HUMBOLDT — Humboldt is still planning to celebrate Culture Days, but the event looks a lot different than previous years.
“Normally it's on the last weekend of September and we have been doing events that draw the public together,” said Jennifer Fitzpatrick, Humboldt’s cultural services director.
“When things changed, with everything that’s happening with the pandemic, we wanted to still celebrate Culture Days but find different ways to do that in a safe way for the community.”
That’s why many of the events being held to celebrate Culture Days can be done away from other people.
The celebration has also been extended to go for a month, from Sept. 25 to Oct. 25, with many of the events on that first day.
Together with the fire department, the Humboldt and District Museum will host a Community Chalk Art Day on Sept. 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting. Individuals, groups and businesses can register where they’ll be doing their sidewalk chalk art. Then, Matt Nelson and Jordan Dalsin with the fire department will fly over town with the department’s drone to get aerial photos. The photos will then be compiled and shared online.
There will be postcard making at the gallery on Sept. 30, Oct. 7 and Oct. 14 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Participants can create two unique postcards with various unexpected media to share positive messages. One of the postcards will be displayed in the gallery’s windows, while the other can be taken home.
Over the entire month, people can pick up a Culture Days package full of family art activities. It includes the postcards for those uncomfortable with attending the gallery sessions.
At the museum, there will be a community connections exhibit where residents can lend items related to their culture for the public’s viewing.
“The role of museums in society is really to reflect the community back to itself, but a lot of times people assume that's just the historical stories that we share back and so we wanted to really highlight the fact that museums are about contemporary life,” Fitzpatrick said.
One of the exhibits is a moss bag made by Tina Moar, who was born in Kamsack but raised on Cote First Nation. The bag is used for infant children to wrap them securely and feel comfortable while they sleep.
She made this moss bag when she was pregnant with her first child in 1998. All three of her children used this moss bag. Moar learned how to do bead work when she was 12 years old and has been doing it for over 30 years.
The exhibition will also be online.
There will also be a family tree project, where people are asked to submit a photo that tells a story about their cultural heritage or features a family tradition. The images will be reproduced and decorate the trees outside the museum and gallery.
“It's a way to show that Humboldt is a bigger family than just just your individual family, a way to come together,” Fitzpatrick said.
The cultural services director said Culture Days is important to celebrate.
“I think that anytime we can help support that by providing information about various cultural activities, and just celebrating that cultural diversity, that's something that would be within our mandate to do.”
