Pioneer Day Accents Folklife and Family Fun
From watching a pioneer hut being built to a special reading of a children's story, Highland Village Pioneer Day activities offer something for everyone.
The Iona, Victoria Co., museum event on Saturday, Sept. 12, from noon to 5 p.m., will feature a reading from the The Malagawatch Mice and the Cat who Discovered America, by Jim St. Clair, building a pioneer bothy or hut, and a slide show by photographer Wally Ellison, titled From the Highlands of Scotland to the Shores of Cape Breton.
Demonstrations will include quilt making, candle dipping, Gaelic singing and step-dancing, Barvas ware pottery making, weaving, flax processing to make linen, soap making and iron working in the forge. Crafts such as rug hooking, treadle sewing, and tatting will be complimented by a spinning frolic and demonstrations of Cash's Carding Mill.
Donna Poulette of Eskasoni will demonstrate Mi'kmaq basket weaving, a highlight this year. Games and a scavenger hunt for kids is set for the afternoon. People can also play horseshoes, a long-standing rural pastimes.
Gaelic-style musicians Joe Peter MacLean, on fiddle, and Wally Ellison, on the small pipes, will entertain along with Mabou piper Kenneth MacKenzie. The one-room school will host step-dancing demonstrations to live music. Gaelic singing will be prominent at this year's traditional céilidh in the old MacDonald House kitchen before an open hearth. A milling frolic will follow with Gaelic singers.
Potato digging will take place on the farm, which has domestic animals such Highland cattle, chickens and a heritage breed Berkshire pig. A herd of ancient sheep from the Hebridean island of Soay, outlier to St. Kilda, will also be on hand.
Pioneer Day is an outstanding celebration of Nova Scotia's Highland heritage, offering informative and unique entertainment for the whole family.
Canteen services will sell corn on the cob and lemonade at prices from days gone-by. Regular admission prices apply. For more information call Highland Village at 902-725-2272.