Pioneer Days 2009
 
If attendance numbers are similar to last year, about 6,000 visitors are expected to pass through the gates this weekend at Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach. Executive Director Barry Dyck says no doubt Pioneer Days is the largest event of the year for the museum.
   
When asked why someone should attend Pioneer Days this year if they've already attended in the past, Program Director Anne Toews says because there are so many different events that make up Pioneer Days that you literally have to go more than once to soak it all in. And she says each year they try to bring new events. Some of those will be in the form of music in which Toews says they have more than one dozen bands out this year, of all kinds of genres.
 

Pioneer Days 2009
   
Dyck says unfortunately if people are coming to see fieldwork happen, they will have to wait until Fall On The Farm. He notes the museum's oat crop doesn't look particularly good this year and it won't be ready for Pioneer Days. But he says thanks to a generous farmer, they should be able to have some sheaves of winter wheat available in order to do threshing demonstrations. Toews notes watching the threshing demonstration is always a highlight for her as it brings back memories of the sights, sounds and smells of what harvest was like when she was a kid. And for Dyck, he says a highlight will be walking the grounds and talking with people; either reconnecting with old aquaintances or making new friends.
 

Pioneer Days 2009
   
Meantime, Dyck says because they are a family friendly museum there will be plenty of activities for kids every day of the weekend. He says the goal is to keep children so busy that they want to return, and not only return tomorrow but return ten or twenty years from now because of the sense of ownership they have towards the museum.