For a small town, Dauphin has a lot going on. We arrive a few weeks too late for the massive annual country music festival that draws around 14,000 people to the area, but we did get there just in time to see the street fair that kicks off the Ukrainian Festival. It’s clear that this is a town where people work together to make things happen.

Parkland Industrial Hemp Producers

Our first co-op stop was the Parkland Industrial Hemp Producers Co-operative. Keith, the Associate Plant Breeder, and Clare, the office manager, have lined up interviews and tours of the area to give us a glimpse of how the crop and the co-op has had an impact on the region. After chatting in the office, we hop in Keith’s truck and head out into the countryside. We stop at co-op member Chris Federowich’s farm, where he tells us all about the equipment he uses to harvest his hemp crops (hemp is notoriously tough on machinery). He and Clare also chat about the role the co-op has played for local producers.

“We go to our processor members first and say ‘how much do you want us to grow for you?’ So they give us their order for the year,” said Clare. “Then we go to our farmer members and say ‘okay, this is how many acres are required, so this is how many acres of production contracts we’re going to do’. The co-op has done that to protect our members so they always have a home for their grain and their grain is always moving. …it’s all about protecting the members, both the buyers and the farmers, so that the buyers’ needs are being met and the farmers aren’t over-growing and ending up with extra grain in the bins.”

The crop also becomes very popular with local kids when, once a year, Chris uses hemp bales to create a giant slip and slide.

Remembering the co-op’s champion

On our tour we pass Hemp Sense, a processing business that has started up in the area, as well as miles of fields grown by local farmers. We stand in fields of two different hemp varieties – among the 10 varieties developed by the co-op and named for people who have been involved with it. In a field of “Joey” hemp, Keith and Clare reminisced about Joey Federowich, Chris’ father and one of the driving forces behind the co-op’s start.

Joey’s sharing nature was a big part of the co-op’s ultimate success, Keith said.

“He spent hours and hours on the phone talking to people no matter where about the crop, the machinery, about making it work and growing it. In the early days he was a real catalyst — he got information out to people, promoted the crop and the potential in the industry. He just never gave up.”

When it came time to name a new variety in 2010, the year after Joey passed away, there was no question what it should be called.

Catalyst Credit Union

When we arrived at Catalyst Credit Union the next day, Sisan’s reputation proceeded him.

“You’re the guy who got attacked by the goat!” said CEO Ron Hedley.

Catalyst (now temporarily known as Vanguard Catalyst after a recent merger), like many credit unions in small prairie towns, supports its community in numerous ways. It sponsors sports teams and the local arena, helped the cinema get up and running, and has supported local businesses when other financial institutions would not. In fact, said board member Stephen Roznowsky, many small towns might not have a financial institution at all if not for their credit union.

“Small towns would actually die faster” without their credit union, he said.

A unique tour of Dauphin

At the end of our interview, Ron said “We’ve got a surprise for you”.

The surprise is that the credit union owns a seven-seat bicycle that it brings out once in a while for parades, events, or just getting its staff to work (for fun) — and that we would get to ride it. Several members of staff joined us in pedalling around the main streets of Dauphin, as drivers honked and waved at our strange octopus-like bike in true small-town style.