Fall on the Farm celebrates culture

Fall on the Farm is an annual draw for the Mennonite Heritage Village receiving about 2,000 visitors every year. In the past two years, the village has brought its cultural showcase to the forefront with cuisine and dance.

“This year we have a culture stage with nine different performers from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There’s going to be a lots of music and dance and different performances there from various cultures. As well, we have six cultural food vendors from all over the world. We have Chinese food, we have Filipino food, Paraguayan, Indian, Columbian, and Nigerian,” said interim executive director Robert Goertzen, noting the event is in partnership with Eastman Immigrant Services.

“We think that harvest time and fall time is a wonderful time to both commemorate the way the pioneers, the first settlers, celebrated at the end of the season when the harvest was coming in, but it is also a wonderful way to include new generations of our community. People who are our neighbours and friends who have other cultural backgrounds and so we include them as well.”

Goertzen said Fall on the Farm is different than Pioneer Days as there are harvest and fall demonstrations that can’t be done for Pioneer Days, such as hog butchering.

“The Froese family demonstrates how the all the different parts of the animal are used for various different kinds of foods. So they do that during the day as well as we’ll have a pork auction later on where we sell the inspected meat that was produced by some of the pigs that we were raising during the summer.”

Another demonstration for the day will be from the Steinbach and Area Garden Club, who will demonstrate how to cultivate and store seeds.

Of course there will be the traditional offerings that are around every year. This is the last time in the season to get waffles and white sauce. The village will also be selling its rollkuchen but this year with rhubarb sauce. There will also be traditional rope making where the participants will get a souvenir and wagon and barrel rides for everyone.

Also on display at the museum will be the new exhibit Mennonite Reflections: Arriving in Manitoba 150 Years Ago. The exhibit looks at 150 years of Mennonites living in Manitoba.

“I think fall on the farm is a way to celebrate the goodness of the land and the thankfulness for having food on the table so it’s very celebratory as far as a way to share things with your friends, neighbours, and relatives,” said Goertzen.

Fall on the Farm runs on Sept. 2 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.