THE RURAL HISTORY & CULTURE ASSOCIATION
OF SASKATCHEWAN

Riding the Historic NWMP Trail near Wood Mountain

The sixth and final Celebrate the North-West Mounted Police Trail festival was held at Fort Walsh National Historic Site on August 2, 2009. Over 350 people took in the events at Fort Walsh, which brought the total attendance at the six  festivals to over 1600 people.  The other  festivals were held at Wood Mountain, McCord, Val Marie, Shaunavon and Eastend starting on July 1.

The Fort Walsh event was special because of the participation of the Fort Walsh interpretative staff in the Spirits of the Trail dramatic remembering.  This included six interpreters attired in period NWMP uniforms and the firing of the Fort’s cannon to signal the beginning of the Trail ride (the horses were of course a good distance away when the cannon was fired).

Pictures, videos and more information on each of the six festivals will be posted on the RHCA site later in August.

Tommy-John Ehman of Craik is one of the Saskatchewan singer/songwriters participating in the Celebrate the NWMP Trail festivals that are taking place between July 1 and August 2, 2009.  Tommy was inspired by the history of the NWMP Trail to write a song especially for performance at the festivals. Appropriately entitled, “The North-West Mounted Police,” the song captures the epic spirit of the Trail and is a tribute to the the NWMP officers who rode the Trail between 1875 and 1912.  Tommy premiered the song at the RCMP Heritage Centre in Regina during the Celebrate the NWMP Trail media event on June 25 and performed the song at the Wood Mountain and Val Marie festivals on July 1 and July 24.  The video to the right features Tommy’s performance of the song in Val Marie.

The sixth and final Celebrate the NWMP Trail festival takes place at Fort Walsh National Historic Site on August 2, 2009.  The schedule includes: “The Spirits of the Trail,” a “horse opera” portraying the relationship between NWMP Officer James Walsh and Sioux Chieftain Sitting Bull written by Ken Mitchell; the History of the Trail by noted historian and award-winning author Garrett Wilson; Everett Baker Trail by the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society; First Nations performances; concerts from  Ragtime Don and the Word Junkie and Karen Blackwell Jones and a finale storytelling circle and potluck supper. All this and Fort Walsh National Historic Site will be offering its regular tours!  

Over 1000 people attended the first five Celebrate the NWMP Trail festivals and pictures, videos and descriptions of the first five events have also been posted to the RHCA website.  More pictures and videos will be added after Fort Walsh but if you want to get a taste of what happened at Wood Mountain, McCord, Eastend, Shaunavon and Val Marie be sure to check out the site.

Two videos featuring performers from recent Celebrate the NWMP Trail festivals in Eastend and Shaunavon have been posted in the music section of the RHCA website.  The videos are by Megan Nash of Mortlach and Karen Blackwell Jones of Dinsmore, two of Saskatchewan’s most talented singer/songwriters. Megan’s song called “Sober,” is a homage to “typical” country songs and  takes an amusing look at the results of over indulgence.  Karen’s beautiful melodies in “Pray for Rain,” contemplated the past, present and future of the family farm.