Family Day Fun!

On Family Day, the Museum held a snowshoe presentation and demonstration. Here are some great photos from the fun time our participants had, including a snowshoe race between presenter Norm Brownlee and Museum Coordinator, Laura Gloor!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

On February 6, 2013, the museum was the starting point for one of Peace River’s Winter Walk Day enthusiasts. This group of eight hearty walkers departed the museum at 5:30 pm after posing for the below picture. They walked for 45 minutes (30 minutes over the requisite 15 minutes to be part of the Winter Walk Day tally!) around downtown Peace River, learning a bit about the history of the area and the historic buildings and houses in the area. The lovely leaders of this walk including the Museum’s own Beth Wilkins, and Audrey Randall and Karen Rumball of the Heritage Places Committee.   

Winter Walk Day is an annual event that encourages Albertans of all ages and groups to get outside in the cold, and walk! The cold doesn’t need to hold you back or stop you from getting out there. A healthy lifestyle can be maintained year-round. These are the messages that event partners SHAPE (Safe Healthy Active People Everywhere) and the Be Fit For Life Network through the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation are aiming to pass along.

Local community member, Sharon Krushel came up with the idea of being involved in the Winter Walk Day and asked the museum to be involved. While the museum led the downtown walk, Sharon led a hike through the hills, which started at the gates of Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

Congratulations to all of Peace River’s walkers!!!

February events

February is another great month for cultural events in the Peace! It is always exciting to see such an active and vibrant community in these cold, winter months! If you have any events to add, please comment on our blog to let us know what else is going on.

February 6th: Peace River Winter Walks:
Step Up Alberta! is inviting communities to do a winter walk and Peace River is stepping up! On February 6th there will be two different walks available. 
5 pm: Walk in the Hills: Enjoy the gorgeous scenery of our valley! Participants will meet at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery gates and please dress weather appropriate.
5:15 pm: Historic Downtown: Learn about the history of Peace River's downtown district. Participants will meet at the Peace River Museum (10302 99th Street) and please dress weather appropriate.
Afterwards, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, Java Domainn will be open with soup and biscuits and Stuart Barr will be showing his DVD compilation of Northern Lights set to Vivaldi's Four Seasons - Winter Movement.
Finally, at 7:30 pm, there will be a meeting for anyone who is interested in planning, coordinating and raising awareness of cultural events in the Peace River area.

February 15th - 18th: Family Day Weekend events:
Family Day, and the weekend around it, is always filled with events around the Peace!
Snowshoe Adventures: On Feb. 18th, the Museum will be hosting 2 short snowshoeing presentations and walk-abouts with families and guests from either 12:30 to 1:15 pm or 1:30 to 2:15 pm. The event is free. Please call the Museum at 624-4261 to pre-register for the 12 pairs of snowshoes that are available or bring your own!

Carnaval de St. Isidore:  Each year, St. Isidore hosts Carnaval! Visit the link to learn more!

Alberta Pond Hockey: Pond Hockey is alive and well again in the Peace this year! From Feb. 14th -17th, teams from across Alberta will compete on Lac Cardinal. See their website for more details, to register your team or to volunteer.

Murder at Cafe Noir: The Lac Cardinal Regional Performing Arts group is putting on this Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre. The event will be February 15th & 16th, 22nd & 23rd and March 1st & 2nd. Tickets are available at Beyond 2000 in Grimshaw and are $30 each.

February 21st: Travelog: Gordon Troup on Scotland: The next in the Travelog series at the Peace River Municipal Library will be Gordon Troup on his trip to Scotland with information on the genealogy research he did there as well. The presentation begins at 7 pm.

February 23rd: 2nd Annual Fashion Show Gala: The Peace River Aboriginal Interagency had a very successful event last year and is bringing it back. Come see local fashions, performers, share a great meal, bid on the silent auction and honor the winner's of the first Spirit of the Peace Aboriginal Youth Awards (nomination package). See their poster for more information.

All month long: Sharon Doucet is our Artist of the Peace for February. We encourage everyone to come down and see her beautiful glassworks!

January Events with the Peace River Museum

Wrap Up in History event:
On Saturday, January 19^th from 3 to 5 pm we are inviting the public to “Wrap Up in History!". Come to the Museum bundled up in your vintage furs; coats, hats, stoles, muffs, mittens and mukluks. Whether it is granddad’s buffalo coat, mothers mink stole or kookum’s fur trimmed mukluks, tell us the story of your “fashionable fur” and it’s importance to your own history.

Create the perfect cup of cocoa with our hot chocolate buffet and snuggle in to hear the stories. If you don’t have a fur piece, come anyways and enjoy the chocolate and company!

Carol Scobey, well known locally for her sewing talents, will be on hand to talk about how she has repurposed vintage furs into heirloom teddy bears.

Artists of the Peace:
Our Artist of the month for January is Wend Wagner. Come view her beautiful mixed-media pieces filled with colour and variety!

Travel Logs:
The Library is hosting monthly travel logs in conjunction with the Peace River Museum and the Peace River & District Genealogy Society. On Thursday January 17th at 7 pm, Stewart Barr and Jeannie Kalyn will be presenting about their trip to Thailand.

Holiday Hours and Reminder to Visit our Gift Shop!

Christmas is fast approaching!

We want to remind everyone that our Gift Shop includes a variety of locally produced art and products including soaps, sugars, cocoa and teas from Hedgerow in Manning; honey from Falher; handmade jewelery; and books from local authors.

We are open from 10 am to 5 pm, Monday to Saturday .

We are closed December 24th, 25th and January 1st and resume normal hours on on January 2nd.

Come by and check out our Gift Shop and our current exhibit: From Peace River to Paris: Fashionable Furs of our Century which features not only our fur collection but information on historic and contemporary trapping in the Peace Country.

Reminder: Alberta Trapper's Association President to speak at the Museum

Gordy Klassen, president of the Alberta Trapper's Association, is coming this weekend to the Peace River Museum to speak to historical and contemporary trapping in Alberta. He will be here on November 17th at 7pm and the event is free.

You can also visit Gordy Klassen's webpage at www.trappergord.com

We invite all our hunters, trappers and interested community members to come and hear Gordy speak!

Peace River Archives #87.1489.14

Daniel Wheeler Featured Artist

Dan Wheeler has been pursuing his passion for capturing shape, form and light textures through the lens of a digital camera for over thirty years. The black and white works on exhibit for the month of November portray the soft shapes of a lily, a snow dusted dove of an historic sculpture at Dunvegan, the lines of aspen trees draped by prayer cloths in the Kootenai and the shadows of a window at the historic St.Augustine Church.
Dan likes to draw the viewer's eyes to the details his camera finds once he has explored the object or scene as a whole. His love of hiking and climbing offers an abundance of opportunities to slow down and really see his surroundings. Dan produces his own photographs and has recently experimented with sugar cane paper, a renewable resource, as a medium. This exhibit will be up for the month of November and there is no fee to view.

From Peace River to Paris: Fashionable Furs of our Century

Just in time for the winter months, we invite you to view our current exhibit "From Peace River to Paris – Fashionable Furs of the Century" featuring fur coats and accessories from our collection. The exhibit includes the story of trapping in northern Alberta, both from a historical and contemporary perspective. The opening reception will be held October 27th from 3 – 5pm with guests Dave Cummings from Fairview and our own Ruth Kidder speaking about their history with furs and trapping in the Peace at 3:30pm.
Excerpts from the Record Gazette newspaper demonstrate trapping activity in the 1950s:
1950-12-07  Little Red River - Trapping is underway. It is reported there will be a plentiful supply of fox while supplies of other furs will be moderate.
1951-01-18  Peace River District - Severe weather and heavy snow at the start of the winter season provided a setback to trapping operations, when combined with higher prices in most lines has made operations more attractive.
Squirrels continue to provide the bulk of the catch with weasel in short supply. Red and cross fox are reported to be in more plentiful supply than last year.
1951-06-14 - North Salt Prairie - Louis Auger came out from fur trapping Saturday. He says water and lakes are high, making it difficult to get furs this year.
Visit the Museum to read more about the Record Gazette coverage of trapping in the Peace.

As part of this exhibit, Alberta Trappers Association President, Gordy Klassen will be the next speaker at the Museum on November 17th, thanks to the support of the Peace River Trappers Local 1195.

Peace River Museum nominated for Community Spirit Award!

The Museum is honoured to have been nominated for this year's Peace River & District Chamber of Commerce Davis Awards! We are a part of a great community and we appreciate and enjoy the support of Peace River residents, organizations and businesses.

We would love it if you would vote for us! The deadline is Tuesday, October 9th at 4:30 pm. You can vote by going to the Chamber's facebook page or their website which has voting forms.

Thank you to all for your support!