Over the weekend a beautiful Saturday provided a great backdrop for the Village of Mankota (150 kilometres south of Swift Current) to celebrate its 90th birthday.

Hundreds of people gathered in the village of 200 people to partake in the celebration that featured a parade with 46 entries, a horseshoe tournament with 27 teams, kids activities including a bouncy castle and face painting, and wrapped up with a dine and dance with the band Urban Outlaws performing for the celebration that lasted into the early hours of Sunday.

etter turnout than they expected. 

Not only was the birthday celebration a way to celebrate there 90th anniversary but also a way for people to catch up with old friends, meet new ones and show off their community spirit. 

"We had really good support from the community," she said. "We had people that used to live in Mankota that haven't been here for years that are living in different places come down. We had people from near and far show-up, we had older people and younger people show up and it was just an overall great experience for everyone I think."

Wallace noted that having people from surrounding communities always means a lot.

"Well I think it's really great because Mankota is a very small community and sometimes when you live in a small community you get such great support like we had because everybody is feeling the same thing with small towns, in the sense that not only do you need local support but the support of the surrounding communities," she said. "When you get other communities coming to support you not only from far and wide but when you get people that used to live here come a great distance I think it's absolutely fantastic that they came down and helped us support and celebrate our day."

Wallace added that they definitely appreciated everyone that came out and helped with the celebration.

{gallery}Mankota 90 2{/gallery}