Kiwanis Club of Swift Current - 100 Years of Building Part Four, 1951 to 1961

During 2021, the Kiwanis Club of Swift Current celebrates its 100th anniversary. This is the fourth of 10 articles summarizing club projects and activities during ten decades of service.

The 1950s were a time of innovation and prosperity in the Southwest. Swift Current thrived following the discovery of oil at Fosterton bringing many exploration, drilling, and supply companies to the region. The post-war baby boom and discovery of oil resulted in a surge of population requiring new schools and a new hospital.

Kiwanis continued to support the Swift Current Boys’ Band who appeared in the Calgary Stampede parade six times from 1950-1956. In 1958, the band accepted female musicians and the name was changed to the Swift Current Junior Band.

In 1957, the Kiwanis Club entered into a partnership with the Kiwanis Club of Malta, Montana, to provide a student exchange program for

Grade Nine students. For many years, four students from Malta would join four students in Swift Current for three days. Then the crew of eight would spend three days in Malta. Friendships were forged across the International Boundary.

The Malta and Swift Current Clubs also cooperated in erecting a Kiwanis Peace Cairn at Monchy on the Canada/ US border. At the time, it was the 29th Peace Cairn dedicated by Kiwanis clubs at crossing points between the two countries. Charlie Warren and his family supplied 3000 pounds of sandstone for the column and the granite plaque while Kiwanians from Malta laid the concrete base. On several occasions, both clubs met there for picnics.

A road race was revived by the Kiwanis Club in 1959 after a lapse of 25 years. The event was held in conjunction with the Southwest Saskatchewan Field Day, participants running 2.8 miles competing for the

Kiwanis trophy.

Because of changing economic and social interests in the city, the club sought ways to support seniors in the community. The Support for Churches Committee arranged for members to drive residents from Pioneer Lodge to church and to other events.

Not all projects were successful. Kiwanis tried to introduce harness racing to Frontier Days, but there was little interest. The club sponsored the first Quarter Horse Show in the city, a project that was maintained later by the Quarter Horse Breeders in the area. Efforts to encourage the formation of Kiwanis clubs in Gull Lake and Maple Creek failed. The regional seed fair the club organized in conjunction with Frontier Days died a natural death after a few years.

As projects were initiated, sometimes maintained and sometimes abandoned, membership in the Kiwanis Club of Swift Current continued to flourish. Through friendship and hard work, Kiwanians upheld their commitment to building support for the children, youth, and seniors of Swift Current.

Excerpts for this article were gleaned from “Fifty Years of Building” by J. Baden Campbell