The town was once forgotten

CANADA Named as a premonition, the small town has only one restaurant, one church, several abandoned buildings and two rows of residential houses.

Driving along Highway 13, it's easy to ignore the town of Forget, which means "forgotten" in English, without realizing it. Forget is located in southeastern Saskatchewan and is nothing special.

The landscape is monotonous, with maple trees and spindly poplar trees lining the town borders. Oil rigs are the only moving object on the horizon.

The town was founded in 1899 by a group of French clergy who were invited to manage the local parish and named after the first vice governor.

Forget was once one of the most prosperous neighborhoods in the region. In the busiest times, there were three banks, two general grocery stores and a hotel, even a separate newspaper.

Priests opened schools, established parishes and people grew to more than 300. But when the rail system stopped running through the area in the 1990s, residents moved to nearby cities and the population dropped.

Forget gradually fell into oblivion. In 2007, the place became known to the public again when Shannon and Don Shakotko, who lived in a nearby town, saw a listing of a home for priests in Forget. With music knowledge and a dream to build a community, they renovate an abandoned building into a concert hall and create music for artists and musicians.

Later, they opened Happy Nun Cafe, a restaurant that specializes in local ingredients from local farms. In 2015, chef Katie Vinge-Riddell bought the cafe and turned it into a regional center. With the cooking skills of the new owner, the restaurant became famous and the "forgotten" town was visited by many people. They come from many places in Saskatchewan, some even from America.

The shop is named in honor of the heritage and language that the French have left to the community, once the main language used here. Many of the ancient relics of the town of Forget are also placed in the shop, including the town's first mailbox.

Rumored far away, Forget is said to be a great place to enjoy food and music. Weekend concerts and festivals held by the town often sold out. This started putting the town's name back on the map. The number of people coming to dinner at Happy Nun Cafe for one meal is even greater than the population living in the town of Forget.

One evening the restaurant has about 60 to 70 guests to eat, while Forget has only 40 residents, including farmers, musicians, painters who are self-reliant and appreciate the way of life away from comfort. modern. There are no sidewalks or spacious infrastructure. Residents are self-sufficient and self-transporting water and waste water. If something needs to be fixed, people will ask people around to help. Typically, they would exchange goods with each other instead of driving 20 minutes to shop in the nearby town of Stoughton.