Manitoba Pageant, Winter 1966, Volume 11, Number 2
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From The Centurion, the official publication of the Manitoba Centennial Corporation, we are printing, in part, an article on the combined centennial project of the Town of Steinbach and the Rural Municipality of Hanover:
In 1967, a specially built train will carry the story of Canada from the Ice Age to the Atomic Age across the nation. Each car of the train will provide a graphic image of a portion of our country's progress and development. The train will literally be a mobile museum of Canada. It will be in Manitoba from April 22nd to May 13th, visiting Dauphin, Neepawa, Brandon, Portage la Prairie, St. James, Winnipeg and St. Boniface.
In addition to the train, there will be eight Centennial Caravans in motion in Canada during the Centennial year. These will carry replicas of the displays in the Train, but as they are to be drawn by huge semi-trailers on roads, they can visit centres not accessible by rail. One of the eight caravans is to visit north-western Ontario. Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It will arrive in Manitoba at Emerson on May the 16th, 1967, and will leave Manitoba from The Pas on August 5th, 1967. In the interval it will travel 2,750 miles, and will stop at 54 Manitoba centres for a total of 68 exhibit days.
The Town of Souris and the Rural Municipality of Glenwood are co-operating on a large re-development of their beautiful park. The most interesting aspects of this total re-development is the purchasing of what is known as the Hillcrest property. This is the former home of Squire Sowden, founder of Souris. It is an unique example of architecture in Manitoba, and citizens throughout the Province will rejoice in its preservation. It is located only a hundred yards from the famous swinging bridge and will add a definite attraction, not only to Souris and Southwestern Manitoba, but to the Province as a whole. It is hoped in the future to house a museum in the Hillcrest home.
The Manitoba Home and School Association has launched a campaign to provide central libraries in schools where they do not now exist - especially in elementary schools. Selected as a Centennial project, the envisaged libraries will supply extensive services, including facilities for research and visual aids. The project is directed by Mrs. William Annett of Winnipeg.
In addition, the national home and school federation is sponsoring a program to foster reading among children as a Canada-wide Centennial project. C. Vic Madder, Principal, Principal Sparling School, Winnipeg is chairman.
In an attempt to dramatize the early exploration and fur trading story of our country, a canoe pageant is being planned, which will take a group of competing paddlers from Rocky Mountain House in Alberta to Montreal in one hundred days. Further details will be anounced soon.
A special series of Centennial coins will be struck for 1967, this will include a 20-dollar gold piece.
Complete pageant kits, including scripts, notes on productions, costumes, music, etc., will be available to local communities in 1966. Proposals are for either an outdoor spectacle involving many people, or an indoor pageant. These productions may be put on by amateur performing groups or school theatrical groups.
One of the most imaginative projects developed for the Centennial has been the Youth Travel Programme. A number of groups such as the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, the various cadet corps, Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, 4-H Clubs and others, have had youth travel programs. The Centennial Commission has provided additional special financial assistance to these projects, with a view to encouraging travel between now and 1967, and throughout the Centennial year.
The Centennial Commission has extended the program undertaken by voluntary groups, financing the exchange of groups of high school students, aged 15 to 17. The program began on a small scale in 1964, when Manitoba sent five groups, consisting of 24 students and two chaperons each, to other parts of the country. A similar number of youngsters were received as guests in Manitoba. In 1965 the program was accelerated to the point where Manitoba sent 20 groups and received the same number of youngsters in the province. This represents nearly one sixth of the total Canadian program.
The students leaving Manitoba were from every corner of the Province, and represented a true cross-section of our population.
Half the groups who visited Manitoba this past summer were based in Greater Winnipeg, and half in other points in the Province. Church-ill, Flin Flon, The Pas, Dauphin, Neepawa, Portage la Prairie, Steinbach, and Pinawa were hosts to one group each, and Brandon received three of the groups.
It is anticipated that this program will not only expand, but will continue after 1967, and become a permanent part of the Canadian scene.
Page revised: 21 January 2018
