News release

Highland Village Pioneer Day Accents Family Fun

Nova Scotia Museum

From paintings to slide shows and quilt and candle making, the Pioneer Day celebration at Highland Village is aiming to entertain families in the Gaelic tradition.

The Iona, Victoria Co., museum will host the annual event Saturday, Sept. 15, from noon to 5 p.m., on its 40-acre (16 hectare) site. This year's event has two special presentations: the Air Aithis aig M'Athair painting exhibition by Mabou coal mine artist Peter Rankin, and From the Highlands of Scotland to the Shores of Cape Breton, a slide show by photographer Wally Ellison.

There will also be a number of demonstraions including quilt making, candle dipping, Gaelic singing, step-dancing, Barvas ware pottery making, weaving, flax processing, soap making and tool sharpening with the whet stone.

Crafts such as rug hooking, treadle sewing, and tatting will be complimented by a spinning frolic and demonstrations of Cash's Carding Mill. Mi'kmaq basket weaving by Donna Poulette of Eskason will highlight the event.

Games and a scavenger hunt for the kids will take place in the afternoon.

Gaelic-style musicians Joe Peter MacLean and Wally Ellison and piping and fiddling brothers Keith and Kyle MacDonald from Foot Cape, Inverness Co. will perform. There will also be step-dancing, Gaelic singing, a céilidh and the Iona Gaelic singers will again gather around the milling table for the milling frolic.

The village's newest attraction, a dry-mortared stone wall at the Scottish black house, will be on display, as will a herd of ancient sheep from the Hebridean island of Soay, and the refurbished Malagawatch Church.

Corn on the cob and lemonade will be for sale and horse and wagon rides will be available for children during the afternoon.

Regular admission prices apply. For more information call Highland Village at (902) 725-2272.