'Let's develop it and see what happens': Sask. gem celebrates 10 year anniversary

Stenen, Sask. -

While driving by on Highway 49, Stenen, Sask. isn’t visible to the naked eye, and may not look like much to those visiting the community — but inside the village lies a true Saskatchewan gem: Rawhides.

The Restaurant and Bar originally opened in 2012, and has since grown to be quite the facility — one of Saskatchewan’s best kept secrets.

While many establishments closed doors in the last decade, Rawhides has withstood the test of time, and continues to bring in thousands upon thousands to a community that aside from the establishment, looks like a ghost town. Stenen has a population of 90, according to its latest census data.

When Rawhides opens its doors and gets cookin’, however, that population doesn’t just double, or triple — it’s a community within its own community, according to co-owner Doug Will, who said they serve probably around 100,000 to 150,000 people a year.

“Last weekend, I guess we had served about 1,300 or 1,400 over the two-day period. So, that's a quite an increase in the town's population. People just enjoy seeing busy right, that people can come in here and a lot of times they'll meet their friends from 100 miles away — they didn't know they were coming. They both show up at the restaurant and (say), ‘Hey, let's have a drink and let's have a visit,’” he said.

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That is part of the aura of the establishment, Will said. The western-theme goes hand in hand with a welcoming environment, which promises to always have a spot open for new guests.

That is just another promise from ownership, if you’re willing to take the hour plus drive, they’ll make sure you’re served.

Will said it’s not like a big-city restaurant you may get turned away from. The entire facility itself can house up to 400 guests.

The facility was a repurposed school, built in 1962. It included four rooms, a library and a principals’ office, and Will’s idea — he admits — included no master plan, or any engineers.

“We just did it ourselves and had an awful lot of enjoyment putting something together like that. We built the main restaurant in 2012 and then we added the outdoor deck in 2014 and we added the event center for weddings and stuff in 2015. We just finished the spa here this year to complete the development,” Will said.

The spa includes a full salon and barber shop, with Will adding that it was the final development for the facility. Yet, he has other ideas — promising that it would be the final, final development, if he could bring a Japanese-style restaurant to the facility.

When it all originally opened, however, it was a mad dash to get those doors welcoming guests to the community.

“A lot of people probably couldn't believe it to start with, but we had a lot of support from the town. I think everybody was excited about having something developed," Will explained.

The town actually, was having its 100th anniversary in 2012. So, we started this in May, we had 90 days to get it ready and we accomplished it in about three days ahead of time. We opened up for the 100th anniversary, and it was just a packed house. So it does a really good start to the 10 years that we've been in business.”

Looking back after all these years, and all these guests who travelled miles and miles just for the experience, Will admits it’s all kind of hard to believe.

“Here's the thing — to be honest with you — we look back, and we're not sure what we were thinking. Doesn't make real good sense when you think about it. But we just enjoyed it. We wanted to do something. Developing something ... We just thought, ‘Well, let's develop it and see what happens.’

“We had no idea it would have the success that we've had to date. And hopefully we can add a few things in the future and create more interest for people and lots of people from around who have just heard about us. We see lots of new people each weekend that don't know where the washrooms are — So, I know they're brand new. And it's just nice to see new folks coming in,” said Will.

The biggest factor in keeping these doors open, keeping the guests happy, and keeping the business as a whole flourishing?

Will, an alfalfa family farmer by trade, said all the credit goes to his staff — along with contractors, who made his dream come to life.

“We just farmed all my life and thought it might be kind of interesting, do something a little different … (It) seemed like a good idea. This was where we were, so we thought, ‘Okay, let's build it here.’”