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!

Paddling Through Time: 220 Years of Canoeing on the Peace

We are embarking on a new exhibit at the Peace River Museum: "Paddling Through Time: 220 Years of Canoeing on the Peace"
The exhibit follows the early explorers, Sir Alexander Mackenzie and David Thompson on their early travels on the Peace River. It meanders on in time to early settlers finding a new home and politicians and boosters promoting to those searching settlers.
Flowing forwards, we come to the Canada's Centennial in 1967 and a brave group of voyageurs who retrace Sir Alexander Mackenzie's historic voyage across Canada (minus the detour to the Arctic Ocean!).
We will bring it forward in time to current uses of the river with kayaks and canoes and supply some fun games for children while exploring our Peace River!
The exhibit begins on May 21st with an official opening on Saturday, June 2nd (stay tuned for more details) and will run until September of this year.

Heritage Buildings Open House

This Thursday, May 10th, the Museum will be hosting an Open House about the town's Municipal Heritage Places program which is in development.

The Town’s Heritage Places Committee will be in attendance, along with heritage professionals who will explain municipal heritage designation and review a draft of the application process that the Town will eventually administer.

We are also asking residents to stop by to make their suggestions about historic places in Peace River that are significant to our history. If you know of a historic site or building within Peace River and are unable to attend, we have an online survey that can be filled out and submitted to us here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9NTHZRJ

Peace River is a town rich with history and we encourage everyone to come out this Thursday, May 10th between 4 and 7 pm to help us preserve and manage these unqiue sites!

Last week to see "Barbed Wire Solution"

A reminder that this is the last week for our current, travelling exhibit, "The Barbed Wire Solution: Ukrainians and Canada's First Internment Operations, 1914-1920".

This is also the last week to register for the genealogy workshop on Saturday, May 12th, "Open the Trunk: Beginning the Search for your Eastern European Ancestors." with the president of the Edmonton Branch of the Alberta Genealogy Society, John Althouse. The workshop will be from 10am - 4 pm (lunch provided) at the Peace River Library. The cost is $15. Please email (museum@peaceriver.net) or call us (780-624-4261) to register! Also with your registration, you receive free admission to our current exhibit.

Ukrainian Demonstration Night

The Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre is pleased to host an afternoon with young dancers from the Muzyka Dance Club of Peace River, along with a demonstration of ‘pysanky’ (Ukrainian egg decorating) by Selma Kurylowich of Grimshaw.  These expressions of Ukrainian culture will take place April 28^th between 2 and 4pm at the Museum.  For more information, please call 780-624-4261. This is a free event!

Peace River's Upcoming Events for April-August

This spring and summer are gearing up to be busy! The Museum and our community has a number of events coming up. We will be posting more details as they draw closer, but here is a list to put on your fridge to remind you! We hope you are able to join us for these events over the next few months.


Ukrainian Culture Demonstration Come see dancing and pysanky (easter egg) decorating on Saturday, April 28th from 2-4 pm at the Museum.

Municipal Heritage Program Open House Thursday, May 10th from 4-7 pm Come learn about the process of applying for municipal heritage designation for historic places in Peace River. (NOTE DATE CHANGE)

Open the Trunk: Beginning the Search for your Eastern European Roots This genealogy workshop will be held Saturday, May 12th from 10-4 pm (lunch provided) at the Peace River Municipal Library. Cost is $15. Please call the Museum to register (780-624-4261).

A Journey Through Time: 220 Years of Canoeing the Peace This exhibit will run from Monday, May 21st until Saturday, September 8th at the Museum. An official launch party for the exhibit will be held Saturday, June 2nd.

12 Foot Davis Gravesite event Friday, May 26th from 4-7 pm. Bring the family for fun and a BBQ at the site of this well-known historic landmark overlooking our valley. This event is a joint project between GeoTourism Canada, Northern Sunrise County and the Town of Peace River.

Quilt Talk Lucy Heins of the Royal Alberta Museum will be here to discuss a North American-wide database of vintage and contemporary quilts and quilters on Monday, June 4 at 7pm  at the Peace River Municipal Library

Peace River's 17th Annual Aboriginal Gathering and 9th Annual Pow-Wow will be held on June 8th and 9th at Peace River's Ag Grounds. For more information, visit the Peace River Aboriginal Interagency website.

Annual Heritage Run will be held on Sunday, June 10th. More information will be available soon.

Canada Day Peace River's annual Canada Day celebrations will begin at the Museum and continue on to Riverfront Park for the afternoon. The Museum will be open from 11 am to 4:30 pm and admission is free for the whole day! Keep an eye out around town for informational posters closer to the event.
Peace Fest This annual event will be held Friday, July 13th and Saturday, 14th. Visit their website for more information.

Heritage Days will be August 6th. The Museum will be hosting their regular heritage walking tours downtown and at the cemetery. More information will be released closer to the date.
Paddle of the Peace will be taking place on Saturday, August 18th. Join others in a peaceful paddle from Strong Creek to Peace River! More information will be released closer to the date.

Tririver Triathalon is annually held in Peace River. This year it will be on Sunday, August 26th. For more information, please email Bruce Stewart at Margnbruce@persona.ca.

If you have more culturally-oriented community events this spring or summer that you would like posted, please send an email to museum@peaceriver.net. You can also drop off a poster for our door!