It was a blazing 33 degrees Celsius at the Sukanen Ship Pioneer Village and Museum but none of the children at Family Day seemed to mind.
As one guest put it: “In January we’ll be wishing we had a day like this.”
The mini steam tractor puffed around the village. Fire trucks gave rides as did vintage tractors and the barrel train. Even dogs from the dog show rode the little train.
Two saddle horses were kept occupied as kids were led around.
Two 15-day-old baby goats were a hit.
”I wish you had more animals,” said one little fellow. “I only see cats and dogs.”
Two dog shows by the Band City Dog Club were seen by almost 400 people.
The dog agility shows ranged from dogs with experience and titles from competing to dogs with a few months training.
One newer dog, Shea, was distracted twice to the delight of the kids but made the course in the second show — on a leash.
Face painter Nicole Russell was so busy she wasn’t able to eat the home made bread and jam her husband bought her.
“I never knew there was that much here to see,” she said. “I thought it was just the ship and his house.”
She’s planning next school year to bring her class for a tour and day of learning about pioneer days.
Sid the Clown said this is his second favourite Sukanen event. “It's so laid back.”
“It was good,” said museum president Gord Ross. “ Everybody had fun. We had 643 out. If the weather had been nicer we’d have had 1,000.
“We had people from Saskatoon, Regina, people who’d never been here before.”
Next museum event is the annual threshing bee Sept 10-11.
Ron Walter can be reached at [email protected]
