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Alberta Culture Days concert and exhibit

Culture Days events were held in Rimbey on Saturday October 1.
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Mike Boorman picks the winning ticket for the Wooddale Ladies Quilt Draw

Culture Days events were held in Rimbey on Saturday October 1, a nationwide endeavour to highlight and celebrate a range of artistic and cultural works by and for Canadians. The Beatty Heritage House Society, with grant funding from Alberta Culture Days, hosted two “pop up” celebrations developed around the theme of “Our Small Town”, events intended to discoverRimbey Alberta’s genius loci, otherwise known as ‘sense of place’.

In the afternoon at the Beatty House, the society hosted an exhibit of photos, poems and prose submitted by the public.These submissions reflected personal views of Rimbey and its physical components, its people and cultural qualities. The exhibit had dozens of people either submit pieces or who were interested in the results. It was interesting to see the visitors and their range of reactions, some of whom discovered Rimbey places or qualities they’d never seen, had overlooked, or had forgotten over time. There were many subjects in the submissions, but it was the emotional connection with Rimbey’s people, rather than the physical components, that was most commonly referenced by those who submitted pieces.

Also at the Beatty House, the Beatty Heritage House Society held the quilt draw for the Wooddale Ladies Group, the 37th anniversary of the draw! The lucky ticket was held by Deb Makofka, a long-time supporter of the quilt draw and the Beatty House.

The second event of the day was a free family friendly concert held at the United Church. The featured musicians were the duo Me and the Mrs., a folk roots duo from Rosebud, AB. They played to an appreciative audience who braved heavy rains and fog to be there. Paul and Heather Zacharias - consummate performers - engaged the audience with personal stories, insights, and of course, upbeat songs, some of which were written especially for this event and included lyrics with Rimbey references. The small town life references had listeners smiling and nodding understandingly. The crowd enjoyed delish refreshments and draws for both Alberta Culture Days and Me and the Mrs. swag at the intermission, which added to the evening’s fun of relatable, live music.