COLUMN: Village News – Welcome to spring

Spring in Manitoba is a wonderful time of year. Daylight hours are getting longer. The temperature is edging towards above zero for nighttime and double digits for daytime. We hear a variety of songbirds from dawn until dusk. And we begin to see grass blades, flower shoots, and tree branches becoming green as they reach for sunlight and soak in the spring rains.

At Mennonite Heritage Village we are experiencing many of the same scenes as we look forward to our May 1 opening of our outdoor village. Our facilities maintenance team is cleaning up the grounds, picking up broken branches, identifying repairs that are needed on our heritage buildings, and tuning up the mowing equipment for another busy summer. The farmyard is about to get filled with the loaned or donated animals from local farmers who are eager to support the museum. The animals are a highlight for visitors of every age.

Our curators are lining up work crews to tackle the summer projects of repairing and replacing roofs and wallboards on the heritage buildings. They are identifying pieces of equipment for our mechanically inclined volunteers who want to get another antique car or tractor operational and running this summer. And they are refurnishing the heritage buildings with curtains, rugs and mattresses to create a realistic representation of ‘the way things were’.

Inside, our retail staff is stocking the stores with local wares, the latest novel or family history by a local author, and memorabilia for our visitors who will arrive from around the province and from around the world. And our program team is organizing the school trips expected in May and June, setting up training sessions to train new blacksmiths, printers, sawyers, Schnetje bakers, and museum interpreters, and booking music entertainers for our festivals.

The most obvious signs at MHV that spring has arrived are the smells and sounds coming from the Livery Barn Restaurant. Our bakers and cooks are returning to prepare and serve fabulous traditional Russian Mennonite foods that have been served to friends, relatives and neighbours in southern Manitoba since the 1870’s. Vereneke and Foarma Vorscht, Kielke and Schinke Fleisch, Komst Borscht and Broot, along with Plueme Moos and Rhubarb Plautz, are all back on the menu. We are also looking forward to the weekday lunch specials, starting with our May 1 opening special ‘All you can eat soup and bread’. We welcome everyone to enjoy the special of the day from Monday to Friday. For those looking for a place to eat on Sundays, the Livery Barn Restaurant serves a huge buffet with all your favourites every Sunday from 11:30 to 2:30. The first Buffet on Sunday, May 4 will be an ‘All You Can Eat Perogy and Farmer Sausage’ feast. We look forward to seeing many of you when the restaurant doors open in May.

As you can tell, every department at MHV is happy with spring’s arrival and its opportunities to welcome our friends, family and supporters to our 40 acre outdoor campus. We have been welcoming visitors to our galleries and our bookstore all winter, but now that spring has arrived, we are thrilled to open the heritage buildings and clear the paths throughout the village and around the pond for your enrichment and enjoyment. Come for some soup and bread, or a plautz and coffee.

We’ll see you on May 1!

Upcoming events

April 24 – 6 p.m. – Volunteer Orientation and BBQ – For new and returning volunteers.

April 26 – 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – MHV Spring Market. Visit the market, enjoy waffles with white sauce, take a ride with our horse drawn wagons.

May 1 – Outdoor buildings Open

May 1 – 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. – Livery Barn Restaurant opens – Thursday lunch special is ‘All You Can Eat Homestyle Soup and Fresh Bread’. Call 204-326-9661 for more information.

May 10 – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Manitoba Day Celebration – Free admission day