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(Town of NIpawin)
Nipawin's 100th

‘Once in a lifetime’: Nipawin celebrates 100th birthday

Jul 9, 2025 | 4:53 PM

A special event 100 years in the making.

The Town of Nipawin is celebrating a century as a community with three days full of events this weekend.

Mayor Marlon Zacharias told northeastNOW the administrative team has been working months to help shape the celebration.

“It’s once in a lifetime,” Zacharias said. “Not everybody gets to experience a one-hundredth celebration in their community, and we are lucky enough to be able to do that this year.”

While Nipawin itself is 100 years old, that doesn’t mean there isn’t more history in the area. The fur trade was established in the region over 350 years ago with links to early explorers including Henry Kelsey. Zacharias said the Nipawin area has a storied history, with the arrival of the railroad as a key turning point in the community’s history.

“The big change that happened was when the rail line was brought in,” Zacharias explained. “The community of Ravine Bank thought it was so important to be close to that rail line that they needed to move the community.”

Murals in Nipawin depict that move of all buildings in Ravine Bank almost seven kilometres southeast to the current town site. Nipawin had its first village election in the summer of 1925 and was designated a town in 1937. Other major milestones include the ‘crooked bridge’ being built over the river in 1928, with the Highway 55 bridge coming in 1974. The E.B. Campbell Dam was constructed in 1963, while the Francois-Finlay Dam followed in 1986, about five kilometres upstream from Nipawin.

Much of that history will surely be talked about at the three-day birthday and homecoming celebration, which starts on Friday with a homecoming meet-and-greet at the Evergreen Centre at 5 p.m. A Nipawin Senior Giants baseball game will be held at 6:30, while fireworks will take place at 10:30 p.m. at Walleye Park.

Much of the ‘official’ portion of the celebration will be on Saturday, starting with a pancake breakfast at the museum at 9, along with a time capsule opening.

“[The time capsule] has been closed for about 20 years, but originally it was started about 50 years ago,” Zacharias said. “It’s going to be really exciting to see what kind of things people thought to throw in there at that time, and to think about some of the things we might add to it this year.”

The official welcome will follow at the Legion at 11, followed by a car show downtown, a fire hall open house, and the Heliport grand opening ceremony at 2 p.m. Zacharias said that will be a great event to recognize the hard work people in NIpawin and surrounding municipalities put into making the Heliport a reality.

Saturday will wrap up with a street dance and beer gardens at 7 p.m, while Sunday features a variety of events including a street fair and the Nipawin Exhibition Parade starting at 1 p.m. The Nipawin Exhibition will start on Monday and run through Wednesday.

Zacharias said the birthday celebration and homecoming promises to be a lot of fun.

“It’s going to be fantastic to see all the people come back to the community to see what’s changed since they’ve left, and just to reconnect with everybody in the community as well,” Zacharias said. “It’s going to be a great opportunity for the people of Nipawin to get out and share stories of their history and the community’s history.”

cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com