MOOSE JAW — For more than 20 years, the Town of Mossbank’s Old Wives Lake Festival has entertained thousands of people with many fun activities that also build community and promote regional history.
This year’s festival takes place from Friday, July 18, to Sunday, July 20, with all activities happening around the community, which is located about 30 kilometres southwest of Moose Jaw.
A golf tournament at 6 p.m. kicks off the weekend on July 18, while on July 19, there is a pancake breakfast; the 11th annual Justinsane Barbie Car Club show ‘n’ shine; a petting zoo, street market, face painting, a magician and bouncy castles at the community hall; a magic show at the library; tours of the blacksmith shop and museum; live music and street dance from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., with DetourCountry hitting the stage at 9 p.m.; fireworks; and beer gardens.
On July 20, there is a pancake breakfast, an outdoor church service, tractor pulls and superheroes and Disney princesses.
Furthermore, there will be more than 20 vendors present on July 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and food trucks on July 19 and 20.
The festival started as a small event but grew into a larger multi-day celebration over the decades, explained co-organizer Gwen Kowalski. Parts of it occurred at Old Wives Lake — a bird sanctuary — in those early years, but few people wanted to travel there because they were worried about missing activities in town.
Organizers have attempted to showcase the lake’s history and the stories surrounding it during the festival, while they are also encouraging festivalgoers to visit the water body, she continued. They also hope to restart tours to the lake in the future.
Kowalski discussed the legend of how the lake — the largest natural lake in southern Saskatchewan and the fourth-largest saline lake in North America — received its name.
An old Aboriginal story goes that Cree hunters were skinning and dismembering bison while a group of old women were turning the meat into pemmican. A Blackfoot war party later attacked and was beaten off, but the Cree tribe still decided to flee.
The old women, though, decided to remain to give the younger members time to leave. They talked loudly throughout the night to not arouse the suspicions of the Blackfoot, and when a larger contingent of Blackfoot warriors returned and found just the old wives, they massacred them.
“Legend has it that the spirits of the dead women haunt a small island in the lake, known as the Isle of Bays, to this day. Some say that on windy spring nights, you can hear the old wives’ howls of laughter mocking the Blackfoot they deceived,” the Mysteries of Canada website says.
Holding this festival is important because residents and organizers want to uphold the legend due to its connection to Mossbank, while they also want to honour the community’s airbase from the Second World War, said Kowalski.
“So we like the history to be perpetuated … ,” she remarked.
Meanwhile, Kowalski’s favourite parts of the festival include the car show, a quilting display, the vendor market and the tractor pulls.
“Sometimes there’s a lot of things to look at and sometimes not enough time to do it,” she chuckled.
Visit mossbank.ca or the festival’s Facebook page for more information.
