Just east of Poplar Point, St. Paul's Church has stood for many years. After a fire destroyed the original building, the church was rebuilt in 1910. Monica Griffiths, who oversees both St. Paul's and St. Anne's in Poplar Point, notes that while St. Paul’s no longer functions as a regular church, it still hosts occasional weddings, funerals, and special events.
“She still gets weddings, funerals, and things that pop up. We stopped, though, when COVID hit us. That was the end of that,” Griffiths explains. “My crew goes down, and we have church at St. Paul’s, which is on the east side of Poplar Point, and give them an anniversary service. That’s coming up this weekend, on the 15th at 1 p.m.”
Griffiths says St. Paul’s is younger and smaller than St. Anne’s but holds its own charm.
“She’s a very unique structure. The original burnt, and it’s been moved and relocated, but now it’s settled with the cemetery and is designated as a heritage building on the municipal level. St. Anne’s is provincial. My crew there call themselves Friends of St. Paul’s, and not one of them is Anglican. They mostly live in the area and belong to the Manitoba Historical Society."
She notes that St. Paul’s made a brief appearance in the movie The Long Walk this summer, starring Mark Hamill. The movie crew shot a scene with the church in the background, and Griffiths adds that the company donated to the church for its inclusion.
“In the movie, they're walking. And I wanted a contract that says no driving on the property, or walking in and out. And the man said, 'The whole camera was set up on a trolley trailer, and we're just driving by.' The church's big piece, as they passed by, was somebody opened the front door and walked out. Tada! That was it. They didn't focus her on him or anything. He was just in a side-ground shot. (There are ground shots.) It took three days to do that! They cleaned up superbly after. One of the people who lived just across and down the highway texted me to say, ‘The crew’s gone, and you’d never know they were there.’”
The upcoming 114th anniversary will mark the church’s first event since it shut down due to COVID-19 in March 2020.