Prepping for Pioneer Days

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This article was published 03/08/2023 (701 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Volunteers are eagerly preparing for an annual Steinbach tradition, the Mennonite Heritage Village Pioneer Days.

This year the event takes place Aug. 5 to Aug. 7, featuring a variety of demonstrations, special exhibits, events, entertainment and food.

The 55th annual Pioneer Days Parade, hosted by the Steinbach Chamber of Commerce, kicks off the weekend, taking place on Friday, Aug. 4. With an average of 100 unique entries per year, thousands line the route to take it in.

The parade begins at the fire hall at 10 a.m., proceeding down Main Street before turning north on Highway 12 and ending at Stone Bridge Crossing. Spectators are asked to bring a tin for the bin as Southeast Helping Hands will be collecting non-perishable food items for the local food bank.

The excitement at the museum begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday and runs until 5 p.m. on Monday.

MHV program manager Robert Goertzen said the event is home to familiar favourites.

“I think we’re doing a lot of the things people expect to see,” he said.

This year Goertzen said they’re highlighting local entertainers. The list includes Young and Haggard, Ken Sky’s Family Magic Show, Matt Zimmerman, David Graham, Rescue Story, The Cracked Eggshell, Sleepy the Clown and Cold Hard Cash.

“We’d like to ensure that people know that those are Manitobans and often they are people from Southern Manitoba,” he said.

This year will also see several things come back, including the steam engine. After repair work has been done, the tractor will be spotted around the grounds and will do some field work as well.

The horse show, scheduled for Sunday at 1:30 p.m. and hosted by the Southeast Manitoba Draft Association is also back after being absent for a time.

Sunday morning will also differ from the community worship service hosted in the past. This year all our welcome to attend an Old Colony worship service at the Old Colony Church on the grounds, something that Goertzen said hearkens to the first Mennonite settlers in the 1870s.

Also on Sunday will be Saengerfest, a hymn sing at the Village Centre.

Pioneer demonstrations continue to the highlight of the event for many and this year they include baking bread in the outdoor oven, milling wheat in the windmill, ropemaking, wheelwrighting, printing, steam powered activities, horse powered activities, field work demonstrations, quilting and shingle making.

“We feel that it’s very important to see those early settler skills being modeled because it demonstrates what was involved in making a new home in a new country,” Goertzen said. “It also demonstrates the hard work and perseverance that the early settlers in southern Manitoba had, and their willingness to put in hard work, because anyone who has done any of these activities understands this is quite different than the desk jobs and the other sorts of work we do today.”

For Goertzen, the highlight of the event is watching the interactions including people who still recall the old way of life and newcomers who are seeing it for the first time.

And one can’t forget the food as well.

Visitors have the chance to purchase Russian Mennonite ethnic food in the Livery Barn Restaurant, waffles and vanilla sauce, rollkuchen and watermelon and schnetje and stoneground wheat bread with jam.