Click above to watch a video from the Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, Heritage Day, where the company continued celebrations of our 125th anniversary.
Heritage Day is an annual tradition in the town of Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan. Held every year on the third Saturday of August, it’s a time for reunions and reminiscing — and for celebrating the agricultural and forest products industries that continue to support and shape the region.
“Heritage Day is an important time for us,” says Jason Kocay, who grew up in Hudson Bay and now manages our OSB mill just south of town.
“It’s all my children talk about for weeks leading up to it,” adds Mitch Zurba, also a Hudson Bay native and Weyerhaeuser employee.
Weyerhaeuser’s operations in Hudson Bay date to our acquisition of MacMillan Bloedel in 1999. Our current OSB mill opened in 2001 and was described by local newspapers at the time as the “most modern OSB mill in the world.” Multiple generations of Hudson Bay families have now worked there. Wandering the town today, it’s difficult to find anybody without some type of past or present connection to Weyerhaeuser.
“Weyerhaeuser keeps Hudson Bay going,” says Mitch, who with his sister also owns the town’s main sit-down restaurant, The Railway Avenue Pub.
Hudson Bay is one of the northernmost outposts in our operations. Getting there from nearly anywhere in the U.S. requires a full day’s travel. It’s a place where winter temperatures can plunge to 40 below zero and parking stalls at the mill come with power outlets to keep engines from freezing. Driving north and east from Saskatoon in late summer, visitors pass through rolling golden fields of canola and wheat before arriving in town, where they’re greeted by a large billboard declaring Hudson Bay the ”Moose Capital of the World.”
Many of our employees in Hudson Bay grew up there and say they feel a deep affection for the area, its people and the rural lifestyle it provides.
“The world is in such a hurry all the time,” says Conrad Paskell, operations manager for Timberlands, whose family has lived in the community for 50 years. “Hudson Bay is not that place.”
Heritage Day, which fell on Aug. 16 this year, brings many old friends, family members and former residents back to town. Festivities begin in the morning with a community parade and continue through the afternoon with a full schedule of activities at Heritage Park, where buildings and exhibits depict life in Hudson Bay during the early 1900s. Highlights include live music, train rides, freshly baked bread from an outdoor clay oven, and sawmill and threshing demonstrations.
Weyerhaeuser again was among the community supporters of Heritage Day, donating two half-packs of OSB sheathing to a silent auction, sponsoring a petting zoo at Heritage Park and entering a float in the parade (a black F-250 pulling a flatbed trailer topped with product and decorated with signs and flags).
Heritage Day is just one of the many ways we give back to the community, however. Weyerhaeuser has made large donations to the Hudson Bay Community School (K-12), which opened in 2015 and features stained OSB panels lining the walls, and the new Hudson Bay Community Pool that opened in 2023. Our work education program, run through the mill, offers high school students opportunities to gain experience in the industrial trades. And Amanda LeBlanc, Timberlands administrator in Hudson Bay, was named one of our 2023 volunteer of the year award winners for her exceptional work with a variety of local organizations.
“Without Weyerhaeuser here, our community would be a lot different,” Jason says. “I’m proud to say I work for Weyerhaeuser and we’re able to support our community.
A team from Weyerhaeuser was on hand to help capture the festivities as part of our 125th anniversary celebrations this year, and you can check out the video above and photos below to learn more about Hudson Bay!
