source: Farm and Food Report
It could well be described as the showpiece of Hague’s Saskatchewan River Valley Museum: a rare standing Mennonite House-Barn.
Dating back to 1908, the wood-frame gabled-roof structure consisting of two distinctly separate but adjoining buildings clearly contrast with the farmyards one usually encounters across Saskatchewan.
Gerry Kuehn is one of the volunteers who is responsible for its preservation.
“It was actually built on the townsite of Hochfeld, about five miles northwest of Hague. In 1994 we moved it to the museum site in two sections. The house and the barn sections share a wall. At one time there were many house-barns like this all around the area. This is one of the few that was preserved, likely because someone lived and kept stock in it well into the 1970s.”
In a way, this type of structure is symbolic of another view of the world. It was devised by the Mennonites in seventeenth-century Poland where farmland was more scarce and restricted to small, narrow parcels of land.
It was designed specifically to house a farm family, agricultural livestock, and produce in one structure. The unique design of house-barns allowed them to use land to its fullest capacity by containing farm buildings within a limited space.
This also contributed to and reinforced the Mennonites' closely-knit communities since the structures were built within very close proximity to one another in communities of 20 to 60 family units.
When the Mennonites immigrated to Canada, they retained this unique style of architecture because it allowed them to preserve their agricultural way of life as well as their religious and cultural beliefs.
“The family members went straight from the kitchen to the barn by a shared door,” explains Kuehn. “Some of these houses had some kind of transition room between the two areas, a bit like we would have a mud room today—one that would lead into the barn and the house at each end.
“The bedroom closest to the barn would likely have been that of the older boys who would be called upon to do the chores. Cow stalls were closest to the house; there were horse stalls and likely pigs as well. Small windows installed side-by-side near the barn’s roof line provided basic natural lighting.
Farthest from the house lies an open area with access to the loft, with a widera shed-like extension, likely where smaller implements would be stored. Heavy doors allowed access to heavier equipment or feed loads that could be hoisted up into a modest loft.
“We restored the house to what it looked like in 1908 with Mennonite furniture. It is all very humble. In the living room, a long wooden sitting bench sits where a chesterfield might have been in a non-Mennonite family. This is likely the room where the grandparents might have slept. There was also a distinctive wood fired central heating system housed in a cement casing, which we had to leave behind when we moved the house because of its weight.”
To enter the house directly, visitors first entered an enclosed front porch attached to the middle of the house and equipped with a window on each side of the door.
“We were fortunate enough that a founding member of the Museum left us his entire estate when he passed away with the stipulation that a building be constructed to house the entire museum collection. Thanks to this gift, we were able to restore the house in 1997 and build a museum facility; and to acquire an old Mennonite country school and a church we moved onto the site as well.”
The Saskatchewan RiverValley Museum folks had the building designated a Municipal Heritage Property in March 1996.
“It is open to the public. We get so many people who come and visit our museum in the summer. They always tell us just how impressed they are with the heritage we have managed to preserve. Even our local history is chronicled like nowhere else, thanks to the efforts of dedicated volunteers like me,” Kuehn points out.
“We call our museum: Saskatchewan’s small secret.”
Gerry Kuehn
Saskatchewan River Valley Museum
Hague
(306) 225-2112
source: Farm and Food Report
Who would have thought a simple mural could generate this much pride?
Local Economic Development Officer Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel could hardly contain her excitement.
"This mural is truly representative of the community of Mossbank. It will be a great way to welcome visitors home for the Homecoming Celebrations and it will be a lasting reminder for those of us living here: Mossbank is here to stay."
What started out as a Main Street beautification project turned into an exploration of the symbols, sights and experiences Mossbank wishes to convey to outside world about itself.
"The old Empress Hotel on Main Street had been repainted recently, as part of an effort to showcase our local heritage. There are a few embossed tin-covered buildings left in town, including the Ambroz Blacksmith Shop, a Provincial Heritage Property. The Empress Hotel had a south-facing wall that was very visible to folks arriving into town as they drove down Main Street. We figured it would make an ideal location for a mural."
Jolly-Nagel hoped the mural would be a project everyone in town could develop a feeling of ownership about. There was only one way to do that.
"We needed to ask people what they wanted to see in this mural. An announcement went out in our local newsletter, and suggestions started coming in. We applied for funds under the Saskatchewan Centennial Commemorative Program as well as donations from Conexus Credit Union, the Town of Mossbank and the RM of 102. In the meantime, I contacted an artist whose work I had seen and liked in Gull Lake. His name is Joel Legault."
When Joel Legault came to scout the project, the two went around town and the countryside to snap digital photographs of some of the scenes and buildings Mossbank people felt should be highlighted in the mural. Old Wives Lake, local sunsets, farm equipment and the Snowbirds were among the favourites-yes, the best acrobatic flight team in the world.
"Most outsiders don't realize that the Snowbirds train around Mossbank. We get an air show out in our backyard everyday they train. In all honestly, we sometimes feel that they are our Snowbirds. They are just so much part of our lives here."
So much so that Major Stuart McIntosh, Deputy Commanding Officer of the 431 Air Demonstration Squadron and Major Lloyd MacKenzie, 15 Wing Operations Officer from Moose Jaw were enlisted as guests of honour for the mural's unveiling.
Joel Legault got to work on the mural, in consultation with Jolly-Nagel and others in the community who provided guidance on the subject matter. The final product is as close as you will ever get to a truly community-inspired work of love and passion-a wall-size portrait of how Mossbank folks see their journey on the Great Plains, through history, hardships and successes.
Now the town plans to build a visitor center on an empty lot, just across the street from the mural.
Mossbank, it seems, has big dreams for the future, and people to bring them to fruition.
- 30 -
Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel
Rural Economic Development Officer
Mossbank
(306) 354-2290
source: Farm and Food Report
Saddle up, pardner, and get ready for a rip snortin’ good time in Yorkton this summer.
The first annual Yorkton Cowboy Festival will be riding into town on August 13th and 14th.
“The festival will include two days of action packed events including a ranch rodeo, a western art and gear show, a cowboy poetry and western music talent stage, along with a western music concert, ranch roping and reined cow-horse competitions,” explains Ducks Unlimited’s Stu Cairns, one of the event organizers.
This may be the first such festival in the Yorkton area, but Cowboy Festivals are very popular in Alberta, where Cairns and others on the organizing committee have migrated from in recent years. “It was something we were familiar with back there, and we sort of saw it as a gap we can fill here.”
Cairns notes that a recent Sask Trends Monitor release indicated that, from 2001 to 2004, “the migration of out-of-province farmers to the Yorkton/Melville area has become evident in the statistics.”
He adds that “over the past three to five years, the entire East Central Region of the province has seen a significant immigration of ranching families from Alberta and British Columbia. This trend is attributed to the economic benefits associated with the very reasonably priced land in our part of the province that is well suited to ranching and beef cattle production.
“This influx of new people with a ranching background to our region has been a positive experience and one that we, the community, would like to celebrate,” explains Cairns.
“Looking back into our history prior to the traditional grain farming era, ranching and the life of a working cowboy were really some of the original beginnings of agriculture in Saskatchewan. The Yorkton Cowboy Festival is an event that will highlight and celebrate this history and heritage.”
“Overall,” said Cairns, “the Cowboy Festival is really an event aimed at the further development of a ‘ranch culture,’ to foster a spirit of western living in the Yorkton area, and attract tourists and economic activity to our region.”
Among the events featured at the two-day festival will be the ranch rodeo, inspired by the everyday activities and chores of the working cowboy, according to Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food’s Naomi Paley, another fellow organizer.
“The events in the one-day ranch rodeo will provide spectators with an opportunity to view and appreciate the skills and finesse involved in handling ranch stock efficiently and effectively.
“The Cowboy Festival is a way for our community to make these newcomers from Alberta and elsewhere feel at home. We estimate that over the last three to five years, about 100 families have moved here from Alberta alone,” she adds.
On Saturday evening, there will be a western music concert at St. Mary’s complex, featuring performers from Saskatchewan and Alberta who will entertain the crowd with western tunes and perhaps even a bit of yodeling, sure to get your toes tapping.
Both Naomi Paley and Stu Cairns want the festival to be as cowboy-oriented as possible.
Cairns adds that he also expects the general public will attend the event because so many seem to appreciate the cowboy way of life.
“The Yorkton Cowboy Festival will benefit individuals through the entire region, as well as others from outside the province, who may choose to attend the event during a summer vacation or a visit to our community,” reflects Cairns.
He hopes many will take up this opportunity to take in the lesser-known traditions of the Yorkton region.
For more information on attending or participating in the events of the Yorkton Cowboy Festival, call (306) 782-2108.
For more information, contact:
Stu Cairns
Ducks Unlimited
(306) 782-2108
Naomi Paley
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
(306) 786-1509
source: Farm and Food Report
He’s a quiet farmer from Davidson, and his art has changed the face of many towns along Highway 11 between Saskatoon and Regina. His name is Don Wilkins. His craft: sculpture.
“I have always had an interest in the history of the old Northwest. Some of us along the highway wanted this history to be featured more prominently in the region. We approached the provincial government with a view to have Highway 11 renamed Louis Riel Trail.”
“Riel travelled through our region, first while returning from Montana to help his fellow Metis prior to the Resistance of 1885, then again on his final journey to Regina, where he was tried and hung. We wanted this recognized, and we needed a way to illustrate Riel’s journey vividly.”
Wilkins, an accomplished welder thanks to his farm background and experience restoring 10 antique cars, figured he could start building an iron cut and welded buffalo, and a Red River cart for display along the highway at Girvin.
“The buffalo was such an important resource to fur traders, to the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company, and so central to the lives of Plains people. Of course, the Metis had a relationship with the buffalo that was distinct from that of First Nations. Because I have two Metis grandchildren, I want them to feel their roots matter.”
Wilkins started planning out his project on the floor of his shop, using sketches and grids.
“I started with the Red River cart. That is my signature piece. I make them 20 per cent larger than real life so they can be viewed more easily from the highway. I actually just finished my twelfth Red River cart.”
Wilkins currently has five major sculptures positioned along Highway 11. They are one-eight of an inch thick. The big ones have internal frames.
One sculpture represents a surveyor—an iconic figure in the context of Euro-Canadian settlement in the Plains region.
“Surveyors had a huge impact on Metis settlement because of the river lot system the Metis had used to settle at Batoche and along the South Saskatchewan River. The surveyors—often despite themselves—were very disruptive to the Metis life, and their coming to the Northwest was at the root of the ‘troubles’ that ensued.”
Wilkins also erected a cart and ox at Aylesbury; Craik has a sculpture of the Metis buffalo hunter, holding the very effective buffalo gun; and Dundurn has the bone gatherer figure combined with a horse and cart.
“Bone gatherers were symbolic of activities around the remains of the buffalo during the last part of the 19th century, sometime after the great big herds had been decimated. The bone gatherers picked up these white shiny bones that stuck out of the ground before the ploughshare hit the sod, to be processed in fertilizer plants.
“I made the bone gatherer holding a buffalo skull in his hand, pausing for a moment, pondering what life must have been like here years before… just before tossing the skull into the pile.”
Wilkins has plans for making a Metis fiddler as a celebration of life, hunting, and great social gatherings among Metis society.
“I will build this Metis man 12 feet tall and playing the fiddle. I also have plans to make a First Nations woman to honour those without whom the Metis Nation could not have existed. My close Metis friends provide guidance for my projects, as do my grandchildren.”
Don Wilkins’ works certainly stand out, because of his attention to detail. Yet the sculptures are relatively unadorned. Perhaps this is what endows them with character.
“I have mixed feelings about covering them with paint, so I do not use it. The sculptures have a rusty surface as a result. I have noticed that this way, people get closer and appreciate them more thoroughly.
Most importantly perhaps, people stop for a moment and take in a bit of the significance of the events that took place in time over this territory. Thus, the Northwest is still part of living memory along the Louis Riel Trail.
For more information, contact:
Don Wilkins
President
Louis Riel Trail Association
(306) 567-4306
source: Farm and Food ReportThe Wilkinsons’ old farmyard hasn’t seen this many visitors in years.
Bus and Audrey Wilkinson had been quietly fixing up the 1912 family house for some time, with the intent of allowing town visitors through the place for the first time in years on the Canada Day long weekend.
The large two-storey red brick house is magnificent, with its glorious front porch and second floor sunroom with windows on three sides. It still needs work, but it sure looks good enough to figure on the Yellow Grass Homecoming program.
The smiles, the feelings of wonder participants experienced as they witnessed the Friday parade of old cars and farm machinery down the streets, and the pride in showing everyone those old things brought out for the occasion was just like balm for the soul.
In the Community Hall, a display of quilts from various periods chronicled the joys and sorrows of a rich history. Among all those quilts was a yellow one made up of over 400 small patches, each embroidered with the name of a local pioneer. The caption beside it indicated it was made in 1903. The same year, the massive stone, two-storey public school was erected on Souris Street.
In its shadow, sheltered from the rare sun this early summer, town visitors and residents were all gathered in the public park for a Saturday evening community meal crowned with a giant Centennial cake.
For the brief spell of a weekend, the town population had doubled. Everywhere around, one could hear greetings like: “How long has it been? Thirty years? It is so nice to see you!” Hugs and kisses.
Kids played on the swings innocently unaware of history, while a local band pulled out all its musical instruments from an old decommissioned ambulance from the 1970s that hadn’t seen a fresh coat of paint since it came out of the factory. “It works great for us,” quipped one of the band members. There would be a street dance that night.
What might strike a city dweller about life in small towns is likely the way in which people help each other in times of hardship. Those stories may lay buried in memory for years until gatherings like this one bring them out, as a commemoration of pioneer drive, selflessness and co-operation.
Yellow Grass has changed, but some things remain. The town still holds the record for highest temperature in Canada. It was 45°C there on July 5, 1937.
However, there are now fewer grain elevators along Highway 39. As a Centennial project, a few enlightened townspeople figured it was worth it to built a scaled-down row of elevators for everyone to see just how important to the town’s identity farming has been and still is.
As one walks through town, one notices the discreet signs on individual lots. Some lots have a house or a building on them. Others are empty. On each sign, the names of families that lived there are inscribed. Political correctness yields way to research accuracy, as instances of multiple spouses listed per individual are plainly noted. It is, after all, a sign of the times. The intent is to be inclusive, to recognize that all who have lived in Yellow Grass have contributed to giving the town a reason to celebrate.
This is an exceptional year for Saskatchewan—and rural communities in particular — for those who inhabit our province this year celebrate roots, friendships and relationships under the auspices of the Centennial. The celebration may be one of pride, but also perhaps one of the legitimacy of hoping for a promising future.
For more information, contact:
Claude-Jean Harel
Great Excursions Co.
(306) 569-1571
www.greatexcursions.com
source: Farm and Food Report
It is one of the most captivating scenic spreads of land in Saskatchewan.
With creeks, freshwater springs, buttes and canyons that make us want to imagine what life was like in this part of the world hundreds of years ago, the Big Muddy Badlands evoke both mystery and wonder.
Those who venture to the nearby town of Coronach on July 23 and 24 will be able to catch a glimpse of the past, as Coronach holds its second annual Outlaw Days Festival.
Kelly Elder is one of the organizers.
“We showcase the colourful history and diverse cultures of the Big Muddy Badlands during the Outlaw Days. We have put together a line-up of performers that touch upon each of the cultures that have contributed to the rich history of the area.”
The Big Muddy was known as Station No. 1 on Butch Cassidy's Outlaw Trail in the late 19th century, a highly organized escape route that stretched between Canada and Mexico. Some rather shady activities took place all along that corridor, especially near the Canada-U.S. border.
The region also has a history rooted in First Nations use of the territory. This warrants special attention. Among the invited guest performers at the Festival are The Kawacatoose Boys, a group of dancers and singers from Regina featuring former world champion hoop dancer Terrance Littletent.
“This group was the surprise hit of last year’s event and is sure to impress visitors again this year. They are a highly skilled troupe of dancers with their vibrant outfits, backed by their drummers and singers with whom they perform traditional grassland dances. This show is not to be missed.”
Of course, a few gunslingers will also be featured. Guns of the Golden West are back again this year to put on a display of trick shooting, fancy gun handling and shootouts.
Centenarian Bill Gomersall—together with brothers Ken and Slim Mitchell—make up the Writers of the Purple Sage, a gathering of wordsmiths animated with a rare passion for the lore of the West.
“Since their appearance at last year's Outlaw Days Festival, Bill, Ken and Slim have been busy sharing their love of cowboy poetry, and we look forward to hearing them again this year,” says Elder.
“The Mane Attraction, our own homegrown equine drill team, will also put on a show demonstrating just how much talent there is in the Big Muddy. These ladies and their horses perform precision formation riding set to music.”
Also featured will be the Trick Riders. They are 14-year-old trick rider Shelby Cummings from Water Valley, Alberta and 13-year-olds Roman Rider and Garrett Green from Meeting Creek, Alberta. They will thrill the crowd with their daring and fast-paced horseback riding skills.
The Dirty Shame Belles—a high kicking dance hall troupe from Scobey, Montana, will hit the planks during the day; as will the aptly named production Outlaws of the Big Muddy, a locally produced and staged full-length play about the Outlaws and Mounties of the Big Muddy Valley.
Now, what would an Outlaw Festival be without a bit of smoke and noise? Don’t miss the Black Powder Shoot. “Just sit back and watch or show off your marksmanship,” invites Elder. “Pioneer skills are a big part of what we are all about.
“We will also have Albert Hanson on hand to demonstrate how rope was made down on the farm or out on the ranch.” There will be storytelling about pioneer life, coal mining, ranching and likely some tall tales just for fun, and Will Gough, his partner Sheila and her daughter will put on daring demonstration of whip cracking for everyone’s enjoyment.
To set the stage in splendor, a wagon train leaving Willow Bunch on the morning of July 20th will arrive in the Coronach area the night of the 22nd, to take part in Saturday morning’s parade.
This is a one-of-a-kind event that is as much a labour of love, as a way for Coronach and the surrounding area to tap into local tourism opportunities. The Outlaw Days Festival is well worth witnessing.
To find out more visit:
http://www.coronach.ca/outlawdays.html
Kelly Elder
Outlaw Days
(306) 267-3348
