Village News

The sun was warm, the wind was calm and the food was good. More than 2000 people came to enjoy Steinbach’s Canada Day festivities at Mennonite Heritage Village on July 1.

Many of our guests were experiencing their first visit to MHV. Both of the scheduled Village tours, and the Gallery tour were filled to capacity. Many of these people admitted to having no previous exposure to Mennonites. It was a great day to tell our stories.

Our food services staff and volunteers were very busy. All Livery Barn Restaurant staff were on duty for the day and a large number of volunteers looked after the burgers, fries and ice-cream in the Short Order Booth. The MHV Auxiliary sold 350 waffles and numerous “Rollkuchen” with a slice of watermelon.

This was our first collaboration with the City of Steinbach in delivering Steinbach’s official Canada Day festivities. We were pleased to host the formal ceremony including speeches by community leaders, a prayer for peace and the raising of the Canadian Flag to the bilingual singing of O Canada. We also enjoyed seeing the community’s response to having access to the museum without admission charges. Everyone should be able to celebrate Canada Day.