Village News

Following their successful exhibit Menno Meets Modern in 2014, which juxtaposed historic and contemporary Steinbach and family histories, we have again invited Paul Reimer’s Advanced Photography class from the Steinbach Regional Secondary School to exhibit at Mennonite Heritage Village through our summer season. This is an excellent opportunity for the students to show their work in a public exhibit. For the museum, it’s a chance to support and engage with the local community and fill our exhibit cases with fresh, meaningful art work.

In keeping with MHV’s 2015 theme, Mennonite Food: Tastes in Transition, the students were tasked to create photo essays, each focusing on a different aspect of Mennonite food. For those students with a Mennonite background, this meant cooking with parents and grandparents and investigating family stories. Other students looked at Mennonite food from another perspective, such as exploring MJ’s Kafé in downtown Steinbach and the Livery Barn Restaurant, located on our museum grounds. Examples showcased include Faspa, Zwieback, and Komst (Cabbage) Borscht.

Each photo essay includes a self-portrait and bio of the student photographer, charming photos of food and family, recipes, and descriptions of the student’s work and findings.

Visitors might be surprised to come across Brayden Epp’s photo essay on pinto beans wrapped in tortillas topped with cheese and guacamole. This is simply one of the newest additions to the canon of Mennonite foods! Just as Mennonites picked up and adapted Borscht and Vereniki (cottage-cheese perogies) from their neighbours in South Russia (now Ukraine), so have Latin American menu staples become part and parcel of “Mennonite food” for those Mennonites who immigrated to South and Central America in the 1920s–1950s. This mish-mash of food cultures can even be seen (and tasted) here in Steinbach at grocery establishments such as Pay Me Foods and the restaurant El Vicino Foods.

Welcome to our SRSS student photographers: Allison Wiebe, Juls Bergmann, Rayeil Chua, Caroline Seale, Megan Kis, Tommy Mueller, Brooklyn Gigolyk, Brayden Epp, Elizabeth Anna Winter, and Cherise Hiebert.

The Sisters of the Holy Rock

Every year at about this time, the MHV Auxiliary plans a fundraising Faspa event. This year the entertainment at the event was an enjoyable set of music by The Sisters of the Holy Rock. This group is a not-for-profit organization whose stated purpose is to help other charities with fundraising events. They have a repertoire of familiar and likeable music which pleased our audience of about 200 people last Sunday. Following their lively concert, a Faspa of buns, cheese, jam, cake and coffee provided a setting for warm socializing.

We appreciate the work of both the MHV Auxiliary as well as The Sisters of the Holy Rock in generating support for Mennonite Heritage Village.