Village News (November 23, 2017)

By Barry Dyck

 

This and That

As we near the close of another year, some things at Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) are in a process of change, while other aspects continue as usual.

Staff Transition

MHV’s Program Director, Anne Toews, recently served her last day in that role. She had decided it was time to retire from this career and spend more time with her family. Many members of the community became acquainted with Anne through her management of our volunteer program and festival events. We wish her well as she begins a well-deserved rest.

As a result of this, we needed to review the role of Program Manager to be sure that it was aligned with MHV’s current needs before hiring a new person. The position was then posted, and the competition closed this week. Interviews will get underway shortly. The new person in this role will be responsible for our volunteer program, education program, and festival events.

New Events Venue

In September we cut a ribbon to open MHV’s new Summer Pavilion, a building designed and built to accommodate a variety of museum and community activities. It was already put to good use this year by our summer education program, festival entertainment, weddings, staff picnics and other community events.

Now at this time of year, many people are looking for wedding venues. Couples who have been inquiring about MHV’s facilities this year are frequently choosing our new Pavilion. We are delighted to now be able to offer this building as well as our Auditorium for these events.

Sponsorship Program

We are grateful that our business community regularly steps up to the plate with financial support for MHV through our sponsorship program. This program offers a variety of opportunities for sponsorship, including our festivals, Tractor Trek, golf tournament, classic car show, and barrel train.

Sponsorship opportunities for 2018 will be presented to businesses by way of a booklet that lists and describes all sponsorship options. This will allow each business proprietor to view the entire offering and then choose the options which suit their purposes best.

Village Books & Gifts

As usual, our gift shop stocks an interesting selection of Christmas gift ideas, such as cookbooks, genealogies, novels, toys, puzzles, games, and even wooden clothes-dryers. It’s just the place to shop, especially if one has run out of ideas for gift giving. To make things convenient, our online gift store at www.mhv.ca is open for browsing and purchasing 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Check it out.

Christmas Break

In keeping with the pattern of the past few years, our museum will again be closed for a two-week holiday the weeks of December 25 and January 1, opening for business again on January 8.

We are currently developing plans for new activities and initiatives throughout 2018, so stay tuned and we’ll try to keep everyone informed.