Festival time! (part one)

August Long Weekend. A see a trend here… Long weekend in Canada = Rain and more rain. Hmmm… I have to think positive and stay positive!!! After all that is the underlying philosophy of this blog…

Public school

So, rain and more rain… What to do? Well, last weekend there were enough festivals to choose from. So the first I chose was at the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach.

There were activities like horse shoeing and more. They were all planned as outdoor activities. But outdoor didn’t like that idea and ordered rain, lots of it.

So I went for the indoor stuff instead. Not many activities, though, but very interesting. The Mennonite Community first started in The Netherlands but quickly moved eastward to seemingly more hospitable climes. The Dutch in that time were not the most tolerant people to be with. Even more if you didn’t agree with them. Funny, I still seem to know a bunch of the same people from that period… Winking smile

Table is set!Table is set!

The insides of the buildings seemed very familiar. Not so much that I have lived there myself, though. No in Holland ( No! I should educate the world and say: “The Netherlands” ) there are similar museum villages like here.

Tools of the tradeTools of the trade

While this looked a bit like my father’s workshop when I was a kid, he was not a blacksmith. He just had a lot of rusty tools he could still work with. Only he knew what tools served what purpose. Today however, he uses an electric drill instead of the hand crank that is also visible in this picture somewhere.

Blacksmith’s shoppeBlacksmith’s shoppe

Like I said, the rain was just pouring down, seemingly without end. Although for once I did have a jacket with me, the camera did not. So no pictures from unprotected grounds. The above picture shows the blacksmith’s workshop, glistening wet.

Kitchen gearKitchen gear

Ok, enough about that rain. In another house from long ago, there was this kitchen equipped with material working on wood or coal. Probably wood. But the brand looked familiar. When I got home, it hit me. My fridge and stove are of the same brand, although it has lost the “ ‘s “ at the end. Talk about brand longevity!

Private schoolPrivate school

Then it was time to go to school again. After a long and entertaining talk with a former school teacher in the Mennonite Community I took a few pictures of the one-room, eight-class school. That was the Private School, dating from before 1916. That was the year Canada imposed public schools for all. What was funny was that the map hanging there was of the same kind that was used when I was a kid.

Running to the next building I shot the lead picture. This one was of the public school of after 1916. There too, I met a very entertaining school teacher. Funny, when I was in school I never thought of the teachers as entertaining. Must be the age…

ChevroletChevrolet

In one of the buildings, the transport division was housed, with all the old transportation and mostly farm equipment of ages long gone. The above picture struck me as appropriate for the bygone period. Still serviceable, but a bit eaten by mice and time. And no, that picture is not HDR, it’s a different process…

Milk separatorMilk separator

By now the rain had reduced to a thick drizzle. The kind that you don’t notice until you’re completely soaked. My camera can tell you more about that. And One lens cloth offered to the rain gods… The milk factory was in the same style I have blogged about for the village of Orvelte in The Netherlands. I recognised it immediately. And of course I checked on the signage outside of the building. I only saw that sign on my way out…

Well to do kitchen tableWell to do kitchen table

Into a more “well done” family house. As you can see the table makeup is quite different from the table pictured in the beginning of this post. I was told by the wool spinning lady of the house that here the people were way better off than in the first building in the Museum Village.

Printer’s officePrinter’s office

The printer’s office and workshop was quite interesting. Pictured above is the office, with some tools of the trade. I can still remember the type writer that fills half of the desk. I learned to type on one of those.

By now, I had seen many of the buildings, heard many of the stories and anecdotes. The Festival? Well, I’ll have to come back another time, when the weather gods are more clement to simple tourists like me. I went home, just for the following purpose:

Self explanatorySelf explanatory

See you next time!