Pioneer Village Demonstrations and Displays at Pysanka Festival

Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent

Going back through the years is an interesting experience as sometimes people need to flash-back in time to obtain an appreciation for how pioneers worked hard. The Pioneer Village at the 46th Annual Pysanka Festival on June 5, 6, and 7 allowed everyone to watch a demonstration or view displays which showcased our heritage.

Steve Orleski and his volunteers were presenting demonstrations at the stone mill. Steve said the first step to making bread our ancestors did began with wheat being ground with hand made grinding stones. Steve and his volunteers did this with a machine run stone grinding mill. A flyer Steve complied wrote a carter disc grain cleaner was the first step in grain grinding in the pioneer days to clean the grain from weeds. Then the grain is put through a blower fan and after this, the grain is put in the stone flour mill.

The bread baking in a peche outdoor clay oven was done by Director, Pearl Kuhn with the assistance of volunteers. Our pioneers used to bake bread in this type of oven which was made warm by using hot coals that were removed later.

The pioneer section also featured many antique items from Vegreville Regional Museum. There was flailing which is where you use a tool to thresh grain by hand.

At another section was Sky Hoffas who did leatherworking and blacksmith demonstrations. Sky said he is excited to be the new shop teacher at Vegreville Composite High School for the upcoming 2019/2020 school year. Sky said leatherworking is one of the oldest crafts. It started with drum making and rattle making. It involves anything working with the animal’s skin. There are many different ways to tan it. You can use urine, lye, egg yolks, or you can smoke it. There are many different ways to work with it. It is a beautiful versatile craft. Children love working with leather because it is very durable and has many uses for it, including putting images into the leather by tooling with it.

Sky also ran the forge and did some blacksmithing there. He made some knives, rings, and other artistic work. Sky said blacksmithing is also a very old craft which was essential to the development of rural Alberta in the early 1900s and late 1800s. Blacksmithing in the Viking age was about the acquisition of materials.

On July 6, John Babcock who worked as a blacksmith for 60 years and later became a poet who writes about life years ago and his years working as a blacksmith was handing out the poems for free to anyone who dropped into his booth. Gail Trimble also made his appearance on July 6 with his rope-making demonstrations where participants were able to make their own ropes.