Pancake Flipping at Peace Fest!

The Town of Peace River and the community representatives for the Heritage Places Committee are working hard to promote and protect heritage buildings and sites within the town.
We are pleased to have been asked to participate in this years annual PeaceFest pancake breakfast at the Peace Country Co-op on Saturday, July 14th from 8:30 - 11 am. Our Heritage Places Committee will be grilling and flipping and serving up a storm and would greatly appreciate your support!
The funds earned will help the committee and Town of Peace River to inventory significant heritage places within the town.

Canada Day!

In just a few days, on Sunday, July 1st, the Peace River Museum and the Town of Peace River are set to celebrate Canada Day! The festivities start at the Museum at 11:30 am with bag-piper Josh Craigen, "O Canada" will be sung by Tenille Brennan, the flag will be raised by the RCMP in their official Red Serge with Air Cadet Squadron #124,  Mackenzie Moose will be out to play and of course there will be inspirational speeches. Come and join us for the opening ceremonies decked out in your red and white and bring your decorated bikes and strollers.

The Museum is offering FREE admission on Sunday from 12 - 4 pm in honour of Canada Day! Come and see our exhibits about paddling through time, the fur trade, and rocks and fossils.

After the opening ceremonies, the biking and walking parade will head over to Riverfront Park for entertainment, games, and food (for purchase). All of this fun happens from 12 - 3 pm at Riverfront Park. The Town is still looking for volunteers to help out at the park, if you have some time to give and want to have some fun, contact Community Services at (780)624-1000.

Don't forget the fireworks display, thanks to the Town of Peace River and Northern Sunrise County, at 11:59 pm on Sunday evening.

HAVE A FANTASTIC CANADA DAY AND WE WILL SEE YOU AT THE MUSEUM!

Heritage Run 2012 a huge success!

Sending an armful of thank you’s to this year’s Heritage Run volunteers and participants!


The Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre extends a huge THANK YOU to the Peace River Running Club and all the runners and walkers who participated in another very successful Heritage Run on June 10! This annual event draws runners and walkers from the whole region and this year was no exception. In the crowd of 116 participants, communities represented were Grande Prairie, Dawson Creek, Fairview,St. Isidore, Manning, Grovedale, High Prairie, Dixonville, McLennan, Calgary, Spruce Grove, Donnelly, Berwyn, Grimshaw and Peace River.

The course of 5km, 10km and 13.1km takes place each year along the historic banks of the Peace River, beginning and ending at the Museum. Sponsors generously contributed to the fabulous door prizes for volunteers and competitors and healthy snacks for everyone at the end of the run. Those sponsors include Penn West Energy Trust, Mathieu Hryniuk Barristers and Solicitors, Invision Chartered Acountants, Dr. David Blench Smiles Design, Caribou Cresting. Weaver Welding Ltd., Peace Country Cycle and Fitness on the Go Ltd!

Each year, the Museum is the beneficiary of the efforts of the Club and all the participants. Last year, the benefits were doubled in a Community Facility Enhancement Grant for new compact shelving for the Diane Gayton Collections Room. This year, the benefits will also be doubled with a Municipal Heritage Partnership Grant for the Town’s Heritage Places preservation initiative.

The annual Heritage Run preserves the community’s health and its heritage!

Voting begins for the History Fair projects

Rourke Whalen and Kye Walton, who competed with their history fair project on the assassination of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, at the local level at Good Shepherd School in Peace River and then the regional level in Grande Prairie, have now completed their video and it is up for voting.

The students of 200 projects across Canada were selected for Young Citizens. These students were given video cameras and asked to make a 3-4 minute video which the public will now vote on. Voting runs from June to August, and at the end 30 finalists are selected. From those 30, 6 will be selected by a panel of judges to visit Ottawa, Ontario, to attend the Governor General's History Awards and the National History Forum.

TJ Flynn, Communications Coordinator for the Town of Peace River and Megan Purcell, Collections Technician with the Museum, served as experts on Rourke and Kye's video. TJ, the expert on the Irish Fenian movement, and Megan, the expert on Thomas D'Arcy McGee and his assassination.

Rourke and Kye, as well as TJ, Megan and the rest of the staff at the Museum invite you all to visit the site and vote for this wonderful video. Congratulations Rourke and Kye !http://www.canadashistory.ca/Kids/YoungCitizens/Profiles/2012/Rourke-W.aspx

The Second Annual York Boat Voyage comes to Riverfront Park

This Sunday, June 3rd, the second annual York Boat Voyage will be docking at Riverfront Park in Peace River. This ten metre long, historic replica York boat was built in 2011 by GeoTourism Canada for the inaugural expedition along the Peace River. It is back in the water this year with some veteran paddlers and some new crew members to do the voyage all over again.
The crew plans to have the York boat docked at the Park around 4:30 pm. They invite everyone down to Riverfront Park to see the boat and talk to the crew.
http://www.geotourismcanada.com/yorkboat2012/default.aspx

The Museum helps narrate the story of the assassination of Thomas D'Arcy McGee

Tuesday afternoon, the museum was honoured to be asked by Rourke Whalen and Kye Walton, two grade 6 students from Good Shepherd School, to help with their Heritage Fair project. Rourke and Kye participated in the local Heritage Fair, held in Peace River at Good Shepherd School on April 26. From there they went on to the Regional Fair held in Grande Prairie on May 4 at the Montrose Cultural Centre. Their project, along with 199 more, from across the country, have been chosen to move on to the next level. These students were given a video camera and asked to make a 3-4 minute video which the public will then be asked to vote on.

Rourke (far right) and Kye (far left), along with TJ Flynn (middle left), the Communications Coordinator from the Town of Peace River, and Megan Purcell (middle right), the Collections Technician from the Peace River museum, narrate the story of the assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee.

Information on the Heritage Fair can be found at http://www.canadashistory.ca/Kids/Heritage.aspx.

Congratulations Rourke and Kye on getting to the next level of the Canadian Heritage Fair and thank you for including the museum in this exciting project!

Paddling Through Time Exhibit Opening

      Paddling Through Time is the Peace River Museum’s new exhibit and it features the stories of several impressive canoe trips along the Mighty Peace River. From explorers Alexander Mackenzie and David Thompson to a unique 1967 Centennial trip to Montreal. The exhibit opening June 2^nd from 6:30 to 8pm  will be an opportunity to meet some of the crew from the second annual York Boat Voyage which will be launching  from Dunvegan May 31^st.

The Alberta Quilt Project

The art of quilting has changed in many ways since the time of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers. The Alberta Quilt Project has been documenting quilters, rural and urban, to capture current craft production trends. Discover what makes Alberta Quilters distinctive in this talk by Lucie Heins, the Assistant Curator of Western Canadian History at the Royal Alberta Museum.

Speaker: Lucie Heins
Place: Peace River Municipal Library 9807-97 Avenue, Peace River
Host: Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre
Date: Monday, June 4th, 2012
Time: 7:00 pm
Admission: FREE

For more information contact the Museum at museum@peaceriver.net of 780-624-4261.

Artists of the Month!

For mid-May and June we will be hosting a mix of art from the students at the Dixonville school. A variety of works from students from grades 2 through 9 have filled up our art wall and we invite and encourage our community to come and admire the budding talent of these enthusiastic students!