Rural depopulation, a trend that has sucked the life out of many prairie villages, is like the teenagers say, so yesterday.
What’s new, according to community development expert Flo Frank, is that many people, attracted by affordable housing and living costs, are coming back to rural areas.
“There’s a trend worth watching. Young families are coming back home or coming to try it out,” said Frank, who was the keynote speaker at the annual general meeting of the Manitoba Association of Agricultural Societies (MAAS) held recently in Brandon.
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“Another interesting group is people who are retiring early. They’re coming back at age 55 to 60 and they are financially OK,” she said. “They’re picking places where they can afford to live.”
Also, more immigrants are choosing to settle in small towns instead of the major cities.
Community development and rural revitalization are about creating strategies for solving immediate issues, and preparing for future opportunities, she said.
That means reaching out to youth and new arrivals and finding ways to let them become involved in community activities, while still maintaining an organization’s core group of reliable volunteers.
Obscured by the larger story of the exodus from the countryside is the influx of new people, said Frank, who lives in Meacham, Sask., population 74.
Community development theorists believe this is being driven by a gradual cultural shift that values “space to live”, partly as a reaction to overcrowding in cities.
“The shift that we’re seeing now is value based. What we do in our communities and our organizations comes from a base of values, principles and beliefs,” said Frank.
“Most of that is about quality of life and how we are. What does that mean? That means that our culture, how we function together, is starting to be at the centre of what we do and how we do it.”
Doris Fletcher, president of MAAS, said that the solutions to chronic problems such as lack of volunteers and funding rest largely with local ag societies themselves.
“There are lots of ingenious fundraising ideas out there. I think we need to partner with our organizations in communities to develop new ways and new thinking,” she said.
As Frank pointed out, Fletcher said new faces are showing up in small prairie towns, attracted mainly by the lower housing costs.
As the cost of transporting animals continues to soar, livestock shows, for decades the main attraction at rural fairs, may have to give way to other drawing cards, she said.
“I think that the trends are more towards festivals and things that you can do without so much expense. I think you’re going to see an increase in home craft type things, such as sewing and gardening, as people choose to travel less.”
Over the longer term, Fletcher predicted that small towns might be due for a comeback.
“I really believe in rural roots. I really think we need to defend them,” said Fletcher, who added that agriculture is the “essence of our very being.
“Our earth, our sun, the rain are God-given. It’s up to us to look after them. I believe very much in agriculture. Everything we have comes from the soil.”
David Hicks, a past-president of MAAS and a member of the Turtle Mountain Ag Society in Boissevain, Man., said the changing face of rural life must be reflected by local organizations.
Getting the younger generation involved requires a willingness on the part of the older generation to cede some control. Often, one new person brought on board results in two or three of their friends joining, too.
“At our fair every year, we do one or two new things. Just new, different,” he said, adding that their strategy is to avoid the most common complaint about local fairs: a tendency toward sameness.
“Don’t get me wrong, they don’t all work. Sometimes you have to tweak them.”
