for the Centennial luncheon. The industry Oilpatch Awards were handed out, and industry reps were told they were now the number one industry in the provincial economy, overtaking agriculture.

In the agricultural sector, 2005 was a good year for growing crops, with timely rains in June, hot weather in July and very good harvesting conditions through the fall. Unfortunately, with crops nearing bumper size and good quality, grain prices remain very low going into 2006, with the last PRO of the year showing values decreasing even further.

One bright light for grain growers was the startup of NorAmera BioEnergy's ethanol plant at Weyburn's former distillery. The company hosted Industry minister Eric Cline and the media for a tour when work was about 25 per cent done, and by the fall the extensive commissioning process was completed and production began at the plant.

In the cattle sector, however, the picture started to turn around as the U.S. border reopened after two years of closure due to a single case of BSE. The border was supposed to reopen on March 7, but that was delayed by a Montana judge, and the border stayed closed a few more months until his decision was overturned by another U.S. court. The border remained open until the end of 2005, by which time the border to Japan also began to reopen. Prices for cattle, other than cull cattle, remained very good through the year.

Locally in the cattle industry, the Border Line Feeders feedlot at Ceylon opened in October, and was mostly full a short time afterwards.

Weyburn played host to some provincial gatherings, including the TheatreFest 2005 provincial competition for community theatre groups, and the provincial OSAC convention at the Comp School, which included a visit by featured guest, Lt.-Gov. Lynda Haverstock.

In the sporting world, besides Weyburn's national champions, the Comp senior girls volleyball team earned the school's first-ever 5A provincial volleyball championship, while earlier the Fillmore Falcons girls basketball team won their fifth provincial championship at HOOPLA in Saskatoon.