1) An examination of the life of a small-town doctor who went to extraordinary lengths to serve the people of Midale and surrounding areas.

2) Dr. Mainprize would not have been able to do what he did without the help of the people he served. Who are these people?

3) We will examine the environment/weather, then and now, to show that almost everything that we do and what we've become is in one form or another shaped by the environmentin which we live and the weather we experience.

In 2011, Mainprize Park celebrated its 50th anniversary. This was and is a small park nestled in the Souris Valley halfway between Weyburn and Estevan in South East Sask. In 1991 the original park was no longer in existence as the Rafferty Dam project flooded about 55 miles of the Souris Valley. Mainprize Park was relocated about 5km from the original site. It now sits on the shores of the Rafferty Dam . This park was named in honour of the local Doctor, William Graham Mainprize in 1961. Everyone for miles around knew him as he delivered over 5,000 babies, including me, and looked after the sick within an 80-mile radius of Midale, Sk. during his years of service. I really knew nothing more than that about him. He passed away in 1976 and people were still talking about him so many years after his death. This prompted me to start this project.

As I talked to people I was amazed at the amount of stories I heard about “Old Doc” and the lengths that he went to care for the sick. Story after story was filled with heroic deeds by Doc and those whom he recruited to help him, traversing miles of fields in blinding blizzards to attend to a gravely ill person on an isolated farm. After that weekend, I knew this project needed to have more effort, thought, care and attention given to it, in order to do it justice. This was about the man, Dr. Mainprize, who gave so many people a chance at life and asked for so little in return. This project must be done right.

Read Bio here: http://www.mainprizeproject.ca/bios

This project is made up of 3 distinct, yet complementary, facets. Each one linked to the other to bring together a complete picture of the life and times of Doctor William Graham Mainprize.

1. The Documentary

The documentary tells the story of Dr. William Graham Mainprize, a Saskatchewan physician who spent his entire lifetime serving Midale and surrounding communities. Despite poor infrastructure, weather conditions and various other factors affecting Dr. Mainprize’s ability to travel, he took every effort traversing uncharted roads to tend to those in need. Despite this legacy, there is little information about him readily available to the people of Saskatchewan. We hope to rectify this by telling his story and highlighting his great deeds, along with those who helped him. The Mainprize documentary will continue to develop over a one year period including shooting in all four seasons. Post-production is anticipated over an additional six months.

2. The Interactive Exhibit & Website

The second component will require raising funds in order to have a physical structure placed in Mainprize Park, honoring Dr. William Mainprize. In 1994, the original Mainprize Park was destroyed due to the construction of two new dams in Southern Saskatchewan. Plans were initiated immediately to find a new location for the park, simultaneously incorporating a beautiful golf course. Today Mainprize Park is a popular destination yet many lack knowledge on the history of the park and person after which it was named. The structure we will leave behind will be highly interactive, including touch screen features and a truly amazing Augmented Reality exhibit that immerses the user in the "Old Doc Mainprize Park". This monumental structure with significant meaning will inevitably spark interest in those utilizing the amenities of Mainprize Park.

3. The Bursary Foundation in Dr. William G. Mainprize's Name

The third and ongoing component will be a Bursary awarded to a Saskatchewan resident attending post-secondary education. This student must be enrolled in an area of the medical profession, including Medicine, Veterinary, Nursing, Optometry or Dentistry. Dr. Mainprize put the interest of those in need before his own, pushing every extent to ensure he could exercise his medical proficiency. Please join us in honouring Dr. Mainprize and ensuring his legacy carries on far into the future, educating and improving the lives of many more generations of students.

The production office is in Regina, Saskatchewan. The documentary takes place in and around the communities of Goodwater, Bromhead, Tribune, Maxim, Midale, Colgate, Halbrite, Griffin, Huntoon, Viewfield, Benson, Weyburn, Estevan, and Macoun.

The production company is Melcher Studios and the Producers are Jack Hilkewich and Murray Kerr.

http://www.mainprizeproject.ca/donate

You can send us home movies, pictures, and stories about living in any of the communities of Goodwater, Bromhead, Tribune, Maxim, Midale, Colgate, Halbrite, Griffin, Huntoon, Viewfield, Benson, Weyburn, Estevan, and Macoun from 1911 to current day. Our contact information is on the Contact Page(http://www.mainprizeproject.ca/)

If we raise enough money, we will transfer them to a 4K digital format. Once that is complete, I will send back your property along with a copy of the digital transfer.

We plan to enter it into as many festivals as we can and then meet with distribution companies to secure a distribution deal. We will also offer the completed film for sale via online store.