The 2015 version of the Souris Valley Museum’s Pioneer Fun Day got off to a slow start, due to the fact the day (Aug. 22) was greeted with gusty winds and a substantial amount of rain.
But as the day wore on, dozens of visitors flocked to the museum and enjoyed participating, observing and learning more about what life was like on the prairies in the late 1880s up to the early 1940s.
The event also marked the final day of attendance for the museum’s summer staff members Macey Littlejohn, Elizabeth Goby and Katelynn Tedford, said acting manager Mercedes Morstad who is also departing to take up her new position as a teaching staff member at Pleasantdale School.
“We had to move some of the activities indoors because of the rain, but we only cancelled one, and that was the hay rides,” she said. “We also had to keep the rope making demonstrations outside because, well, it’s a pretty noisy operation,” she said with a laugh.
Those who tried their hand at making rope, didn’t seem to mind the continual rain since it was held under a tent canopy.
Food and refreshments were offered starting at 11 a.m. and inside demonstrations with demonstrators being Jane Anne Ireland (juice), Linda Jones (bread) and Tedford (butter churning), while Littlejohn steered youngsters in their efforts to build some home-made Silly Putty. The rope making demonstrations were under the direction of volunteer Malea Andrist.
School house re-enactment was under the direction of School Ma’am Virginia Finstad who held sway in the old one-room Schneller School, also located on the museum grounds. She was joined by Tom O’Sullivan, dressed in a colourful replica Midlander battalion uniform as he explained how the Midlanders were among the first to pose a military presence on the plains of Western Canada in 1885, and later melded into working with the fledgling North West Mounted Police battalions before finally being disbanded.
Tours of the actual museum and the out buildings that included an old prairie cook shack as well as the school, were conducted every half-hour.
Visitors enjoyed the opportunity to join in the barbecue, activities, tours and demonstrations throughout the afternoon.
