COLUMN: Village News – A gift to our community

Anyone who visits Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) is impressed by the size of our museum. It is difficult to fit a trip to MHV into your schedule unless you have two to four hours to spare in your day. There are the indoor galleries to begin with; the main gallery, the Gerhard Ens Gallery, and the hallway gallery. Then you enter the outdoor village to immerse yourself in the various home settings of the early Mennonite settlers to Manitoba. As well, you are surrounded by various gardens and a farmyard with a variety of animals. Churches, schools, early 20th century village businesses, a transportation building and an agricultural equipment building highlight many aspects of life in a Mennonite community from the 1870s to the 1930s. Standing tallest as the museum centrepiece, is our Dutch-designed, working windmill.

We can be proud of our museum. It preserves and interprets the stories of our communities. It has become a major tourist attraction for the area, drawing visitors from all over Manitoba, across Canada, and around the world. We are a meeting space for families and their celebrations, and we host community events throughout the year.

This world-class destination comes with a huge responsibility to care for the artifacts, buildings, and stories that have been entrusted to us. Our heritage buildings are made of wood and they deteriorate, so we are constantly repairing and renewing walls, roofs, doors and windows. Each building also requires a new coat of paint every few years and with 17 heritage buildings on our property, we plan to refresh approximately three buildings each year. With nearly 40 acres of property to care for, a significant effort is put into groundskeeping, gardening and tree care. We have been entrusted with nearly 17,000 artifacts as well, many of them with stories that assist us in preserving our history and shaping our identity.

Fortunately, MHV is supported in our task of caring for these stories, artifacts and structures. Dozens of skilled mechanics, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other trades people assist us in maintaining and repairing our structures and buildings. Many volunteers provide help with yard care and animal care. And we are blessed to have many donors who provide funds to purchase materials and supplies for the functioning of our facility and to support our staff who coordinate all these activities throughout the year.

Mennonite Heritage Village is a gift with responsibilities attached. We are very thankful for continued support by volunteers and donors. We are blessed to be able to share MHV with our community, as we preserve history and share these stories for present and future generations. And we are very grateful for the businesses and individuals who provide funds for us to continue to offer our museum as a gatherer of stories and culture. The past is important to preserve, as we live our lives in a welcoming and inclusive community.

MHV is a gift from our past for all of us in the present and for future generations.

Upcoming events

May 23 – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Gerhard Ens Gallery new exhibit opens: Mennonite Medicine: Cures and Curiosities – 1800 to 1950.

June 19 to 21 – Summer In The City – Waffle booth opens. Enjoy fresh waffles with white sauce at Steinbach’s downtown festival.