Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Summer Holiday: Visiting the Past- Redvers

On September 3, we headed out for a day trip to Redvers, Saskatchewan. See: http://www.townofredvers.org/ and http://www.creda.sk.ca/redvers/index.htm Redvers is a small town of 917 people located in the southeast corner of Saskatchewan, 19 km west of the Manitoba border and 50 km north of the US border. Redvers is where my Dad was born and grew up.

This is the last grain elevator left standing in Redvers. It is currently in use but it is debatable how much longer that will be. The old wooden grain elevators of the past (like this one) have been torn down or sold in many Saskatchewan towns and have been replaced by larger concrete facilities referred to as grain terminals. All small towns in Saskatchewan used to be marked by their grain elevators sporting the name of the town. This is the farm that my Dad was born on and grew up on. This farm is still owned by a member of the family.
This farm is one of the Century Farms in Saskatchewan. A Century Farm Award is given to a family if members of the same family have farmed or ranched on the land continuously for 100 years or more. See: http://www.isc.ca/default.aspx?DN=1575,18,10,1,Documents
This is my Dad standing next to the sign that my cousin had erected to commemorate the farm being owned for 100 continuous years by members of my Dad's family in 2001.
This is the Redvers Moccasin factory.
I wanted to bring this little Cinderella machine from, Naumann Sewing Machines, home with me.


In this building, moccasins hand made by a husband and wife team are sold in stores all across Canada. Of course we all purchased a pair of leather moccasins to take home with us as a souvenir.

These two pictures are taken in downtown Redvers. These scenes are pretty typical of "Small town Saskatchewan". Things move at a less hurried pace than I am used to in B.C.
This is my cousin, Wanda. The farmer's bad luck harvest wise was my good luck. Because it had been raining off and on for a few days, Wanda and her husband were forced to take a break from the harvesting. This break allowed Wanda to come into Redvers to meet with me and have a visit. We haven't seen each other for years.
This is my Dad, my Mom, my cousin, Wanda, me, and my Aunt Avaline standing in front of my Aunt's house.


5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the Sask. tour. I never heard of the moccasin factory. You can't beat Saskatchewan skies, esp at sunset!

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  2. What a lovely tour, and how neat that the farm has been in your famly for so long!

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  3. Hi Norma,
    That grain elevator is just exactly the picture in my mind of Canada farmland.
    Jeanne, humming Gordon Lightfoot songs :)

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  4. You can go back home again apparently though things probably never will look quite that same as what you remember. How nice that you could get together with your cousin.

    What a cute sewing machine--looks a bit like the featherweights?

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  5. what a fun trip and how great to see so much family too...

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