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The Parade

The weather was calm, the sky was clear to begin the Plum Coulee Plum Fest last Saturday, the 21st! Opening the events of the day, was a traditional Mennonite Breakfast! Some 400 people came through the lineup in the tent to have a breakfast of freshly made waffles, topped with rhubarb sauce, and a generous scoop of cracklings, also freshly prepared, on-site! Breakfast guests came from as far as Boissevain and Winnipeg, as well as many local communities.

It was a smooth transition from breakfast to the parade. The crowds seated along the parade route were not disappointed with the colorful variety of the parade entries. Several eye-catching entries were the JKW unit, with a CAT on the flatbed, and Jack Wiebe, the 2010 Citizen of the Year, seated on the CAT! Irvin Goodon, from Goodon Industries of Boissevain, gracefully cruised his polished 1931 Modal A Roadster along the parade route. Another significant entry was the Plum Coulee Bergthaler Church float. The noteworthy features of this float were three countries, namely China, Mexico and Africa where youth of the church have served or are currently serving as missionaries. Representing Africa were Eva Giesbrecht, who has served in Malawi, and her Malawi friend, Stephen Muthala. Mexico was represented by Linda Dueck. Jake and Linda’s son Mike and Gaby are serving in Mexico. A stuffed Panda bear was the symbol from China, where Mark and Janice Bergen have spent a year. Also filling in for China were Jessie Hamm and her daughters Kaylee and Kara.

Welcome to the Concerts and Entertainment

A full house enjoyed the concert with violinist Rosemary Siemens, and piano accompanist Loren Hiebert. This duo entertained with many favorites, impromptu compositions, and inspirational music. An unforgettable piece was a ditty dedicated to Plum Coulee: “Happy Plum Fest to you” to the tune of Happy Birthday to you! Kids entertainment kept the youngsters happy, and the aroma of the steak BBQ supper on Saturday, as well as the Sunday noon lunch wafted across the scene, luring people in to enjoy seasonal vegetables with the steak, plus a delectable dessert from Daisy Cakes Café! The Plum Fest Tea Room in the Prairie View elevator was a popular place for many people to sit down and enjoy the delicacies of plum treats! Whether it was the old Tyme Dances, or entertainers like Ron Braun, or Vince Anderson, the audience was there! Adults as well as children enjoyed Christopher Cool, the Cool Magician! More than 200 people took advantage of the Festival Finale on Sunday afternoon at the Seniors Centre, for a traditional Mennonite Faspa! Homemade rolls, as well as homemade “Zwiebaak” were loaded with a generous slice of mozz-cheddar cheese, topped with a liberal scoop of PLUM JAM, or rhubarb for those who wanted added flavor, and washed down with the regular faspa beverage! Other food booths on Main provided a great variety of foods for all the different tastes in the crowd.

Welcome – Plum Fest Worship Service

            Sunday morning saw another “full house” for the community worship service in the tent. Though the wind had snuck up on the festival Sunday morning, the worshippers joyfully participated in the songs of praise. Christ Full Gospel Church, the Bergthaler Church, and the Sommerfeld Mennonite Church provided great music, a story time for children, opportunity to support MDS (Mennonite Disaster Service) missions project, and a Bible message. Pastor Ben Buhler of Christ Full Gospel Church used Psalm 118:21-24 as his text to encourage and inspire the congegation to “Rejoice and be glad”.

Gratitude!

            The organizers and volunteers worked hard to make this annual event “the Best!” And truly it was a great Plum Fest, with a great crowd of people, and lots of food and entertainment! A hearty THANKS to the many supports and donors, both individuals and corporations who contributed so generously to help Plum Coulee make this a successful event. We’re also grateful to God for good weather, and the solidarity of the community to work together! Now it’s getting back into our regular routines, and hopefully a slower pace for a while, and maybe dream up new ideas for next year’s Plum Fest! Thank you to ALL the wonderful people who came out this weekend. Special recognition is in order for guests who were far from home! Ivan Bergen, a young man from Paraguay, and student of music at U of M, came with his host family, Henry and Lynn Boschman. Jessica and Andrew Gilpin of London, ON came were here to take in the Plum Fest and to visit family. Plum Coulee is Jessica’s home base. And just a reminder, that Jessica Wiebe Gilpin, daughter of Ron and Carolyn Wiebe, was our Plum Coulee Centennial queen back in 2001! So thank you Jessica, for “coming home” for this Plum Fest! From the west end of the country, Doreen Heinrichs “came home” to visit her Rempel siblings, and got to enjoy a day at Plum Fest too. Also from the west Pam Stewart, another Coulee native, got to meet up with former Coulee classmates and friends with Sandra and Richard Clark of Carman. Sandra Reichert Clark was the Plum Coulee 60th anniversary Queen in 1961! Our beautiful representatives of Plum Coulee have moved on to other areas of our country, but at the core of their lives, they still fondly remember Plum Coulee!  Thanks for coming!

MORE BIRTHDAY MILESTONES

            We recently reported birthday milestones of 60, and 80 years. This week it’s a pleasure to extend birthday greetings to Mike Rempel – 30 years, and to John Giesbrecht – 50 years! Balloons and banners, cake and coffee were the order of the day at the Access Credit Union, Plum Coulee Branch, to celebrate John Giesbrecht, the manager’s 50th birthday! According to rumours, there are more significant birthdays coming up in a week or two! Will write about them next time!

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION & BIBLE QUIZ

            Several young people from our community are involved in Bible Quiz Meets and Scripture Memorization. These activities and events are held throughout the year in Regional, National and International Meets. Two of these young people, Nathan Peters and Bethany Unrau gave a presentation of Scripture Memory Work at the local Bergthaler Church, last Sunday morning. Their key text were the books of First and Second Corinthians which they recited in dialogue form, to tell the story of the Apostle Paul’s messages to the Corinthian Church in his day. Well done, and thank you for the fine production, Bethany and Nathan!

TABER TRIP            

            Herb and Donna Pauls made a motor trip to Taber, AB last week. Their purpose was to visit Donna’s older sister and brother-in-law, Eileen and John Neufeld. While the two sisters did their thing, the two brothers-in-law took an excursion to the Foothills, around to the Frank Slide and the Leitch Colliers, two historical sites in South Alberta. They are located close to each other along highway #3, just before entering the Crowsnest Pass. The two men also included Waterton Park in their jaunt.

A highlight in Taber was the annual Taber Corn Fest! For one of the contests, the participants had to wear coveralls, and try to stuff as many corn cobs as possible into their coveralls! The winner in this years contest packed 285 - YES, 285 corn cobs into his coveralls! He must have been ingenious to be able to get that many into the pockets, sleeves, wherever a cob would stay long enough to become the winner! Later on all these corn cobs were placed on a pile, up for grabs to take home! It definitely was a fun event! Pancake breakfast was served both Friday and Saturday mornings, “along with coffee and chocolate milk,” was Herb’s smiling comment. All in all, the Taber Trip was a most enjoyable one for Herb and Donna. May these happy memories bring you many smiles as you retell your story!