Dry for decades, Saskatchewan town allows alcohol sales

HEPBURN, Saskatchewan,- A small town in Saskatchewan has voted to allow the sale of alcohol after being dry for more than a century, officials said.

Hepburn, with a population of 562 residents, has no official law banning alcohol, but was founded by Mennonites, who do not drink, CBC News reported Friday.

The town has not sold liquor in any of its stores for decades. However, this week, Hepburn residents voted in favor of allowing liquor sales.

The town will file an application with the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority to allow a local co-op store to sell alcohol.

Verna Paetkau, 81, said voted against the plan but she can live with the result.

"Some people say they're not going to go in the store if they sell it there, but I don't feel that way," Paetkau said. "I'm still going to go in."

Population

The population of Hepburn was 530 in 2006 - an increase of 55 people from 2001 Average House Price

2011 - $268,225 - based on 3 saskhouses.com listings

2012 - $276,667 - based on 3 saskhouses.com listings

2013 - $241,950 - based on 2 saskhouses.com listingsEducation

Hepburn School - Kindergarten to Grade 12

Bethany Bible School - Private Bible College Tranportation

STC Bus ServiceDistance to major centres

Rosthern - 43 km

Saskatoon - 48 km

Prince Albert - 116 km History

Hepburn was settled in the early 20th century as a railroad station. Connection made the town grow overnight and many people moved to the area. Before the 1930s the population of the town had reached over 800 people. In the 1930s, the area was affected by both the great depression and a huge drought affecting most of Western Canada. Many of the town's residents and farmers flocked to cities like Saskatoon and even to the United States. By the end of the decade, the population was less than 300.

In the 1940s, the village sent over 60 men to serve in World War II. After the war, the town started to grow, and new homes were built. In 1989, the province shut down the railroad line, stranding the large grain elevator built c1928 in the town. Unlike most Saskatchewan grain elevators, the one in Hepburn was not torn down, but rather turned into a museum about the history of Hepburn.

I was just in Sask.... and Hepburn looks like all the other quaint towns in the province. Those grain elevators are really elegant in their own way

Sask was a dry province for about a decade after WW I...and many of the localities stayed that way much after

Probably the nicest group of folks you will find, in Sask

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