Alberta Culture Days this weekend!

The Town of Peace River will be participating in Alberta Culture Days this weekend from Friday Sept. 28th to Saturday Sept. 29th with Culture Scene 2012. The weekend will include live performances, art displays and workshops around Peace River from our vibrant arts and culture community!

You can like the Town of Peace River's Facebook page for detailed itineraries and a map of the events taking place this weekend. We hope everyone can come out and celebrate the Culture of Peace River!!

The Museum will be open our regular hours this Friday and Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm with members of our staff also out and about on Saturday volunteering with the Main Street Event.

Museum hosts Minister of Culture

We were pleased to host Honourable Heather Klimchuk, Minister of Culture on August 31st. Also travelling with her were John Tuckwell, Director of Alberta Culture Communications; Barb Toker, Public Affairs Officer; Jeremy Block, Chief of Staff & Shannon Marchand, Assistant Deputy Minister. Touring the Minister was our very own MLA, Honourable Frank Oberle, Associate Minister of Services for Persons with Disabilities.
Minister Klimchuk was especially interested in the local partnerships that have been created in the heritage sector in the north. The Museum invited some our partners to attend and it was wonderful to share our time with representatives from the Sir Alexander Mackenzie Historical Society, Peace of Art, Peace River & District Genealogy Society, our own advisory board and the Heritage Places Committee.


Minister Klimchuk poses with Sonia Rosychuk, the artist who created the fascinating teepee installment on our property.

  It was a lovely time of touring and sharing ideas and issues. Thank you to the Minister and her team for coming to visit and to the Honourable Frank Oberle as well.

Author and Wildlife Photographer visits the Museum

Hälle Flygare, well-known wildlife and nature photographer, recently visited the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre with fellow photographer, Dr. Robert Berdan. They were on their way to Yellowknife to capture the Aurora Borealis with their lenses.

Flygare’s association with the Museum and Alexander Mackenzie’s overland route from the Fraser River to the Pacific Ocean has been a long and productive one. Flygare played an integral role in the establishment of a Master Development Plan for the route Mackenzie took on his way to the Pacific Ocean. It was once called the Alexander Mackenzie Grease Trail, but convention suggested the word “grease” be dropped, although its historical validity was appreciated. It is now referred to as the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail, which covers, not only the prehistoric trade trails, but also the 100 kilometres of Bella Coola Valley and coastal fiord not grease trails, as well as the Tweedsmuir Park alpine section Mackenzie hiked “that no sensible Indian would have used as a pack trail,” according to an account in In the Steps of Alexander Mackenzie, Second Edition, by John Woodworth.

Paddler Teresa Griffith regaled visitors with her tales

On Thursday night, August 16, the Museum played host to veteran paddler Teresa Griffith, owner of Flow North Paddling Company, as she regaled all those who attended with stories about her time kayaking and canoeing the Peace River in order to create the GeoTourism paddling guide of the river. She also spoke a bit about her time as Captain of GeoTourism's replica York Boat on its inaugural voyage in 2011.

Attendees were inspired by Teresa's speaking, because she brings personal experiences and feelings into her tales. Her experience is vast; she has spent many days paddling on the Peace River.

This talk was the perfect accompaniment to our current exhibit Paddling Through Time: 220 Years of Canoeing on the Peace, and the Museum thanks Teresa and her husband Darren for spending a wonderful evening with us. 

Veteran Paddler Teresa Griffith to speak at Peace River Museum

In conjunction with our current exhibit, Paddling Through Time: 220 Years of Canoeing on the Peace, and the upcoming, Paddle the Peace, Teresa Griffith, owner/operator of Flow North Paddling Company, will be visiting the Museum. She will be speaking on August 16th at 7 pm about her trips on the Peace River as a solo kayaker and on the York Boat through GeoTourism Canada.

We are excited to host Teresa and invite anyone interested in our beautiful Peace River to join us on Thursday, August 16th at 7 pm at the Museum.

 

Celebrate Heritage Days at St. Augustine Mission Church

The St. Augustine Church Restoration committee, with members from Alberta Culture, Historic Sites, Infrastructure Alberta, Peace River Correctional Centre, Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre staff and board, MD of Peace, Sir Alexander Mackenzie Historical Society and Peace River Genealogy Society, have collaboratively been working to make the site of the St. Augustine Church available for special public events.

The work is still in progress, but the first opportunity to tour the site is coming!

Celebrate Heritage Days on August 6^th with a drive along the historic Shaftesbury Trail. Stop for a tour of the St. Augustine Mission Church between 11am and 3pm. The Museum will be there to interpret the site’s history. For more information call 780-624-4261 or email museum@peaceriver.net.

For more information on this and other Alberta Historic Sites, please visit the Alberta Register of Historic Places: https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&ObjectID=4665-0430

Artist of the month: Peggy Smith

The Peace River Museum is pleased to host our current artist: Peggy Smith. Peggy does custom airbrush work on anything from ski-doos to clothing and has an incredible eye for detail and colour. We invite everyone to come view her work during the month of July.

For more information on Peggy and her art, visit the Record Gazette website here:
http://www.prrecordgazette.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3594898

Thank you to our community!

The Town of Peace River's Heritage Places Committee and the Peace River Museum would like to thank everyone who came out to the pancake breakfast this past Saturday. Through your support, we were able to raise over $1500 towards the preservation of heritage sites in Peace River. We would also very much like to thank the AUPE (Alberta Union of Provincial Employees) who contributed the remaining monies to make our fundraising total $2000! Through the matching funds with the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program, this translates into $4000!

To view some of the already studied historic sites, please visit: http://www.peaceriver.net/images/stories/Museum/2012_02_22_museum.pdf (Note: This is a large pdf and may require some time to download.)

If you know of a historically significant building or site in Peace River, please let us know using this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9NTHZRJ

If you have any other questions regarding this program and the work being done by the Town of Peace River, please contact the Museum at 780-624-4261 or email us at museum@peaceriver.net.

We truly appreciate the support of our community in preserving and sharing Peace River's rich history!

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.