While Monday night's council meeting saw members get down to the nitty-gritty of business, they first took a moment to appreciate some art. Initiated several years ago by the Mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi, it was a challenge to mayors across the country to open a council meeting with a poetry reading. Estevan's Mayor Roy Ludwig is one of those who participates.

"This is around the third year that we have done this. We always do it after the Estevan Music Festival, because we can then see the students and hear their poems," related Nancy Samoluk, a board member with the Estevan Public Library.

"The mayor, for the last three years, has asked the library to find these students and refer them to him. We go and listen to them at the Festival, get references from the conveners, then contact the students and ask them if they will come and do a reading."

She noted that the experience provides a lot of benefits for the kids.

"Every time they get to stand up in front of an audience, it matures them to be able to speak in front of people."

She added that the Festival itself gives the children a chance to get positive feedback from adjudicators that they can then apply to their craft.