Joe McWilliams

Lakeside Leader

It’s just the second year for the M.D. of Opportunity FCSS Cultural Days, but it’s already grown into a big event. At least that’s the way it looked from the line-up of activities, covering a full two weeks, from Sept. 15 to 28.

Asked why two weeks instead of just one, Opportunity’s FCSS Coordinator Janice Auger has the answer at the tip of her tongue.

“Because it takes two weeks to make a good moose hide!”

There you go. Tanning a moose hide is an important component of the Cultural Days experience, and it can’t be rushed.

There are lots of other things going on in the meantime – quite an impressive list, in fact, presented in poster form. Here’s a sample:

Dry meat making, fish-filleting and smoking, traditional teas, making fry bread, sharing circles, teepee pole teachings, Cree syllabics, plant identification, Métis sash finger-weaving, miniature teepee-making, slingshot-making, miniature purse-making and fish scale art.

And that’s not all! There’s also a moose-calling competition, bannock on a stick, the creation of a song by young people, making pemmican….. the list goes on.

Auger says the inaugural Culture Days was nine days, and it turned out to be not long enough; hence the decision to stretch it out a few more days this year.

Everything takes place in the field next to the Marian Wolitski Arena in Wabasca. That’s also where the Treaty Days event has been held the past few years, Auger says.

The events will be well underway by the time this comes out in the Sept. 20 Leader. It kicked off with opening ceremonies on the morning of Friday, Sept. 15, and wraps up with closing ceremonies on Thursday the 28th, also at 10 a.m.

The moose-calling competition commences with the youth category at 1 p.m. on Sept. 24; the adults’ turn starts at 3 p.m.

For more information on the event, call Auger at 780-891-2659.