MOOSEJAWEXPRESS.COM • Wednesday, June 19, 2019 • PAGE A17
Mortlach Berry Festival promises to stain your teeth purple Larissa Kurz
The Mortlach Berry Festival is back for its 12th year on June 29, kicking off with a pancake breakfast at 8am and continuing on through the day with a whole list of interesting things — pies, music, shopping, and more. One of the festival’s organizers, Marcia Wiman, finds that the day will be well worth checking out, with so many different things going on. “It’s really a family-oriented event,” said Wiman. “There’s a little bit of something for everybody.” As usual, the parade will begin at 11am, and square dancing and clogging demonstrations in both the morning and afternoon from local dancers. The Easy Riders Horse Club are hosting events beginning at 9am. Wagon rides are being offered all day, as well as an impressive Show and Shine. A number of vendors have signed up to be at the Trade Show from 9am to 5pm, and will certainly have whatever
The Saskatoon berry pie is a well-loved feature of the festival and is made by Prairie Berries in Keeler. (photo by Ron Walter)
you may be looking for: from books to health supplements, linens to jewelry, honey to concrete yard decorations. There will be several food vendors in attendance, to fuel the crowd to take on the various activities going on throughout the day. And, of course, the kids will have tons to do: activities at Vimy Park beginning at 11:30am, like face painting, bouncy castles, and pedal tractors. A number of educational displays will be set up in the gym at Mortlach School, which is also where a special display will be available to see: a time capsule buried by Mortlach students 25 years ago, that was dug up this year. Current Mortlach students will be refilling the capsule and burying it for another 25 years. “The contents of the time capsule are also going to be on display, in the gym that day,” said Wiman. “It’ll be interesting to see, what actually went in there and in another 25 years, it’ll be interesting to see what people put in it now.” The ever-popular Saskatoon berry pies are also returning, the namesake of the whole festival. This year, the committee has ordered 550 pies from Prairie Berries in Keeler, and are taking preorders from June 1 until June 26. “The [preordered] pies will be there in a box and you pick it up when you’re ready to leave, rather than taking it and leaving it in your car,” said Wiman. Otherwise, the pies will be for sale the day of the festival, beginning at 9am until quantities run out. Last year, Wiman guessed they sold out of pie entirely by midafternoon — not a slice left in town. There will also be a pie eating contest in the afternoon,
A pancake breakfast kicks off the day, and is always popular. (photo credit: Bo van Ulsen) alongside some notable musical entertainment and a beer garden beginning at noon. Juno Award nominee Megan Nash is taking the stage first at 12pm, followed by Moose Jaw’s Random Honesty at 1:30pm, and closing with the Tilted Kilts — accompanied by a group of Irish dancers — from 3:30-5pm. It’s a busy day for Mortlach, as they usually see around 1,500 people come through for the festival. The organizers invite everyone to come out and “Meet Me in Mortlach.” “There’s just lots of rural hospitality,” said Wiman. ”It’s a good way for the local people to come in and just spend the day visiting with all their neighbors that they never get to see.” A full schedule for the festival and more information about preordering can be found on their Facebook page.
Heritage Day a chance to see Claybank Brick Plant in action The antique machinery in the Claybank Brick Plant sits dormant for most of the year, a visual exhibit for curious visitors to imagine what goes on in the century-old plant. But each year on Heritage Day, imagination isn’t necessary. Volunteers and previous workers fire up as much machinery as possible and do what Claybank Brick Plant does best: make bricks. Program coordinator Pat Machmer calls it a once-a-year opportunity, to witness the brick-making process in action, and the heritage site makes sure to offer a look into the entire process. “You get to actually see a brick getting made, and that’s not something that happens every day,” said Machmer. “That brick press is really old, and so that’s pretty cool, I think, for people to see that.” Visitors can hop onto a tractor ride out into the clay canyons, to see the source of the black-flecked clay unique to Claybank.
Larissa Kurz A narrated self-guided tour goes all Admission to this year’s Heritage Day, the Claybank Brick Plant. around the plant, explaining the history of which is taking place on June 30 from More information can be found on their the site back to 1912. The site will have 10:30am to 4:30pm, is $10 a person or $25 website , or by calling the site at (306) their small train — called a jigger — run- per family. All funds raised will stay at 868-4474. ning, which was used to transport repair crews up and down the spur line. Visitors can watch how the clay is ground and pressed into bricks, alongside a number of other demonstrations like blackYour Community Grocery Store smithing, rope-making, and even pottery June 21 - June 27 wheel techniques. And, since the day is a celebration, the Heinz Canned Tostitos site will also have some other things goBeans Tortilla Chips ing on, like musical entertainment and a 398ml 205-295 g beverage garden running from noon until 6pm. There will also be some children’s Fine Foods Good Host Ice Tea activities, face painting and a clown perIce Cream Classic Original ea formance for the young ones. 1.9kg 4L Machmer mentioned there will be some Coca-Cola Mr’ Christie’s tasty treats available — Saskatoon berry Beverages Ice Cream pies were mentioned, along with brick ovSugar Cones Assorted 12x355ml en-baked bread and homemade cinnamon (DEPOSIT + ENVIRO) 12 pack buns at the concession. Heritage Day is the most important day JELL-O Fine foods Instant Pudding of the site’s summer season, as it’s their Large Eggs 30-113g main fundraising project that supports the 18 pack rest of their year’s operations, and it gets people interested in the site. “If they’ve had a good experience with Heritage Day, then they want to come back Fresh Strip Loin Head Grilling Steak and that’s what we want,” said Machmer. /lb Lettuce $26.43/kg As the site hasn’t received funding from the provincial government for the second Fresh Boneless Corn year in a row, anything they raise is a big Pork Loin Chops on the Cobb help in keeping them open. /lb Rib End
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Wagon rides take visitors up into the hills that are home to the clay deposits. (supplied: Frank Korvemaker)
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Volunteer demonstrations include things like rope-making, pictured here. (supplied: Frank Korvemaker)
The jigger has two cars attached to the engine, and is up and running each year on Heritage Day. (supplied: Frank Korvemaker)
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