Rural History and Culture Association

RHCA DISSOLVING EFFECTIVE JUNE 30, 2010

Mike — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:00:32 +0000

The Rural History and Culture Association (RHCA), which was formally established in 2006, will be dissolved on June 30, 2010. The reason for the dissolution is that Mike Fedyk, the founding President, and most active RHCA member, is moving out of Saskatchewan on June 30, 2010. Fedyk formed the organization to provide an outlet for his projects such as historical re-enactments, community festivals, Saskatchewan singer songwriter concerts and similar events, and without his presence, the other RHCA members are not willing to maintain the organization.

Between 2006 and 2010, the RHCA initiated 12 historical re-enactments, community festivals and other events in 11 different communities and also published one book. RHCA events attracted over 10,000 people, major media attention and raised over $30,000 for heritage and community organizations in Saskatchewan.

The RHCA website will continue to be maintained in order that information on past RHCA events and activities will be available but no new information will be posted on the site.

Mike Fedyk is leaving Saskatchewan entirely for personal (romantic) reasons and his departure does not reflect any desire to seek the so-called ‘greener’ pastures that supposedly exist outside of Saskatchewan. Fedyk expects to continue his interest in promoting history, including involvement in Saskatchewan history, once he is settled in Ontario.

2005 HERITAGE EXHIBITS PICTURES AT TO RHCA FLICKR SITE

Mike — Fri, 28 May 2010 02:51:58 +0000

In 2005 Saskatchewan celebrated its provincial Centennial and as part of the festivities the Celebrate Canada Committee for Saskatchewan staged the Celebrate Canada Centennial Jam. The Jam was a one-day outdoor festival held n July 1, 2005, in Wascana Centre in Regina that attracted over 50,000 people. As Project Manager for the Celebrate Canada Committee, Mike Fedyk was able to initiate unique Heritage Exhibits that were staged in the flower gardens in front of the Saskatchewan Legislature. There were nine Heritage Exhibits, each consisting of an actor portraying a Saskatchewan historical figure performing a speech on a small stage. Each stage featured a backdrop of historical pictures from the era when the speech originally took place. Among the figures portrayed were John Diefenbaker, Tommy Douglas, Big Bear, Gabriel Dumont and Violet McNaughton. Until recently pictures of these unique presentations of Saskatchewan history were featured on the Celebrate Canada Committee for Saskatchewan website but the Committee is in the process of being phased out by the federal government and their website has been taken off the internet.

The Rural History and Culture Association has posted the pictures, formally on the Celebrate Canada site on its Flickr website in order to make sure that the pictures and information about the Heritage Exhibits are still available to the public. The picture to the right is of the Heritage Exhibit featuring Regina actress Karin Von Staden portraying Saskatchewan pioneer and women’s advocate Georgina Binnie Clark.

NWMP TRAIL BOOK SET FOR RELEASE IN JULY

Mike — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:35:57 +0000

The much anticipated release of Fort Walsh to Wood Mountain: The North-West Mounted Police Trail will take place in July 2010. The book is the legacy aspect of the very successful Celebrate the NWMP Trail festivals that took place during the summer of 2009 in five south western Saskatchewan communities and Fort Walsh National Historic Site. The book features 14 articles contributed by Garrett Wilson, Ken Mitchell, Thelma Poirier, Mike Fedyk and a number of other Canadian writers. Richly illustrated with over 20 black and white historical photographs, the book also includes 16 colour photographs from renowned photographer Everett Baker, who was also the person most responsible placing historic markers on the Trail in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The book is expected to retail for $14.50 and will be available at a number of bookstores as well as through the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society (SHFS). All profits from the sale of the book will go to the SHFS’s Friends of the NWMP Trail program, which maintains the NWMP Trail markers. A complete list of outlets where Fort Walsh to Wood Mountain will be available and how to order a copy from the SHFS will be announced in mid-June along with the scheduled release date.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST AT DON’S RAGTIME EMPORIUM

Mike — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:36:22 +0000

Everyone’s favourite Saskatchewan history-themed musician, Don Modderman has just launched an exciting new website to promote his many musical projects including, Ragtime Don and the Word Junkie, Mystic Flute and Crofters. You can see what Don and company are up to (and grass definitely does not grow under Don’s feet) and you can order his awesome CDs right off the site, including his latest, Steamboats on the Saskatchewan. The site looks and sounds great, check it out!

ARCHIVES WEEK FEBRUARY 1-7, 2010

Mike — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:45:15 +0000

The Saskatchewan Council of Archives and Archivists (SCAA) in planning another action-packed week of activities to celebrate Archives Week in Saskatchewan, which runs from February 1 to February 7, 2010. Activities are being planned by archives in Saskatoon, Regina, Lloydminister, Humboldt, La Ronge, North Battleford and Rosetown. Events include archive open houses, film nights, celebrity readings, concerts and much more. Information on all these exciting activities is on the SCAA website including dates and locations. It will be a terrific week and a great chance to highlight the important work of archives and archivists in Saskatchewan!

PIONEERS O PIONEERS – NEW JEANS CAMPAIGN REVIVES CLASSIC POEM

Mike — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:29:11 +0000

“COME, my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready;
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp edged axes?
Pioneers! O pioneers”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Above is the first stanza in Walt Whitman’s epic poem, Pioneers! O Pioneers. First published in 1855, the poem runs for 26 verses as it extolls the virtues of the men and women who traversed the North American continent to build the modern United States of America. Using this poem as its touchstone, Levi Strauss & Co. has launched a new advertising campaign (view video) declaring “This country was not built by men in suits.” While clearly designed to sell blue jeans it is more than that according to Susan Hoffman, Levi’s Executive Creative Director: “We want to refresh and reinvent the idea of the pioneering spirit for the times in which we live” The campaign states: “I am the new American pioneer, looking forward, never back. No longer content to wait for better times… I will work for better times.” It conjures up the image of people who succeeded despite hardship rather than simply whining about the unfairness of life.

The linking of the past to present for inspirational purposes is a strategy that was very successful during Barrack Obama’s presidential campaign and it is not surprising that an advertiser is now adopting a similar approach. While there have been numerous ideological objections to the campaign, it is terrific to see historical ideas being re-invented for a new generation. That is the only way that history can really matter.

NWMP TRAIL HIGHLIGHTED IN CANADA’S NATIONAL HISTORY MAGAZINE

Mike — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:05:29 +0000

A story about the Celebrate the NWMP Trail festivals organized this summer by the Rural History and Culture Association is featured in the October-November 2009 issue of The Beaver: Canada’s National History Magazine. This is the second article highlighting RHCA programs in The Beaver this year. The RHCA was also mentioned in a column by Christopher Moore in the April-May edition. The Beaver has also included a story about the NWMP Trail events on their website, which includes a slide show featuring a number of photographs from the festivals.

TWENTY-SEVEN PICTURES ADDED TO ROADS LESS TRAVELLED

Mike — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:11:17 +0000

Twenty-seven pictures have been added to the RHCA’s Roads Less Travelled Flickr Site. This includes photographs of Gabriel Dumont’s grave site, John Diefenbaker’s first law office and a wide assortment of historic buildings including churches, grain elevators, museums and murals. The bulk of the pictures are from the central Saskatchewan between Batoche National Historic Site and Humboldt but pictures from Biggar and Waseca are also included.

NWMP TRAIL PICTURES ADDED TO RHCA FLICKR SITE

Mike — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:03:10 +0000

Trail riders at NWMP Trail markers near Fort Walsh

Thirty-four pictures taken at the six Celebrate the NWMP Trail events held in south-west Saskatchewan between July 1 and August 2, 2009, have been added to the Rural History and Culture Association’s Flickr site and can be viewed there. The pictures include every aspect of the six events including “Spirits of the Trail,” the dramatic re-telling of the story of the friendship between James Walsh of the North-West Mounted Police and Sioux Chieftain Sitting Bull. Other pictures feature First Nations performances and Saskatchewan singer/songwriters.

Pictures of the T-Rex Discovery Centre in Eastend and the Eastend Historical Museum have also been added to the Museum section of the RHCA Flickr site.

A video of the highlights of the Celebrate the NWMP Trail events is currently being produced and should be posted to Youtube sometime in September.

OVER 1600 ATTEND CELEBRATE NWMP TRAIL FESTIVALS

Mike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:23:38 +0000

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.