One of, if not the busiest weekend of the year is coming up in Ogema. The fun starts on Saturday with the Ogema’s Agricultural Society’s 109th annual Summer Fair with a full day of fun for all ages. However, the fun doesn’t stop once the fireworks do on Saturday night, as the next day, Sunday July 13th, is the Deep South Pioneer Museum’s Pioneer Day.
A blast into the past, the Deep South Pioneer Museum holds thousands of years of southern Saskatchewan history and will look to put it all on full display this Sunday. Carol Peterson, mayor of Ogema and secretary treasurer of the Deep South Pioneer Museum, talks about all the fun surrounding Pioneer Day
“We start off in the morning with the pancake breakfast from 8:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m., and then after that we follow with the church service. During the day there's different demonstrations like a rope making demonstration and blacksmith demonstration. We have the parade at 3:00 PM of all the over 100 tractors and the equipment that we have the parade around the fairgrounds there and we have 35 buildings full of artifacts so you can visit all those as well.”
Alongside that, there is an arrowhead demonstration by an archeological student at 1:00 P.M. and Old Tyme music from 1:00-3:00 P.M. It costs $7 for adults, $5 for 12 and under and preschoolers get in free. However, if you show up in pre-1970's attire your admission is also free so dig out that old Pioneer trucker cap and suspenders or Grandma’s favourite dress.
“Well, this is the 48th (annual) museum days that we've had.” Peterson says, “So, we started back in 1977, so it's been around for quite a while. Every time they were going to demolish a building on Main Street, we brought it out to the museum. Right now, we have 35 buildings full of artifacts on the grounds, and it's set up as a village. We have a community building that's full of different displays in that our newest display in there is the carriage that Prince Philip used when he was at Agribition I think it was about 40 years ago.”
For more details surrounding the Deep South Pioneer Museum’s annual Pioneer Day or of the museum itself, you can visit their website at www.deepsouthpioneermuseum.ca or visit their Facebook page.