Coming Home From Far and Wide...

Our small farming community gathered again at the elementary school last weekend.  It opened in 1956 and due to a centralization policy it closed and bussed the students to a nearby town in 1966.  

The community club took an active role in keeping the empty building alive and this many years later there is an active club, a senior's centre, a bowling alley and a large gymnasium available for rent.  Although I'm a fairly recent addition to the community, I enjoyed helping on the organizing committee of the 2012 Homecoming and seeing all the smiles of people as they greeted old friends and neighbours and reminisced about the good old days.  

I helped a retired teacher who is just above the left shoulder of the teacher in this 1942 class picture.  She was able to recite each student's name and was a terrific help in organizing all the clippings and photos that fell into our hands by very accurate dates. The displays told the story of a little Hamlet that is now 100 years old. The railway station was a busy place in 1913 and in the 20's it brought carloads of settler's belongings as there were many American families that made the trek north to establish homesteads. It was thriving by 1930,  had over a hundred residents and boasted a bank, a car dealership, two general stores, a post office, pool hall, lumberyard, hardware store, a hotel, restaurants, and eventually five churches and three grain elevators.  Today the population of the hamlet is about 3oo and all but the hotel, post office, the general store and one recently built church are gone.   

Now, every five years old friends travel hundreds of miles to share that neighbourly feeling once again and the "over eighty" seniors are given special recognition.  A talented band of men in their mid sixties played dance music with such enthusiasm that many seniors happily two-stepped around the hall.  Although the dinner and dance were open only to adults a breakfast held on Sunday morning drew families and children of all ages.  Proud grandparents showed off grandchildren to their old friends.  

I have a feeling that most who attended are already looking forward to the August long weekend in 2017.  I know we fall into that category. Here are just a few of the smiling faces I saw last weekend.

I want to appologize for not visiting your blogs lately; two sets of company, a barbecue invitation, looking after two darling kittens while our son is on holidays and packing for a wedding in the city tomorrow has kept me very busy.  I do hope to find out what you have been blogging about before too long.  Have a great weekend wherever you are!