Saskatchewan is rich in culture. There are many experiences to explore every day if you keep your senses tuned to what is going on all around. There are many volunteers who keep the stories of the past alive and there are those who spend their days creating spaces where diversity strengthens community instead of pulling people apart. I am proud to be part of the cultural community in this place. Passionate people excite me as I want to try for myself what others love. I look for places where people gather in small groups and at large festivals. Last weekend I attended a storytelling circle, ate potluck treats-many created from garden produce, went to a storytelling retreat, tried very hard to get to some musical performances and spent some time at the Word on the Street in Saskatoon. This weekend I’ll be taking in a variety of events around west central Saskatchewan. I can’t wait!
Culture is necessary to me.
Culture is breath to me.
Culture is everyday to me.
Culture is passion to me.
Culture is always near to me.

I’ve done workshops over the past few months at summer day camps, at extended care homes, at an immunization clinic, at libraries and at schools. My last were today in the community I have just been calling home for about a month. I’ve put on thousands of kilometres and after carefully adding up the data I collected while on the road have figured out that I have had 1011 participants in the workshops. That is a lot of smiles, hundreds and hundreds of beads and more than 2000 feet of coloured ribbon. It has been an honour to share time with people from 0-103 years old listening to little bits of their stories. I am amazed by the creativity and delighted by the fun I’ve had on this journey.
Culture Days are almost here. Are you ready? I am so excited.

I really enjoy geocaching. It merges a love of technology with a desire to soak up as much history and natural beauty as I can. One of the events I created for Culture Days is a self-guided tour of an amazing place in our province’s multi-cultural history. I invite you to seek out Shiloh Baptist Church and Cemetery at N53 17.997 W109 13.426 I’ve hidden a cache there with a few Culture Days goodies and a do-it-yourself story seed activity. My daughter and I went out to visit the Church recently to set out the cache and figure out the coordinates. The place never ceases to amaze me. The historical site is all that remains of a community settled by African American pioneers who came to Saskatchewan 100 years ago. It is a treasure and precious part of this province’s story.

What a great start to the school year. I’ve put on a lot of miles and talked to a lot of people about Culture Days. As an animateur I created the workshop to reach out to people wherever they were and wherever they wanted me with a hands-on cultural activity. I’ve heard a lot of great story starts and met a lot of wonderful folks of every age. The best compliment so far from a 3rd grader named Kayla, “That story wasn’t just good, it was marvelous and good.”
I feel like a rock star!

We had lots to talk about and plenty to smile about when Culture Days animateur Sylvia Chave, Saskatoon region Culture Days Coordinator Darlene Williams and I met for lunch recently. I can’t wait for Culture Days and all the cool stuff that will be happening in this province.

“You didn’t say I had to have a needle today!!!” the young boy stormed out of the nurse’s office and into the hallway glaring at his mother. He was coming straight for me and in my calmest voice I asked him if he’d like to share a story with me. He sat down beside me rubbing his bandaged arm and looked straight into me eyes. This little guy needed a story. Just before school started up I set up my Culture Days information, artist trading card materials and story word beads at the drop-in immunization clinic in Lloydminster. One of the nurses had attended the Rivers West District for Sport, Culture and Recreation’s AGM and was interested in Culture Days and my animateur project. I expected it would be one of my strangest events. It was actually really quite lovely. Families came in and waited for their turn and after the needles were given they had to stay around for about 15 minutes to make sure there were no adverse reactions to the immunizations. It gave me time to talk to them about Culture Days and the activities at the Barr Colony Centre. Children had a chance to create artist trading cards and colour the I Love Culture pages. The stories gave them something to think about while they recovered from their needles. The little boy who was mad at his mother and I sat for quite a while adding beads to a story and imagining life as a dragon. He was quite sure dragons would like soup but would have nothing at all to do with rice. His parents had to drag him away from me after about half an hour of creative story play. Throughout the day I spent time remembering some of the stories from my childhood and sharing a hands-on activity with young families. No one left the building in tears and I’m pretty sure it was culture and the stories that took the pain away.

What do you like to do on cool, rainy days? I’m a huge fan of books and some of my favourites are the work of writing friends from across the province. What do I feel like reading today? Mystery, poetry, drama, memoir, ya, short stories, romance, fantasy or something else? Saskatchewan has many talented authors, poets, and playwrights. This is just part of my SaskLit collection. Lots of great books by lots of people I’ve met, some who are friends. Not only are the writers in Saskatchewan talented, they are supportive of writers at any stage of their career and really great people!

One of my favourite places to visit is Prince Albert National Park. As a child I hoped we’d see a bear and hoped we’d camp in an area with flush toilets, as I teenager I drove up to hang out in the sun when I supposed to be staying in the city and as an adult I love to share it with my family. It has rich natural and cultural experiences and wonderful interpretive staff who deliver interesting programs and take care of interesting artifacts and displays. With recent government cuts I’m fearful of a future where these great programs won’t exist. I’m even more worried about the National Historic Parks where I’ve heard staff will be cut and I fear many of the stories that bring the history alive will be lost. I believe in history and its importance in our presence and future.

Our weekend in the park was great, we enjoyed the water, learned about shack tents and wolves and I stopped in at a few places to talk about Culture Days. Prince Albert National Park is a unique place. Park staff told me I couldn’t put up any information about Culture Days in their facilities and suggested I visit the private businesses. Most will be closed by the end of September. I did remind people to watch for activities wherever they may be from September 28th to 30th.

We had cultural experiences in the park in August including a personal mini concert where park staffed were charmed by the smile of my wee niece.

 

 

Saskatchewan is rich in history and talent. There are many places the intersect. Imhoff Studio just outside of St. Walburg is one such place. Count Imhoff used rich colours and had what he called perfect perspective. The eyes and feet of several of his paintings seem to move with you as you move around the studio where you are surrounded by massive works of art and a wall of natural light. Michelle Brownridge and I almost missed our lunch between Culture Days information meetings as we were priveledged to be given the gift of a tour of the studio by the wife of the grandson of the artist. A visual artist herself, Michelle promised to tell her friends about the studio. Our guide told us stories about the artist only a family member would know and opened a room in her home preserved with original furnishings and treasures that had belonged to the artist. The Imhoff family is immersed in culture every day as they live in and share a world of great work, carefully preserving it for present and future generations. 

I’m not a huge fan of meetings but I am very fond of culture. Michelle Brownridge of SaskCulture and I hit the road and 4 communities to tell them about Culture Days. There were power point presentations and questions but there were also discussions about what people are involved in and how culture affects them. We even shared story and instead of falling asleep and wishing the meetings would be over soon people were interested, enjoyed homemade muffins and shared. In one community one of the women from the town office offered to help anyone in the region register their events on the computer, another pair from a larger museum offered to act as a link to the media and promotions. These people came together passionate about their own communities, museums, groups and schools and found connections. I’m seeing the Culture Days movement grow and I really believe the rural communities will be the heartbeat as this province breathes and expands with culture.