The rains and gloomy weather didn’t dampen the spirit of the Weyburn Credit Union Street Party held Friday night. Instead of the original plans for it to be held outdoors, it was moved indoors to the Weyburn Curling Club, where the community came out to help Weyburn Credit Union celebrate it’s 75 years.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of grants from the WCU Community Fund. The fund, which has provided over $300,000 in grants to local community organizations over the past ten years, is thanks to WCU putting roughly one percent of profits each year aside for the grants.

It was originally announced they would be handing out $60,000 in grants. The actual amount presented was much more.

“It was $85,000 total because we did the $60,000 for allocations for this year and then we had a couple of grants that were approved previous,” explained Tana Torkelson, the vice-president of marketing for WCU. “That was for the Legion for $15,000 and the Weyburn Association of Cheer Coaches for $10,000.”

The other organizations which received a grant Friday night include Inclusion Weyburn, who received $1,700 for the purchase of equipment for their Fun in the Sun Inclusive Summer Camp.

The St. Michael School SCC received $10,000. The money will be going towards the purchase of equipment for their accessible playground.

The Village of Lang received $7,500 for their community centre. The building is in need of repairs, and the money will be going towards their Beam Replacement Project.

The Weyburn Agricultural Society received a grant of $5,000. The Ag Society is looking to purchase an inflatable screen and projectors to allow for movies to be shown in the curling rink during the summer, using community movie nights to bring back cinema back to the city.

The Weyburn Branch of the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society also received a grant Friday night. They received $5,550 to help provide a sign, and to gate off, the Saskatchewan Mental Hospital Cemetary just outside of town. The site is where more than 1,200 patients of the Saskatchewan Mental Hospital were laid to rest.

A $7,000 grant was provided for the Weyburn Co-operative Playschool. The playschool, which is soon marking its 40th anniversary, is in need of some upgrades to the facilities, and the money is intended for that purpose.

The Weyburn Wor-Kin Shop is looking to introduce a teamwork crew. They made an application to the WCU for a grant to help purchase some of the equipment needed to start up the program. They received a grant of $3,000 to help provide the equipment.

The Weyburn Wrestling Club requested a grant to help with the purchase of new mats, both for practice and for hosting tournaments in Weyburn. The grant was approved for $7,500 for the new mats and presented Friday night.

The Weyburn Beavers are currently constructing a new deck to add seating to Tom Laing Park. The deck, which will be located above and behind the home team dugout, is already under construction. The WCU approved a grant of $5,000 to help with the completion of the deck.

A request of a $7,000 grant was made by the Weyburn Wildlife Federation. The Federation is looking to start hosting events such as fish fry’s and barbecues at their clubhouse but lacked the equipment needed to host the fundraising events. The grant was approved to allow the purchase of a BBQ/Fryer.

In addition to the grant money presented, an additional $75 dollars was provided to each of the organizations to mark the 75th-anniversary celebrations of the Weyburn Credit Union.

In addition to the grants handed out, the Street Party raised an additional $2345.35 through it’s Pie In The Face event. Ron Fellner took a pie in the face, all in the name of a good cause.