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Canada Day in Elkhorn

Canada Day events in Elkhorn in 2014 never happened because of major fl ooding in the village and the Westman area.

Canada Day events in Elkhorn in 2014 never happened because of major fl ooding in the village and the Westman area. However, the village’s 2015 event made up for it with beautiful weather and a large amount of community support, both in and around the community.

See below for more photos

The morning started off with the always-popular pancake breakfast, served up by community political representatives, with a breakfast visit by Larry Maguire.
After that, there were a few hours before the grand parade down the main street of the village. Even though the parade does not start until noon, people were staking out their favourite location on the main street by 10:30, enjoying the weather and visiting with friends and neighbours.


The parade featured almost 60 entries with a fi ne selection of antique and classic vehicles from the Elkhorn Auto Museum’s collection and area car collectors.
There was a great selection of classic tractors, with Bill Mulligan’s collection of John Deere tractors being a highlight; the other being the Gaar-Scotts steam tractor owned and recently restored by Lynn Tutthill of Elkhorn.


Many of the entries threw candies to the children; the frozen freezie pops were popular in the hot afternoon.


As I worked one side of the street covering the parade, my friend Lindsay White was on the other side, filming it for community cable.


The emcee for the vehicle parade was a municipal politician, Kevin Tutthill. This year saw a total of fi ve collector military vehicles, owned by local collectors.
The parade route was right down the main street from the fair grounds, with a slight detour past the local seniors’ home to let them share in the event. The parade would end up at the antique car museum, where the parade vehicles and tractors were on display. There would be a full day of events for all ages and lots of holiday food treats.


There were children’s events and rides, a barbecue lunch, a strawberry social, musical entertainment, and a blacksmith presentation.


The museum’s car collection was open to the public along with the recently improved one-room schoolhouse and the Century Farm House. The Century Farm House is the newest addition to the museum that displays many of the domestic artifacts of a typical turn of the century farm home, with each of its rooms showcasing different themes.


This farm house project has been the result of three years of intense volunteer labour, from locals and people all over the Westman area. However the highlight of the afternoon was the threshing display with the powerful Gaar-Scotts steam tractor with Lynn Tutthill at the control, running the long pulley belt that turned the antique threshing machine to separate the kernels from the straw - one shoot filling a wooden grain wagon with golden kernels of wheat and, from another spout, a golden pile of straw that grew bigger and bigger in the warm afternoon sun. The pile of soft yellow straw was almost inviting you to jump in and become a kid again, but I digress…


Richard Hainer, museum curator, said about the day, “The whole day was a great success, that brought many people into the community and out to the museum grounds.


“I would like to congratulate Alexis Stonehouse, Caleb Canart and Ryan Canart for their entries in and winning of the bike decoration contest.


We appreciate everyone who helped and volunteered their skills and time. These people and the public made it a successful Canada Day Celebration.


Happy 148th, Canada!”

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