The iconic Red River log church nestled in the prairie just west of Poplar Point is looking particularly polished these days. After nearly two years of careful restoration work, St. Anne’s Anglican Church, built in 1859 and still holding regular services, has reopened its doors.
The first post-renovations service took place on June 8th, and tomorrow, July 13th, marks the second since the $24,000 exterior project was completed. For long-time church warden Monica Griffiths, it's been a long time coming.
“It’s like opening your cottage after a long winter,” she says. “You walk in, the light’s shining, the pews are dusted, and it’s just beautiful. It feels like home again.”
St. Anne’s holds services once a month, always on the second Sunday, at 9 a.m. sharp. After the service, everyone is invited to stay for sandwiches, baked goods, and a much-needed cup of coffee.
“If people are going to get up that early for church, they deserve to be fed,” she laughs.
Generations of care
Griffiths’ connection to St. Anne’s goes back decades. Though not born into the parish, she jokes that she married into it.
“I was the neighbour next door,” she says. “We got married and started attending services together. One day, they needed some extra help, and my mother-in-law nominated me. So, I inherited it.”
What started as a small window repair in 2022 quickly uncovered a much larger problem: widespread wood rot beneath the old siding. Layers of thick paint had long masked the damage, which dated back to the 1940s. The project quickly ballooned from an estimated $9,000 job into a full exterior restoration.
“The further he scraped, the more damage was found hiding under coats of paint that were holding the building together," she explains. "We had to make a big decision to scrape the whole thing, repair the damage, and then repaint.”
Because the church is a provincially designated historic site and one of the last active Red River frame churches west of the Great Lakes, the Manitoba Historic Resources Branch provided cost-sharing support.
“It’s not just beautification. This is about preserving the structure," she adds.
Everyone is welcome
Despite its age, St. Anne’s remains an important part of the community, not just a monument to the past, and everyone is welcome to attend.
"Some people think that they have to be Anglican to come to an Anglican church, but we welcome all guests," she notes. "Everyone is welcome, any faith or no faith, and we don't care if you can't sing because you'll be drowned out by everybody else."
Griffiths says some visitors stop in simply out of curiosity about the historic building, drawn by its age, architecture, and atmosphere, and end up staying for the service. Whether it's for the history, the hymns, or a moment of peace, St. Anne’s has a way of making people feel at home.
Next month, the church will celebrate its 166th anniversary with a special service on Sunday, August 10th at 10:30 a.m. The date aligns with the church’s consecration in August of 1859.
The anniversary celebration will include a full communion service, hymns, the ringing of the church bell, and a picnic lunch provided by the parish. Donations are encouraged to support ongoing maintenance and preservation.
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