It's been 50 years since a man from England, who was working in Hodgeville Saskatchewan at the time, won a contest that would forever connect him to the prairies. 

Anthony Drake and his wife moved to our province in the late 60s to teach English as they had read Canada was experiencing a shortage of educators. 

"We were teaching in England and I once read in one of our education documents that Saskatchewan needed some teachers. They were short, and they were offering a free journey to Saskatchewan and a job to teach. Both of us decided that would be a nice change in life and experience so we decided to go," said Drake.

They were only here three years but in that time Drake submitted to a contest a design of what he thought the Saskatchewan flag should look like, which was hosted by the provincial government.

Drake's design was chosen and not only does his design fly proudly all across the province and beyond, but he was also given a $1,000 cash prize. That might not seem like a huge payday but getting $1,000 in 1968 is like getting just over $7,000 now. 

The story kind of died down from there until Gail Hapanowicz and her husband moved from Calgary, Alberta many years later and bought a former school in the small Saskatchewan community. It didn't take long for Hapanowicz to hear that someone who used to teach at the old school created the look of one of our flags. After some committed digging that took a year and a half, she found Drake in England and immediately called him.

Three years ago Drake came to the Land of Living Skies to visit for the first time since he taught here. He was toured around to many life-changing events all coordinated by Hapanowicz and her husband - most notably having tea with the Lieutenant Governor at the time.

"That trip we had three years ago was absolutely incredible. Thinking about it now it was almost like a dream, it was marvellous."

In 2016 Hapanowicz and Drake had a camera crew follow them around and created a documentary that Drake still enjoys watching to this day. 

Now 50 years after his design was chosen, Drake is back again to celebrate the milestone anniversary. 

A year ago Drake phoned his friends in Hodgeville and told them he'd be coming to Canada for the 50th anniversary and was quick to inquire if they were going to be able to top the last time he was here. 

"Through a lot of work, a lot of work, we went and had discussions with the Roughrider football team. They arranged for us to be VIPs at the game... in front of 30,000 people we talked about Anthony being the designer of the Saskatchewan Flag and I thought that was probably bigger than last time," said Hapanowicz. 

Drake arrived on July 3rd and planned to stay for three weeks. They took in the Roughrider game last weekend, sharing the stage with the Stanley Cup and he still has plenty of exciting moments ahead for the rest of his time here. 

Though the two have done amazing things in the past three years, Hapanowicz said when she first found him there was one interaction that topped her bucket list for things to have Drake do and recently her dream came true.  

"You have one chance and I didn't want to blow it so I waited, I waited three years and eventually I did it in October and I sent a letter to the Queen. Five months later I got a mail item and it was from Buckingham Palace, oh my god."

Hapanowicz and her husband Mirek don't receive funding or assistance for Drake's trips to the prairies. They run a Facebook page called Home of the SK Flag and sell flags and pins with proceeds going to honouring Drake's contributions to Saskatchewan and bringing him here to celebrate his piece in our history. They also encourage people to submit photos of themselves in front of the Saskatchewan flag so they can post it to their page called "Stand Behind the Flag".