Hi! I wrote this a week ago. Posting now!
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Yesterday was the Annual General Meeting of the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society. This year it was held in Winkler, at the brand new WA+C — Winkler Arts & Culture building. They have incorporated the Winkler Museum, which used to be in the Southland Mall, and the Winkler Archives, which used to be in the library. At the meeting we heard an update on their work and their plans, and I found it all to be very encouraging. I’m so glad that these important organizations are continuing their good work, and are aligning with arts and culture. Partnerships that just make sense, are so very important, and perhaps even the key to organizational survival moving forward.
Anyway, I always get excited to visit yantzied. I have had so many adventures there, discovering cemeteries and talking with people that have a passion for local history. And it matters to me because I personally have roots there too. So on this occasion I brought my rubber boots, bottles of water, and granola bars. Just in case I’d end up in field somewhere. As I do.
What I brought along is a symbol of my hope for the day.
I did not need any of it.
We were there for the two-hour AGM, and stayed for the Russlaender film showing that followed. All of this felt very comfortable and easy for us. We have a deep curiosity about what the MMHS and its partner organizations are up to… and in fact Andrew has now joined the MMHS board. And so, I sit on the board of the Mennonite Heritage Village, and he on the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society Board, and obviously these two organizations play very well together.
I loved seeing the new WA+C building. It is newly imagined, beautiful (despite being a repurposed city water station), and has a ton of posters on the wall by the door, pointing attendees to other important arts events in southern Manitoba.
I also loved seeing the place fill with a crowd to see the Russlaender film! Near the end of the AGM, people began filing in — at first a trickle, then a flood, and the AGM wrapped up quickly to accommodate our growing numbers.
The thing about Winkler, and in fact all of yantzied, for me at least, is how it feels very familiar and similar to Steinbach, and yet it is very clearly not Steinbach — particularly in terms of the fact that we simply do not know the people there since we do not live there. It’s a bit disconcerting to be in a place that feels familiar yet we do not really know it. Not like an actual community member would. I guess kind of like a cousin you don’t see very often.
So while it all felt easy and was very interesting to us, it did make us feel tired. Plus, I had made a terrible miscalculation — I had not accounted for the fact that we should quite obviously eat lunch BEFORE the meeting. I was so focused on two other important things — firstly, my mother’s birthday, and secondly, paying attention to the amount of time it would take to get ourselves to Winkler. (Sometimes I forget about the time it takes to get from one place to another and I’m proud of myself for remembering to consider this. It’s only taken forty-eight years to figure this out!) So I did accomplish taking my mom out for a birthday brunch at Oakridge (their eggs benedict is SO GOOD) and then also getting home in time to hop in the car with Andrew and get ourselves to Winkler on time. In hindsight, we should have arrived earlier and had lunch at Flavours of Mexico. A huge missed opportunity!
However. After the meeting, we were now very very hungry and were so delighted to find these amazing cookies from Nelly’s Bakeshop sitting on the counter as part of the refreshments offered by the MMHS. Wow wow WOW.
But obviously we needed an actual meal now, because of the accidentally-missing-lunch thing. So, we heard there’s food available at Heritage Farms Brewery, and we hadn’t visited their taproom since they opened, and we are always interested in breweries opening in communities with large populations of Mennonites (such as The Public in Steinbach which many refer to as our second home, and Rendezvous in Morden which is always a destination for us when we are in the area). So that is where we headed next.
That is how we found out that there is actually a Mexican/Belizean restaurant on the ground floor, and the taproom is in the basement. They’ve worked out a pretty good plan wherein you can place your order for Restaurante Dos Banderas at the taproom when you order your beer, and you’ll be served the food at your table. It works out pretty good! We were very hungry so we ordered lemon pepper wings, empanadas, and loaded Mexican poutine. And polished it all off. For me, the empanadas were the best, would definitely get again. As for the beers, there was a hefeweizen on tap and it was a highlight for me.
I mentioned to Andrew that I had brought my boots and hat along in hopes of adventuring out to check on cemeteries but alas, we also acknowledged that we were quite worn out at this point and the idea of our one-and-a-half-hour drive back to Steinbach was a touch daunting and would only become more so, the longer we delayed. So, back to Steinbach, to rest.
And yeah. This is a really long post. That’s how I naturally write. It is now time to dream of — and plan — our next adventure. And my next opportunity to actually put on those boots and that hat and wander into a tangled cemetery.