Duck Lake — a Saskatchewan community steeped in history that includes Louis Riel and the Northwest Rebellion — will not be renamed for a corporate sponsor.
The mayor says a campaign accepting bids to buy the naming rights to the town is dead but admits the bad blood it spawned lives on.
“Lots of people still won’t even look at me anymore. They’re quite angry about it,” Mayor Jason Anderson said in an interview.
On Tuesday, the deadline passed for the town, located north of Saskatoon, to accept sealed bids from businesses to pony up and take over the town name.
The minimum acceptable bid was $10 million.
Anderson said there were no bidders in the campaign, which began last fall and would still have still required a vote among residents before final name-change approval.
“I guess it just wasn’t a good enough offer for (companies),” Anderson said.
“I was expecting at least a few (offers). … Was it wishful thinking? Maybe.”
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Anderson said he had mailed more than 100 letters to Canadian companies to make his case for the town, which he said has thousands of vehicles passing through daily.
“Banks were some of them, some telecoms or somebody that had a name that they actually might be able to increase their business with,” he said.
A small number of people called back, he said, only to say, “This isn’t something they would do.”
The invitation created an intense debate in the town of 500.
Anderson said some residents understood how the money could help the community improve infrastructure, but others were furious about the history behind the town’s name being lost to a corporation.
Duck Lake, set amid aspen groves and fescue grasslands, got its name from the ducks that migrate through the area and rest at a nearby lake.
French-speaking Métis people began settling in Duck Lake in the 1860s and 1870s, before Saskatchewan became a province in 1905. In 1885, the area was the site of the first battle of the Northwest Rebellion, an uprising led by Louis Riel over land rights.
Anderson, who was elected two years ago, said he’s not completely bummed out.
“This has actually drawn up a lot of interest for our town,” he said.
“We’ve had lot of people coming. We’ve had inquiries from developers, which we haven’t had for years.”
He said the welcome mat remains out for businesses, corporations and curious travellers.
“It’s a beautiful little community,” he said.
“We have an amazing museum and (with) the history alone in our town, there is a lot going on.
“I know most people will want to go into the cities to open up their new business,” he added.
“But if you can do it for half of the price coming to our town, well, why wouldn’t you consider that?”
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