By Joel van der Veen

CRAIK — Dip the pen into the inkwell, let the excess ink run off, and don’t press too hard.

As guests made their way through the schoolroom at the Prairie Pioneer Museum, Christel Keiser invited them to try writing their name with a quill pen, offering gentle instructions to each one.

It’s a delicate art, and some mastered it more quickly than others.

It was all part of a trip through time for visitors on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

The Craik museum hosted a Fun Day on July 9, featuring a barbecue lunch, entertainment, tours, special displays and raffle prizes.

Guests were invited to make their way through the six buildings that make up the museum, checking out hundreds of artifacts that span more than a century of Prairie farm and town life.

A special display featured mourning items from the collection of Nancy Spencer, including lace and other pieces made from human hair, some dating as far back as the U.S. Civil War.

Spencer said she began collecting these items around 1970. After her grandmother died, she inherited a ring made with hair, and the collection has continued from there.

“I just find all this very fascinating,” she said. “I think it’s something people should remember.”

The items on display included beadwork made by Belgian nuns. Other items came from Switzerland, France and the U.S.

Spencer explained to guests how each of the items were used to commemorate and honour the dead — such as a clock with lace draped over it, with the pendulum stopped to mark the time of death.

Sweet Pea the Clown, visiting from Moose Jaw, made balloon animals for the kids in attendance.

Hamburgers and hot dogs were served, and donated prizes were raffled off.

Pauline Dixon, who serves as secretary on the museum board, said a total of 123 burgers were sold. She estimated that about 130 people attended altogether.

“It wasn’t as many as usual,” she said, adding that some guests stopped by to grab a hamburger or buy raffle tickets, but didn’t stay around. “It was just too hot.”

For the full story, please see the July 17 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.

By Joel van der Veen

CRAIK — As Sky Stinson put it, they’re not textbook students anymore.

Craik School sent off the six students who make up the class of 2017 with the traditional graduation exercises on June 30.

Stinson, the class valedictorian, deftly delivered a memorable speech that mostly consisted of a spoken-word poem entitled “This Is Our Day.”

She reminded the grads of what they’d learned — some things tangible, others not — and encouraged them to stand out, be different and achieve something worthwhile with their lives.

Stinson’s poem ended with a reference to a new day: “A day for us/These differences on a stage/To say, Defy the traditions/This is our day.”

The Friday-night program opened with the singing of “O Canada,” led by Emily Ehman.

Next, principal Charla Edwards introduced the graduates, who entered one at a time, accompanied by their parents.

Guest speaker Debbie Wildfong described the grads as “a vibrant and energetic group of four dominating males and two resilient women.”

Though the boys would say they ruled the classroom, she joked that they’d been deceived.

“Sky, the ultimate task master, was secretly in control at all times,” said Wildfong. “She only let you think that you were in control.”

She shared memories of the Grade 12 class and gave them three main pieces of advice: develop a strong work ethic, value others by spending time with them, and love and appreciate life.

For the full story, please see the July 10 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.

By Joel van der Veen

CRAIK — Each one starts as a humble block of tupelo wood.

The body and features are carved with care before the finishing touches — glass eyes and paint — are added.

Each bird has a unique posture or “attitude” that the carver needs to capture in his or her work. If they’ve done that properly, Austin Eade said, a trained eye can identify the bird even before it’s painted.

“It’s a connection to nature,” he explained. “If you can’t identify the bird or the subject before you paint it, you didn’t capture the essence of the bird.”

Eade, 73, has strengthened that connection over the past decade as he has pursued his woodcarving hobby.

In that time, he has completed roughly 30 birds. He works on them over the winter months, finishing two or three in an average season.

Eade, a longtime Craik resident, recently won awards for his work at a pair of competitions, including an international show in the U.S.

He had two entries in the Prairie Canada Carvers Show and Competition, held April 22 and 23 in Winnipeg.

There, his female pine grosbeak won best of show at the open level, while his bufflehead drake also placed first in its category.

A week later, he had the same two pieces entered in the Ward World Championship, held in Ocean City, Maryland from April 28 to 30.

The grosbeak won Best in Category (songbirds), outranking other entries from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K, while the bufflehead was a runner-up for Best in Species.

For the full story, please see the July 3 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.