To celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, the Melfort and District Museum reached back to the founding of their city.
Melfort 1884 was celebrated on the museum grounds Aug. 26.
“We called it Re-enactment: Melfort 1884 because actually the original founder of Melfort, Reginald Beatty, encamped out of Stoney Creek just south of Melfort about that year and started the Stoney Creek settlement, which turned into the settlement of Melfort,” said Gailmarie Anderson, the museum’s curator.
Beatty decided to move to that location from Birch Hills because he wanted access to running water and better hunting grounds. By 1892, a large number of families settled near his home. In 1902, Melfort’s present townsite was surveyed by the Canadian National Railway’s George Bemister and Beatty’s wife had the honour of naming the future city. To ensure railroad access, many from Stoney Creek moved to Melfort.
“We set up an encampment and we’re making bannock to simulate the homesteaders,” Anderson said. “We all did wagon rides to simulate people coming across in their covered wagons to homestead.”
Some museum staff were in clothes from the period.
There was also a petting zoo, children’s games, and free drinks and sno-cones. The pioneer village – which has Beatty’s office among other buildings from the period – was open.
“It’s been a wonderful opportunity to showcase the museum. This is the last day for my summer staff and we really put on the works to have everything looking wonderful.”
Entertainment included hoop dancer Patrick Nippi, the Creeland Dancers, Freddy and Sheila Pelletier and Darlene Tutela.
“We were really cognizant of having a variety of entertainers, including First Nations and Métis,” Anderson said.
They performed on a newly-renovated stage taken from the Melfort Agricultural Society.
“We fixed it up and we painted it and we’ve got a customized tarp for it, so we’re good to go for an open stage now over here at the museum, so we’re really pleased about that,” said Anderson, who added the stage will be useful for future events.
The curator said hundreds attended the event. At this point, she said the museum would have to determine if they would do something similar next year.
“It was a roaring success, so you always like to repeat things that are successful.”
