Original subtitles

How much do you love Willow Bunch, well a bunch.

[laughter]

Are you living up to your potential?

I can hardly get my laundry done.

♪ For his cock mama for his cock papa ♪

This is like a very ancient version of Twister

Willow Bunch sounds like something you buy for

15 bucks at Home Sense.

When you grow up in small town in Newfoundland;

you see the people have a sense of humour about hard times.

Check Check

I turned that into a career and hit the road.

MC: Mr. Jonny Harris!

Now I'm on a mission; to find the funny in places

you'd least expect it,

Canada's struggling small towns.

Towns that are against the ropes

but hanging in there.

Still laughing in the face of adversity.

Welcome to Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan. sure delivers on stunning prairie cliches,

but if you stray South down along the US boarder

you'll find a little town with an unassuming name:

"Willow Bunch"

But trust me, this tiny town has a giant story.

But I had a bit of a hard time getting here.

As soon as I left the trans Canada and I was

coming down - I started to lose my way and I was

asking people how to get here and they're telling

me things like it's between climax and big beaver.

And I was always told that Saskatchewan was

flat and boring.

Not so.

There's this beautiful valley with lush meadows,

and trees and and... You're not trying to keep

that a secret are ya?

[Laughter]

Unfortunately one thing that wasn't a secret,

businesses closed down or up for sale.

Doris O'Reilly at the museum told me all about it.

There are some places for sale like the gas station,

variety store.

Because the decline in population I think

its hard to keep a business going.

So what lead to the decline?

Because there was nothing for the young people.

They didn't want to farm and not everybody

wants to be a farmer.

They moved away.

We've become a retirement community.

Struggling a little but for the most part

happy to be here..

But this quiet little town, holds some of the

best kept secrets of the old west.

Doris told me that Sitting Bull,

Cheif of the Sioux,

The man who brought down General Custer, sat right here.

No bull.

Why did Sitting Bull come here?

To get away from the American authorities.

After the battle of Little Bighorn...

General Custer's last stand, right?

Chief Sitting Bull came here to seek asylum.

He came to Willow Bunch to meet with it's founder

Jean Louis Legare.

And Legare took him in.

He welcomed him.

That's pretty noble thing of him to do I think.

And he looked after them and fed them and

helped them out.

Could you imagine when he first found out,

one of Sitting Bull's scouts comes up and he's like

oh Chief Sitting Bull is coming here

oh that's great, is there anybody with him?

[Laughter]

400 eh?

Okay I think that's doable sure.

Can you tell me why he's leaving the States?

Oh my.

Oh my.

So General Custer is he?

Oh my.

Oh my.

Do you have any idea how long they'll want to stay here?

[Laughter]

And Jean Louis Legare he was a strong man and if he

said he was going to help someone, he did.

Doris then told me that he billed the Canadian government

Furnishing provisions for 492 Indians.

48,000 dollars for expenses incurred and

losses sustained.

The government of Canada gave him back 2,000

dollars of the 48,000.

What a rip.

In the end the Canadian government sent him a

fraction of what he thought he deserved and

that folks was the birth of Revenue Canada.

[Laughter]

He was a great man he just needed a great accountant.

[Laughter]

I found a town in transition - Willow Bunch

managing retirees is a bit like Legare struggling

with Sitting Bull's clan -- where to put them?

How long will they stay?

Will they make a mess, ya know?

The big draw for people to Willow Bunch now is the

Willow Bunch golf course I can see why it's

absolutely stunning.

We call it a hidden paradise down here in

southern Saskatchewan.

I went to meet with Sharleine Eger

Hi guys!

She introduced me to several people who are there.

They bring their RVs down.

So you guys have been coming here for ten years?

Yeah ten years.

Yes I can see you're really roughing it here

I can't imagine.

I don't know if you can call it camping if

you got a 60 ft RV and satellite TV but.

The only way your sleeping gear is going to get wet

is if the waterbed breaks.

[Laughter]

Jay is the young fella who runs the golf course now.

Jim is the old fella who used to run the golf course.

But he has no respect for his elders.

No. Nope.

He won't go in the bush and look for my golf balls

or anything like that.

I always wondered that must be a little bit weird

for Jason right?

Taking over the job from someone he still shows up

every day to make sure you're doing a good job.

[Laughter]

I come up just about every morning - oh 4:30 -

just to look at the view.

And somewhere down in the town

Jason's down there with one eye open going

he's watching me already, I can feel it.

[Laughter]

How's he doing with it?

If it would have been anyone else I probably

would have shot him.

Oh ya?

Over here is where Sitting Bull camped out.

Do you think he'd be any good at golf?

Hole 7 - that's where Jean Louis Legare and

Chief Sitting Bull had encamped and some people say

on a quiet night you can hear their spirits

discussing whether they should use a pitching

wedge or a nine iron.

[Laughter]

If anything Shar I'm afraid I'm blowing the

secret for the locals of Willow Bunch.

It is our own little paradise but we're

willing to share.

Some Canadians secrets need to stay secret like

the fact that there's clam juice in a caesar,

that never should have got out.

[Laughter]

A bigger surprise the Saskatchewan having hills...

- There's black gold in them there hills!

Black gold.

More than a trillion bottles of oil bigger

than Saudi Arabia.

This place is a gold mine.

Willow Bunch sounds like something you'd buy for

15 bucks at Home Sense right?

You're wife would say to ya, honey we need some shams,

a couple of flounces and willow bunch for the bedroom.

[Laughter]

Sometimes you gotta learn the local legends,

know the larger than life characters to really be

able to size a place up... Waaaaaay up.

And all our ball teams

were the giants or the giant was always a part

of Willow Bunch.

Like I saw the pub that was called the Jolly Giant

Well we call him our Willow Bunch giant.

Edward Beaupre was 8'3 at the age of 22.

I mean this guy we all know Andre the Giant right?

Edouard was a foot taller than him.

Oh my.

Size 22 shoe in the end.

Give him a high five.

It's a good thing he's wearing a top hat because

it helps him look tall.

Nichole not only curates

the exhibit there but she is his great niece.

So she's protecting his family memory with the

passion that only family can allow.

And this is him with?

He's sitting and even when he's sitting he's taller

than his dad.

It would be hard to punish your child if

that were the case.

Edouard go to your room!

No.

Okay carry me up to mine?

[Laughter]

He came from a family of 20.

A family of 20?

There wasn't a lot of money and he felt a

responsibility.

So And being the eldest he wanted to help

out his parents.

He got into the circus.

He ended up working for Barnum and Bailey.

There's not a lot of criteria in hiring the

tallest man right.

You don't need to nail the interview or anything right?

It would just be like Hey Eduard stand next to that guy.

Okay Eduard you're hired - that guy - you're fired.

Unfortunately he died at the early age of 23 but

they said he was still growing at the time.

Wow.

He died at the World's Fair in St. Louis.

There wasn't enough money to bring him back

home for a burial.

His body was abandoned at the morgue.

His body disappeared.

Then some kids found it in an abandoned warehouse,

eventually it ended up on display at the

University of Montreal.

It's like he went on tour after he died which

makes me think of Keith Richards.

[Laughter]

It was my father's dream that he'd get

him back and he did.

For all that sadness there's a bit

of a happy ending now.

He's back in Willow Bunch.

Home and at peace.

He had a proper burial here and now Nichole works

diligently so that we can all remember him the way

we should remember him.

With dignity and literally a great man.

Even newcomers to this town are a colourful bunch.

I went to visit Alan Harmony.

Alan specializes in interpreting dreams.

Which is the kind of thing I don't usually buy into.

Why Willow Bunch?

I was brought here as a result of a series of dreams.

I'm looking around the landscape and going holy Toledo.

I was shown this in the dream.

Alan's written books about how

dreams can predict the future.

Well there's no one else that does what

I do let's put it that way.

Right.

His powers seem to have steered him right

with real estate.

When the town's school fell victim to population decline,

Alan picked up the building for a song.

The town could have bought it for a dollar

and they didn't.

But Alan told me that a lot of great men

throughout history have used their dreams,

things they've seen in their dreams to achieve greatness.

Like Einstein and Edison and Bell and Tesla and

people like that.

And now I understand that if I'm ever going to be a

truly great man I need to do more napping.

[Laughter]

You have to learn to take a look at the plays on

words within the words.

He's explained this to me now, he's got plans to

well he's got plans, he's got plans.

[Laughter]

I saw a cupand it was placed on a book.

What's the analogy there?

I think I know.

Cup, c-u-p.

It means you saw somebody urinate.

No you're close, c up, look up, look up in a book,

oh I get it, bingo.

He told me, he told me that what he's trying to

accomplish is beyond the grasp of most people and

I most humbly concede I am most people.

[Laughter]

With Sitting Bull and Legare,

I've learned this place has an incredible story.

But enough with the history books.

Willow Bunch's deep past is written in stone.

I went to visit the visit the petroglyphs.

History is important.

If you want to know where you're going you need to

know where you've been.

Wes Bloom was showing me the petroglyphs basically

it's ancient First Nation's carvings in the rocks.

This Jonny is a warrior head.

It's fairly menacing looking.

There's human hands, warriors, bison hooves.

328 carvings right here and then we go to

an area that is quite controversial.

So if you can imagine left hand, right hand and here

we have a male genetilia.

This is like a very ancient version of twister.

I'm not going to put my genitalia where it's -

I'm glad to hear that.

So there's the symbol for a great plains grizzly

being held onto by human hands and then a human

phallus pointed at the grizzly.

And mating with this plains grizzly.

That's a bold move.

It was so the shaman could gain the power of the

plains grizzly.

Don't try and get the power of the grizzly you

already have a lot of power and it's clearly

gone to your head.

[Laughter]

And now I also understand why I don't see a whole

lot of grizzlies in here.

[Laughter]

Sure The grizzlies may have stayed away

and I never saw a Sasquatch,

but the area has seen the return of the fransaskois?

♪ Old Father Joe wants us all to ♪

♪ pray for his cocker spaniel who is sick. ♪

♪ For his cock mama for his cock. ♪

♪ For his cock papa for his cock. ♪

♪ For his cocker spaniel who is sick... ♪

Not all newcomers to Willow Bunch are from

away, some people are actually returning home

like the Campagne family, they're sort of local celebs.

They had a very popular group Hart Rouge.

Great band.

Before the turn of the century this whole region

was called La Hart Rouge.

I mean this is an old French town,

it's one of the oldest towns in Saskatchewan.

Turned out there were tens of

thousands of Fransaskois.

The name for Francophone Saskatchewaners.

Basically our dad who was a farmer all his life but

loved to sing, he thought well I'm going to teach

them French songs and that will sort of help

perpetuate the language and the culture.

It did...

until the French community died out when people

moved on to bigger places.

But a few years ago, the Campagnes came back.

So at 50 years old I decided to come back.

And the land here attracted all of us back.

Solange was the first one to come back and she

started organically growing kamut and flax and

all kinds of other things that children push

to the side of their plate.

You want to learn something in French?

My french is very poor but I'd be willing to try.

My French is rusty, but music is universal

and the sentiment of this love song almost

brought me to tears.

Now they have a huge annual Fransaskois music

festival that draws thousands of people to

celebrate their culture, where it all started,

Willow Bunch.

It's extreme here.

It's always been a dynamically opposed like

the French the English, the cold, the hot.

And the Métis brought in a whole other culture too.

So really they're able to accomplish in a three

minute song, what the Canadian government have

had a hard time doing in 300 years.

[Laughter]

I wondered, how does a town with such varied roots,

somehow keep it all together?

Is it a town of different opinions Willow Bunch?

Yes -How so?

Every small town is.

You know you'll have four different opinions on anything.

So you just don't have one, it's better.

So this bar is sort of like Switzerland.

It's okay everyone is so different I've never met

a person I didn't find something I could like about.

That's what I like about you, Dawn

She chose smaller town life two years ago.

Dawn used to work for an optometrist in Assiniboia

she left that job and her boss didn't see it coming.

[Laughter]

I mean I've never locked the doors to my home.

Is that right?

I've never taken my keys out of my vehicle.

I'm happy with being able to cross the street and

not really pay attention and I think there's

a stop sign in town but I'm not sure.

Dawn - there are several stop signs.

I think maybe a trip back to the

optometrist office is in order.

Folks she says she leaves her keys in her car,

somebody take them.

How can you not want that for life?

If you can make a living here, then, you should.

But there's signs of something much bigger than

retirees and tourists coming to town.

There's talk about oil rigs that are being

drilled in the area and...

So there's change on the horizon?

Yeah just started.

I got a lump in my throat.

We've never had anything like that.

Some people think oh aren't you going to be happy?

No.

It's actually scary.

I like the way it is.

That's the fundamental question for small towns

that are struggling is you want more people, you want

more money, you want more industry but do you?

In a way...

Do you understand what comes with it?

I said well Dawn what do you see in the future of

Willow Bunch?

And she pointed over to the sign and said well

Friday night is rib night.

[Laughter]

Beyond that really is anyone's guess I suppose.

Of course I'm not really saying it right am I?

You guys don't say Willow Bunch,

you say Willowbunch.

Willowbunch.

As in how much you love Willow Bunch?

Well a bunch.

[Laughter]

I wanted to get a better picture of the future of this place,

and I'd heard about another newcomer who could

paint that picture by number.

Pleased to meet you sir.

Nice to meet you, welcome to my home.

Gordon Spowart is a numerologist.

He invited me over for pie.

[Groans & Laughter]

You ain't seen nothing yet.

The numerological institute of Canada.

Mhm.

it's only me.

It's only one person.

really?

So you're number one.

Well That's the good thing about it.

Gordon told me that he could tell me all kinds of

information just from the first vowel of my first name.

I said "O".

[Laughter]

That's is 10, 16, 7.

That is 10, 16, 22.

Every letter in your name signifies a different number

That's 1, 6, 5, 1, 2, 8, 1, 5, 4, 1.

It sounded like an auctioneer going.

36, 37, 10, 1.

9, 2, 8, 1, triple 9, 1.

7 0 9 2 5 0 5 3 3 5, and I said sold!

And I ended up buying his couch.

You have mastery at your fingertips,

are you living up to your potential?

I can hardly get my laundry done.

As for Willow bunch, he told me a simple story of

a farming town's demise by the numbers.

Once upon a time the farms would be a hundred to a

thousand acres.

So there would be 20 farmers, with three, four

kids each, that's eighty people, a hundred people.

Now that's one farm.

But this areas' future is so much bigger.

Well the oil field there's more than a trillion

bottles of oil bigger than Saudi Arabia.

This place is a gold mine.

People are going to be coming here.

How will they handle it?

Well Gordon moved here after 48 years in Toronto

and he says the key to change is to do what

Legare and Sitting Bull did, - make the most of

the space you've got.

And that's one of the reasons why I built a

labyrinth out in the back yard.

And the idea is you meditate on something,

and as you weave your way to the centre of the circle

hopefully you'll have some clarity on the matter

So you're accessing your feminine intuitiveness as

well as your male aggressiveness and it's

balancing it out for you in harmony.

Well it's good for me cause I have both

sets of genitals.

Finally, a labyrinth when you need one.

Because there was still some Stuff about Willow Bunch

I was still trying to sort out.

I couldn't really attach

a singular identity to Willow Bunch,

it's a real hodgepodge right.

At first I was thinking is it a historical

Métis community where Sitting Bull sat?

Or is it a geological wonder?

Is it a home of a famous giant?

A refuge for outlaws?

And then I realized it is, it's all of these things

but a few new bits and bobs as well now.

You know everybody here's a little different and is

a different colourful square on this quirky

quilt of a town.

And from what I'm told of Saskatchewan winters

you're going to need a quilt, you're going to

need a quilt and a tuque and gloves.

Just before I came over to the Jolly Giant for the

show tonight my mom gave me a ring she said oh

you know how's it going in Saskatchewan?

I said mom I stood in the shadow of a giant,

walked circles in a circle, played twister on the

petroglyphs and sang some songs with the

Fransaskois singers.

She said Jonathan what are you talking about?

I said mom I'm talking about Willow Bunch,

Saskatchewan.

Thanks so much everybody, you've been great.

We're all working together as a very small community.

You forget how the rest of the town how much

there is here, how many different people.

So now I think people will get an idea of really how

interesting the town is.

Yeah it's nice to get a little positive reaction

to the area and a lot of the people here.

Good show.

It was funny.

Very proud, very proud.

It was personal so that was nice.

He really learnt something I think so that's good.