It always baffles me when we're approaching the end of the year and Christmas is literally just days away, with another new year set to begin just a week after that.
It baffles me because in my line of work, I sometimes can't wrap my head around the fact that it feels like as if time just jets by us. It'll be January and I'll blink, then BAM, it's April. Then I'll turn and sneeze, and by the time I've recovered from that, BOOM, it's mid-July. Then I'll go to bed for the night, wake up, and sure enough, it's Halloween.
What?!? How does that happen?!?
Well, it's that old adage: Time gets away from us, and it flies by when we're busy.
To say that 2023 was a busy year filled with stories of all kinds would be an understatement of sizable proportions.
Way back in January, we weren't even one week into the new year before I encountered what may have been my most unique and attention-grabbing story of the entire year. On a sunny but chilly Friday afternoon on January 6, my coworker Delwyn came into my office after the noon hour to tell me of a couple who came to town on a motorcycle. Why is this interesting? Well, because it was early January, it was cold, and unlike things right now, there WAS a pile of snow on the ground at the time, and traveling by motorcycle is seen as a little......out there when those are the weather conditions. So I walked over to the hotel across the alley from our office and came across Robby Knecht and Magali Habouzit, an adventurous foreign couple who was experiencing Canada and all it had to offer on their motorcycle trip.
I sat down with them for a beer and a conversation in the bar, and I was nothing short of fascinated in learning their life stories and what inspired them to take this incredible journey. Talking with Robby and Magali was like talking with two people without a care in the world; they literally sold almost everything they owned and just took to life on the road. Our chat attracted the attention of a few fellow bar patrons, who'd all noticed the motorcycle parked outside. They weren't the only ones, believe me. I watched as car after car drove by, stopped right on Franklin Street, and the driver did a double take. One or two of them even parked, got out, and had to come see for themselves the decorated motorcycle that stood out in the frigid January cold.
Unique, indeed.
There have certainly been other stories that grabbed a whole lot of attention this year.
In March, local rock band Bad Influence entered a Battle of the Bands-type of competition at The Roxy in Saskatoon, and they soon found themselves in another round......and then another round.....and finally they made it to the finals of the event, and ultimately took 2nd Place. As I watched the band react, you would've thought they'd won the whole damn thing, that's how excited they were.
I remember sitting down with the group later in the spring to talk about the competition, as well as the history of the band, and that was one of my favorite interviews I've ever conducted. When you're talking music with people, the conversation is typically a fun one, and my interview with Bad Influence was just that; a fun talk with four people who were having a blast in doing what they were doing.
The end of May brought with it a piece of history that will be remembered for years to come. As part of Outlook's annual Prairie Festival, the weekend festivities were being kicked off on May 26 with the grand reopening of the Bounty Theatre, which had originally been brought over to Outlook back in August 2014. Years of restoration, refurbishing, paint jobs and assorted hard work by some incredibly dedicated volunteers paid off on that warm Friday afternoon when the hall became packed full of family, friends, former residents, and everyone in between; all of them with a link and a connection to the iconic venue.
I couldn't be more proud to see my uncle Dale and my aunt Shirley take to the stage; the first performers to play music in the hall for 23 years. They were followed by Milden musician Glen Adair and then Outlook's own Myrol Brothers, and the whole event was not only a great step back into yesteryear, but an amazing way to kick off the Prairie Festival with a record-size crowd who were there to enjoy music and revisit the past. For my family, this one was near and dear to our hearts, and I will always wish that my mom could've been there to see it all go down. She would've been right up front and center watching her brother and sister playing music, with a few tears streaming down her cheek in happiness. I like to think there's a part of my mom in that hall, forever linking her with local history, so perhaps, in a way, she *was* there after all.
It was a year where so much happened, and it was a year where so much foundation was laid for things to happen later. That's the thing, you see. Sometimes in life we just need to start turning that wheel with the hopes that the journey we'll eventually be a part of is worth going on.
I think the next twelve months might again be interesting ones for all of us in Outlook and the surrounding area. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see, won't we?
For this week, that's been the Ruttle Report.
