\With the success of the oil industry in southeastern Saskatchewan, the Town of Stoughton has had a "very busy year, with difficulties keeping up with demands for housing," said Mayor Don Knibbs in a year-end interview.

The high activity in the real estate sector has created a need for development of a new subdivision for the Town of Stoughton, with the construction ongoing so they will be ready by the spring. Mayor Knibbs said that most of that activity is coming from "basically prairie people who want to come back to the province, as the whole province is on a roll right now."

The commercial and industrial sectors are also booming, along with residential sectors. "We have a few commercial lots in town remaining, with all of our industrial lots sold," said Mayor Knibbs. "The Town is working with the RM office to purchase more industrial lots, so that we can accommodate the interest in those lots."

The development of businesses has also gone well, as a result of the success in the oil industry. The hot new trend in Saskatchewan's oil patch is the Bakken play, and Stoughton is in a prime location, near the Viewfield area where a lot of success in the Bakken formation has been seen, plus a lot of interest was evident in the recently oil and gas land rights sale by the province, helping a new record to be set.

"Our feed mill is undergoing an expansion right now," said Mayor Knibbs. "Our recreation services have also done well through the year, with a new curling complex attracting a lot of curlers and catering to functions during the summer."

The Taylor Memorial Park has also been very successful, as Mayor Knibbs commented, "We are starting to run out of space to plant trees."

The town's memorial initiative allows friends and family to purchase a tree for planting and installation of memorials along the walkways with a plaque. Mayor Knibbs said that a big fir tree was planted this year, "in memorial of all deceased members of the Lions Club."

Funding to the park has also brought in new playground equipment for the children, with the Town of Stoughton able to put in $15,000 to $20,000 in new playground equipment. Since the town saw an increase of families over the last year, students at their school continue to meet success with education.

Local resident Alice Levesque became the town's latest centenarian, as she held her 100th birthday celebration, with good health.

Looking forward to 2007, Mayor Knibbs is hoping to see an increase in services such as police, health service and volunteers from throughout the community.