Celebrating Canada Day in the Town of Peace River!

JULY 1st, 2014 - The Town of Peace River Canada Day Ceremonies will begin at the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre at the new time of 1:30pm this year. The flag raising ceremonies will be graced by the tones of local piper Nancy Westad, as she pipes in members from the RCMP Local Detachment and the Squadron #124 Air Cadets, followed by Mayor Tom Tarpey and Métis 6 President Sylvia Johnson, who will be welcoming everyone to the afternoon's event.
We look forward to seeing many decorated bicycles this year for the walking parade over to the activities in Riverfront Park.
Thanks to Norman Brownlee of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, there are two 'ready to plant' Silver Maple Trees at the Museum for lucky winners who participate in the Canada Day Trivia Contest.
The Museum will be open from 10am to 5pm with FREE ADMISSION. Thank you to Town Council!
See you there!

Artist of the Month - Katy Gill

The featured artist for the month of June is Katy Gill. Katy has recently arrived in Peace River, from Toronto. Her acrylic paintings evoke a sense of interconnectedness she feels with nature and the contemporary world around her. Her introspective journeys into the relationships between the earth's flora and fauna and human-animal awareness are reflected in works like "Too fast, too young" which speaks to the power and the demise of the bison. Another piece depicts Angelique LePretre, a Beaver woman, who was a historical figure in the Town of Peace River. 

Katy is also an accomplished poet and creative writer. You will be able to read some of her compositions on this same art wall. 

The art wall is sponsored by the Peace of Art club and the Museum is thankful for their contributions to our exhibits. 

A close-up of one portion of Katy Gill's piece "Too fast, too young".

Heritage on the Run – perpetuation of the past into the future

The year 2014 is significant in the annals of Peace River history. It is the 100^th anniversary of Peace River Crossing becoming a village; the 47^th year for the Museum; and the 18^th year of the Heritage Run, organized by the Peace River Running Club and proudly hosted by the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre.

What a Heritage Run year it was. People from the region and beyond – runners, walkers, teams of adults and students combined to burgeon the numbers to 180. Add to that, the number of children, who showed their unbridled enthusiasm in the Kids Race and the large number of spectators that swarmed the Museum grounds and along the heritage-laden dike race route – the turnout was huge.

Participants said it was an excellent day to run/walk. Spectators managed to find their place in the sun. All was well.

There were, as always, many beneficiaries of this annual event – the Museum the monetary one, as proceeds from the Run are donated to the Museum.

The Peace River Running Club Committee and Museum staff thank all participants, spectators, as well as Tim Horton’s and the many other sponsors for their support without whom the event would not continue to be a success.

Anticipation
Runners, walkers and spectators gather 'round in anticipation to listen to route instructions prior to 2014 Heritage Run. 

The Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre staff thank the Peace River Running Club Organizing Committee for its generosity over the years.

Heritage Run - this Sunday, June 8, 2014

This Sunday, June 8, 2014, the Museum is proud to be the start and end point for the annual Peace River Heritage Run.

Throughout the years, this has been a popular event. It is fun for all who get involved, whether by running, walking, or volunteering.

The Heritage Run features three events, the 5K run/walk, the 10K run team and the half marathon. All events will start and end at the Museum. For more information on start times, please check the Running Room event site. Registration forms can be dropped off at the Museum or filled out online.

All race proceeds are donated to the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre, a donation that we are very grateful for each year. In the past, these funds have been used towards exhibit cases, furniture for our Archives reading room, the Built Heritage Project, and so much more.

Heritage Run 2013: So many expressions of achievement - whatever the age! 

The Museum wishes all of our runners, walkers and volunteers a great day this Sunday. Have Fun!

Dr. David Welch speaking at the Museum on Wednesday, June 4th

This Wednesday, June 4, 2014, Dr. David Welch will be joining us in the Museum to speak about his stone and bone tool collection. Since finding his first arrowhead at the age of seven, Dr. Welch has spent a lifetime collecting worked stones and bones.

A large part of Dr. Welch's collection of Plains and Northwest Coast First Nations objects are currently on display in the exhibit "A Sense of the Land and its People: A Personal Collection". This exhibit includes a selection of stone and bone tools, including the first arrowhead Dr. Welch ever found.

For this Wednesday's presentation, Dr. Welch will be bringing in even more of his stone and bone tools. These items will be going on exhibit in July along with those already on display.

Join us tomorrow, June 4th, at 7 pm to hear Dr. Welch's stories and see a large selection of his stone and bone tool collection.

This event is free. All are welcome.

Label R (bottom middle) corresponds to the first arrowhead collected by Dr. Welch. 

 

Artifact of the Week - Bone Flesher

This week's featured artifact is a flesher, donated by Tom Rumball in 1973. This artifact
would have been used to de-flesh animal skins when preparing hides.

As people who utilized and lived with the environment around them, First Nations Peoples fashioned their tools out of bones and rocks.  In this case, a leg bone from a deer was fashioned into a tool used to scrape flesh from hides. The First Nations people would also eat deer meat, tan and use the hide for clothing and shelter, and use deer sinew for sewing. The First Nations people used every part of an animal, wasting nothing.

While bone tools were used for working meat and hide, rocks were fashioned into arrowheads and spear points to hunt animals.

Our featured artifact this week coincides with next week's presentation by Dr. David Welch. Dr. Welch will be speaking about his collection of stone and bone tools and the fascinating stories associated with them.

Dr. Welch will be speaking at the Museum on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 at 7 pm. Everyone is invited to this free presentation.

PRMA 73.540 Bone Flesher. 

Stone tools presentation by Dr. David Welch - June 4th at 7 pm

On Wednesday, June 4, 2014, at 7 pm, Dr. David Welch will be joining us at the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre, to talk about his pre-historic stone and bone tools. After a lifetime's worth of collecting, researching and examining stone tools, he is a great source of information and stories.

This presentation complements our current exhibit "A Sense of the Land and its People: A Personal Collection" which showcases a variety of Northwest Coast and Plains First Nations Artifacts from Dr. Welch's collection.

The artifacts in the exhibit are representative of the environments that the Northwest Coast and Plains First Nations lived within and how those environments influenced their food, clothing, lodgings, hunting practices, artistic expression and ceremonies.

Please join us for this free event as we learn more about stone and bone tools, as well as hear Dr. Welch's stories and experiences collecting them.

For more information, please contact the Museum.

Artifact of the Week - Dr. Sutherland's coffee pot

This coffeepot belonged to Dr. Frederick Henry Sutherland who worked as a physician in Peace River for many years. He was also mayor of the town for 16 years and served with the Canadian Medical Corps in World War I. Dr. Sutherland is the namesake of Sutherland Nursing Home/Continuing Care Centre and most recently Sutherland Place. He was considered by many to be a great man.

This aluminum coffeepot was donated by his daughter Alma Richardson. According to Alma, Dr. Sutherland enjoyed his coffee immensely and this pot was his pride and joy. At the time, the 1950s-1960s, aluminum was thought to cause Alzheimer’s disease, an idea that Dr. Sutherland rejected, so much so that he used this aluminum coffeepot every morning for many years.

PRMA 2013.009.002 - The coffee pot that Dr. Sutherland used every day. 

Artists of the Month - Holy Family School in Grimshaw

The Museum art wall is pleased to host its annual May Student Art Feature. This year we welcome the amazing and impressive work of Holy Family School's First Nations, Metis and Inuit (FNMI) option class from Grimshaw.

First, each student chose a First Nations, Metis or Inuit artist they wanted to learn more about. From there, the students created a painting that was inspired by the artist that they had chosen. Each student thoughtfully created their piece, bearing in mind the spirituality and emotion that goes into the creation of a piece of artwork.

The student artists, Holy Family School, and especially the FNMI coordinator, Tanys Oxman, are very proud of what has been created. We at the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre are certainly impressed.

Thank you to the Peace of Art Art Club for sponsoring the Art Wall. Please come out and support the creativity of our local students.

Holy Family School FNMI Coordinator Tanys Oxman, after installing the students work at the Museum.