Commerce, Industry & Innovation

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The Avonlea businesses community generates over 100 million dollars in annual sales throughout the area. It is a vibrant and progressive community alive with an entrepreneurial spirit. Commerce plays an important role in keeping the community together by providing services and consumer goods to the citizens of Avonlea, the surrounding area and the world.

Innovation

Innovation is not a new word to the people of Avonlea. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. Where the good folks of Avonlea perceive a need for a service, they go about working together to bring it to their community. Avonlea is home to the first short-line railway in Saskatchewan called Southern Rails Co-operative, which has been running from Truax to Moose Jaw since 1989. Southern Rails provides car loading for producers and a direct service to the pulse plant. It is a cooperative, owned by area farmers.

Further innovation is evident in the unconventional mode of power used to propel the train cars on the track. Southern Rails' power unit is a converted semi-truck that pulls cars on the rail and can also operate legally on the road. This unit was designed by Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation and built by Brandt Industries in Regina. The design of the power unit allowed for a lower cost operation that would not have been the case with a conventional locomotive. This road rail vehicle is still being used today on the Southern Rail system, and Brandt has gone on to sell other engines of this type to major railways around the world.

Agriculture

Agriculture of course is the largest industry in the area. Many large businesses exist to support the busy and successful agricultural community including:pulse and seed cleaning plants, farmers, ranchers, equipment dealers, processing plants, manufacturing businesses, retail services. In addition, grain buying, bulk fuel, chemical, fertilizer, soil testing and commercial transport services are all available within the Avonlea business district.

Downtown Avonlea

Avonlea's business district is made up of a variety of retail shops and services, all readily accessible to the shopper. There are gift shops, a restaurant, a motel, a catering service, a grocer, cosmetic services, hairdressers, a John Deere dealer and a car dealer that sells and services new and used cars and trucks. From hardware and cable television to electrical services, you will find them all here.

General Services

Other services available include legal, insurance, accounting and banking to construction, carpentry and plumbing. Protective services are provided by both the Village of Avonlea and the City of Moose Jaw. The Village boasts local detachments of RCMP, fire protection and a mail service outlet, home care, a 6 unit complex for seniors, a 40 bed personal care home, and a health nurse medical clinic with regular doctor visits. The Five Hills Health District supports the area with ambulance service. Industry means economic stability, development, and employment opportunities all essential to a town's growth. Hardworking, community-minded citizens continue to build the community for a strong and bright future, making Avonlea a central location of business and trade. Other choice sites are available for future development.

Blue Hills Processors Ltd.

Blue Hills Processors Ltd. (BHPL) started with a group of local farmers who recognized the value of a processing plant in the largest lentil growing region in the province, in doing so they managed to keep the local elevator in operation. BHPL's rail service is provided by Southern Rail, which is also locally owned and operated. Approximately 75 shareholders came together to build Blue Hills processors; which was fully
functional April 2003. Since then BHPL has made strategic alliances with some of the biggest pulse exporters in the world. BHPL currently employs 30 people and the cleaning plant runs 24 hours per day. BHPL processes green & yellow peas, chick peas, and all varieties of lentils grown in the province. The product is received at the elevator and transferred to the state of the art cleaning facility via belt conveyors where it is bagged
or bulk loaded for containers, boxcars or hoppers and then exported around the world.

Emerald Seeds

Emerald Seed Products Ltd. (ESP) an Avonlea based manufacturer of quality ingredients for the natural health industry, is privately owned and operated. ESP is a 10-yearold company, which built a new fenugreek processing facility in 2004. It is the only processing facility of this type in the western world. The company manufactures a product called FenuLife, which is utilized as a natural-health diabetic, a weight management product and also as a spice. Both products are marketed in over 30 countries worldwide.

FenuLife is made from Fenugreek seeds grown under contract to Emerald, by local farmers at various locations in Southern Saskatchewan, with Avonlea District being the prime growing area. This product is based on scientific research conducted for many years by local universities and research facilities, and utilizes patented technology to produce FenuLife. ESP has a Health Canada certification under the Health Canada Natural Health Products Directorate, a certification required for all Natural Health manufacturing companies operating in Canada.

ESP locally employs five people who enjoy working and living in Avonlea and area. The company anticipates further growth and expansion in the years ahead.

Blue Hills Motor Inn

This busy 8-room motel that has been remodeled with a country theme becomes a meeting place for the community when a bar-food menu is offered with lunch specials Tues-Fri. There are great burgers and snacks and a warm atmosphere where friends meet. The café is available for lease – interested parties can contact the owners.

High Point Buck Ranch Lodge

Fully modern 3-bedroom log cabin available for rent on a daily or weekly basis. Ideal accomodations for family reunions, weddings, holidays. Located in the Claybank Dirt Hills, 10 minutes from Avonlea. Contact Rick Nestman at 868-2210.

Dirt Hills Wildlife Federation

Dirt Hills Wildlife Federation is a division of Saskatchewan Wildlife that consists of 126 branches across the province. The Federation is run entirely on volunteer efforts and enjoys between 200 and 250 members. Together they help to preserve wildlife and the habitat that make their homes in the wilderness areas surrounding Avonlea.

The Federation is extremely proud of its pheasant release program. Two hundred birds are released annually into the area with over 1000 birds to date having been released back into the wild. Fishing enthusiasts young and old will also benefit from the Federations recent program of stocking perch and northern pike into the Reg Watson Reservoir at Dunnet Park. Additional features the club has provided include a new fish filleting shack, boat dock, and a gun range for its members.