Stoez wasn’t living in Glen Ewyn when the communiplex was opened, but she attended the school as she was growing up and has been involved since she moved back five years ago, “I was amazed at the community spirit in this town; we certainly didn’t have that in Edmonton.”
All sorts of meetings and events keep the facility busy throughout the year: weddings, roller derby, church conferences, family reunions, family dances, fall dinners, 4H clubs, and dozens of others.
The communiplex is largest facility in the area so people and groups will rent it and come into Glen Ewyn from outlying towns.
”This is all community spirit, volunteer(ing) that keeps this thing going. We have a very active group that work it all the time... it keeps a community alive, something like this,” said Stoesz
“(The Communiplex is) the only thing that we have going for us here it town. Actually we have a rink, we have no store, we have a bar, we have no gas facilities,” said Stoesz, “So everything we do we have to go to either Oxbow, or Carnduff, or Estevan or wherever to purchase.”
In the nearby community of Oxbow, they did something similar with their school building that was closed just over a year ago.
Oxbow’s school wasn’t closed, they just moved the students to a newer building in the town. They were planning on using the land for residential development, but plans changed when the town’s hall developed mould from the wet spring.
“Seeing as it was just a matter of a couple of weeks before election and Remembrance Day and all those kinds of events that we usually require a community hall for, the town decided to open up the school and use it as a community hall,” said Roberta Taylor, secretary to the board set up to decide the future of the old school.
Taylor said it was fortuitous that they had that space available, but the current situation is not necessarily part of the long term plan.
They don’t think they’ll need all the space “Based on the town’s needs and what the people of the community want we will look at what we have to do to either replace it or continue to use it,” said Taylor.
“For right now we’re very pleased to have access to this facility and hoping it can serve the community well, and in turn the community will utilize it so that it allows us to continue to have the option of such a facility,” said Taylor.
