Bengough () is a town surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Bengough No. 40, in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. A southeastern Saskatchewan prairie town, Bengough is located east of Willow Bunch Lake on Highway 34 near Highway 705. The town is named Bengough after cartoonist John Wilson Bengough. Bengough also plays host to the Gateway Festival which showcases various musicians and several other events through the weekend, usually taking place in late July.

History

Homesteading in the Bengough area started around 1906. In 1911, Bengough was incorporated as a village and a rail line was built by the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...

(CNoR). Bengough was incorporated as a town in 1958. The town was an agricultural hub to the surrounding area with grain elevators from Federal Grain Limited, Parrish Heimbecker Ltd., and the

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was a grain handling, agri-food processing and marketing company based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Pool created a network of marketing alliances in North America and internationally which made it the largest agricul ...

established within the town limits. The railway running through the town of Bengough is no longer in operation. As of 2007, only the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevator is still in operation, owned and operated by a local farmer organization.

Geography

Bengough is located within the

Missouri Coteau The Missouri Coteau, or Missouri Plateau, () is a large plateau that stretches along the eastern side of the valley of the Missouri River in central North Dakota and north-central South Dakota in the United States. In the Canadian provinces of Sa ...

near Willow Bunch Lake, Big Muddy Lake, Salt Lake and Channel Lake. Few well-defined streams or creeks are located near the townsite. The landscape where the town is located is characterized by pitted and rolling topography of the moraine deposits that dominate the landscape. Just south of Bengough is the Big Muddy Badlands.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Bengough had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Economy

Located in a mixed farming and ranching area, Bengough's main economic industry is

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. Regina,

Assiniboia Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation. Historical usage ''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distric ...

and

Weyburn Weyburn is the tenth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. The city has a population of 11,019. It is on the Souris River southeast of the provincial capital of Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina and is north from the North Dakota border in the ...

are the closest neighbouring major communities.

Bengough & District Regional Park

Bengough & District Regional Park () is a

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distr ...

located adjacent to Bengough, just off Highway 34. The park was founded in 1975 with land donated by the RM of Bengough No. 40, a cash donation from Bengough, and a five-year capital investment from the Department of Tourism & Renewable Resources. At Bengough Regional Park, there's a well-treed campground with 29 sites, a golf course, and an outdoor swimming pool. The campsites are full service including potable water, sewer, and power, as well as washroom and shower facilities. The golf course, which opened in 1980, is a 9-hole, sand green course that has a clubhouse and driving range. Other amenities at the park include a playground area, hiking trails, beach volleyball court, ball diamonds, and horseshoe pits.

Arts and culture

Bengough is the home of the Gateway Festival, a family friendly folk/roots festival showcasing a wide variety of talent from Saskatchewan and beyond. Past performers include

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American country, rock, and folk singer-songwriter. He began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Earle's breakthrough album was his 1986 debut album '' ...

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (sometimes abbreviated NGDB), also known as the Dirt Band, is an American band founded in Long Beach, California, in 1966. Since 2018, the band has consisted of Jeff Hanna and his son Jaime Hanna, both guitarists and voc ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie (born Beverley Jean Santamaria; February 20, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and social activist. Sainte-Marie's singing and writing repertoire includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism, and h ...

Tom Cochrane Thomas William Cochrane ( ; born May 14, 1953) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician best known as the frontman for the rock band Red Rider and for his work as a solo singer-songwriter. Cochrane has won eight Juno Awards. He is a member ...

, 54-40,

Corb Lund Corb Lund (born January 29, 1969) is a Canadian country and western singer-songwriter from Taber, Alberta, Canada. He has released twelve albums, three of which are certified gold. Lund tours regularly in Canada, the United States and Australia, ...

, Sloan, Kim Mitchell,

Kathleen Edwards Kathleen Margaret Edwards (born July 11, 1978
) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. Her 2002 debut album, ''

, Jess Moskaluke,

Tenille Arts Tenille Jade Dakota Arts (born April 19, 1994) is a Canadian country music singer from Weyburn, Saskatchewan. She released a self-titled extended play and her debut studio album ''Rebel Child (Tenille Arts album), Rebel Child'' with 19th & Gran ...

, Northern Pikes,

Colter Wall Colter Wall (born June 27, 1995) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and musician. Known for his deep, gruff baritone voice and narrative songwriting, Wall's music encompasses Country music, country, Canadian folk music, folk, and Western music (No ...

, The Sheepdogs, and many more. The annual festival takes place the fourth weekend of July.

References

{{Authority control Bengough No. 40, Saskatchewan Towns in Saskatchewan Division No. 2, Saskatchewan