Provincial restrictions have lifted and life is starting to get back to normal in Saskatchewan. Southern Plains Co-Op in Estevan decided to celebrate and, while they were at it, raise some money for the local fire department as well with a Saturday afternoon barbecue. 

"It went over very, very well," said Jamie George of Southern Plains Co-Op. "We ran it from approximately 11:00 until 4:00 and we had a good turnout. We raised approximately $1100."

The celebratory air of the barbecue, coupled with the generosity of the people who turned out, made it a successful Saturday all around. The fire department provided some of the cooks and the Co-Op provided the food for the big day.

"We opened Saskatchewan on the 11th," George said, "and we had our very first barbecue in the parking lot. It was nice to see."

For their part, the fire department was only too happy to help out, and even brought out some of their heavy equipment for people who might've had questions or wanted to get a closer look at it. 

"We had firefighters cooking some burgers and hotdogs for everybody," said Fire Chief Dale Feser. "We were taken by surprised. We were just informed that they were going to have that and they wanted to have the proceeds come to the fire department, so we wanted to make sure we were doing our part for the community as well, having a truck on display."

The $1100 will go into a fund the fire department keeps to add to their wildland firefighting equipment. In summer and during a heat wave especially, there's a lot of appreciation at Co-Op for the work they do. 

"It's an important aspect to our city," George said. "Without them, we would definitely struggle. I thought they're one of the most important functions in our town."

Feser added they'll go over their equipment inventory before they decide exactly what they'll spend the money from the barbecue on, but it will be something to do with their wildland fire fighting equipment.