Village News

Every year on May 12, we at Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) celebrate Manitoba’s birthday. On that day in 1870, Manitoba became a province by an act of the Parliament of Canada and Royal Assent. In commemoration of that historic event, May 12 has become known as Manitoba Day.

This year our celebrations included a Grade 2 class from the Mitchell Elementary School who contributed a poem about the benefits of living in Manitoba. We met at the flag poles for speeches by the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Steinbach Constituency, Kelvin Goertzen, and by the Mayor of the City of Steinbach, Chris Goertzen. After the students raised the Manitoba flag, Michelle Sawatzky sang “The Manitoba Song.” The ceremonial aspect of this party ended with everyone enjoying birthday cake in honour of Manitoba’s 145th birthday. The students were then treated to a special interpretive program designed to give them exposure to the history of Manitoba’s early settlers.

Another sure sign of spring at MHV is our first festival of the season, Spring on the Farm. This festival always takes place on Victoria Day and is a collaborative effort between MHV and the Southeast Implement Collectors. It’s the event where that club invites all its members and friends to polish up their vintage tractors and bring them to the museum for the day. Some years we have seen up to 100 tractors and trucks on display on our Main Street. The club will also invite tractor owners to participate in a parade as well as a number of tractor games which test the skills of the driver. This event will take place on Monday, May 18, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

In addition to the tractor show, our guests will enjoy pioneer demonstrations, horse-drawn wagon rides, a petting zoo, entertainment in the tent, and good food. It’s a great way for families to celebrate spring on our first long weekend of the season.

This is also the time of year when we see significant numbers of students at the museum on their school field trips. There are a variety of program components available to the students, all designed to provide an engaging learning experience about pioneer life in Manitoba. We are very dependent on, and grateful for, all the volunteers who support this program, sometimes on a daily basis. This is a very valuable program, as it establishes MHV and our stories as a real and meaningful experience in the minds of these young people.

The arrival of the animals in our barnyard, particularly the baby animals, also reminds us of the season. When we arrive at work in the morning, we hear the roosters crowing and see the cow and calf grazing in the pasture. The minute someone approaches the sheep and the goats they remind us that they need to be fed.

This year the exceptionally high risk of Avian Influenza in chicken flocks has caused us to keep our birds in the barn, at least for now. At the request of the Manitoba Chicken Producers, our mature chickens have been moved into the barn in an effort to keep them out of contact with migrating birds and away from people who may have recently been in touch with other flocks. As it is impossible for us to monitor where everyone has been prior to visiting the museum, our barn is closed to guests for the time being, and our chickens are currently not part of the MHV tour. It is unfortunate that these entertaining creatures must be inaccessible for now. However, the rest of our animals are out in the barn-yard for all to enjoy.