The end is near for Valleyview Centre, the closure was memorialized on Saturday afternoon with a gathering of residents, their families and community members. 

All the way back in 1955, the facility began as the Saskatchewan Training School, being renamed and repurposed to the Valleyview Centre in 1973.

The memorial plaque was unveiled on Saturday, dedicated to the Students, Residents and Staff of the centre, bringing an emotional close to the many decades-long connections people have had with the building and residents.

"A lot of relationships occurred here, as I said, it was never about the building and it was always about the people. And so, I think the people coming here today are gonna remember their lives whether they lived or worked, and share some stories."

The Final Family Picnic kicked off in the afternoon, with many residents, family members, staff and other guests. There are currently still 16 residents, and the Saskatchewan Minister of Social Service, Paul Merriman, explained why it has so difficult to move them, and previous residents from Valleyview.

"The residents had very unique needs, and we wanted to take that into consideration, we wanted to make sure that if it was an accessibility issue and we had to build a new house, that we would do that. If there was something that we could retrofit, that we did in Regina and other locations, we wanted to take that into consideration, but we wanted to make sure their needs were being met at their new homes."

The current timeline for the full closure is set to be near the end of this year.