Canada 150 Celebration observed at Sukanen Ship Museum

It was a hot day but visitors flocked to the Canada 150 celebration at the Sukanen Ship Museum. Volunteers were surprised at both the number of seniors braving the 34 degree heat and the young families, with 1,080 coming. “We wanted to do something for young people to get them interested in our museum,” said celebration organizer Keith Jelinski. “We need more young people involved.” Admission was only $1.50 in recognition of Canada’s 150th birthday. Attractions ranged from a colouring contest in the school to miniature horses, tractor rides, wagon rides, and the Big Sky Amusements carnival. The colouring was busy with all the old school desks occupied at times during the day. Old timers visiting reminisced about the strap, the dunce cap and the desk size. The wagon rides were busy with old and young, as were three tractors giving youngsters rides. Miniature horses from the Cozarts at Brownlee were popular. Cowboy Poet Fred Cockburn of Briercrest opened his recital with comments about the weather. “Last winter when it was so cold I could hardly wait for haying season knowing when haying season came, I could hardly wait for winter.” Cockburn said his uncle told him the hottest it ever got in Briercrest was 112 degrees Fahrenheit in 1937. That equals 44.4 degrees Celsius. Carnival operators Art and Marie Harvey had two rides there, charging only $1 per ride. “It was better than we expected,” he said. The carnival will return Sept. 9 and 10 for the Threshing Bee. In the concession, volunteers sold 25 cent ice cream, cookies, muffins, bread with home-made jam and coffee. Supplies nearly ran out. The birthday cake was cut and distributed at 3 p.m. by long-time volunteers Elsie Meacher and Bob Jones. Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net